Valentine One V1 Radar Detector
- Mute: With Mute
- Detection Area: Front / Rear
- Detection Bands: X Band K Band Ka Band Ku Band Laser
- Alert type: Audio / Visual
Available From
Why are these offers here?
Smart Buy!
Lowest price from a Trusted Store
Second Lowest Price
Featured Offer
- Overview
-
Reviews
- Compare Prices
User ReviewRead All Reviews »
A Valentine for Christmas? Yes! Valentine One Radar Detector
Pros
Very good sensitivity, especially on K and Ka bands, Nerd Convenience, easy mounting/dismounting
Cons
False alarms, expensive.
Recommended it?
Yes
Introduction
After receiving traffic citation #22 of my storied career by a slow cop with a radar gun, I realized I needed help. Speeders Anonymous? Hell No!
As mentioned in an earlier opinion on choosing radar detectors which you can read at
http://www.epinions.com/auto-review-1E02-2A2BC80-39AC6FAE-prod1 ,
the Valentine One and the Passport are kings of the fuzzbusting hill.
Mike Valentine was a co-founder of Escort (which makes the Passport). Valentine broke from the mother ship in 1992 and created Valentine One which produces the namesake radar detector. To look at Mike, it looks like he's had more engineering awards than dates. While not a bad looking guy, I reckon, one can easily picture him as the High School Grind. I even daresay that Mike looks like a nerd, and I don't think he'd argue.
Nerds don't make great party mixers or fashion consultants, but they make the best engineers. What other species would spend so much time designing, testing, and retesting mechanical and electronic equipment, ensuring its functionality and competence? Could you see the cast of "Friends" in a laboratory on a Friday night or the Spice Girls performing a late-night design review? We'd be lucky if they put in 15 hours a week, period.
This baby checks in at $400. Nerds are pretty proud of their stuff, and our Mikey is no exception. Considering that the final cost of a ticket when insurance is accounted for can be much greater, this is money well spent for those who choose to play The Game.
Appearance and Accessories
As dogs tend to resemble their masters, products tend to resemble their inventors. The Valentine One follows suit as it's gawky and dweebish. The exterior is largely unchanged since its inception in 1992.
The large, boxy shape houses
* strength indicator LED lights
* indicators for each radar band
* an LED that counts the number of radar sources
* arrows that show the signal's direction
* muting volume lever
* A knob that controls regular signal volume
The knob also doubles as a push button that selects between the available sensitivity modes of
* All-Bogeys, which is maximum sensitivity
* Logic, which squelches sound on X-band signals deemed non-threatening
* Advanced Logic, which is essentially city (desensitized) mode
One more nice item is the photo cell, which checks current lighting conditions and automatically adjusts light brightness.
Installation
Installation is simple. Both a windshield attachment AND a visor clip are available, which allows a mounting choice. The clip is particularly useful in cold climates where the suction cups won't stick. One neat feature of the suction cups is a little bar that connects both. When depressed, the cups easily come loose. Simple, but no competitors have this and it's a bitch removing THEIR mounts. Again, the advantages of Nerd Engineering.
Make sure the detector has an unobstructed view forward AND rearward, as there is a sensor that detects attacks from behind.
Detection
This radar detector protects from X, K, and Ka radar band attacks and also defends against Laser. No detection of VG-2 Radar Detector Detector band is available, but Valentine claims to be virtually invisible to VG-2 due to a filtering technology (thanks to A-RDR-GUY for pointing out the Valentine's VG-2 stealth properties). Residents of Virginia and Washington D.C. (who use VG-2 extensively) get a chance to test this for themselves and find out. The Valentine One doesn't offer Safety Warning System or other such devices. It's a stripped-down, ready-to-rumble warrior.
Signals are indicated by beeps for X band and a more urgent "brap" for all other bands. The tone's frequency varies inversely with the distance from the radar source. The appropriate band light is displayed. The direction from which the signal is being transmitted is indicated by the three arrow LEDs.
More than one signal can be present while driving, and this is accounted for by the numerical LED which can track up to eight sources.
Field Test
As with any detector with three or more sensitivity settings, only two matter: City and Highway. Valentine's euphemisms are Advanced-Logic and All-Bogeys, but you get the idea. The Logic setting is just a muted duplicate of All-Bogeys and is superfluous. Since I generally travel the highways I set the critter to All-Bogeys.
X band performance is more than adequate. I had enough time to sing the first three stanzas of "I Can't Drive 55" before feeling the need to slow down. One thing about the Valentine is it's more apt to fall for false signals. Driving through a strip mall tends to bring out a display that rivals any Fourth of July celebration. It takes some mental training to not stab the brakes at the first beep. X band gives plenty of warning, though, so no need to panic. Just listen and watch the lights before taking evasive action.
K and Ka bands are more serious, especially Ka as it's intermittent. Fortunately this is where the Valentine shines. It gave me very good leadtime to back off the throttle. The Florida Highway Patrol use Ka extensively so this is a BIG plus. One reminder about Ka - since it IS instant-on, if traffic is very light, the warning you receive is likely YOU being gunned and read, so use prudence on lonely stretches of road.
Another very strong area is full peripheral coverage. Radar generally attacks from the front, but a few more advanced forms of donut-bellies sting you from the rear. The Valentine delivers Full Coverage as advertised. While warning distances were not quite as long from the rear as from the front, they were adequate enough to give a favorable reaction time.
I did not encounter Laser during my travails. Laser's not a common bird and no detector can give adequate warning against it unless cloaking measures are taken. More on this another day.
Conclusion
Does a better detector exist? Yes, it's called the Escort SR1. At the price of a grand, though, only the most desperate, well-heeled or well-connected to an auto theft ring need apply. The Valentine One isn't a gimme at $400 either, but provides protection superior to anything in its class. Its closest competition is the Passport 7500 and the BEL 980, which will be a future test candidate. The Passport 8500 is coming, but until it's more than vaporware AND until I test it I can't make a prediction. This comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, but I have no need to exercise that. I'm keeping this one. Like Mike, it's a bit goofy looking, but also like Mike, it's highly competent.
I ripped on Mikey, but he makes a hell of a good detector. Say what you will about nerds, however, when you're 40,000 feet in the air, underneath 100 feet of water on a dive, or speeding down some unfamiliar highway, you'd rather have had your equipment thoroughly tested on countless, dateless Saturday Nights by a dozen Mike Valentines than marginally tested by some buff dudes who cut loose to Party Beach on their work afternoons. To speeders like me, Mike's a demigod.
This is one Valentine your significant other will sincerely thank you for giving.
Related Reviews
Passport 8500 Radar Detector:
http://driver4t5.epinions.com/elec-review-6DC4-15F80693-3A1166AE-prod2
Passport 7500 Radar Detector:
http://driver4t5.epinions.com/elec-review-269B-11999613-39EA738E-prod5
Passport 6800 Radar Detector:
http://driver4t5.epinions.com/elec-review-4F55-2278D30-3A20984C-prod1
After receiving traffic citation #22 of my storied career by a slow cop with a radar gun, I realized I needed help. Speeders Anonymous? Hell No!
As mentioned in an earlier opinion on choosing radar detectors which you can read at
http://www.epinions.com/auto-review-1E02-2A2BC80-39AC6FAE-prod1 ,
the Valentine One and the Passport are kings of the fuzzbusting hill.
Mike Valentine was a co-founder of Escort (which makes the Passport). Valentine broke from the mother ship in 1992 and created Valentine One which produces the namesake radar detector. To look at Mike, it looks like he's had more engineering awards than dates. While not a bad looking guy, I reckon, one can easily picture him as the High School Grind. I even daresay that Mike looks like a nerd, and I don't think he'd argue.
Nerds don't make great party mixers or fashion consultants, but they make the best engineers. What other species would spend so much time designing, testing, and retesting mechanical and electronic equipment, ensuring its functionality and competence? Could you see the cast of "Friends" in a laboratory on a Friday night or the Spice Girls performing a late-night design review? We'd be lucky if they put in 15 hours a week, period.
This baby checks in at $400. Nerds are pretty proud of their stuff, and our Mikey is no exception. Considering that the final cost of a ticket when insurance is accounted for can be much greater, this is money well spent for those who choose to play The Game.
Appearance and Accessories
As dogs tend to resemble their masters, products tend to resemble their inventors. The Valentine One follows suit as it's gawky and dweebish. The exterior is largely unchanged since its inception in 1992.
The large, boxy shape houses
* strength indicator LED lights
* indicators for each radar band
* an LED that counts the number of radar sources
* arrows that show the signal's direction
* muting volume lever
* A knob that controls regular signal volume
The knob also doubles as a push button that selects between the available sensitivity modes of
* All-Bogeys, which is maximum sensitivity
* Logic, which squelches sound on X-band signals deemed non-threatening
* Advanced Logic, which is essentially city (desensitized) mode
One more nice item is the photo cell, which checks current lighting conditions and automatically adjusts light brightness.
Installation
Installation is simple. Both a windshield attachment AND a visor clip are available, which allows a mounting choice. The clip is particularly useful in cold climates where the suction cups won't stick. One neat feature of the suction cups is a little bar that connects both. When depressed, the cups easily come loose. Simple, but no competitors have this and it's a bitch removing THEIR mounts. Again, the advantages of Nerd Engineering.
Make sure the detector has an unobstructed view forward AND rearward, as there is a sensor that detects attacks from behind.
Detection
This radar detector protects from X, K, and Ka radar band attacks and also defends against Laser. No detection of VG-2 Radar Detector Detector band is available, but Valentine claims to be virtually invisible to VG-2 due to a filtering technology (thanks to A-RDR-GUY for pointing out the Valentine's VG-2 stealth properties). Residents of Virginia and Washington D.C. (who use VG-2 extensively) get a chance to test this for themselves and find out. The Valentine One doesn't offer Safety Warning System or other such devices. It's a stripped-down, ready-to-rumble warrior.
Signals are indicated by beeps for X band and a more urgent "brap" for all other bands. The tone's frequency varies inversely with the distance from the radar source. The appropriate band light is displayed. The direction from which the signal is being transmitted is indicated by the three arrow LEDs.
More than one signal can be present while driving, and this is accounted for by the numerical LED which can track up to eight sources.
Field Test
As with any detector with three or more sensitivity settings, only two matter: City and Highway. Valentine's euphemisms are Advanced-Logic and All-Bogeys, but you get the idea. The Logic setting is just a muted duplicate of All-Bogeys and is superfluous. Since I generally travel the highways I set the critter to All-Bogeys.
X band performance is more than adequate. I had enough time to sing the first three stanzas of "I Can't Drive 55" before feeling the need to slow down. One thing about the Valentine is it's more apt to fall for false signals. Driving through a strip mall tends to bring out a display that rivals any Fourth of July celebration. It takes some mental training to not stab the brakes at the first beep. X band gives plenty of warning, though, so no need to panic. Just listen and watch the lights before taking evasive action.
K and Ka bands are more serious, especially Ka as it's intermittent. Fortunately this is where the Valentine shines. It gave me very good leadtime to back off the throttle. The Florida Highway Patrol use Ka extensively so this is a BIG plus. One reminder about Ka - since it IS instant-on, if traffic is very light, the warning you receive is likely YOU being gunned and read, so use prudence on lonely stretches of road.
Another very strong area is full peripheral coverage. Radar generally attacks from the front, but a few more advanced forms of donut-bellies sting you from the rear. The Valentine delivers Full Coverage as advertised. While warning distances were not quite as long from the rear as from the front, they were adequate enough to give a favorable reaction time.
I did not encounter Laser during my travails. Laser's not a common bird and no detector can give adequate warning against it unless cloaking measures are taken. More on this another day.
Conclusion
Does a better detector exist? Yes, it's called the Escort SR1. At the price of a grand, though, only the most desperate, well-heeled or well-connected to an auto theft ring need apply. The Valentine One isn't a gimme at $400 either, but provides protection superior to anything in its class. Its closest competition is the Passport 7500 and the BEL 980, which will be a future test candidate. The Passport 8500 is coming, but until it's more than vaporware AND until I test it I can't make a prediction. This comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, but I have no need to exercise that. I'm keeping this one. Like Mike, it's a bit goofy looking, but also like Mike, it's highly competent.
I ripped on Mikey, but he makes a hell of a good detector. Say what you will about nerds, however, when you're 40,000 feet in the air, underneath 100 feet of water on a dive, or speeding down some unfamiliar highway, you'd rather have had your equipment thoroughly tested on countless, dateless Saturday Nights by a dozen Mike Valentines than marginally tested by some buff dudes who cut loose to Party Beach on their work afternoons. To speeders like me, Mike's a demigod.
This is one Valentine your significant other will sincerely thank you for giving.
Related Reviews
Passport 8500 Radar Detector:
http://driver4t5.epinions.com/elec-review-6DC4-15F80693-3A1166AE-prod2
Passport 7500 Radar Detector:
http://driver4t5.epinions.com/elec-review-269B-11999613-39EA738E-prod5
Passport 6800 Radar Detector:
http://driver4t5.epinions.com/elec-review-4F55-2278D30-3A20984C-prod1
