Valentine One Radar Detector w/ POP Review
Company Info: Valentine Research, Inc. Category: Gadgets Price: $399.00 Rating: 4.5/5.0 Reviewer: Wayne Eggert Date: March 05, 2005 |
Background
Let me set a few things straight right off the bat.. I don't consider
myself a speeder, I don't own a Porsche, Audi or nice BMW sports car,
and I've never even received a speeding ticket (knock on wood). So what
on earth do I need with a $400 radar detector? Well, I can usually
justify any cool gadget.. but in the case of this radar detector I
figured for the cost of a speeding ticket or two I could prevent some
unfortunate run-ins with the law. And besides, it's got all these cool
blinking arrows and features -- how can a techy not find it cool?
But Still.. It's $400! Why?
The real reason I
figured I couldn't afford to be without a radar detector was due to the
increasing number of police cars frequenting my drive to and from work.
The particular interstate I take has at least 5 good hiding spots for
cops, specifically designed so you don't see them until you've passed
them. After purchasing a new car last September, I noticed there were
cops out hunting for their prey just about every day. I don't know if
they were trying to hit their year-quota for tickets around that time
or what, but they were out in full force every day for about a month. I
wanted to at least be on the same playing field & know when they
were out and about, so I decided to begin researching radar detectors
and learning about radar in general.
Isn't It Illegal?
Nope. Well, unless you're
driving through Virginia -- then you could be fined and have your radar
detector taken from you. The only other time radar detectors are
illegal are when truck drivers have them. All other motorists are
allowed to have radar detectors. Now that's not to say a cop is going
to like it if they catch you with one -- you're probably more apt to
get a ticket if you're pulled over and have it sitting in full view.
I Chose The Valentine One
I had seen good
reviews for the Escort line of radar detectors. The Escort Passport
8500 x50 ($299 at present) was the only radar detector that was really
in the same class as the Valentine One. That's probably because Mike
Valentine, the owner of Valentine Research, Inc. had at one time worked with the owner of Escort, Inc.
They have been in direct competition for a good number of years, and
both companies will swear that their radar detector is the best and the
competition's is a joke. You really have to look past the hype and make
an informed decision based on the product features and any
opinions/reviews you can find on the internet. In the end I decided on
the Valentine One, at a price point of $100 more than the Passport 8500
x50, because I liked the idea of having directional arrows to indicate
where the radar was in position to my car and the dual (front and back)
radar.
Purchasing Experience
I purchased directly from the Valentine One
website. There didn't appear to be anywhere else selling these radar
detectors cheaper and I figured by purchasing directly from the website
I would receive the latest model. Shipping was much quicker than I
expected, I had the radar detector in less than a week. The Valentine
One was packaged very well and came with its own box and manual -- very
professional just as if I'd have bought it in a store.
Initial Impressions
The radar detector was
heavier than I thought it was going to be -- which is a good thing. It
looked very well built and well designed. I wasn't a huge fan of the
boxy-design, but I've heard they've kept pretty much the same design
for the last few models and it still looks better than a lot of the
radar detectors out there today. Besides, do you want it to work or
look cool and get you pulled over?
Included in the box was a very well thought out instruction manual. Not only does it explain how the radar detector functions, but also explains the types of radar that cops use, how to tell when you're entering into certain types of radar, what all of the beeps mean and how the directional arrows can help you tell the type of radar or number of bogeys (unknown threats). It came with a windshield mount (with two large suction cups) and a visor mount, cigarette lighter adapter, and power cord. In addition to this, there was a small paper insert explaining that the model I had received had just been upgraded with POP detection. The POP detection was great news for me since only a week or two after I had ordered they changed their site to announce the new model. I would have been a bit unhappy if my radar detector was outdated a week after I bought it.
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