Range
Arrows

Difference between bands, especially at night.

Must have for serious drivers. I drive over 40 miles to work one-way each day on the highway (California). Troopers use all types of stunts to catch you like shooting radar from behind atop the on-ramp. I always see them before they see me. The V1 has paid for itself many times over. Best I've owned and I have tried almost all the other brands. If you can afford the V1, you should get it. Read the other reviews and judge for yourself.

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BEL + other high-end detectors

People think you got the best.

Cop laughed at me when he saw the 400 radar detector in my car.

This was my first radar detector so I said I will go all out and get the best. One week after I bought it, I was doin around 95-100 mph on the Long Island Expressway at 5 am, all by myself on the road. All of a sudden I see the police behind me. I got a ticket. The damn thing went off after he clocked me. I traded it for a gas powered RCV, let my friend deal with this false insecurity.

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none

Arrows
Dependability

None other than price, but quality is remembered long after the price that was paid.

I've had this unit for 7 years and it has never failed me. Of course there are occasional "false" alarms, but they're really not false--the FCC allows bank and store alarms to run on the SAME frequency as Police radar so there is NO detector in the world that can separate them. Driving fast while paying close attention to EVERY detail makes me a better driver than plodding along at 60 mph. Drive on, drive well and stay off your damn cell phones!

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I had a Whistler in the 1980's

ARROWS!!!
Range
Sensitivity Options
Remote Option
Bogey Counter

A little pricey
A little too oversensitive (in shopping areas)

Last week i recieved my Valentine One and was anxious to use it, I actually drove around my town at 1:30am (when i got home from work)looking for a cop to test it's sensitivity. After about 15 minutes of searching i gave up deciding that my trip up north the GardenState Parkway would be it's proving ground the next day.

The next day i drove up the parkway and noticed my V1's front arrow began blinking and the sensitivity sensor was showing one dot. As i headed up the road the sensitivity dots increased and after about a mile and a half there was the trooper. I was amazed how well it actually worked, no guess work, no frantic beeping, i knew exactly where he was about a minute and a half before i could see him. Reguardless of the range, the arrows make all the difference. I would highly recommend if anyone is interested in purchasing a radar detector, for the piece of mind of knowing where the enemy is, 400 dollars is nothing.

Not to sound like an infomercial, but it is really that good.

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Uniden

Sesitivity, directional arrows, bogey counter, very low false alarms, can be upgraded, customizable programming

UGLY DISPLAY...Valentine are you listening!!! Make the different bands a different color, so you can tell the difference at night without having to raise the volume, that is not a lot to ask.
My unit is out of warranty...so I changed the display myself:
x band LED to Yellow
and k band LED to Green

If you have good soldering abilities and want to do it also e-mail me and I will tell you what parts I used.

One of the most impressive pieces of engineering I have ever owned. Right up there with my B&W home speakers, Mitsubishi Big screen and Alpine car stereo. Have owned half a dozen radar detectors(cobra, uniden, bell and escort) and NONE of them are even close to competing with my Valentine.

Hey if you are a serious speed addict buy the valentine if you do not like it...return it. This thing works. It has saved my butt more times than I can remember. The only ticket I have gotten has been when I drove without it.

I do hope that Valentine takes all of this seriously and works to ensure that their product stays on top ... or maybee even improves.

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Old Cobra...what a joke only detected garage doors owned it for 3 months.
uniden 6599...better but still too many false alarms owned it for 6 months.
bell vector...not bad good value for $220, but still falses a bit had this for almost a year.

Then I bought my valentine...WHOA BABY WHAT A DIFFERENCE...ALMOST UNFAIR ADVANTAGE AGAINST THE BOYS IN BLUE.

Escort 8500...I went and bought it after reading this website, all of these knuckleheads scared me into thinking that my valentine is out of date...WRONG!!! The escort is good, but not as good as Valentine...returned it after 3 days. I drove one day with the escort then one day with my valentine then another day with the escort. The escort is almost as sensitive (k band and Ku band)as the valentine in the front but loses to the side and rear. But I did notice a lot more false alarms. I missed the counter very much. Drove like a paranoid freak because when the thing went off I had no idea where to look due to lack of arrows.

GREAT range, sensitivity, arrows, bogey count, multiple bogey tracking

none, its the best

I know the V1 is the top radar locator out there on the market, people are stupid not too think so. Just from all the tests on it, prove the performance. And the tests that say V1 is not the best, are some cheap cheesy web sites who dont know what they are talking about anyway. I have not had mine too long, but from what I have seen..is very impressive. The other day, i was going down the highway with my mom..and I picked up X band 1 ahead, and it started getting greater and greater...i told her, dont worry he will be here in a lil while. Soon enough, he showed up around 3 miles away.

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Bel 860, the Bel was garbage compared to the V1...I got pulled over 2 times for speeding with the Bel.

Directional arrows indicating where the hit is coming from
Pics up radar from far far away

Arrow indicators showing where the radar is coming from doesn't distinquish left from right. If you get hit from the left, both left and right lights eluminate
picks up on all kinds of signal in the city. it goes nuts, I have to turn it off sometimes because it gets annoying.

Saved my ass from 11 tickets so far. Its paid for itself for sure!

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none

direction arrows, sensitivity, different modes (very intelligent and screens out most false alarms)

None - I've lost count of how many times this thing has saved my ass. Even my hyper-conservative girlfriend lets me drive at 90 with it on. Of course, when she falls asleep I can really drop the hammer...

This radar detector is so good, when you are driving it is like moving up from economy to first class. I've got multiple friends who bought cheaper radar detectors and have simply stopped using them because they are over sensitive to automatic doors, give a ton of false alarms, and don't give enough warning with cops. The bottom line is, the Valentine is a radar detector that really does what it claims, and does it really well. It is more expensive than some detectors out there, but then what's the point of buying one that doesn't work? For something that works this well, it is excellent value.

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just friends radar-ds when I'm in their cars...

Plenty of warning time. Bright display.

Does not like water. Will pick up lots of false type alarms. They are real signals, just not Radar.

This is a great unit. Saved me every time. It detects Radar, and gives me plenty of warning. This is 100% great product. I am comparing it to my Escort detectors purchased prior to the Valentine, and since. I also own a Escort 8500. Ilike my toys. I do not work for Valentine, or affiliated in any way. Valentine is awesome.

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Escort 8500

Detection ability!

Audio

I've been using the V1 for a few years now, and I haven't gotten a ticket yet, even though I speed constantly in a flashy red sportscar. The detection ability is fantastic, and the arrows are great. It's the best that money can buy. Although you can get another detector for a quarter of the price, the V1's performance is far superior. Go to any car forum and ask what the best is. They will tell you V1 every time.

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Buch better than cheap detectors, but you will pay for it. A fair amount better than top line bel and escort detectors.