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Bel vs Escort vs Valentine 1

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  #31  
Old 04-01-2006 | 06:52 PM
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The X50 owns the V1. I've purchased both.
 

Last edited by MechEE; 04-01-2006 at 08:52 PM.
  #32  
Old 04-02-2006 | 10:36 PM
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I have owned both and my V1 owns my Escort.



Back that statement up Mech on why it owns it.
 
  #33  
Old 04-02-2006 | 10:48 PM
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Originally Posted by G35_TX
I have owned both and my V1 owns my Escort.



Back that statement up Mech on why it owns it.
Was your Escort the 8500 X50, or just the previous 8500?

I tried both the X50 and V1 for 30 days and found them both to have essentially the same sensitivity to actual threats, but the V1 falsed much more often (with both units configured for minimum falses). That coupled with the superior display made me choose the X50, and it saves my *** on virtually every road trip. I'm sure you can't go wrong with either, but I recommend the X50 to everyone in the market for a top performance detector.
 
  #34  
Old 04-02-2006 | 11:02 PM
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Superior display? LOL No arrows to tell you where the cop is isn't superior.

I had the 8500. The one before the X50.

But my friend has a x50 in his Mazda 3, and we went to Austin together and my V1 would pick up the cops before his and his would false and mine wasn't. Go figure.
 
  #35  
Old 04-03-2006 | 12:36 AM
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Originally Posted by G35_TX
Superior display? LOL No arrows to tell you where the cop is isn't superior.

I had the 8500. The one before the X50.

But my friend has a x50 in his Mazda 3, and we went to Austin together and my V1 would pick up the cops before his and his would false and mine wasn't. Go figure.
The 8500 chokes on a fat one compared to the X50, supposedly. I didn't care much for the arrows, either way you're going to slow down when Ka goes off. I preferred the clear multiple signal strength indicators of the X50 expert mode.
 
  #36  
Old 04-03-2006 | 12:51 AM
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Wonderful! . . . Just when I have finally decided on a radar detector unit, you folks start all this radar chit chat again.

I'm tossing a coin on this one . . . . Drum roll, please . . . .rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr . . . Ding!

It's the Escort! Invisicord, here I come.
 
  #37  
Old 04-03-2006 | 01:09 AM
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Escort baby! The V1 is fvcking hideous and its more expensive. My 8500 has saved my azz plenty of times.
 
  #38  
Old 04-03-2006 | 01:53 AM
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good find........i never new about that bel.......they think its the best
 
  #39  
Old 04-03-2006 | 04:38 AM
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Originally Posted by MechEE
The X50 owns the V1. I've purchased both.
The only thing that the X50 has over the V1 is a cheaper price in the short term. V1 wins in X band, K band, Ka band, rear radar detection (X, K, Ka), and laser detection. The V1 is black magnesium and the X50 is a piece of shiny plastic that scratches easily. The V1 has 2 antennas with arrows, the X50 has 1 antenna with beeping sounds. The V1 is smaller and weighs less than the X50. The V1 comes with a hardwire kit and a visor mount while Escort charges extra for these. The V1 is fully upgradeable to newer hardware and firmware revisions while Escort and Bel products have to be thrown away and another one must be purchased. If you don't believe me, try and find someone with an original 8500 that was advertised as "upgradeable" that has actually been upgraded to the 8500 X50. You will never find anybody because when the X50 came out, they said it was a hardware upgrade to the X50 so you were SOL. Another great thing about the V1 is the resale value. I sold my 4 year old V1 on Ebay for $365 and I spent $400 on it brand new. I remained ticket-free for 4 years and it only cost me an average of $10 a year.

The Valentine One has won every rear radar detection test that has been done, the last test that gave actual distances was conducted in the year 2000. Radartest.com hates the V1 and this is what they said about the V1's rear radar detection, "We found it gave anywhere from two to three times the detection range of the other units." According to the SML test, the V1 beats every radar detector by at least 2 miles in rear Ka band detection.



 
  #40  
Old 04-03-2006 | 05:38 AM
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What are you doing here? Do you even drive a G35? I see you on forums all over the internet, and the only threads you participate in are related to the V1, and you simply post articles and standard fanboy materials for it. You clearly are an employee of V1 or have some vested interest in their success. Obviously you'd deny such accusations, so no surprise there.

You pay for that sensitivity with increased false alarming that made me stop paying attention to it.

The X50 is firmware upgradeable. Check the prices for an equivalent 8500 to 8500 X50 hardware upgrade for the V1 and you'll find that it approaches the cost of a new X50.

The V1 is wider and taller than the X50, and not much shorter. The X50 looks much smaller to me hanging in my window than the V1.

The V1 display is archaic. The lettering indicating the band does not light up at night, and you're left with just red dots on the display. I found the sound distinction to be poor, the sounds on the X50 were much better. The V1 can't display multiple threat signal strengths.

About the only thing going for the V1 in my opinion is the arrow indicators, which I didn't find that useful since I'm going to slow down with Ka threats no matter what.

In real world tests in my car driving around with both detectors, performance was virtually equal for detection range. I found the X50's combination of size, customizability, display quality, sound, price, firmware upgradability, and rare false alarms to be the deciding factors for which detector I kept in the end. I won't consider the V1 again until they update the aging display and increase the false alarm intelligence.
 

Last edited by MechEE; 04-03-2006 at 05:41 AM.
  #41  
Old 04-03-2006 | 06:48 AM
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Originally Posted by CBRworm
I had a V1 that got stolen out of my last car. It worked great. When it was time to replace it I wanted an 8500 X50. It also works great.

I didn't like the shape/size of the V1, honestly I was surprised how big the 8500 x50 was when I received it, but I still like its form factor better than the V1.

My only complaint with the X50 is that it falses alot in POP mode. My V1 didn't have POP. I am considering turning the POP off on my 8500.

I never use POP in FL...its always false and scares the **** out of me when it goes off
 
  #42  
Old 04-03-2006 | 07:03 AM
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Originally Posted by MechEE
What are you doing here? Do you even drive a G35? I see you on forums all over the internet, and the only threads you participate in are related to the V1, and you simply post articles and standard fanboy materials for it. You clearly are an employee of V1 or have some vested interest in their success. Obviously you'd deny such accusations, so no surprise there.

You pay for that sensitivity with increased false alarming that made me stop paying attention to it.

The X50 is firmware upgradeable. Check the prices for an equivalent 8500 to 8500 X50 hardware upgrade for the V1 and you'll find that it approaches the cost of a new X50.

The V1 is wider and taller than the X50, and not much shorter. The X50 looks much smaller to me hanging in my window than the V1.

The V1 display is archaic. The lettering indicating the band does not light up at night, and you're left with just red dots on the display. I found the sound distinction to be poor, the sounds on the X50 were much better. The V1 can't display multiple threat signal strengths.

About the only thing going for the V1 in my opinion is the arrow indicators, which I didn't find that useful since I'm going to slow down with Ka threats no matter what.

In real world tests in my car driving around with both detectors, performance was virtually equal for detection range. I found the X50's combination of size, customizability, display quality, sound, price, firmware upgradability, and rare false alarms to be the deciding factors for which detector I kept in the end. I won't consider the V1 again until they update the aging display and increase the false alarm intelligence.
Exactly my thoughts...I used all three (Bel, Escort, and V1), and the V1 was the most annoying because of the hard to read display and hard to distinguish audible alerts.

Plus, if you're comparing them based on which one has better range when it comes to radar, it doesn't matter if the V1 gets a 100 or so extra feet...the others still pick it up from a far enough distance. Plus the cops in my area never leave their radar guns on...they wait until they can see you and then instant on, so any one of them will go off...range is not an issue.

It just seems that all the V1 owners think theirs is the greatest detector ever made, while all the escort owners have tried both and say they like the escort more, but the V1 is still an ok detector. I don't know what it is about V1 owners being so ****...maybe they feel bad for spending all the extra money when they could've spent a lot less and got the same performance.

And for the comment regarding the V1 coming with the hard-wired kit, and the escort having to buy it...the escort still comes out way cheaper...the cord is only $10...that was a really bad argument and further proves the escort is a better deal.

I was trying to be nice before to the V1 owners, but the constant attempts to try and prove their detectors are soooooo superior got on my nerves...I bet most of them have never even tried the escort or bel. It seems like they try so hard and do all this research and find all these articles to prove the superiority of the V1...no matter how many sources you bring, all that matters is personal results...when I compared the two with my own unbiased testing, the escort came up on top. And not just because of the really cool blue lights
 
  #43  
Old 04-03-2006 | 07:56 AM
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Originally Posted by geioushi
Exactly my thoughts...I used all three (Bel, Escort, and V1), and the V1 was the most annoying because of the hard to read display and hard to distinguish audible alerts.

Plus, if you're comparing them based on which one has better range when it comes to radar, it doesn't matter if the V1 gets a 100 or so extra feet...the others still pick it up from a far enough distance. Plus the cops in my area never leave their radar guns on...they wait until they can see you and then instant on, so any one of them will go off...range is not an issue.

It just seems that all the V1 owners think theirs is the greatest detector ever made, while all the escort owners have tried both and say they like the escort more, but the V1 is still an ok detector. I don't know what it is about V1 owners being so ****...maybe they feel bad for spending all the extra money when they could've spent a lot less and got the same performance.

And for the comment regarding the V1 coming with the hard-wired kit, and the escort having to buy it...the escort still comes out way cheaper...the cord is only $10...that was a really bad argument and further proves the escort is a better deal.

I was trying to be nice before to the V1 owners, but the constant attempts to try and prove their detectors are soooooo superior got on my nerves...I bet most of them have never even tried the escort or bel. It seems like they try so hard and do all this research and find all these articles to prove the superiority of the V1...no matter how many sources you bring, all that matters is personal results...when I compared the two with my own unbiased testing, the escort came up on top. And not just because of the really cool blue lights
Well said. If you order from Escort directly, they'll throw in free 2-day shipping and hardwire kit for free if you ask.
 
  #44  
Old 04-03-2006 | 08:24 AM
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Originally Posted by MechEE
The 8500 chokes on a fat one compared to the X50, supposedly. I didn't care much for the arrows, either way you're going to slow down when Ka goes off. I preferred the clear multiple signal strength indicators of the X50 expert mode.
You don't slow down when you have a back arrow. That is why I liked it. My V1 saved my butt every time yesterday and Friday on my way to Dallas and back. V1 puts the priority one first so you don't have to look at mutiple strenth meters. But it tells you which one in which direction is the strongest signal to worry about. I like that.

The tests show the V1 is the best one still as RadarKing posted.
 
  #45  
Old 04-03-2006 | 08:32 AM
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Tests also showed the space shuttle Challenger fit to fly. Test can be skewed any direction one pleases, as I proved to you in the previous thread. Same results compiled differently (and still accurately) = x50 better. 99% of the people on these boards don't buy based on tests, they buy based on their own knowledge/experiences and others knowledge/experiences/recommendations who post on here. Just look at the propogation of DLS equipment through the board's audiojunkies. And X50 pwns you (sorry had to )
 


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