TurboTransAm.com
Register today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.
Radar detector
- Thread starter tta299
- Start date
RatFink
TORQUE
Do you have a link?
tta299
White Car Fever
Valentine One radar and laser detectors
my buddy has had 1 for yrs in his vette i just hated to gett off the $400 but its worth it
check it out on you tube
not bad since i just looked up some 6k dollar wax lol
I have the valentine 1 as well. Along with a color display mounted under the dash and the audio control mounted next to my right knee for easy muting and volume control when on the phone.
Love it. Always gives me plenty of warning. I got it lets see...3 years ago Christmas. Damn I feel old.
My dad bought the original Valentine 1 back in the late 90's. He sent it in to be tested and it was so old they kept it for their office and sent him a new one for free...
Our family has one mounted and hardwired in every daily driver.
Love it. Always gives me plenty of warning. I got it lets see...3 years ago Christmas. Damn I feel old.
My dad bought the original Valentine 1 back in the late 90's. He sent it in to be tested and it was so old they kept it for their office and sent him a new one for free...
Our family has one mounted and hardwired in every daily driver.
GM truck? If so it is very easy to conceal. BTW, I have the color display and it is pretty slick.
gatorlance
Well-Known Member
I have the Escort 9500xi. Also a very good detector, but integrates a GPS so it will remember known speed traps, light cameras and if you pass by the same signal a few times, it will mark that location as well.
Highly recommended.
Some folks have religious arguments between Valentine and Escort. Not trying to start one here. Both are great detectors and good options. I just got sold on the fact the new Escort is great at filtering false alarms and also giving early warning on traps/cameras.
Highly recommended.
Some folks have religious arguments between Valentine and Escort. Not trying to start one here. Both are great detectors and good options. I just got sold on the fact the new Escort is great at filtering false alarms and also giving early warning on traps/cameras.
tta299
White Car Fever
Valentine and another gentelman both together created the escort then valentine went out and made his own .... I like GM others like Ford just whatever you like . I looked into both both are good radar detectors
You need a rabbit out front.
I have a Escort 9500xi as well.
They are coming out with a cord that connects via bluetooth to your iphone.
ESCORT Live - Escort Inc.
They are coming out with a cord that connects via bluetooth to your iphone.
ESCORT Live - Escort Inc.
Last edited by a moderator:
So I broke down and bought the Escort 9500ix today. Yes, it's expensive but so are tickets. As mentioned it has GPS built in to help filter out false alarms and alert you of speed and red light cameras. It is also internet ready so that you can update it without having to send it in. That was a plus in my book. It also gives you 360* protection which is something Valentine likes to claim that other detectors don't.
I'll be putting in about 12-13 hours of driving over the weekend so I'll have a better feel for it after that.
I'll be putting in about 12-13 hours of driving over the weekend so I'll have a better feel for it after that.
I will only add 2 things. the first one is a useful thing some cell phones have called traffic cop or something like that. Trapster. That is it. It is a gps based mapping database where people put in cops as they see them and they show up in real time. It alerts you if you are getting near them. Also speed traps, red light cameras, etc. I believe it is free. And even if the cop was not entered in there on a particular day, it will still show up as a place where they usually hide. on my travels, this program showed every single cop lurking place. Even if you don't speed, it is useful to know where these cops usually attack.
The second thing I will say is important and comes with an example which is a long bunch of words. But my point is that some tickets can cost thousands of dollars now, depending on the state and the circumstances. And I am not talking about raised insurance premiums or peripheral costs.
Beware some tickets are $200-$400 face value, then another $1,500 that you are forced to pay later, after you have already plead guilty on the initial fine. It is a tactic being used by state governments to add to their coffers.
A couple months after the ticket, the state can send you a notice about being enrolled in some type of special improvement program for the state, which you have to pay for. Or lose your license immediately. Good old fashioned strong arm tactics. This added an additional $1,500 to the cost of the original ticket in my case. This is just an example of what happened to me once in NY.
HERE IS THE EXAMPLE:
It actually cost me $1800 including the original ticket amount. This was for a ticket that was given to me by a crooked cop. I was in a slow patch of traffic at a time he said I was going 85mph. It was a work zone, which doubled my fine. it was on a interstate highway, the new york thruway. With a local village cop who's village happened to have an interstate pass through it. I don't remember if he worked for the state troupers or for his village directly. Anyway, in this work zone, they closed one lane. So, because only one lane of traffic is open, everyone is going quite slowly. 40mph to be exact. everyone very close to one another, just waiting to get out of this lane closure bottleneck. This is actually an interesting story.
I rolled right passed this cop in the median at 40mph. I had a Ryder rental truck, filled with church organ parts for a job I was doing. So he pulled me over, and accused me of being a terrorist because I had a ryder truck at night. (it was night because I had to spend the day removing the items from the church). (I guess I am lucky he did not shoot me 20 or 30 times, or send me to guantanamo bay). Anyway, I luckily had a witness in the truck with me, and lots of people were going very slowly in this stretch of road, who could have been witnesses too. So, I offered to show him the contents of the truck, to show that it was not a bomb, or the makings of a bomb. He grilled me about where I came from, what was in the truck etc. I said I came from a Church (!) and that he could call the Father and verify that we had just picked up the organ parts. And he could inspect the organ parts in the back. I gave the name and address of the church, and the father, etc. That is when he changed his tune. He did not want to even open the back of the truck to check on any of this terrible terror stuff that he was so sure I must have had. I was no longer a terrorist. Now I was a speeder. Doing 85, in a traffic jam, in a ryder truck with a speed governor that can't go over 64.5 mph. A double fine ticket. And if I ever got another one in a work zone, my license would be suspended. Why didn't I go to court? Because if this guy does this out on the highway, in front of witnesses, imagine what he does in his own village courtroom, with his buddy the judge holding my fate in his hands. I figured pay the double fine and be glad I was not murdered or arrested by this armed criminal with a badge.
I was not expecting to have to pay another $1500 on top of it.
So beware.
This was the first ticket I had in over 10 years, because I had stopped speeding. But these phony tickets happen all the time. Because in court, why would the judge listen to a honest citizen when there is a hero with a badge opposing him in the courtroom? I have a family member who had no tickets in 42 years of driving, who got one of these phony tickets, and took it to court against my advice. Of course the crooked cop was there, lying under oath, and the judge gave no consideration at all to the 42 year flawless driving record, and automatically ruled against this senior citizen with no criminal record, no traffic citations in her whole life. Then this relative of mine had to pay additional costs for the court appearance. I told her not to go to court...
Oh yeah...I better say this. I have nothing against cops. I actually respect them and wish there were more of them in certain areas. My experience with bad cops is not intended to reflect on good cops, or even cops in general. I only stated true facts in this example. Some names were left out to protect the innocent.
The second thing I will say is important and comes with an example which is a long bunch of words. But my point is that some tickets can cost thousands of dollars now, depending on the state and the circumstances. And I am not talking about raised insurance premiums or peripheral costs.
Beware some tickets are $200-$400 face value, then another $1,500 that you are forced to pay later, after you have already plead guilty on the initial fine. It is a tactic being used by state governments to add to their coffers.
A couple months after the ticket, the state can send you a notice about being enrolled in some type of special improvement program for the state, which you have to pay for. Or lose your license immediately. Good old fashioned strong arm tactics. This added an additional $1,500 to the cost of the original ticket in my case. This is just an example of what happened to me once in NY.
HERE IS THE EXAMPLE:
It actually cost me $1800 including the original ticket amount. This was for a ticket that was given to me by a crooked cop. I was in a slow patch of traffic at a time he said I was going 85mph. It was a work zone, which doubled my fine. it was on a interstate highway, the new york thruway. With a local village cop who's village happened to have an interstate pass through it. I don't remember if he worked for the state troupers or for his village directly. Anyway, in this work zone, they closed one lane. So, because only one lane of traffic is open, everyone is going quite slowly. 40mph to be exact. everyone very close to one another, just waiting to get out of this lane closure bottleneck. This is actually an interesting story.
I rolled right passed this cop in the median at 40mph. I had a Ryder rental truck, filled with church organ parts for a job I was doing. So he pulled me over, and accused me of being a terrorist because I had a ryder truck at night. (it was night because I had to spend the day removing the items from the church). (I guess I am lucky he did not shoot me 20 or 30 times, or send me to guantanamo bay). Anyway, I luckily had a witness in the truck with me, and lots of people were going very slowly in this stretch of road, who could have been witnesses too. So, I offered to show him the contents of the truck, to show that it was not a bomb, or the makings of a bomb. He grilled me about where I came from, what was in the truck etc. I said I came from a Church (!) and that he could call the Father and verify that we had just picked up the organ parts. And he could inspect the organ parts in the back. I gave the name and address of the church, and the father, etc. That is when he changed his tune. He did not want to even open the back of the truck to check on any of this terrible terror stuff that he was so sure I must have had. I was no longer a terrorist. Now I was a speeder. Doing 85, in a traffic jam, in a ryder truck with a speed governor that can't go over 64.5 mph. A double fine ticket. And if I ever got another one in a work zone, my license would be suspended. Why didn't I go to court? Because if this guy does this out on the highway, in front of witnesses, imagine what he does in his own village courtroom, with his buddy the judge holding my fate in his hands. I figured pay the double fine and be glad I was not murdered or arrested by this armed criminal with a badge.
I was not expecting to have to pay another $1500 on top of it.
So beware.
This was the first ticket I had in over 10 years, because I had stopped speeding. But these phony tickets happen all the time. Because in court, why would the judge listen to a honest citizen when there is a hero with a badge opposing him in the courtroom? I have a family member who had no tickets in 42 years of driving, who got one of these phony tickets, and took it to court against my advice. Of course the crooked cop was there, lying under oath, and the judge gave no consideration at all to the 42 year flawless driving record, and automatically ruled against this senior citizen with no criminal record, no traffic citations in her whole life. Then this relative of mine had to pay additional costs for the court appearance. I told her not to go to court...
Oh yeah...I better say this. I have nothing against cops. I actually respect them and wish there were more of them in certain areas. My experience with bad cops is not intended to reflect on good cops, or even cops in general. I only stated true facts in this example. Some names were left out to protect the innocent.
Last edited:
8289ta
Silver Member
Andre - I live in NY and I never heard of the surcharge. Believe me, I am not doubting you as NY is one of the most crooked states in the Union and are only trying to fleece people out of money because they can't cut all their left wing social programs here. Not to mention many of the members of state government have found creative ways to line their pockets with my hard earned tax dollars, some of which include shell projects in their districts that accomplish nothing more then funneling tax dollars into their pockets. But do you know what it's called? I would like to educate myself to this new tax on the working class.
Last edited:
Well quick review on the Escort 9500ix after driving 900+ miles this weekend. On the second day of driving (locally) it was already learning false signals and locking them out. Very cool if you ask me. Most of my driving was on the highway and for the most part I got plenty of advance warning to have time to slow down. And trust me, there were plenty of traps out there. In one instance I was pulling off the highway to go to a hotel for the night and it picked up a strong signal that was staying steady. I then spotted the cop driving parallel to me on an access road but he was still AHEAD of me. So unless he had rear facing radar it was picking up a signal that was pointed in the opposite direction.
The only little quirky thing is a couple of times while on the highway I got alerts for red light cameras that were actually at an intersection near an off ramp. Other than that I'd say it worked very well. :thumbup:
Down the road I'll probably be hardwiring the unit but I'm going to wait to see if they off their LIVE! service on the hardwire cable first.
The only little quirky thing is a couple of times while on the highway I got alerts for red light cameras that were actually at an intersection near an off ramp. Other than that I'd say it worked very well. :thumbup:
Down the road I'll probably be hardwiring the unit but I'm going to wait to see if they off their LIVE! service on the hardwire cable first.
Radar Detector Comment: I don't know if this will be of any value, but I will say that the best radar detector I ever had, and the only one that gave me warning a mile in advance or more, was a very old K40 remote mount system. it had large receivers mounted front and rear. I mounted the recievers as high as possible for the best coverage. Rather than mounting the front unit behind the "grille" (which a tta does not have anyway) I mounted the front unit inside, the car on the dashboard. I actually just placed it there and took it down when I parked the car. The rear unit was mounted up high using one of the screws that holds the interior trim. This is behind the drivers seat on the ceiling between the t-top and rear glass. There is a trim piece there which is held in with screws. That is where the rear unit was mounted, pointing backwards of course.
The only problem is, cops use so many newer radar types now, that this old unit probably won't be effective, as it only detects the old radars x and k I think. But, K40 may have a modern replacement for this. It is nice because the control head is tiny, and mounts wherever you want. I mounted mine just under the dash overhang in front of the steering wheel. You know the dash hangs over the gauges about 5 inches or so, and it makes a nice place to hang the unit which was about 3/4" high and 6" wide. Again, I used screws that were already there. This unit always gave me very advanced warning, and I don't remember false alarms. I kept it on low sensitivity and low volume. It also said if it was front or rear, which was nice. I got this unit used, in a trade for some undisclosed consumable perishable goods in college. The unit came out of a fellow student's father's Jaguar, and reportedly cost over $1,000 in mid 1990's money. If K40 has a modern replacement that works this well it might be something to consider.
***********************************************************
This part is just an answer to a question above, about a NY state fine from some years ago, and a little more of my usual blather which I can't seem to stop writing.
I wish i could remember what that fine or "state program" was called. From time to time I go through my papers, looking for something important. When I find it, I will post it here. I will say, they were nice enough to "let" me pay the $1500 in 3 installments. It was something about safe driving, and the state, and improvement. you know how they make up seemingly important sounding names to make the fleece sound official. I can't remember the exact combination of words. Also, this was a few years ago. It may have been abolished, changed, increased, etc.
I can tell you that they charge me $4,000/month for real estate tax on a 100 acre parcel of vacant land in NY state, which is worth $200k. They claim it has doubled in value in the last year, during which time it has decreased in value. Of course, I went to the "grievance day" to attempt to reason with them, to prevent them from doubling my tax bill overnight. But of course that was a waste of time. They are making me pay for the property over again every 4 years in real estate tax. $48k/year on a $200k vacant parcel, which becomes worth less every time they raise the taxes, because it becomes less desirable to own. It is entirely possible that they will double the tax again, to $96k. That probably will cause the land value to be cut in half, to $100k. Making the yearly tax and the property value equal. Seems to me, at some point people will stop paying. they should sell tax insurance.
(THIS IS FUNNY...They already sell food insurance, for when there are riots in the streets, and society descends into utter chaos. It is a couple bucks/meal per person, and it lasts for 25 years. Freeze dried food for when the whole country goes Katrina. And they sell this on regular am radio between talk shows and ads for gold bullion.)
Now back to radar detectors. (I didn't mean to hijack...my point was that even with a radar detector, or indeed even if you don't speed, you can be fined out of lots of money. Thousands of dollars.)
The only problem is, cops use so many newer radar types now, that this old unit probably won't be effective, as it only detects the old radars x and k I think. But, K40 may have a modern replacement for this. It is nice because the control head is tiny, and mounts wherever you want. I mounted mine just under the dash overhang in front of the steering wheel. You know the dash hangs over the gauges about 5 inches or so, and it makes a nice place to hang the unit which was about 3/4" high and 6" wide. Again, I used screws that were already there. This unit always gave me very advanced warning, and I don't remember false alarms. I kept it on low sensitivity and low volume. It also said if it was front or rear, which was nice. I got this unit used, in a trade for some undisclosed consumable perishable goods in college. The unit came out of a fellow student's father's Jaguar, and reportedly cost over $1,000 in mid 1990's money. If K40 has a modern replacement that works this well it might be something to consider.
***********************************************************
This part is just an answer to a question above, about a NY state fine from some years ago, and a little more of my usual blather which I can't seem to stop writing.
I wish i could remember what that fine or "state program" was called. From time to time I go through my papers, looking for something important. When I find it, I will post it here. I will say, they were nice enough to "let" me pay the $1500 in 3 installments. It was something about safe driving, and the state, and improvement. you know how they make up seemingly important sounding names to make the fleece sound official. I can't remember the exact combination of words. Also, this was a few years ago. It may have been abolished, changed, increased, etc.
I can tell you that they charge me $4,000/month for real estate tax on a 100 acre parcel of vacant land in NY state, which is worth $200k. They claim it has doubled in value in the last year, during which time it has decreased in value. Of course, I went to the "grievance day" to attempt to reason with them, to prevent them from doubling my tax bill overnight. But of course that was a waste of time. They are making me pay for the property over again every 4 years in real estate tax. $48k/year on a $200k vacant parcel, which becomes worth less every time they raise the taxes, because it becomes less desirable to own. It is entirely possible that they will double the tax again, to $96k. That probably will cause the land value to be cut in half, to $100k. Making the yearly tax and the property value equal. Seems to me, at some point people will stop paying. they should sell tax insurance.
(THIS IS FUNNY...They already sell food insurance, for when there are riots in the streets, and society descends into utter chaos. It is a couple bucks/meal per person, and it lasts for 25 years. Freeze dried food for when the whole country goes Katrina. And they sell this on regular am radio between talk shows and ads for gold bullion.)
Now back to radar detectors. (I didn't mean to hijack...my point was that even with a radar detector, or indeed even if you don't speed, you can be fined out of lots of money. Thousands of dollars.)
BuickGN
TTA# 130
I also put a remote style like the K40 remote mount system but a newer system. The Escort 9500ci which has laser shifting also. With the windshield detectors they detect laser but will not scramble which is the only way to get away. After you unit has detected laser he's got a reading. I'm also on the radar detector forum and acquired a set of high-power heads from one of their electronic gurus. It also has GPS for red light cameras. Did a custom install for the laser shifters inside the turn signals. The radar module is behind the bumper and another laser shifter is in the rear. Here's a pic and if you look closely, you'll see the laser shifter. Did not custom install the inside display yet just laying on the shelf right below the gauges towards the right a little bit. Unit was a little pricey but well worth it. Also learns false alarms. Check it out on Escorts site. Those holes you see for the plate cover I took off are all filled in the spoilers straightened out with the help of a heat gun.
Would advise any of you to join that radar detector forum to learn now the laser guns detect and how you could reduce detections, headlights, license plates and coatings. Some great information there.
Would advise any of you to join that radar detector forum to learn now the laser guns detect and how you could reduce detections, headlights, license plates and coatings. Some great information there.
