Comments on: radar laser detector Interrelated Information

By: Upchurch

Upchurch — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:06:48 +0000

Really a great buy. And it works everytime. I have avoided many problems because of it.

By: Umbricht

Umbricht — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 23:07:30 +0000

This radar detector is the best one I have ever used. Not slightly better, unbelievably better.

I originally bought a Valentine V1 and I was very impressed with its range but couldn't take it going off all of the time.

I then purchased this one and it has made all the difference. I sent the Valentine V1 back. This one picks up nearly as far. It may have slightly less range than the V1 but still way more than anything else. But it is worth the difference. It rarely goes off on false alarms, but after a week it had learned all of the few false alarms in my city and now it never goes off unless it is real.

I went with a friend on a work trip 8 hours away and we took my Escort in his car. He was very impressed. It only went off about 7 times and all of them were real. The first time it went off, we didn't see anything and he said "so much for the false alarms." But then after a few minutes a police car topped the hill. The range was just so good you couldn't see the car yet but it could! After that trip, he is definitely buying one.

I live in Alabama and have never seen the speed camera part of it work since we don't have those in the cities I have visited but I have used the Mark button to mark entrances of places where I have trouble finding the driveway at night and it works great. It goes off about 500 ft before and starts counting down distance. It even shows an arrow to let you know what side of the road it is on.

The V1 is built better physically with its metal case and physical knob. This one has a cheaper plastic case and buttons but the electronics and GPS are so advanced. The brightness of the LED's can be put in automatic so the brightness varies with the sun so at night it is not blinding you but it gets really bright during the day so you can see it. And the display on the front can be changed to show different things. I have mind doing a KITT type thing with a dot scanning back and forth. Looks kind of cool. And I really like the voice announcements. I thought I would turn that feature off, but instead I really like it. The volume also softens after the initial beeps so it gets your attention but then quits being so loud. All these settings and tons more can be adjusted using internal menus on it.

By: Habrat

Habrat — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:58:43 +0000

I previously owned the 8500 it is a good radar detector, but it is no where near as good as 9500xi. The false alarms are almost none existence and with the auto learn feature the alarms will be gone in no time. The is step but I was able to purchase mine on a open box policy for less.

By: Erving

Erving — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:08:58 +0000

I bought two of these off Amazon after my wife and I got speeding tickets the same day after many years ticket free.
The GPS aware is very cool. I have a speed camera intersection in my area and the unit warns me as I approach it. I have not noticed yet whether the auto learn feature for false alarms is working as advertised but the concept is very cool. I bought this unit because I want “set it and forget it” functionality. Be aware that in order to update the unit, you have to supply your own USB cable and you need to be connected to 12v power, most likely in the car unless you have a 12v power supply laying around.

By: Vales

Vales — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:35:37 +0000

This a great radar detector, however mine had a problem and had to be sent back, Amazon made me send it back to the manufacturer instead of replacing it. It was only a month old. Still would buy another one just not from Amazon