Valentine One Radar Detector...worthless

[JACKJONES]

I bought a Valentine One on March 18 and have traveled a few thousand miles since. I could never understand how every Highway patrol I met had his radar turned off, since I never once got an alert. I get lots of false alerts, including those from farm tractors who have GPS and self steering capabilities. I got a speeding ticket for going 81 in a 65 on May 18. This detector never did sound, even when the patrol car was right in front of me and parked behind me. I live in a rural state and there were only two cars on the road, me and the patrol.

I sent the detector to Valentine and they now called and said I have to pay $45 to have them fix their product that never worked in the first place. I am not going to let this go, and my credit card issuer is going to do a charge back to start with. This product is a P.O.S!

[Bmw Power]

Its a radar/laser locator not a cop detector. If your V1 is brand new it wont cost you anything to get it checked out. What setting's is your V1 set at? What version is it?

[RadarReviews_Net]

Do you know what INSTANT ON radar is?

[JACKJONES]

No it's not a cop detector, my point was even at point blank I did not get an alert. Valentine has the detector, the only model the book says is Valentine One.

Instant on? On page three of the manual it says switch power on and enjoy full coverage. I get plenty of false alerts, but never a one from an HP. And plenty of alerts from those speed indicators set up by road work crews, etc.

Valentine has already called and said they will not touch it unless I send them $45. I appreciate you guys responding, I wish I had found this site before I bought.

[RadarReviews_Net]

Originally Posted by JACKJONES

No it's not a cop detector, my point was even at point blank I did not get an alert. Valentine has the detector, the only model the book says is Valentine One.

Instant on? On page three of the manual it says switch power on and enjoy full coverage. I get plenty of false alerts, but never a one from an HP. And plenty of alerts from those speed indicators set up by road work crews, etc.

Valentine has already called and said they will not touch it unless I send them $45. I appreciate you guys responding, I wish I had found this site before I bought.

Jack, honestly I have used MANY radar detectors and to me the Valentine One radar detector is the best unit on the market. You can go to their website valentineone.com and type in the serial number of your unit first...make sure you have the most up to date unit.

Just in case you dont know... "instant on radar"

Its a technology cops have against people with radar detectors....what it means....is a cop can sit "radar" silence....basically they can fire radar at a car on demand and a radar detector cant detect them UNTIL they fire their radar at the car....this is why when you do speed you would want a rabbit....what a rabbit means...is basically a car in front of you that is speeding that you will use as bait that you know the cop will shoot ahead. Now the valentine one radar I would say is safe to be at least 1.5 miles behind the rabitt or maybe even 2 miles....the valentine one radar I have received alerts up to 3.5 miles away or less sometimes even...

For example when I am traveling if I am going to speed over the posted speed limit I make sure I have a path up cars in front of me....which I know the cop will be hitting.

A radar detector no matter HOW GOOD IT IS....even the valentine one radar is useless if you are on a lonely road with just you by yourself....a cop can hit you with instant on radar and bam their is your ticket...if you ever see your radar go silent and then BAM full blast...that would be instant on radar against you.... that is why you never want to speed unless you have some traffic ahead of you that the cop would probably hit first with his radar.....

If you received a radar ticket the radar detector such as the valentine one radar had to go off, no way it cant go off...not saying you radar didnt go off....if it didnt for a radar ticket and you got a ticket for radar....I would for sure have it looked at. Now if it was a "laser" ticket....this is where the cop is using a gun and pointing it at you that shoots laser....sure your valentine one radar may never have gone off. The laser beam is so small and narrow....the closer to the unit that shot you the LESS chance your radar detector will get the laser alert considering how narrow it is....the FARTHER...away you are from the unit that is shooting the laser at you the MORE chance your radar detector will pick it up...given the size of the laser beam GREATLY is increased...

I think most members will agree the Valentine one radar is probably one of the best units to detect laser.

All radar detectors ALL have a challenge against laser with very small notice...if you ever receive a laser alert....chances are the cop is 1/4 mile or less away from you...or you are being hit by the cop right then and there.

To avoid laser look at a laser jammer. There are some popular "diode" jammer heads like the LPP (laser pro park) which my sponsor DMI-Sport in the top right sells, or also the Blinder....these are probably the top two diode laser jammers to jam the cop from reading your speed on laser.... you cant jam Radar as it is a felony if caught....not worth the risk for the one unit out there the scorpion that can jam a cop using radar.

Also there are some led based jammers as well that Escort has out there for sale as well like the new ZR4 laser jammer.

I hope this helps....I wasnt sure how much information you know about radar and laser guns....tried to give you as much as I could

[JACKJONES]

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I certainly do appreciate it.

My research told me the Valentine One was the best on the market so that is why I bought it, and was puzzled as to why it would never give me an alert, even when I was not speeding and met many highway patrol. The ticket I got specified radar not laser (I recently got a no point ticket from laser, and I know where this guy sits all the time now ). I agree with you that even with instant on radar the Valentine should have given me an alert. That is my major concern. Here in ND the ticket for 15 mph over is only $45 and 1 point so it is no big deal, but I travel SD and WY frequently and habitually speed so that is the reason I was so disappointed. It seems like it never picked up radar from the time I started using it.

The Valentine seems very sensitive to speed indicators set near road construction and small towns, picking them up for 2 miles at least.

I guess my next step will be to call Valentine and ask them to at least tell me if it is defective. I hesitate to pay the $45 since it seems I am paying them to fix something that didn't work in the first place. It should be under warranty, too. I bought it from Cricket Ventures as far as I could tell it was new in the box. According to the serial number entered on the Valentine site: "Radar circuitry known in-house as V1.8—POP2 with Euro Mode. This is our latest and best performer on both radar and laser."

[Anonymous]

Its one of the reason why people think RD (Radar Detectors) don't work and opposite side rely on it like they're invisible to LEOs (Law Enforcement Officer).

When I got my Escort Passport 8500 X50 for 4 months before I got my V1, I relied on it so much that I was brainwashed and thinking that I would never get a Ticket and had many close calls until I figured that State Troopers or Highway Patrols used "Instant On". Luckily, I had a Rabbit driving with me for several times.

V1 (Valentine One) is the most sensivitive RD in the Market on any Radar Bands so thats a good thing. If you think your V1 not working then try going nearby Store with "Door Openers" that alerts on either K or X so go there and take your V1 and point at Door Opener from your parking space. If you get the alert like 3 or more dots depending how far you are then you are OK on X and K. It may not still be 100% that Door Openers can tell you that your V1 is working but its worth a try. On Ka Band, you'll just have to drive around on Highway to make sure if its working at a resonable alert distance and make sure you go Speed Limit until you feel more confident with your V1 then your good to go. Like I said, don't rely on your V1 so much.

If not, then you can send it to them and if you bought it recently then you should be under warrenty and it won't cost you anything beside Shipping.

[Nighthawk243]

What state are you in? If your state uses laser, then any detector alone won't help.

Anyways, Radar Detectors, be it a 40 dollar Cobra ESD-7000 or a 750 dollar Beltronics STi-R should not be completely trusted. Situational awareness should be your number 1 and most used asset in your arsenal. Military pilots have thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars worth of Radar detection and jamming equipment, but ask any military pilot and they will tell you that a lack of situational awareness WILL result in a missile heading up your ass when on a combat mission. The military has equipment that is lightyears ahead of our little windshield mount units, yet even they are not immune to falsing or not detecting legit threats. Radar detectors and other tools we use are to be a SUPPLEMENT to our situational awareness, NOT a replacement for it.

I have had, by far, more saves using my situational awareness than I have ever had with any radar detector unit. If I get any odd feeling at all, I will not hesitate to downshift.

[Dr. SVO]

Another thing where your RD won't go off is if they're pacing you, no need for radar or laser if the decide to do that. So we go back to ones eyes. If you're alone on the road the possibilities of getting nailed increase dramatically. By the way I'm also using the V1 and it has been flawless.

[Nighthawk243]

Originally Posted by JACKJONES

I guess my next step will be to call Valentine and ask them to at least tell me if it is defective. I hesitate to pay the $45 since it seems I am paying them to fix something that didn't work in the first place. It should be under warranty, too. I bought it from Cricket Ventures as far as I could tell it was new in the box. According to the serial number entered on the Valentine site: "Radar circuitry known in-house as V1.8—POP2 with Euro Mode. This is our latest and best performer on both radar and laser."

By the way, don't expect much of a warranty out of it. Cricket Ventures is NOT an authorized reseller for Valentine Research. The ONLY authorized seller of the V1 is Valentine Research.

I hope you didn't pay more than $400 for it through CV though... if you did, you got jobbed. Its 350 for a refurb on Valentine's site, 400 for new.

*Edit: looking at CV's site, you overpaid by $100... return the unit to them if you can for a refund, then buy the V1 from Valentine Research directly... You should get a working unit, AND a warranty... AND your $100 dollars back.*