V1 Vs. X50, an impartial Newb's view...

[MacTech]

I just recieved my Refurb V1 today, the darned thing looks brand new, you could never tell it was a refurb....

anyway, I've had about a week driving with my X50, so I've gotten to know it's little idiosyncracies, and where it falses

Since I have yet to encounter police radar with the V1, I can't compare the performance of the two on a legitamite source of radar, *yet*

So, I decided to evaluate what I could, ergonomics, functionality, and such, looking at them as purely impartially as I can....

Weight;
The X50 feels *slightly* heavier than the V1, the V1 actually feels a tiny bit...flimsy, compared to the X50,
Advantage; X50

Size;
The X50 is longer than the V1, the V1 is shorter, yet wider than the X50, the V1 fits my Saturn Ion's steeply raked windshield better
Advantage; V1

Mounting hardware construction;
The X50's windshield bracket is a simple bent sheet of metal with four position notches in it, and a pair of suction cups supplied with it, these stock suction cups *DO NOT* hold very well in cold weather, and should be replaced with a set of "Small" suction cups from the Michaels craft store, the metal bracket must be bent to hold the detector at the proper angle, bending and re-bending the bracket will weaken it over time, leading to failure, however, the quick-release pushbutton on the top of the X50 works brilliantly and allows the X50 to easily be slid on and off the mount

the V1's bracket is plastic, has a metal "release bar" to make the suction cups easier to release from the windshield, but the bracket itself is 95% plastic, rather cheap-feeling plastic at that, Valentine Research does supply two spare sets of suction cups with the bracket, one large set, and one standard set, installing the V1 in it's windshield bracket is a little more fiddly, as you have to align the brackets on the side of the mount precisely with the channels on the V1, the angle of the V1 is controlled by sliding the detector forward and backwards in the mount, there is a small rubber bumper at the back of the detector that braces the V1 against the windshield and bracket, to release the V1 from it's mount, you need to press down on a tab on the bracket and slide the detector forwards out of the mount
Bracket construction; Advantage X50 (Metal trumps plastic)
Bracket *USABILITY*; Advantage V1 (the V1 bracket is more adjustable and won't suffer from metal fatigue stress cracks if it's bent and re-bent, like the X50's mount)
Quick-Release functionality; Advantage X50

User Interface;
The V1 is a much *simpler* interface and has two moving parts, the power/volume knob and the mute volume lever, just turn it on and go, no need to set brightness levels or try to figure out which pushbutton does what (which one is the dimmer again and which one changes modes?....), switching filter modes is as simple as holding in the power switch for a second, muting the detector, a simple tap of the power button

the X50 has a more *sophisticated* user interface, two pushbuttons and a volume knob/power switch, as well as the quick-release button on the top of the unit, it can be as simple as the V1, or as complicated, you can select three meter displays, four dimness settings, have a cool "Cylon-esque" scanning dot, lock out individual bands, etc... very customizeable, definitely one for the gadget-lover

My personal preference is simplicity, so I really appreciate the turn-on-and-go simplicity of the V1's interface
Advantage; V1
(I know both detectors can be customized extensively, but for Grab-It-And-Go simplicity, the V1 wins, for me)

Information presented to the driver;
I imagine most of you here will expect the V1 to win by a mile on this one, what with the arrows and all, well read on.... you may be surprised

the V1's display presents a lot of information to the driver in a very clean, simple manner, the band of radar(s) detected, the direction, number, strength, and which one is the greater threat , the arrows are simplicity itself, however, the rest of the display *IS* a little visually cluttered, and it's somewhat difficult to determine the band(s) being detected at night, given the monochrome red display

the X50's display can be as simple or as complicated as the driver wants, a simple strength bar graph, the multi-source tracking ExpertMeter, or the SpecMode, showing you what frequency radar you're encountering, personally, I like the ExpertMeter, as it shows you the strength of each band detected (within limits), and thanks to the text display, it's easy to tell, day or night, what band(s) are hitting you, and how strong *each* of them is, V1 only shows the strongest source of multi-bogey hits
Advantage; Neither
They're *BOTH* great detectors and present a wealth of info to the driver, If there was a way to add a Bogey Counter and Arrows onto the X50, we'd have an unbeatable detector, combine ExpertMeter, SpecMode, Bogey Counter and Arrows and we'd have the ultimate tool

personally, I give the nod to the V1 because of the utility of the arrows, I like to know where the threat is, not just that there is a threat in the area, YMMV

Sensitivity; Tie
both detectors falsed at my common false alarm locations at the same time and distance, sometimes the X50 was ahead, sometimes the V1 was, either detector gives more than adequate response time to an attentive driver

Chattiness; Tie
there was no difference in the chattiness of both detectors, running the X50 in Highway while driving through Portsmouth's retail district garnered just as many falses as the V1 in All-Bogeys mode

Audio;
both detectors have smooth ramp-up and give the driver a great sense of how close they are to the radar source without having to look at the display, however, I've noticed that *MY* Rev. 5 X50 seems to have a slightly better ramp-up, it keeps going up and up until you get to a flatline-tone when you're right next to the radar source, my V1 has not gone to flatline tone, the beeping just gets more and more rapid, however, the V1's "Bogey Lock" tone makes up for the lack of flatline tone, the X50 (in Spec display) does not alert the driver when it encounters additional sources, it just changes tones to the greatest threat tone
Advantage; V1

Final thoughts;
Both the X50 and V1 are stellar performers, either one (or both) is worth owning, each detector has advantages the other lacks, and vice-versa, if you can afford it, the best solution is to "buy both", if you can only buy one, well, you've got a tough choice ahead of you, they both have merits and flaws, it's up to *you* to decide....

Me, I choose......

BOTH!

Interesting pieces of trivia;
the V1 can be falsed deliberately on laser by the following devices;
infrared remote control
Inova 24/7 LED flashlight on red/amber emergency strobe, as the red LED dims, it triggers a laser alert
any powerful incandescent flashlight, like a SureFire A2 Aviator, or a Mag Instrument MagCharger, the V1 is responding to the infrared (heat) produced by the incandescent bulb

[amoney]

Did the V1 come with a paper tab hooked around the power/volume knob? Just curious?

The weight thing, I dont really see any importance, perhaps lighter is better, certainly keeps the RD momentum from bouncing around. The V1 sits very securly (be sure to have the front of the V1 sit against the windshield (I did not realize untill a week later).

Chattiness; Tie
there was no difference in the chattiness of both detectors, running the X50 in Highway while driving through Portsmouth's retail district garnered just as many falses as the V1 in All-Bogeys mode

Awhile back Dave and others also impressed upon me that the V1 was no more chatty then the next premium detector.

:wink:

[Jabomb9]

Mine did - new.

[MacTech]

Yep, mine shipped with the paper tab as well

as far as the weight thing goes, good point, a lighter detector is less likely to self-detach the mount from the windshield, my reasoning behind the weight thing was the general feeling that "heavier=better" a heavier detector feels more expensive, like you're getting more for your money, it's clearly a tactile/psychosomatic thing

I was expecting the V1 to be heavier, is all...

[amoney]

Yep, mine shipped with the paper tab as well

as far as the weight thing goes, good point, a lighter detector is less likely to self-detach the mount from the windshield, my reasoning behind the weight thing was the general feeling that "heavier=better" a heavier detector feels more expensive, like you're getting more for your money, it's clearly a tactile/psychosomatic thing

I was expecting the V1 to be heavier, is all...

Sure.

:wink:



The magnesium casing I think help shed some weight.

People have said the STi is pretty "hefty" as far as a detector goes. And that is a magnesium detector as well.

:?

Is the 9500 magnesium? I dont remember, part of me wants to think yes? Hmmm?

[Esoterica]

Interesting read, thanks for taking the time to write all that up, I enjoyed reading it.

You left out an important comparison though, price.

I thought I read you got some kind of deal on both, 1 refurbished, 1 used or something?

What was the price comparison between the two on what you actually paid and what they regularly cost.

I never had an interest in the 8500 and never looked to see how much they cost, guess I could go look, but easier to just be lazy and ask.

Do you feel the price you paid for both was justified in the actual products your now holding in your hands or do you feel you maybe over or under paid for one or the other?

Maybe I just thought this and have been wrong, but I always thought the 8500 was considerably cheaper than the V1, I guess that's my main interest in asking.

If that's correct it sounds like you consider both detectors to be on equal ground just going by your score card, I find that interesting as well.

Then again the important factors will come after you've had some time to use both and actually report back with your findings on that. After all, the main reason for the things in the first place is detection, everything else is superficial.

Keep us posted, sounds like your trying hard to do an unbiased comparison of both.

[MacTech]

the V1 was a refurb from VR ($359)
the X50 was a "demo" model from my local Tweeter Etc. ($270)

both were priced slightly less than retail

even at retail given the similar performance of both detectors, the X50 has a *MAJOR* advantage on price

one other variable is that the X50 was an older 2004 vintage Ver. 5 S7 model, largely regarded as the "best" version of the X50

are the Arrows and Bogey Counter worth the extra $100, that's for you to decide, for me, they were

[kaotik78]

If you are keeping both does that mean your going to use them side by side or toss one in another car? Curious cause I've seen some people wish they had the V1 and spec mode to boot.

Interesting writeup, including the falses in Po-town. Is it easier or more difficult switching from the x50 to V1 given the led dot readout having to decypher what band of radar, etc?

[Esoterica]

$359 and $270, that's not that much difference in price, about $100, still both average to within the $300 range based on what you paid. I guess I didn't realize the 8500's were that much, I was thinking it was more like maybe a $200 detector new.

[amoney]

...Is it easier or more difficult switching from the x50 to V1 given the led dot readout having to decypher what band of radar, etc?

Having come from using a Bel procduct (same as the Escort), the switch to the V1 seemed "difficult" initially, the Bel/Escort are much easier visually to know. But soon after I quickly adjusted to the V1, and can reasily know the band identification.

$359 and $270, that's not that much difference in price, about $100, still both average to within the $300 range based on what you paid. I guess I didn't realize the 8500's were that much, I was thinking it was more like maybe a $200 detector new.

And then there is the blue X50 that costs $339. Bel is no better with 995 or RX65... $299 and $329 respectively.

Back when my Bel985 was the top detector, it was only $250 compared to the V1 $399. But back then Bel and Escort were competitors now that Escort owns Beltronics... there is NO competition in pricing.