9500ix and V1

[SoulSeeker]

Seems like the 9500ix and V1 are the most talked about RD's, so I would like some insight from people who actually owned both of them, if you only own one and not the other, start your own thread in another forum.

I don't want this to be one dimensional and bash one against the other, this is to help everybody out there who would like to read about real experiences, and can make a logical choice for themselves.

Posting that one of the RD's sucks and the other works better doesn't help anybody in the long run, I don't want controversial crap about this and that, I would actually like to read about real experiences in the city and highway and how each one worked for you.

Share information about what you gained and what you lost in both of your RD's.

It would also help to know what settings you have your RD's set to, and how they have helped you.

I would also like to know which one you kept and why.

Keep it clean, and if you can't, go knock on someone else's thread.

Thanks for reading.

[Batman]

Ive written about this so many times in the past couple of weeks. Just read my previous posts.

[Batman]

Okay, here I go at it again:

What I have found is that people's perspectives are heavily conditioned by where they live. If you live in a rural area, and most of your driving is highway in between cities, but not driving in cities, then V1 is typically the best choice. Reason is V1 is the only detector that got 5/5 I/Os in the radar tests. 9500ci got 4/5 though so its similar, and some V1s only got 4/5 so the difference when you account for manufacturing variability is really small. The 9500ix only got 2/5 and people forget that the ci is much better than ix at I/O even though they share similar software. The ci has a much more powerful antenna, and for range is better than a V1. The reason it's slightly less effective on I/O is the filtering logic. In my personal usage I have found 9500ix to be quite good at I/O but obviously test circumstances may be more challenging.

In an urban area, a V1 will go nuts, and you will have false alerts going off so often you won't know how to respond. This uncertainty means you either drive slow all the time, or you ignore alerts you think are false and then you get caught. The 9500ci is really smart about filtering out falses. When it locks a signal it locks out the very specific frequency the alert is on, and K band for electric doors is different freq to police guns, so police don't get locked out. So the difference is its really quiet, but it picks up all the cop encounters (I have never missed one).

Also the 9500ci has speed and red light cameras - which is huge - because no radar detector can pick them up effectively. If you go to V1 forum they will admit that V1 is not effective against speed cameras. You need a GPS detector like the 9500ci or 9500ix to do that.

Bottom-line if you drive in a city get a 9500ci, if you drive in the countryside get a V1. 9500ci and ix - Better at red light and speed cameras, more noticeable alerts in city because you know what's real, conditions heightened response to alerts given fewer false positives, better range for most radar types.

I have a 9500ci and a 9500ix for travel for precisely these reasons. I used to have a V1, but Mike won't get my business back until he has GPS built-in, and ability to lock out falses.

[Z1NONLY]

Some testing I did with both of mine...

http://www.radardetector.net/forums/...vs-x50-s7.html

Radar detector(s) test

[steve f]

As noted, for highway driving, the V1. If K-band/X-band alerts from door openers drive you crazy, and you drive the same route a lot, get the 9500ix. If you can put up with door opener alerts, but speed cameras and redlight cameras are a big concern, a V1 along with a Cheetah C50 will cover those bases.

One thing that I think is a little overblown is the chattiness of the V1 in city driving compared to other detectors. I had a Bel RX65 that I ran in Autoscan, and it was still about as noisy as the V1. Any good detector is going to alert to a K-band or X-band source that's only 100 feet away (absent GPS lockout capability).

Additional points in favor of the 9500ix are voice alerts & automute which are nice to have, and would cost Valentine very little to implement, but which the V1 nonetheless lacks

I mainly need a detector for out of town driving, and the V1 works fine for me.

[badbart]

How much better is the 9500ci vs 9500ix for QT and IO? I have a 9500ix and I've been contiplating upgrading to a V1 and Cheetah or a 9500ci.

[SoulSeeker]

Appreciate the feedback, this is some good info, hopefully other's can share more of their experiences.

[steve f]

How much better is the 9500ci vs 9500ix for QT and IO? I have a 9500ix and I've been contiplating upgrading to a V1 and Cheetah or a 9500ci.

Check the CounterMeasures and Testing board, I think there were some IO/QT tests done and the 9500CI looked pretty good. The 9500ix seems to be about the same as the other m4 based detectors, and on that note, the CI & IX are two different platforms, M3 & M4 respectively with the CI being a much more advanced detector. Another alternative is the now discontinued Bel STi-R (also M3 based)which I've seen as low as $599 from an authorized dealer, and lower from unauthorized dealers.

[SoulSeeker]

steve f let us know about your redline as well to help many others.

[steve f]

steve f let us know about your redline as well to help many others.

I will. Right now I'm just driving back and forth to work, typically no police activity at all. I recently drove about 90 miles (180 mile roundtrip) into the N. Ga mountains, didn't encounter a single police or patrol car with their radar on, just one accident off to the side. I've been trying to find an excuse to get out of town again. I had the V1 along on a roadtrip a couple of weeks ago and encountered a lot of interesting police activity, but unfortunately I didn't have the Redline at that point.