V1, Redline, 9500ix...

[d-bone]

I know this topic has thoroughly been beaten to death already, and I have read many of the posts, but I still cannot make up my mind... Perhaps some more detailed questions will help.
First off, I live in the Milwaukee area and 90% of my driving is in the Southeastern WI - Milwaukee area, with the majority of the other 10% being on the eastern side of the state going to and from the northeast area of the state. With the rare occasional out-of-state road trip thrown in (eventually those will be increasing slightly with vacations with the wife and kids).
I currently have had an Escort Passport 8500 for the last 10 years or so.

I am looking to finally upgrade, and am trying to decide between the Valentine 1, the Redline, and the 9500xi.
I do love the idea of having arrows!!! I often find myself wondering where the source of the alert is coming from on the old 8500. But, I don't know how much that would actually help in real world... I have heard some people say they love it, and some people say they are overrated... Seems most of the people that have them love them, and most of the people that don't have the V1 think they are overrated! I would probably get Savvvy with the V1 to cut down on the falses in the city, but I understand this area has traffic radar also, and that wouldn't help with that... Does the V1 have a mode to help eliminate that?? If so, would I be hiding potential threats in my area by using it??? That is my biggest concern with the V1.

If I got the Redline, I would probably try the new Escort Live system, to enable false lockouts like the 9500ix. I know the Redline is much more sensitive than the 9500ix, so am leaning towards that combo vs the 9500ix IF I go the Escort route instead of the V1. However, there is something about having the GPS right in the 9500ix instead of ALWAYS needing to fire up the iPhone app and everything, especially on short drives and stuff... Is the Redline really THAT much "better" than the 9500ix?? Is that the consensus, that the Redline with the lockout features of Escort Live trumps the 9500ix in every way?? I know there is more to the Escort Live system than the false lockouts, but the other things would be just "icing on the cake", since that is dependent on other people also using it near me, so depending on how much of a foothold it grabs in my area will determine how successful it will be with that portion of it.

I know the Escort's can be used in expert mode to determine the exact frequency of the threat, which also helps determine the validity of it, but I really don't understand exactly what frequencies that I should be looking for to filter that in my head????

**Will the V1 annoy me with the traffic radar in the area (or leave me vulnerable to threats if it has traffic radar filtering that I enable??)

**If I go with the Escorts, how do I apply expert mode into knowing what is real??

**If I go with the Escorts, Redline with Escort live, or simply 9500ix???

Sorry for the long post, I am an engineer and tend to over-analyze things!!!

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it!!!!
-Derron

[EscortRadar]

When you are new to the detector community it is easy to get a misconception regarding the performance difference that is reported between a RedLine and a 9500ix (or X50 which is equal to a 9500ix). RedLine does indeed offer more detection performance than the other models but this is extreme detection. You can go miles with an alert on a RedLine before you see the radar source. To many people this can be annoying. There are however some situations where this ultra long range is beneficial, such as detecting instant-on radar up ahead in light traffic. The 9500ix is no slacker though, it offers excellent detection performance.

The 9500ix's TrueLock is the most advanced method of eliminating false alerts that is available. It is also extremely easy to use. You can either let it learn and store the false alerts or you can do it yourself manually. You are correct that to use TrueLock on a RedLine with Escort Live you must have it connected to your smartphone with the app running. Note that Escort Live's TrueLock is manual only, there is not automatic option like the 9500ix offers.

Our detectors offer three meter display modes for alerts. The normal bar graph meter, spec meter mode, and expert meter mode. Spec mode is what you are refering to as Expert. Spec meter mode displays the frequency information of the alert. Expert meter mode displays the band and signal strength of multiple received signals simultaneously (up to 4X, 2K, and 2 Ka at once). Some use spec mode to identify if the alert is a false or police radar from the frequency data. Police radar is calibrated regularly so they typically display the same freq/band all the time. The source of false alerts though are not regularly calibrated and can be anywhere in the radar band (sometimes even out of it).

I almost always recommend the 9500ix over the RedLine. RedLine is a great detector but in my experience it's more detector than most need while the 9500ix's features make it much easier to "live with" on a daily basis. After it learns the false alerts in an area, when it alerts, there is a threat nearby.

[KaPro]

In THIS situation I would go with the iX. If I'm reading correctly, you live in a metro area probably with a plethora of falsing. The iX is a VERY capable detector and will serve you well. You, being an engineer, will be delighted with the abundance of [U]useful[U] features that the iX has built in. At the risk of being pummeled, I have owned several V1's and in my opinion, they are nearly unbearable in metro areas. Best of luck in your decision!

[d-bone]

Thanks for the responses so far, guys!

To clarify a little, of my driving in the Milwaukee area, the majority of it is in the suburbs, with a decent amount of it on the interstate. That is why I am more concerned with the traffic radar affecting the V1 - when I am in the city, it will generally be at the lower speeds, and the Savvy adapter should keep the V1 pretty quiet in that situation...

[AvsBest]

You didn't mention what you usually encounter on your drives. C/O, I/O, laser?

I would love arrows on my Redline but what is a deal breaker for me with V1 is the fact that it doesn't have the spec mode. Some might say who cares but I do. With the frequency you may be able to tell what gun they are using. i.e. 35.5 ghz vs 34.7 ghz. Not that it matters that much but if you know what gun can do what, you might be able to prepare your approach to the source accordingly.

[vbwilkes]

If you do not drive in VA...V1 Hands down

[NormSky]

Seems like all the top RD have a traffic speed radar(tsr) filters. The V1's delay is less than a second and is the fastest where the Belscort products have about a 2 second delay.

All depends on what your up againist.

[d-bone]

You didn't mention what you usually encounter on your drives. C/O, I/O, laser?

it's a pretty good mix of C/O and I/O, with some laser (not much laser, but some) - I understand any detector won't be much of any help against laser, at some point in the future I would love to add a good laser jammer, but that is not in the budget right now...

[d-bone]

You didn't mention what you usually encounter on your drives. C/O, I/O, laser?

It is a pretty good mix of C/O and I/O, with some laser also (not much laser, but some). I realize any radar detector is pretty useless against laser, at some point in the future I would love to add a laser jammer to the system, but that is not in the budget right now...

[Obsidian]

Having owned all three, including 2 V1's I would recommend, in order:

1. Redline
2. 9500ix
3. V1

If you want quietest, get the 9500ix. Redline falses a lot, but in Auto mode it falses less than a V1 too.