May get a V1... is CD near the gauges a good idea?

[supercowpowers]

Hello all. Due to a recent encounter, the details of which I don't want showing up in court, I have first hand experience with how dangerous the lack of situational awareness that the ghetto Belscort displays offers is. All I can say is that I was totally oblivious to what should have been an easy save because my 955 was screaming about a speed sign I passed a half mile earlier. I know I also have an RX-65 with the threat mode, but the POS only shows 2 K signals at a time (ghetto) and for some reason the audio sounds crappy in that mode so I don't like to use it.

I feel like a tard because about a week after I got my first detector (the 955) I thought about how I could get screwed in that situation, but after I passed through this area 500 times and nothing was there, I let my guard down.

So anyway, I'm fairly sure I'm getting a V1, I'm just pondering how I'm going to install it, and if I can think of a workable arrangement I'll pull the trigger on the purchase.

I know it's going near the headliner, either with a visor mount, the visor bag radarbusters.com sells, or above the mirror - I don't want to mount lower so it's not conspicuous when in use and because of being unable to hide the mount. The problem, however, is that I would imagine the V1's big, informative display would be rather conspicuous up there, and much of the situational awareness would be negated because I'd be less likely to look up there.

What would be perfect for me, as a driver, would be if I could mount the concealed display near my instrument cluster, as such...



Unfortunately, that presents some issues...



There's not really any other place in the car for the CD where I could easily mount it and still create an improvement over the viewing angle of the V1 itself. Does anyone else run a CD in that location? What are you thoughts on it?

[OPTiK]

Mount it high with the suction cups on the windshield, thats how i did it and i have great detection range. I also have my CD in instrument panel. Either way if you get pulled over your gonna want to hide your detector and quick disconnect the CD if you want to be totally stealth. I have a non-metallic tint strip so the detector can't be seen outside the car.

[SquiddOhio]

I have mine mounted high on the windshield with the windshield mount, and hard wired in. The plug comes out above the right visor, so very little cord is showing. I have the CD mounted with velcro on the top left corner of the dash - in your photo, this would be just above the circular vent to the left of the steering wheel. I have a shelf in front of the instrument cluster similar to yours, but this is less accessible and you have the wire problem. (Also, if you do get stopped, it takes 3 seconds to unplug the CD and drop it to the floor or into your shirt pocket.) I find that having the CD lower, at the bottom of the gauges, is just as far out of my line of sight as up near the mirror, and have used this CD location for many years, in three different cars. Finally, if you park the car or do not need the CD (I use it mainly for longer trips) it is quick and easy to remove the CD and tuck the wire out of sight to the left.
I'd say pull the trigger, get the V1 and the CD, pick up some cord at the Rat Shack, some velcro squares at the Depot and install soonest. Experiment with the CD location, as it is easy to change its location once the V1 is in place.

[The Invisible Vervet]

I considered the spot you're thinking of but some of my idiot lights would be obscured.

My instrument cluster is pretty similar to yours with the tach on the left, and, like your car, mine is also an automatic, thereby rendering the tach more or less non-critical.

I ended up putting my display in the following spot. Nothing is hard-wired in yet (waiting until I get a CB, then doing everything at once) so there's a power cord running from my instrument cluster over my dash and into the crevice between windshield and dash (the cord was too short to route it along the base of the A-pillar and out of sight) but the CD itself is fairly well concealed by the cowl of my cluster. With my V1 mounted above the RVM, a LEO would have to be looking at things from a pretty particular angle in order for the CD to really jump out at him.



I had to do some jerry-rigging to get it to stay in place (industrial strength velcro on top of the CD, a cut down hard plastic tube from the roll of baggies that my dogs' poo bags come on wrapped in 3M Dual Lock to account for the curvature of the cowl and to keep the CD level, and another strip of velcro on the underside of the cowl--I'll snap a pic and post it later because this is confusing...) but I've been quite happy with it. No turning of the head necessary, just a quick glance...

[snoopyc4]

^^ Agreed. You could also mount the CD on the "roof" of your instrument cluster in between your RPM gauge and your speedometer.

[mswlogo]

There are two ways to attack that situation. A GPS or a Bogey count.

Both have flaws.

There is no way I can track bogey counts, I have too much going on in my head when driving.

GPS DOES have RISK, I won't deny that. But in many siutuations it would catch that situation. Where a Bogey counter depends on YOU.

I don't know if my unit had ghosting issues but Bogey Counter just bounced around like crazy. And it would be VERY hard to know if the environment changed.

Keep an open mind. No detector is perfect and you really should try both entensively and see which matches your needs best.

Neither is bad, neither is perfect.

Both is ideal (9500ci with V1).

[stinger11]

Best option imo is to integrate it into the dash. My set up when I can afford it is going to look something like this

[OldGoat]

- -Welcome
- - - -to
The Light

^^ Agreed. You could also mount the CD on the "roof" of your instrument cluster in between your RPM gauge and your speedometer.

My choice, as well. I can't see the 'glass' so I cant tell how far away the CD could be mounted. Discretion has it mounted as far back as possible (on the same plane as the instrument cluster). Convenience allows you to gracefully reach the Mute/Mode button.

Consider where your eyes go, during an alert.

• Speedo
• Detector - - - } No particular order
• Road {- - - - - -as each encounter is unique

Locating the CD near the Speedo reduces your areas of focus by 33%. A single glance at the dash yields the needed info.

[focalcivic]

You can mount it on the left side of cluster as you show, use velcro so you can remove it when you park, that is what I do. There is a little wire showing, but not really noticeable.

[Monoxcide]

You could do what I did and mount it high and limo tint your whole car so nobody can see leech off your detector. I don't mind glancing upwards at the arrows.

To be stealth though the left upper portion of the instrument cluster would be best. The Mazda 6 hood over the gauge cluster would hide the CD in that position.