Let me begin by saying that the previous detector that I had was a whistler xtr-695se, which some say can keep up with the big boys on ka using KaMAX mode. The one thing that I felt it was missing was a little bit of range. So when I had the chance, I sold it and purchased a "returned" V1.
I've driven about 400 miles with it so far through NYC, NJ, and upstate NY. In a word, this thing KICKS ASS. I never thought that the arrows were that useful because with the Whistler, I could tell whether I was moving towards or away from a stationary target by the signal strength. Where the arrows were really useful was in determining if I'm being shot from behind or if someone is approaching me from behind with C/O. The reactivity and sensitivity was also really good. My first trip up, I was able to pick up C/O from about 1/2 mile away around a bend with the cop on the shoulder facing AWAY from me. The 2nd encounter was I/O shooting at the cars in front of me, once again, from around the corner. The V1 picked up a blip from about a mile out, giving me about 30 seconds worth of warning before I saw the officer coming around the corner.
The BIGGEST surprise about the detector was how quiet it was. I expected something with this much sensitivity to be a chatter box compared to the whistler. I realized, after confirming with a few board members, that it just did a better job of verifying what signals were real and false. This is most apparent when I drive through brooklyn and manhattan because the V1 is actually QUIETER than the Whistler by about 25% to x-k falses and almost 50% to ka-falses. I think it's something that should definitely be conveyed to new owners of the V1 who are coming from low/mid-end detectors because it certainly caught me by surprise and made me think my V1 was defective!
One of the first things I did was turn ka-guard and pop off but that turned out to be a little too noisy. So far now, ka-guard is back on and pop remains off. Does anyone have any idea, quantitatively how much difference pop on/off makes?
The 2nd thing I did was make the display easier to see. The thing is near impossible to see where the dials are at night. I put 2 strips of white tape on it to make it easier to see. Then I put a small dot of tape over k-band and strip over the x-band. This makes it much easier to distinguish at a glance what bands it is since I'm not able to tell the difference in sound. The last thing I did was put a small strip of tape down the center of the arrows where the LED's were. This cut down on the sharp point of light coming from the arrows that would give the unit away at night.
After accounting for what I got for the whistler, the V1 cost me $250, not too bad! Thanks for listening!
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