Buying and Configuring a V1

[Jbennett]

How’s it going

I have been doing research on this forum for the last couple of weeks and have gone through post after post and thread after thread and have decided out of all the detectors to get to go ahead and get the V1. I have had 2 or 3 detectors over the past 6 years and have always been true to the beltronics brand simply due to the fact that it has never failed me and saw no reason to make a change until now. Through all the forums I have read everyone referred to the V1 as the best of the best, although you do get a lot of false alerts (depending upon your configuration).

Now that the BS story is out of the way ill get down the questions lol

I have read in 3 or 4 forums that have stated that you can contact Valentine and purchase a returned V1 from them with the same warranty as a new unit. I know this to be true as I have contacted them and they stated that they do sell the returned ones for 359 where as a new one is 399. The question is has anyone actually purchased a returned unit from the factory I am trying to decide if I should just go ahead and spend the extra $40 and get a new one or just get the returned one. Either way I’m buying one but if I can save myself 40 dollars for the same thing why not.

The second question is how should I run my configurations, multiple forums have stated to run it in factory mode to get used to it however as I have had a detector for years and driven somewhat of the same route 3 or 4 times a week since I was 20 so I know what bands are used by LEO’s in my area which are KA band and of course Laser however primarily KA band. As I live in a large city i have always had continuous X and K false alerts so I know that the bands can be turned down simply because I have never seen a cop running either one of those bands and also due to the fact that I know primarily X is used in NJ not to say that it isn’t used in TX I just haven’t ever heard of it.

I know the config. Question has been asked but I have either A)not understood the answers or B)never truly gotten a direct answer and if the answer is just to figure it out myself please tell me and I will as I’m sure I can change them over the course of the next 3 or 4 months I was just hoping for a easy answer to the question

Thanks again for any advice or guidance on the matter and this truly is a great forum wish I would have found it a long time ago

[Frenzy]

Welcome, it is a good RD for $400. They give you quite a few accessories with it as well. What Bel's did you have?

[Jbennett]

I had one of the original Vector 940's, then the newer model vector 940 its about 3 years old and i bought a v995 about a year ago. I know kinda strange having all of them like that but the orignail 940 got damaged and the second was the replacement and well the v995 i just wish i would have read nine_c1's posts as it was bought as a upgrade and it wasnt much better than the 940 except for a few bells and whistles. I honestly just decided to stop buying small and go for the gold not to say that the bells where bad at all. i mean they saved my butt plenty of times in my M

[Frenzy]

From what I've noticed the v995 and V1 are close in detection range. I've had one real K-Band encounter, and they were close. K-Band door openers, the V1 wins by a bit. Today it picked up a weak signal from an opener where the V995 was silent. I need to find a real Ka encounter for comparison. I did get a 1.25 mile alert for my first Ka encounter on the highway, where the v995 probably would've been .7-.9 mile encounter.

The rear detection is amazing though. Can't beat it, and it is fast against I/O. Found that out on the parkway here. But I never run 2 detectors at once when I go above PSL, only while I do PSL and testing I run 2 at once.

[Jbennett]

Well one of the main reasons for the V1 is the fact that where i live they try to be sneaky and set up traps (to be honest its actually really smart but i dont want a ticket so im against it) where they will place a car on a major road i live on, leave KA on then over the next two hills theres a bike cop shooting lazer.

[OldGoat]

Beltronics, Escort and Valentine Research all offer a 30-day return policy on new detectors ordered from their site(s).
It's not necessary to get all mired down in making the perfect selection when you can return it if you don't like it. (you pay return shipping)

Just order a V-1 and get the process started

Follow the links in my sig below for guidance programming your new Valentine One.
If you disable X-band and K-band you won't need to do much else.

[Jbennett]

thank you i will get mine on order and do just that.

[North Alabama]

Welcome! No bad reports seen on the $40 off units. Well, how to set your V1 is up to you, yelp, just a repeat. The most basic setting that most users use is 7 and b arrows down, and the mode, depends on the user, little l or big L or even A mode. The reason for 7 and b 30 sec K band mute, is to quite down the chatty V1 and since you live in a large city, good luck because you might be unhappy because the V1 in a Metro area will drive one nuts in certain areas with 6 to 8 door openers at one time! Before you get the V1, go on line and read the manual on the V1 website then come back and be free to ask or even pm me to get detailed answers or reasons why, just ask and we all will be glad to help. "That the bands can be turned down"? Hmmmm! One can turn the main volume down or turn off a certain band(s) on the V1....

[Jbennett]

I will download the manual today and get to reading on it to make sure i actually understand the programming options and how you use them. I am also taking written notes lol as to how you guys are having me program the detector so when it gets here ill have different options (per skilled V1 users) to use and see what works best for my area. again guys thanks for the info you have made my choice easier on this and are making the set up just as easy

[VanMan]

If you absolutely hate falses consider a 9500ix, which is a great unit BTW. If you live in the city get an ix. If you want the best protection get a V1. If you can live with some falsing, get a V1 as you will get among the best range in radar and unquestionably the best in laser detection. The V1 also does POP, IO, and QT better than any other unit on the market. However, it is chatty and some people hate this. It's a trade off. If you reprogram it, you can greatly reduce false alerts but even then, when in a city is will be noisy and at times annoying. As people said, try the 30 day trial. After you get a few nice saves, it is easier to justify the V1 given it will come through when other systems don't. The reason you get all of the false alerts is because the V1 is built to alert you to burst signals like POP. It does this amazingly well and any type of 'filter' would prevent the V1 from doing this, which negates its ultimate purpose in design.