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I have both and fine my .872 V1 with pop on to be equal to the red line on most occasions with the arrows to boot. I would highly recommend the V1. The redline is good yes but nowhere near as refine as the V1. If you had both detectors after a while I’m sure you would agree. To me the V1 is fine wine and the redline a chicken dress up as turkey.
Chose the one that picks up Ka POP and rear laser scatter. :)
I have to admit that I have been running them both side by side for nearly a week now and I am already starting to wonder how I ever survived for all these years without the V1's direction arrows and bogey counter.
Yes, they (Redline/V1) are now quite close in raw detection radar sensitivity but there is really no substitute (and I can only now see this) for knowing exactly "where" that LEO is. It really matters in many real world situations unless you want to always be hitting the brakes and often quite unnecessarily.
BTW, my (the latest) version of the V1 does appear to be slightly better than the Redline in raw sensitivity too (usually several seconds faster in alerting - the Redline seems much more sluggish like it is mulling over whether it should alert or not, I think that in an I/O case that could be costly).
Switching either unit OFF seems to change nothing in terms of this delay or sensitivity.
Anyway, I think that Valentine's arrows patent must have driven the Escort folks crazy over the years and especially how to counter that feature in those vital radar detector reviews that drive sales.
But knowing the direction of the radar source is such a GOOD idea that I'll bet there will be an Escort version that has arrows on it very soon after Mr. Valentine's patent expires.
I wonder what certain reviewers will be saying about arrows then - still just a gimmick? :rolleyes: Hmmm..... anyway it sure will be fun to read those reviews.
As far as I know Mr Valentine's patent has expired. Escort seemed to have a platform that they are happy with for the moment as all the “new” RD’s are just revamps of the older ones. From what I remember bell spent something like $8000 000 to develop the M3 horn. VR still has the patent for the 2 front and one rear horn which I'm thinking is what belcort are after. I'm sure 2 front horns and one back including undetectable is what one would expect and nothing less from belcort but how much will cost to develop and how well will the arrows work???????
Wow... I had a very interesting experience just half an hour ago.
I am still running my V1 and Redline together. I am pulling up to a light in town and there are some strip malls ahead there running K-band door openers (and maybe a K-band drone).
Both detectors immediately go off registering strong K-band (that I knew were likely false) alerts.
I'm sitting at the red light and a few seconds later the Valentine alerts to yet another bogey. The bogey counter jumps to 2 and the new signal showing is Ka (I'm in California where Ka is the really name of the game). The Ka signal grows stronger and stronger - the Redline is still showing a K-band signal only!
The light changes and I roll forward and I soon pass a sheriff who has pulled into the strip mall and left his radar machine running.
All the time the Redline is ONLY showing a K-band alert. The V1 tracks both the K and Ka signals and as I pass by the parked LEO and soon shows Ka behind me. The Redline is still showing the K-band drone alone.
I am TOTALLY impressed by this encounter! Amazing!
That's a big +1 for the Valentine in my side by side comparison.
Bob
May I suggest interference from the V1? Sounds like a classic example.
While people will tell you it's interference from running another detector, that's not entirely true. The Redline loses a great deal of sensitivity when there is another strong radar source present. It is VERY significant, especially when compared to a V1. It seems the V1 smokes the Redline on multiple signal discrimination and sensitivity.Quote:
Originally Posted by Varactor
So yes...it's interference, but not due to the V1.
Doubtful IMO. Turning each on and off has made no difference in all my testing so far and they are 4' plus apart.
But even if your theory is correct then the V1 still wins in this scenario for being the more interference proof. So.. a guy could be close to me with a V1 (or similar) and you are saying that could disable my Redline from seeing a strong Ka signal? Or similarly some other external interference could make my Redline fail to see such a dangerous and very strong Ka signal too?
This was not a faint signal and I think that the Redline just stopped looking at the Ka band entirely (a software problem perhaps?). And in any case no matter which theory is correct it is still not a good result for the Redline even if it was caused by interference.
It doesn't stop looking at Ka, it still sweeps and will report it if it detects it. I believe it has a tougher time picking out the next signal when there is already a strong signal present. V1 also loses range due to another stronger signal present, but in my testing it seems to be much better. I do need to do more testing, though, and would like others to do their own testing to see if it's repeatable.Quote:
Originally Posted by Varactor
Ka band will overlap K band on the redline just like Laser will overlap Laser. Not sure what happened there.