Valentine One: The good: Quality, good sensitivity, rear antenna, shows direction. The bad: Bulky, too many false signals, rear antenna may pick up reflections from the front, higher price.
BEL 980: The good: Good sensitivity. The bad: I have had three BELs and I have had problems with every one of them. I dropped it in the car, it fell 12 inches onto the console and the case broke wide open. Another one stopped working after a few months. I sent it in under warranty. The last one's internal power plug's solder came loose. I just didn't want to by another BEL.
Escort 8500: The good: Good sensitivity, can track and display up to 8 separate signals, lower price, program is easily upgradable, very little falsing. The bad: No direction arrows, workmanship.
So, I get a 30 day free trial, I'll let you know how it goes.
I'm satisfied with my 8500.
The V1 was too big & bulky.
You note to much falsing ??? again what mode did you run it in ? Or are your claims from the likes of C/D or Road & Track articals ?
Niether has ever given proper credit to V-1 for its awesome performance,Never !!
No real hands on use of a V-1.?
It would be sorry to see you settle for second best when it comes to keeping the fuzz outta yo back pocket 
Everything you read on the V-1 site is true and correct,that line of BS you get from the Wanna`Bee`s is just that. They have to use deceptive descriptions and such to put their item as close to the Standard as they can because the unit it`s self cant measure up.
You know the saying ....
Second Place is the First to loose.
You forgot to mention the Confirmed Signal Leakage of the 8500 in regards to VG-2 protection
I`ve used V-1`s for the last 8 years and have tried most everything on the market.
Not because I needed to know either.
I`m a Truck Driver and I`ve loaned my V-1 out to other Drivers so they could check it out.I ran their`s for the same reasons.
Everyone that has ever used a V-1 was blown away by its Awesome Performance.When you earn your living Driving 4,000 per week you need to have equipment that can withstand the pressure. V-1 does it without breaking a sweat.
Hopefully you`ll not get burned by that 8500 before someone can convince you to put the LS-1 of Radar Detectors on your dash.
87 Octane or 94 Octane...? same difference !
Best Of Luck !
SS/LS
quote:
Originally posted by davidss:
Well, after reading everything I could find on the Web, I bought the Escort 8500. Here's why:Valentine One: The good: Quality, good sensitivity, rear antenna, shows direction. The bad: Bulky, too many false signals, rear antenna may pick up reflections from the front, higher price.
BEL 980: The good: Good sensitivity. The bad: I have had three BELs and I have had problems with every one of them. I dropped it in the car, it fell 12 inches onto the console and the case broke wide open. Another one stopped working after a few months. I sent it in under warranty. The last one's internal power plug's solder came loose. I just didn't want to by another BEL.
Escort 8500: The good: Good sensitivity, can track and display up to 8 separate signals, lower price, program is easily upgradable, very little falsing. The bad: No direction arrows, workmanship.
So, I get a 30 day free trial, I'll let you know how it goes.
its a Done Deal Ticket if its where they can see it when they aproach the car.Good Luck with it !
SS/LS
quote:
Originally posted by davidss:
I appreciate your comments. Let me say that the price was not only criteria. And, we are talking about the 8500, NOT the 7500. The 8500 is new, using a new Motorola chip. I cannot tell you all of the internet sites I looked at, but one of them was www.epinions.com. All three of these detectors are good, top of the line models, and any of them will do the job.
