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I have had my license for 7 months and I have already racked up 4 points and 2 tickets. So they day of my 2nd ticket I said screw this and bought a new Valentine1 off eBay and bought a Cobra 9930 from BJs to use till it came. Most of my lead footed relatives have had a V1 since 1994. I was thinking about also investing in a license plate laser scrambler since the V1 always gives laser warning around Infiniti's and Lexus's.

What do you guys use?

 
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Isn't it easier and cheaper to just follow the law?

 
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Yes, it is cheaper.. But, if he just got his license 7 months ago that makes him what? 17, 18? Wasn't that easy for me to follow the posted speed limits back then.. Hell, I still have problems on the highway.. lol

 
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the best detector on the marketr is the Valentine One
http://www.valentine1.com/

look up youtube vids
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQJTsAXaNBI

next best is the escort 8500 or somehting like that.

i run come crappy cobra, that had paid for itself multiple times, but its not reliable.

 
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The best detector you can use are your eyes/common sense. Pay attention to not only the car in front of you but look for brake lights in non-traffic situations several cars ahead, as there has to be a reason why cars are slowing down. Also try to drive in packs its hard for one cop to pull over 6 or 7 speeding cars than it is for him to pull over one speeding car. The only time I have ever been pulled over is when I was a single car and relied too heavily on my detector. If the cop uses laser or instant on chances are you're screwed. I also drive the same route a lot and remember where cops like to sit/hide and always take it slow in those areas. Also try not to speed 10+ mph over the limit. Chances are they will let you go as cops want to fry the bigger fish and if you do get a ticket for 1-9 over the limit you can goto court and get it reduced to something stupid with no points.

 
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yea i learned my lessons and just dont speed low and slow.

 
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Wow great advice joe. I've had my civic since I joined here and been pulled over 6 times now, mostly stupid stuff, but only got one ticket and that was a week after I got my car. I was doing around 100mph in a 55 lol, but the cop that stopped me clocked me only doing 81. It was a 180 dollar ticket with 5 points. My license now only has 1 point and the ticket has since been paid for.

In PA it is illegal to have a radar detector and it is also illegal for the local cops and sherrifs to use radar to issue tickets. They are only able to use VASCAR. Anyway plenty of people use radars around here but I haven't for almost 2 years of driving this car and I have been clocked so many times.

Story time . Trip to and from Ohio: Omw to Ohio I took I-76, PA turnpike, and omw there I passed probably 20 people in a stretch of 100+ miles that had been pulled over. The whole way down the road I was doing atleast 20 over and was clocked twice from the air and twice by a cruiser. I just do exactly what joe said. Use your eyes and always be scanning the highway.

I am not encouraging anyone to speed but if you must, like I do, be sure to always use your eyes and be nice to the cop if he pulls you over, you only have one chance before he writes the ticket to get him to understand you made a mistake and 7 out of 10 times you will get off and he'll be smiling as he says have a nice day.

As for radar detectors, I have no clue but never rely on it just drive as if it was never there and if you hear it go off slow down. Good luck all and safe driving.

 
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I have a valentine one and escort 8500X50, the valentine one is my favorate, but the escort is definatly quieter, which is nice when there are girls in the car :P
but the best defense you can have is simply not speeding, but you're probably like me and do it anyways. In which case you could get a valentine one for great radar protection, but it wont protect you from laser (the valentine DOES catch laser bounce but if you're the first one he shoots you're screweeddd, you have like 1/3 of a second before he sees your speed and thats not enough time to get down to the speed limit if you're worried about getting a ticket) so you need to get a laser jammer, like the Blinder M25.
This would be a really good set up, but keep in mind the valentine one is like 400ish? and the blinder starts out at around 400ish as well, so you're racking up some money in this, but keep in mind that on clearer days they can clock you from the sky (timming you between two certain points) and you need to keep a watch for that, but generally thats only on bigger interstates they even bother. Good luck and you're lucky you dont live in ohio, two tickets under 18=AT LEAST 3month suspension! Luckily I just turned 18, and I've never been pulled over by the police, save for once when they thought I was a dangerous criminal, and had three cars surround me all with guns at me! fun fun, then they just laughed when they realized i wasnt the guy they were looking for and just said "thanks for the fun" and i was like yeah, hope you dont mind cleaning the **** out of my pants..haha, anyways, always be carful speeding, bc you could not only hurt yourself but other people too, good luck!

edit: forgot to mention pop radar, this sucks, because you're pretty much screwed, but alot of cops are too lazy to use it, and generally you'll be getting radar hits on and off before you come accross the cop, yeah, so good luck beating pop!

 
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Very people do not understand that radar detectors are tools, meant to aide a driver, and not the drivers sole insight into his/her surroundings. Radar detectors are thought of as cop detectors, however not all radar is a cop and not all cops are emitting radar.

As for instant on and laser, the detectors are designed to pick up the left over waves/rays from when a cop shoots someone ahead of you. That is why a cheap radar detector is useless. The V1 can detect laser or radar emissions from over half a mile away. More than enough time for the cop to shoot someone, and let you know to slow down.

As for POP some states will not even let the officers fire it because POP is still technically experimental and cannot be used as the sole evidence for a prosecution.

 
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In ohio they use pop as more than enough evidince for a ticket, my dad went to court and he was still fined, even though the officer was using pop and that was his only means of catching him

 
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i have mine but for most of you guys/girls dont know 99% of all off the shelf cop watchers have a laser scrambler it takes 10-15 mph off your speed when you get tagged (tested it out with my cop buddy's at a track

 
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Cobra XRS R10G and my Gold NJ PBA Card

But normally i just stay within 15MPH of the Speed limit on the highway and just go 5 over on the local roads, no tickets in 4 years

 
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Where in NJ you drive? I know 15 over on 287 would prob get you ticketed, I'll admit I do 80 in a 65 all the time and get passed 9/10. I too have yet to be pulled over, but I also know the hot spots and where to slow down. 80 in a 65 your talking at least a 300-400 ticket as well as at least 4pts as fines are doubled. Then you run into those nice little 55mph zones that come out of nowhere and your instantly doing 25 over. You also say no tix in 4 years but how many times have you been pulled over and flashed that nice little gold card. I stand by my original statement in the post and the best detector you can have are your eyes and common sense.

 
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AGREED!!! But to the OP keep speedin and get your license pulled that way your dumb azz will be off the road "Iv'e had my license for 7 months and got two tickets"WTF?? i think a laser detector would be the wrong way to solve that problem.

 
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It seems to be doing just fine :-)

 
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What do you guys think of a COBRA Radar Detector XRS878? Yay or nay?

 
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Lol dont do it^

 
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Nay.

V1 or escort 9500ix/red.

I ave both v1 and 9500. I'll take the 9500 a over the v1 any day

 
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Then give me V1 James! D:

lol, nah, just kidding. All I could think of while reading the first post was this:
[autostream]http://autostream.com/ibcivicforums/?page_type=firebirdplayerthumbnail&framepage=1366& transactionid=1357753571-682272886&posted_by=_www.civicforums.com&youtube_v ideo_id=1c_I841J6_M[/autostream]

 
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Yup. Got the 9500 myself...can't live without the gps lockout lol

@Civic13 A radar detector is not something you wanna cheap out on. Either do it right or dont do it at all.

 
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Gosh you'd think they'd make a Valentine 2 by now that's more power efficient (modern electronics) and even better at detecting the waves.
Oh wait, they have different versions with different hardware and different firmware..
Check the wikipedia page and so you probably want the latest version. I guess the first Valentine Ones were made in the mid 90s?

 
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the V1 were pretty much made in the 90s with some minor updates to the internals...but it retained its v1 name.

as far as tracking power (i dont really have any "scientific data" besides what i have observed with both my radars), the two are on par but the 9500 has a slight advantage.

a few times my friends and i would go on a road trip and i would lend him the V1. we usually drive side by side and the 9500 in my car would always go off first. i would then tell him via walkietalkie. the V1 in his car would light up about a few sec later (usually no more than 3sec)

but remember, 3sec is a lot if you are doing 80+

now a days i dont even have my radar detector up while driving since i dont crack anything higher than 65-70 because i try to hypermile.

i do have the V1 on my R1 tho...thats a different story.

 
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haha i have it mounted on the R1. mostly just for the canyons when i want to know if the signal is in front or behind me. thats really whre the V1 beats the 9500.