For several years I have been happily using the Escort Passport 8500. My one complaint was I could not hear it over the motor and wind noise when used with a bike so I was forced to use the ear bud speaker to hear the audio alerts. I am not ready to make the plunge for an Autocomm or similar device which will pipe audio in my helmet. I guess I just do not like anything that attaches my head to the bike.
I used a Valentine One for a while and that was plenty loud to hear at any speed. The down side of the Valentine was if the volume was loud enough to hear at speed it was obnoxiously loud in town. The Valentine does not have the auto mute feature I came to love on the Passport so I would either have to remember twist the little knob and reduce the volume or just let it blast. What made this situation worse is the fact the Valentine has very poor filtering of false alerts. This limited filtering is probably also what makes the Valentine a good detector (some say the best) because it does pick up every little thing. Basically the detector was going off all of the time unless you were pretty far away from civilization (even went off very frequently in light residential settings) and it got tiring.
When I started looking at a replacement for the 8500 this spring I came across the new Passport 9500. It automatically adjust both volume level and city/highway filters with the speed of the vehicle. It uses GPS technology to prevent repeated false alarms on your daily drive. It will flash your speed as you pass a radar source so you know just how fast you are going as you approach the radar source. It has a few other nice features as well. I have read of a few guys that had Harley's with loud pipes where they report they can hear the detector easily at speed, but it quiets down as you slow down.
Another good choice to consider if you live in Virginia or drive in Canada is the relatively new Bel STi which is reportedly not detectable with radar detector detectors.
I will be trying my 9500 in a couple of weeks on a trip from NY to WV. Will let you know how it goes after I get more time with it.
I did find both the V1 and 8500 to be excellent at detecting radar. When I had them set up next to each other the 8500 tended to alert me quicker than the V1. Many test will say otherwise. Basically both are so close at detecting that I would lean to the better filtering to get rid of the constant false alerts with the V1 and to get the auto mute feature on the 8500 if you are choosing between those two models. There were so many false alerts with V1 it was hard for me to take any of the audio alerts seriously and I do not live in an urban area.
Here is a review from a guy that sells Escort and Bel products: http://www.radarroy.com/archives/37
Here is a forum for guys that really get into detectors: http://www.radardetector.net/. You will find some folks who are so blinded by brand loyalty they cannot be objective, but many/most seem to be objective and have tried several detectors.
I used a Valentine One for a while and that was plenty loud to hear at any speed. The down side of the Valentine was if the volume was loud enough to hear at speed it was obnoxiously loud in town. The Valentine does not have the auto mute feature I came to love on the Passport so I would either have to remember twist the little knob and reduce the volume or just let it blast. What made this situation worse is the fact the Valentine has very poor filtering of false alerts. This limited filtering is probably also what makes the Valentine a good detector (some say the best) because it does pick up every little thing. Basically the detector was going off all of the time unless you were pretty far away from civilization (even went off very frequently in light residential settings) and it got tiring.
When I started looking at a replacement for the 8500 this spring I came across the new Passport 9500. It automatically adjust both volume level and city/highway filters with the speed of the vehicle. It uses GPS technology to prevent repeated false alarms on your daily drive. It will flash your speed as you pass a radar source so you know just how fast you are going as you approach the radar source. It has a few other nice features as well. I have read of a few guys that had Harley's with loud pipes where they report they can hear the detector easily at speed, but it quiets down as you slow down.
Another good choice to consider if you live in Virginia or drive in Canada is the relatively new Bel STi which is reportedly not detectable with radar detector detectors.
I will be trying my 9500 in a couple of weeks on a trip from NY to WV. Will let you know how it goes after I get more time with it.
I did find both the V1 and 8500 to be excellent at detecting radar. When I had them set up next to each other the 8500 tended to alert me quicker than the V1. Many test will say otherwise. Basically both are so close at detecting that I would lean to the better filtering to get rid of the constant false alerts with the V1 and to get the auto mute feature on the 8500 if you are choosing between those two models. There were so many false alerts with V1 it was hard for me to take any of the audio alerts seriously and I do not live in an urban area.
Here is a review from a guy that sells Escort and Bel products: http://www.radarroy.com/archives/37
Here is a forum for guys that really get into detectors: http://www.radardetector.net/. You will find some folks who are so blinded by brand loyalty they cannot be objective, but many/most seem to be objective and have tried several detectors.