WJ, I have used a 8500 for about 8 years, my experiences were very simalar to yours, buddy of mine has a V1 and we compared them on the dash while trailering to colorado, they both go off at the same time. I use mine in the auto mode while in town, that way it goes off but does not keep screaming at you with the false alerts, this way I start looking around for the source and slow down just in case. On the road in rural areas it is great and I run it in highway mode if it beeps I slow down. Has saved my tail a lot of times. I use mine with a autocom system and listen to it in the helmet for alerts. visual alerts just do not work for me, I want to hear the audio...............Kieth