[Official] What's the Best Radar Detector?

Originally Posted by Elia Cid

Another review: Best radar detector reviews from the world's most respected authority.

"The Valentine One is a highly sensitive radar detector--good enough that I declared it the winner of my 2000 Automobile Magazine shootout--but it's no longer top dog by default. The world of radar detection has changed significantly since the V1 was designed in 1991 by engineers Steve Scholl and Clarence Groth. The Apple IIsi also was hot stuff that year but Apple wisely chose not to continue trying to sell the same box. They replaced it with smaller, faster, better models packed with advanced features.
In a sense, the Valentine One seems to be trapped in a time warp. Even the owner manual reflects 1980s thinking, replete with statements such as "X-band [is] most common for moving and stationary [radar]." Excuse me? 48 of the 50 state highway patrols abandoned it decades ago and even one of the remaining two users began a wholesale migration to Ka-band frequency in recent years.
With an increasingly wide gap in the Valentine One's level of sophistication compared to modern designs--not to mention a minimalist feature set, quirky ergonomics, an exceptionally chatty nature and stiff price tag--the competition has clearly passed it by. One in particular, the Escort Passport RedLine, also handily outclassed it in performance in a recent test.
The Valentine One remains an iconic example of the pinnacle of late 20th century technology. However, we're now well into the 21st century and recent advances in technology are impossible to ignore."


Just my two cents,

Alex