How Does the Valentine One Gen2 Stack Up to Its Predecessor? And it’s competition?
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
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Matt has been a dedicated user of the original Valentine One radar detector for over 15 years. In the early 2000's, the V1 was the only radar unit with directional arrows, showing where the signal was coming from. The patent on that tech expired a few years ago, and every other detector company quickly added arrows to their units, removing Valentine's primary competitive advantage. Now, 25 years after the release of the original Valentine One, we have a new one: The Gen2. With improved sensitivity, new processing power to detect weaker signals, and the same programmability and language we loved from the original, it should be promising. So Zack and Matt went out hunting for cops, with the new Gen2, the original V1, and a Uniden R7 mounted to the windshield. Against it all, we ran Waze over Carplay.
All the radar detectors used in this video were purchased at retail price. Volvo provided the car, insurance, and a tank of gas for this video.
Corvettes are mid-engine and there is a Gen 2 Valentine One. What a world we live in.
Taylor Moats We are living in the world of Trump 2020.
john martin we sure are, but hopefully not much longer 🤞🏻
@@jameswillard1 Don't count on it!
@@john-martin Why do people like you feel the need to make every single unrelated conversation about Trump? I don't even have an opinion on him buts it's deadset annoying
@@john-martin 4 more years son.
Thanks for the shoutout Matt! I really enjoyed hearing your impressions and agree with your comparison. :) The V1's and the R7 are all great detectors for different reasons.
Oh and a quick note about that V1 Gen2 Ka alert at 5:38. Running multiple detectors on the windshield can cause a variety of interference issues. I've noticed the V1 Gen2 is more susceptible to this than most other detectors for whatever reason and it tends to throw false Ka alerts when other detectors are nearby. So that alert may have been an officer at a distance and it may also have been a false from your V1 Gen1 or R7. Tough to say for sure without a frequency display on the V1 Gen2.
It cracked me up when you had trouble finding legit Ka band around. It seems like brand new radar detectors are like cop repellant. When you want cops around shooting Ka, they are nowhere to be found. :D
Thanks for the information. I bought a Uniden R3 based solely on your recommendation. keep up the great work!
Oh, just saw your note at the end about your V1 Gen2 dying. Yeah, that's been a pretty prevalent issue with the first batch of detectors. Mine died too... :( Luckily VR is repairing some detectors even during the shutdown. Hopefully your detector gets fixed quick too.
@@VortexRadar Doubtful - they wont take voicemails, and I sent them an email 2 weeks ago and have had zero response. Maybe they will see this video.
@@VortexRadar Good note!
Yeah, be careful with the K band recommendation. MANY communities across the U.S. still use K band prevalently. California is one of the only states where K band is almost nonexistent. Also, agree with @Vortex Radar. Running multiple detectors will cause issues with interference.
I've lived in Texas and Florida and have picked up police using K-band too. I can understand why you'd turn off K-band in CA since the traffic sensors use it and it gets annoying.
police in Vermont, Ma, and NY state all use some K band especially county and town
I got stopped by a young Missouri state trooper 3 weeks ago for doing 83 in a 70 using this exact same thoughts. My R5 didnt make a peep. Even asked the guy what he was using. Said they did it explicitly to counteract radar detectors.
Last I heard (admittedly a few years ago) NJ state troopers were still using X band, probably in part because it was so easy to hide among all the false negatives.
@@Guy_de_Loimbard ohio also uses x band
10 years ago you were actively searching for cops in a SLR, now you're driving a wagon and doing the same thing but for research purposes. Love it 😄
21:58 "I miss the knob..." LOL!
I’ve been a V1 user since 1999. I’ve always been very happy with the performance. A few times over the years I’ve had to send it in for false laser alerts etc. They never charged my card the 45 dollar fee and shipped it back to me 2 day. What other company does that?
I bought my V1Gen2 before the pandemic. As a original V1 owner, I wasn’t sure what to expect. So far it’s been excellent. Form factor, physical materials, and looks. All very impressive and very stealth. Keep up the great work Mike ! Plus the app is improving . All good ! Support local U.S. businesses 👍👍
How do you quickly change the main/mute volume without the knob?
Been an exclusive user of the V1 since it's inception. Currently it's updated with latest software. Just ordered V1 Gen2. Ohio primarily uses KA band & lots of laser. However, K band is still present especially with a lot of the Sheriff's offices. I live in a rural area & some of the small towns that don't have big budgets are still using X band
I have a Uniden R3, which is the R7, except instead of vocalizing the direction, it's only displayed on the screen, and the screen itself is smaller as the unit is also. I definitely used it to get me out of a speeding ticket and love the thing. I've weighed jumping up to one of these two units since but I'm pretty happy with the R3 and don't think it's worth the difference to upgrade; but if the R7 was out when I bought my R3 I probably would've paid the extra change and gotten it instead.
Thanks for doing this review. I won't say you should do more of them because ultimately this wasn't very compelling in the format you presented it in and there are creators out there who dedicate their channel to radar reviews. But it'd be cool to see you do more simple comparisons of car products in general; like dashcams, or aftermarket head units, other car things that people use most every day that are aftermarket purchases.
Kevin Cruz the r7 actually has a greater detection distance.
The R3 doesn't have direction since it only has 1 forward facing antenna. Only the more expensive R7 does, because it also has rear antenna.
@@VroomNPew Morons
R7 have longer range, along with rear antenna, and have GPS.
I’ve had mine for about 20yrs and turned off X and K band. It works great. Love the arrows for laser and Ka band.
2 seconds is a lifetime when it comes to braking back to within the speed limit...
it depends on how fast you are...
How you explained Waze. I never looked at it in the way you explained it. I mostly use it to get as much early warning as possible. My Radar Detector verifies it.
The hardwire thing is pretty silly by Valentine. Uniform R3/7 use GPS and you can have speed settings. Mine is silent under 35 for example.
Also K band is used in a lot of rural communities still running old stuff. The GPS allows you to mute all those sliding doors.
My Valentine One has paid it self off many times. 0 tickets. Think I’ll upgrade it to the v2 but I’ll miss the knob 😂
I wish we got the part 2 from that radar detector episode of /Drive with Alex's e39 M5
I still use an old Escort from Costco I received as a parent like 10 years ago and it saved my ass FOUR times on a quick run down and back to SoCal last week. Thank god for CHP running around with K-band active on their cars at all times...
I've owned V1, R3 and R7. I sold the V1 and will never go back. Love the R7 and R3! The GPS function is a big deal.
Just got my Valentine One. Can't wait to see how much it could save me over the long run!
Bought a used V1 gen 1, quickly turned off K and X band, I was worried it wouldn’t work well as I didn’t have much luck at finding ka band in the first week I owned it, but after driving out of the city I came across a sheriff (they keep radar on 24/7) and I saw them coming from over a km away and once they passed I had a rear signal for .5kms. Very happy with the device, excited to see how it does at the rally coming up on the 30th. Get a valentine 1 gen 1 best bang for you buck cost me $200 CAD with the hard wire kit.
I've run into K band both in SC & GA. I have both the Valentine 1 and the R7 in different cars. I like them both! I did have the Savy module in my Challenger SRT and had to take it out. It created fault codes and intermittent power up of the cars dash when the vehicle was just parked in the garage. So the Challenger got the R7.
I bought the V1 shortly after buying my 2002 Miata. It's been awesome. Decided to upgrade when I sold the Miata. Put the V1 G1 into my SUV and the V1 G2 in my new car. The G2's sensitivity is amazing. Yes...I wished it had GPS, but I'm still a fan!
so waze and a radar is the complete win?
Was it Car and Driver that use to have an annual radar detector comparison test between all the major brands?
0:11 ah yes, the NJ State Gestapo. I've encountered them a few times on the New Jersey turnpike. Now I have mostly FHP to deal with.
They should have incorporated the old knob, and different band LED colors. For now I will continue to use my V1 Gen1.
Had a V1 in early 2000's.... it was awesome in "city" mode. I don't know if I would buy a gen 2... I do LOVE the directional feature though.
I know it gets a lot of hate though I love my valentine V1 . It’s a great detector if you are comfortable with setups/settings. It’s not a plug and play device. Excited to try a V2
The V1G2 is smoking on Ka-band, especially 35.5 freq. Running JBV1 app on Android is the military upgrade for any ESP V1!
It was the business 20 years ago - it's just the world has moved on and it did not.
Uniden R7 Matt! Valentine is the OG! Both great devices!
So matt if you don’t need the V1 Gen 1 anymore I’ll take it off your hands hahaha
Off the Record FTW. Used it, worked for me. Also, I have a Uniden R3 and an R7. My favorite detectors. Both are set to K and X off, Ka segmented to channels 5 & 8. Super long range.
I was going to replace my R3 with the R7.. Until the Gen 2 Valentine One came out. So i'm ordering one up!
the valentine one has high specificity and very good sensitivity combined with excellent range as well as a simple no nonsense design that *only* tells me what i need to know. it is EXACTLY what a radar detector should be.
the volume knob being deleted on the gen 2 is a good example of fixing something that wasn't broken and is concerning to me.
i'm not sure why i need GPS or any of the other bells and whistles all the other products provide. i have a k40 in my RS7 and it is far inferior in range and usefulness to the trusty V1 gen 1 in my TTRS.
you can't rely on waze alone, and i don't rely on waze at all. why? because it can be tampered with/doctored far too easily. i've heard that cops will monitor it and actively put traps in or take traps out.
I think I'd go with the uniden because it's very clear audibly about whats happening. I think that in conjunction with waze will be the move for me. Currently, I mostly drive in areas I know well enough that I don't use radar detection at all so I'd be a very new user to this sort of thing.
Ive had the V1 for years. I like that its simple, it has BIG arrows that get my attention and its a lot LOUDER than other detectors so i can hear it even when i listen to music. I only run KA band i turned the laser off because the laser cruise controls set it off constantly from behind and if a cop is shooting a laser gun at you he's already got you only jammers can help with laser.
The “V2” is awesome yes a real improvement on “V1”. They named it Valentine because the man who developed this is Mike Valentine.
Many municipalities and states use K band still. The Ka filters are great but some BSM and road monitoring devices will punch through at times even if you dumb it down. It does not have a 100% alert to cop sound ratio. Proper detector head to head tests Should not be performed with all units powered on at once as it will skew results
My V1 has paid for itself several times over in the past 10 years or so. In Ohio their traffic control systems generate a ton of false positives but the Junk filtering setting silences it and makes for smooth sailing across a very zealously policed state.
Ohio balances their state budget on the backs of speeders.
Ohio has just about every form of electronic enforcement. Use JBV1 app on Android for aerial surveillance.
Ohio is one of my favorite states to drive through. Police are always well marked on highways in Waze and the interstates are wide enough that it's normally easy to get through.
I go to Ohio all the time, even used to live in Cincinnati and honestly I find the whole thing about cops being everywhere there to be overrated.
@@venom5809 They tend to be super easy to spot on the other side of ramps but I've gotten surprised by location before and scrubbed enough speed to not get a ticket except for once in 2006 (nearing the western border and totally my mistake for dropping my guard that close to a border.)
Matt “I do a lot of driving” Farah
ALWAYS fight your tickets!! Seriously! Certain states are tougher than others so do a little research beforehand; I moved from Massachusetts to Colorado and the process was a LOT different (read: difficult)
I live in a major metro area in Kansas (contrary to what most believe), I have a V1 Gen. 1, all cops use Ka here so I’ve just mentally tuned out K at this point, need to get it updated so I can just turn it off.
You can disable K on any version :)
In MA all the state troopers never have their radar on, only local police has KA radar on. You definitely can use Waze all the time to confirm but using your senses and looking at the traffic around you is the best radar...
Thanks for this comparison. Never used Waze but now I'll try it out. Just bought a Uniden R3 and it's great, very highly rated. Had a Passport 9500ix before. The ones with arrows were beyond my budget. Perhaps in the future...
Great app but drains your battery like crazy
Radar AND Waze on highways ALWAYS.. my phone sits in a wireless charger And charges even when using Waze with the screen on
TST is so close to hitting that 1m subs. Such a great channel.
Here in my area , they use KA all day and motorcycle police use laser.. had a cop behind me slowly creeping up on me around 1 am and he flipped his Radar to check my speed and then flipped it off and slowly passed me. As he passed he noticed my radar and flipped his radar on again as he was next to me and no cars in sight at all . Shuts it off and passes me ahead and does it again and speed up ahead . This radar has saved me so many times
I had a similar situation, but it was a CHP messing with me. I was at a stop light in a left turn lane behind him in my Miata. He must have noticed my V1 Gen 1 on the windshield and then lit it up. Totally made me laugh!
V1 and V1g2 plus waze and jbv1 app is beyond awesome
The best setup there is in my opinion with or without waze!
I just picked up a tiny phone to use as a display for mine its about credit card size
@@JimCraig_riced, I am also installing the TMG Alpha 15 laser jammer system to my setup so I will be running the V1 Gen 2, JBV1, Waze and the TMG Jammers that can pair with JBV1 for the ultimate driving experience.
I don't know what you'd consider a "major" metro area, but even in a city of ~300k, there's plenty of false signals to disable X and K bands.
I live in UT and make monthly trips to Las Vegas and also drive cross country to MI, OH, and SC a couple of times per year. I have a V1 and I turn off X and K also.
*You can't run multiple radar detectors in the same car at the same time and expect to get accurate results.*
Ten years ago, I would have agreed with you, not today.
TexasScout Noneofyourbusiness believe it. Lol
TexasScout Noneofyourbusiness well you better believe it, cause it’s true.
I wouldn't mind seeing more videos of you two doing an one take or this sort of videos together.
Here in Mesa/Gilbert Arizona, cops rarely run radar. It’s all speed cams here. There are more added each month it seems. My V1 always warns me of the cops, but the speed cams are always a K-band signal. I don’t know why. But I’m glad I reset my V1 to factory settings before I moved here. I had only KA and Laser when I lived in San Diego.
Zack sporting a legit Corona 19 doo!
K band is used by Redflex speed cameras - not sure if they use them in the USA (they are made in Australia) - but they have them in unmarked mobile vans here in New Zealand - a good K-band detector can give you *just* enough warning of a speed camera to slow down a bit - but it'll drive you bonkers around town. I have my detector configured for 2 modes, one for city which is Ka band only, one for country which has K band enabled.
I bet the cops love this video from A to Z 😂
I dont know if i want to upgrade my gen 1 works so well and its still 389$ plus shipping if i upgrade i hope they fixed the false laser alerts
I've noticed here in SoCal, there are less cops using radar in the last 3 or 4 years. Before that, heha, they didn't even bother hiding. You can see some of them (local police/sheriff) parked on the side of the road, outside their vehicle pointing their radar gun. They would point one direction and then opposite.
Even better, in Louisiana you can call the DA's office and plead "Article 892", which allows you to pay court costs, but the ticket is null processed. How Great is that and you don't need a lawyer. I've been with Valentine since the beginning. As a professional speeder for 25 years, being a commission only salesman covering 3 states, I drove 100,000 per year making calls. The more calls per day, the greater the commission. My detector is hidden and I am the only one can see the remote display.
I've been a V1 user since 2001. I also have the the one Gen 2 which I got before they were actually released publicly. Nice all-around review.
I was all set to trade in my V1 Gen1 and then the 5 days later popped up. I've had my unit for 15 years. Never a problem. Think I will wait until they get all the bugs worked out before springing for the new one.
The initial issues that they’ve had have all been worked out! I have a V1G2 for myself and an R7 for my wife. The V1G2 is exceptional! Absolutely worth it and I actually prefer it to the R7 (R7 works wonderfully and it’s a better package in that it’s a little more inclusive of tech. I, for one, don’t mind using my phone for the valentine because it genuinely is seamless)
Did Just that! Got rid of my Valentine, because it couldn't be up dated, replaced it with the Uniden R3 with GPS! So Much More Quite
If v1 had gps it would be so much better. There’s no reason not to have it at this point.
@@jayrodathome GPS allows the detector to be able to do speed Light/camera intersection locations/speed to warn you!
David Reese yeah. That’s why I said there’s no reason not to have gps at this point on a v1. It’s the biggest flaw the v1 has is the lack of gps. I was agreeing with you ;-)
FYI, I have the exact same problem with my Passport 360 in every Porsche I've ever owned. My dealer said it was a known power issue in Porsches.
What problem are you talking about?
Escort are over-priced trash.
The biggest failure of valentine one is the lack of gps. The ability to know how fast your car is going and being able to have it auto mute at low speeds “without a savvy” makes it a nuisance. Also I remember way back I had a cobra or something with gps and you could mark fake signals you got all the time. After all these years and they still haven’t added such important features for daily commuters? I’m probably going to pass on this model for the first time since I started driving.
A 7-segment display is what the old valentine and scoreboards and such use as displays. It is pretty easy to remember once you know since each digit of the display uses 7 line segments.
Going to work at a speed I found..."pretty reasonable."
LOL.
My valentine one gen 2 is smoking hot 🔥. It sniffs for ka band like a bloodhound. I had the same power issue emailed them and It was fixed and back in less than a week....Even during the pandemic shut down they had a special email for any issues. New model bugs I guess. It happened back in mid march. Since then its been great. I use the jbv1 app with the V1 which notifys you of police just like waze along with gps auto lockouts, road hazards, radar hot zones, speed cams, voice and radar signal number, vascar, and much more. It makes the v1 gen2 a a super defence control center.
you should do a comparison with the JBV1 app and the V1G2
Just wait until Radenso Theia ;) radenso.com/products/radenso-theia
Had a v1 for so many years, 12 maybe. Switched to an R3. Way happier. Can’t believe they still didn’t include gps in this.
Edit: I do miss the arrows though but not enough to lose gps and all that comes with it.
GPS is the best feature
I live in Michigan and have a radar detector and sadly I've gotten a k band from a cop and got pulled over
Agreed. Waze plus Valentine 1 is very effective. Those collision avoidance K band noise is annoying as heck though. Valentine said that they have technology to filter those out, but that is not my experience at all.
Just an FYI. Sheriffs in the smaller municipalities in central and south Texas still use K band radar.
My Escort 9500ix has saved my ass soo many times. Paid for itself many times over. Ive turned K Band off in NC/SC because so many cars use it for blind zone alerts, but newer Honda/Acuras are using KA for that and it drives me crazy!
In any case, more SA (Situational Awareness) is better than less!
I can tell you that "K Band" is still used extensively in Michigan. I use the original V-One and have blocked X-band but NOT K band.
Rocking the Speedy I see! No water to worry about in this video :)
In Kentucky we have a few units that actually still use an X band
Valentine Gen 2 lacks a lot of features that the Uniden R8 and Escort but also false more aka phantom Ka alerts than the Uniden or Escort, even after a fix in 2022. Using Valentine One the app helps some, but you don't need it with the Uniden R8 which now has a third party Android app. Like Escort which has problems with response time and recently resolved that issue, Valentine One needs to come out with a Ka fix. Valentine One Gen 2 is a solid performer overall.
Sheriff's in Central NY use K band !
In Ohio K band is very much used still
I have been sprayed by K band in the boonies of Oregon before. Still very rare. Can't speak for the middle of the country but I wouldn't feel safe abandoning K altogether outside of California. I'm currently V1less as the newer power adapter on the unit I upgraded to a couple years back could no longer hold the external clip style fuse. I'm not sure why they went to that design over the cylinder internal fuse from previous power adapters.
My thoughts:
I have a Valentine One Gen1. I have had it for 4 years now, and I love it! As far as the Valentine One Gen2 is concerned, is it a better overall performer? Yes. Does it look more aesthetically pleasing? Yes. Am I sold on it because it can pick up a Ka signal 4-5 seconds faster than the Gen1? No. Why? Because the Valentine One Gen1 already picks up a Ka signal far enough in advance that once it picks the signal up, I have plenty of time to slow down. I don't need that extra 4-5 seconds.
Would I like the Gen2? Sure, and I eventually might get it. But the reason wouldn't be because it picks up signals faster. The reason for me to get it would be because it looks better, and has an app available to use to block or unblock features instead of having to go through a system on the radar itself to do the same things. Also the OBD2 port thing is pretty cool. Makes hardwiring much more convenient for those of us who don't have auto-dimming rearview mirrors (some hardwire kits can tap into the wires to the auto-dimming mirrors making a hardwire install very very easy).
This is the problem with non-experts talking about radar detectors for a profit. Neither of them have any idea what they’re talking about.
I keep the K band on for construction site speed signs and whatnot. Ka has a distinct different sound so like you said that's the one i pay attention to
Love my uniden r7 but recently it goes off on new honda vehicles even with the k block filter on the newest firmware
Long Beach island NJ still shoots K band. Last detector I had would only trigger K if it was a really strong signal.
Can confirm if they cant get you with ka or laser k band comes out of storage. Glad I still run it.
Did you check the fuse in the 12v plug>???
Yes i love my V1 with the app to change settings. But with Waze combined got me out of tickets 🎫
K band is still prevalent in the Northeast, Ka is more popular of course but some departments still use it probably precisely for the reason that many people lock it out.
I use an Escort Max2 in one car and a Uniden R3 in the other in addition to Waze.
With Radenso’s announcement of Theia however unless you absolutely need a new RD right now, you are better off waiting for Theia. It’s AI will be a game changer.
thanks - going to use your code for off the record app!
My main annoyance has been that Honda / Acura blind spot radar consistently registers as Ka band on the Escort 9800ix I've run for 5 or so years. That said, it only trips if I sit in their blind spot and it's still the best money I've ever spent. Between that and Waze, I'm actually considering buying a slower car because my speeding has progressed to the point of being pretty egregious. Also GPS filtering is absolutely crucial.
K band is alive and used in IL. Ohio use Ka / K and some rare X band yet. Even up to 3 years ago - there was one X band radar used in our county. It has been retired and replaced by a Ka.
What's the update on the garage?
Monday
Much appreciated 👍🏽
20:09 The V2 went off and then the R7... the V1 did not. Since you didn't see a cop, I'd say the V1 won!
Did he say KA has been out in most Departments for 30 or 40 years?👺 K is still around X is only garage door openers
Matt "I miss the knob" Farrah
I always have waze running on busy highways. In my experience waze is far far better on any busy highway. Waze only fails early in the morning on less traveled highways because waze users aren't early morning people in general.
Seven segment display 4:30
Great info!! Stay safe, and prosper
I’m in Rhode Island most local hit K band and KA are state troopers just extra info for you. We don’t use lazer in RI or Mass but I have lazer with my escort 360 max with dash cam
Just turned off x and k in my Excort 8500 in NY and damn it's like a whole new world now.
I've done that for like 3-4 years now. No reason to replace the 8500 when all the police around me use Laser and Ka now. The 8500 is still a detection beast.
I'm running 2x 9500xi and need to get a third for my other car. I'm leaning towards the R7 until the redenso comes out. The old schools are awesome plus Waze and really no need to upgrade just want to play with the new tech
New York has plenty of cops still using K band. Where in NY are you?
I can tell you that K Band is used extensively in Michigan. I wish it wasn't, but it is.
Add a BT-LE module to the V1 and use the JBV1 app. Thank me later.
Yea the gen2 has the Bluetooth internal
That is the military upgrade for the V1G1.