Valentine One

...Angel, and of course the Valentine One.So off to the Motorshow and the Networx Automotive stand in November 2002-repeat customers they must have been hoping we never showed up again.

Well after careful weighing up the benefits/drawbacks of each we decided to go for the Valentine One. And then my friend got to work with his seriously persuasive haggling with Mr David Baxter the MD of Networx Automotive -after half an hour of "negotiating" ...
...silver box with the legend Valentine One emblazoned . It contained the following

1 X Valentine One Radar Detector

1 X Coiled Power Lead

1 x Straight Power Lead

1x 'Hard Wire' Wiring kit so the unit can be permanently wired into the car's electrics-freeing your cigarette lighter for other uses.

1 x Cigarette Lighter Adaptor

1 X Suction Cap to fit the unit to ... more

I have rewritten this review as I made a bit of a boo-boo with the previous one-please reread and mark, those of you who are interested.

Back in 2000, I was driving down the A454 to Walsall at about 8:30am on a Saturday morning at about 35 mph, with may fave 'Cast' CD blaring out when I came past a grey housing on the other side of the road (craftily concealed by tree foliage I might add). Just for about three seconds. The next thing I knew...FLASH!! It was like a bolt of lightning.

Welcome to the world of Gatso Cameras.

Now to cut a long story short, it was the unlucky motorist on the other side of the road who'd been caught, but I'd had a very lucky escape, I wasn't driving dangerously and i thought 40mph was the limit on a straight main 'A' road but after phoning the Police it turns out the limit was 30mph. 30MPH?? No warning signs, no speed limit signs, NOTHING. But I was meant to know by the distance between the lamp posts that it was a 30mph limit according to Mr Plod. As we all know we drive looking at lamp posts on the side of the road.

After a conversation with my best friend, who is a professional driver, we both decided to obtain Radar Detectors to give us a fighting chance in situations like these. We chose Bell 980's at the time and had an exceptional deal of £250 each from Networx Automotive and they served us well. But cutting a long story short, I sold the car and didn't need the Radar Detector again-and my friend had almost been caught with a Mini Gatso which the 980 didn't detect. Anyway, I was about to get back on the road again and we then both needed a Radar Detector.

This time we were going to go for an all out assault-not just purchase an updated Bel 980 in the form of the Euro 550 (which detects Mini Gatso's), but we were going to check out everything including Snoopers, Morpheus GPS based Odessy, Origin Blue i, Road Angel, and of course the Valentine One.So off to the Motorshow and the Networx Automotive stand in November 2002-repeat customers they must have been hoping we never showed up again.

Well after careful weighing up the benefits/drawbacks of each we decided to go for the Valentine One. And then my friend got to work with his seriously persuasive haggling with Mr David Baxter the MD of Networx Automotive -after half an hour of "negotiating" he had the deal he wanted £599.95 DOWN TO £400. Yes a massive third off but at £400 it was still eye wateringly expensive. Networx were out of stock but they were expecting a shipment in from the US shortly-so we had to drive very timidly for the next two weeks. Eventually, they arrived, I had a phone call and was given a nice silver box with the legend Valentine One emblazoned . It contained the following

1 X Valentine One Radar Detector

1 X Coiled Power Lead

1 x Straight Power Lead

1x 'Hard Wire' Wiring kit so the unit can be permanently wired into the car's electrics-freeing your cigarette lighter for other uses.

1 x Cigarette Lighter Adaptor

1 X Suction Cap to fit the unit to the windscreen.

1 x Instruction Manual

The unit itself is made of Magnesium alloy which inspires confidence straight away and has two 'Infra Red '(like you have on remote contols for DVD players etc) windows, a multi function knob and an LED display. The display shows the following info:

Frequency of the Radar source i e K Band (Gatso Cameras), Ku Band (mini Gatso cameras), Ka Band (older Gatso cameras not widely in use except in Reading) and X-Band (not used here mainly in the US)

Signal strength at the bottom via a row of LED's

Number of Signal sources

Four LED arrows in the shape of a cross-this shows you the direction the Radar source is coming from.

Laser Alert which is shown via three lines in the LED display

The Multi function Knob allows you to lessen of increase the sound of the warning . For example you can set the audible warning at zero, maximum volume (which would wake the dead!) or alternatly have a loud initial warning followed by silence and every other combination in between . Versatility indeed. it also allows you to set the unit to one of Three modes

A (All) setting-all threats the unit will detect ALL radar sources as above

l (Logic) mode-will filter out weak signals to lessen the chances of false alarms.

L (advanced Logic)-will filter out weak and spurious signals to minimise the effect of potential false alams.

BUT in any of these modes should a strong radar source become active it will warn you at maximum volume-failsafe!

Now the Valentine One is to my knowledge the only detector with a full 360 degree protection against both radar and laser threats. It doesn't sound signifcant until you run up against the Police setting up their "Road Safety Partnership" cameras etc by a filling station on the opposite side of the road. The filling station will have a radar source ie burglar alarm which would normally cause a Radar Detector to go off. Now bearing in mind a standard detector will just beep you may ignore it, be unconsciously speeding and BANG!-they've got you! But with a Valentine One you will have the warning showing as Two sources on the display and the LED Arrow blinking indicating the direction of the other "source" i e a Radar gun. You've checked your speed and slowed down just in time.

1-0 to the Valentine One

Other features include a higly sensitive Laser alert which works 360 degrees and will detect Laser light up to THREE MILES AWAY. Now you might say thats plenty of warning BUT the real benefit is when there is a speed trap ahead and another victim has been zapped. Your Valentine One will pick up the reflected Laser light and warn you. False alarms for Lasers are non-existent here so if it goes off SPEED TRAPS ARE IN THE AREA! You've been warned.

2-0 to the Valentine One.

Well with all this spec and cost it's got to be good.

AND IT IS!

I have noticed a big improvemet in Gasto camera detection over and above the Bel 980 I had, in effect about two seconds extra warning when driving at about 50mph on the A5 from Gailey to Cannock .

And the speed trap scenario I described earlier has happened to me so that's also worth having.

Any drawbacks?

Well it can be a pain in town with K-Band sources everywhere (false alarms) even in the advanced Logic mode so I turn the alert volume right down in the town centre. You need to use it over several months to obtain maximum knowledge as to how to interpret the readings though it will still work for the first time user. The display is angled to the left slightly for the US market and it should really have a case at this price-and one or two would say it should be gold plated at £600 as well.Oh and it won't spot SPECS and TRUVELO passive speed cameras.These are a bit more widespread than before but are still limited in comparison to GATSO cameras and in particular mobile speed traps.

But IMO it is the best detector by far-it has the major advantage of being able to detect Mobile Cameras which GPS based sytems such as Road Angel can't so I would heartliy recommend a Valentine One for everybody who is concerned about speed traps being placed to raise MAXIMUM REVENUE.

You won't be disapponted!

FOOTNOTE: from 2006 the Government will have made this type of device illegal-whilst the GPS type will still be permitted. IMO this has an awful lot to do with their effectivness and loss of revenue rather than cutting out dangerous driving. The Valentine One has two tricks up it's sleeve which are VG-2 Anti Radar Detector-Detector technology which renders it invisible to Police detectors and the option of purchasing a concealed display device which connects into the side of the unit then has the display on the cigarette lighter. As a result, you would have to be extremly unlucky to be caught-the law will be as much use against Radar Detectors as it is against copying CD's etc. However, I have now warned you now so no law suits!

Relevant websites

www.valentine1.com

www.networxautomotive.com

cpoyright Peterkinxl5 10/4/05 

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