Sunday, May 07, 2006

A New Reason to Mount the Valentine 1 Low

I was drving on the PA NorthEast extension and Interstate 80 on a two and half hour drive tonight and during the drive devised a new (and I believe) better way to drive with my trusted friend, the V1.

I mounted the radar detector low-midway on the windshield left of center and in clear view of my right eye.

I love to drive with music (I was listening to a mellow CD by David Sandborn) at a pretty decent level. I have sometimes been burned by having the music drown out the sound of the V1 even at maximum level. Can you imagine explaining to the citing officer the reason you were caught speeding was you were listening some musical score and not your detector! Trust me, I don't believe you'll find many sympathizing police officers.

If you have my reviews of the Valentine V1 radar detector , you know I am a huge fan of their audio capability...I believe they are the standard by which all other detectors should be measured.

We'll now I have found a new way to have my cake and eat it too.

However, as I already stated, I have been burned by relying on the sound when I listen to music at elevated levels.

Valentine also has class leading light indicators on their detectors. Between the arrows which clearly indicate the direction of the radar(s) source, the visual signal strength meter also provides incredibly usable and accurate signal strength indication.

By mounting the detector low or low-mid, I have found that I can actually react quicker by site than by sound. When I am on the highway, especially in the evening, I don't particularly care about which band of radar I am being pelted with...only that I can slow down before being nailed.

This setup allows this...and enables me to enjoy my music.

I have now come to appreciate the Valentine 1 in a whole a new way...Really good stuff!

When I came into town, I found the radar detector alerting more often to the ever-present door openers. We'll with the radar detector in this configuration, the alerts were instantly "muted" because the volume was all the way down...what a relief!

Try it, next time you find yourself in the evening on some highway (or going across town).

You just may like it...a lot!

Happy and safe motoring.

Veil Guy

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