V1 upgrade policy
 

V1 has an option to upgrade your radar detector. Their site says this.

So I entered my V1's serial number in the form and it says this

It's nice that they're willing to give me a discount. I'm guessing most other companies don't do this. But I think there's no arguing that their claim underlined above is flat out false.

I'm looking into this because the laser alert on my V1 started sounding almost nonstop. I can ship it back and they can try to fix it for $45, or I can just "upgrade" to a new one. It's lasted me 13 years and I've really liked it. I might just upgrade.

For what its worth, I got my wife a Passport 360 and am really happy with it. Has the V1 arrows, plus GPS false filters and DSP that delineates real radar threats from Acura's blind spot scanners. Its a big upgrade over my Escort 9500ix, which I thought was a good upgrade over my old v1.

Interesting. The new V1 has "K-Junk figher" which supposedly fixes the issue with "seeing cars".

Given it's $280 vs $490 I might just be a brand loyalist and save brain cells and not even think about the Escort.

V1 patent finally ended?

Not really, just like the "We can repair ANY piece of test equipment, guaranteed!" people. If it isn't repairable, they just buy another used one on eBay and sell it to you at a markup.

There have been 2 precedents for this at V1 - the first was when they added laser support and switched to a larger case with openings for the laser photodetectors, and then when they miniaturized the board and used a case the same size as the original, but with the laser windows. Both of those required a complete unit swap.

This one is a tad more fishy than those two, since they are still (AFAIK) using the same case. But perhaps one-by-one upgrading of older units by opening them and changing the whole circuit board would cost more than just sending complete units off the regular production line.

I seem to recall the cost for a software-only upgrade was something like $70, so the $289 isn't completely out of line.

$289 for a brandy-new V1 with all the bells and whistles sounds like an awesome deal.

I hardly use mine anymore and I'm considering shooting them my serial number to see what's what.

Yeah, I've already boxed mine up and am mailing it in tomorrow.

Their web site is pretty good. You just enter your serial # and it tells you your options.

I sent my V1 in for an upgrade. Received the new unit, and it's doing the same thing. The Laser goes off repeatedly, every minute or two. Exact same behavior as the old unit.

I'll see what V1 says, but this is very strange. The V1 worked fine for 14 years, then starts spewing false laser alerts, then the replacement does the same? :?

did they just send yours right back to you? :lol:

I wondered that :lol:

It has some different light patterns on the front though.

I have an old V1 I bought new about 15 years ago. Many times I've thought about upgrading it (or just buying a new one) but I'm just afraid I'd get myself a ticket.

Many times on the way home, I take I-80........at 2 AM. There's hardly any traffic at that hour, so I can hit triple digit speeds whenever I want. The times I've done it, I always think "Man, if a cop zaps me with instant on laser, I'm toast", and I'd probably get hit with a reckle$$ driving ticket, or worse, lose my license.

I've used the V1 on numerous occasions in the vast NV desert. Here is a prime example: My top speed run

I guess if I *DO* happen to upgrade/buy a V1, I'm really wondering if I'm just on my way to a needless speeding ticket.

I drove to NYC using the new detector and the damn thing was going off like crazy, and not just laser. At one point it told me there were 8 independent radar signals hitting me. I had to turn it off.

I finally spoke with V1 tech support. I asked them why this one is going off more than the old one. It's supposed to have more advanced false positive detection, WTF? He said it's possible my old one was so out of calibration that it was missing a lot of radar signals. It seemed to be detecting cops just fine (although maybe not all of them???)

So bottom line: my $300 upgrade was effectively to get *more* false positives. No thanks.

Regarding the laser going off even in the country, he said maybe it was my cell phone triggering it :? And maybe the new one is defective, but I'd have to pay to send it back to find out.

I'm probably going to return it and get the old one back, and buy an Escort Max

Yeah, I went through the same thing a few years ago and had similar results. I, too, plan to buy the Escort.

Yeah my old V1 just goes off constantly in town so do not use it. Good to know the upgrade is not worth it since I was considering it.

He told me a few things

1) "if you approach any garage door that opens automatically and your detector doesn't go off, it's not functioning properly.

2) There are certain auto-driving cars (Cadillacs being one) that use radar in a way that no one can block them.

"There are lot of signals out there that look just like real radar.

He pretty much convinced me that 1) GPS-based blocking is a necessity, and 2) V1's lates K-junk filtering (that's supposed to stop other cars from setting it off) still doesn't work well enough.

What mode do you have it set on? If you have it on 'A' you are asking for the doors and all... I think I keep it on 'L' mainly.

My passport max blocks Cadillac and Acura blind spot and active cruise sensors.

Guess I won't be updating/upgrading my V1 anytime soon, lol.

Just as well, I need new tires for my 1/2-ton anyway....

It's always possible mine is defective. :dunno:

It's my fucking Samsung S7 that is setting off the laser alert on the V1. :rolleyes:

It stops as soon as I put the phone in airplane mode.

During the time JV had the car (and radar detector) I dove into the lake with my Samsung S6, and replaced it with an S7. Got the car back, and the laser problem was happening.

On purpose?

Nope.

Samsung! :lol:

I don't understand what it is. I turned off as many of the fancy feature as I could, like auto dimming, detecting whether you're looking at it, wifi, etc. Nothing helped except putting it in airplane mode.

I can't imagine it's the cell signal... How different can it be from the S6's? :?

Google shows people complaining about the note 4. But no S7's

I moved from the s5 to the s7 edge. I like it. Pretty big upgrade.

I like my s7. Don't know if it sets off the v1... I don't use it anymore.

I have an S7 and no weird laser alerts on my Passport Max ;)

I'm not suggesting it is time to ditch the V1 for a Passport, but it might be time to ditch the V1 for a Passport.

Oh man. :lol:

Does it still do it if it’s pocketed or closed in a cubby or whatever? Is it something that requires line-of-sight?

If the V1 is reporting laser when it can't "see" the phone (put the phone inside a cardboard box and then throw a towel over it), that is either a design error and / or a software bug. The laser detection should be optical only (duh). With the metal case, the only way a radio signal should be able to get in* is via either the forward-facing or rear-facing microwave horn inside the case, and the frequencies of radar are way outside anything the phone should be emitting (radar starts at 8GHz and goes up from there, WiFi is 2.4 and 5 GHz, and LTE (cell service) tops out at 5.9GHz (and actual use of those higher LTE frequencies is pretty rare).

Unless your specific phone is operating vastly out-of-spec, it shouldn't be emitting anything the V1 should detect as radar.

* If you have any V1 add-on gizmos, it is possible that they could be conveying unwanted RF into the V1. Ditto for the stock power cord. If you want, I can send you a clip-on ferrite choke to put over the power / accessory cord to see if that helps.

I haven't noticed my s7 edge setting off the v1.