A&Q about 350Z
Q:
You can easily go to autozone and get a nice adapter (kind of like an extension cord) that works just fine. Mine looks great.
A:
hardwire it! it looks terrible with a cord hanging down.
and get a v1...saved me multiple times
Travis (Ft. Worth, TX)
96 300zx convertible
5-speed chrome z wheels
Hardwired V1
A:
Yes,
Get a Valentine 1 and save your self money. Hard wire the detector as it is the best way to get a clean look. Take the fuse cover and trim off and probe for a switched slot in the fuseblock. There are several that are not used and all you have to do is install a blade connector on the end of the Valentine 1 power adapter and then ground the black wire. Then, run the line to where you are going to install the detector.
A:
I had my Valentine 1 hard wired to the fuse box for about $40 at a car stereo place -- a place in Dallas called Car Toys. It's definitely worth it because the installation is cleaner and you don't have a cord hanging down. Plus, the cleaner install means you get fewer vultures driving behind you trying to mooch off your enhanced radar detector goodness while you're on the highway.
If you do hard wire, realize that the V1 uses a RJ-11 connector (like a phone cord), so you can't just pop in a Valentine into an installation for another detector.
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2003 Redline Red 350Z MT Touring
A:
I have an 03 and I plug the radar detector into the jack between the seats (the only one in the 03's). I then put the detector itself under the head rest on the passenger seat. You can snug the headrest down to hold the detector pretty well. It still seems to work this far away from the windshield. I never tried it with a passenger sitting there so it might still work but they would have to have the thing going off in their ear which would get annoying pretty fast. You could also put it beneath your headrest so it wouldn't annoy your passenger and you would be able to hear it because it's so close to your ear.
Just my thoughts and it's free.
A:
where do you guys mount it? mike @ valentine says higher up is better, but the damn rearview is so oversized, that there's only places that cause an obstruction. i mount mine lower, right above the center gauges, maybe about .5-1" above. i get an occasional false laser in traffic from this whenever i'm behind a GMC envoy (i think that's what it is). when they press their brake, i got a laser false until they take their foot off. i can live with it.
that made the cabling very easy over to the pillar, and then down to the fuse box. hardly needed any tools at all. the only thing i do have is a bit of wire showing where i bring it down the dash on the left side by the door. i am afraid to pry up the panel there for some reason.
gotta love the v1, it's saved me hundreds if not THOUSANDS of dollars.
2003 350Z LeMans Sunset Track with Nav
No mods
A:
what is wrong with buying a corless/ battery powered radar detector- this will solve all of your problems!
A:
well.. buying batteries for one.
two, show us a wireless detector thats as good as the V1 or 8500?
vonsudderth,
thanks for the info on the CAN system. I don't want to fry my car so I'll send the hardwire down the pillar to the fuse box.
FYI:
If you buy a new Escort anytime soon, they will do a follow-up call to "verify your address" and they will also hit you up for the extended 3yr warranty / 3yr free upgrades for $29.99. I thought this was a decent deal so I told them if they threw in the hardwire kit ($10) for free, I'd buy it.. sure enough, they agreed.
Asking for free stuff works sometimes!
photoz
_________________
2004 LS Touring
Meguiar's Deep Crystal 123 + NXT
A:
ironwill, the Valentine 1 is not a radar detector, it's a radar LOCATOR, which means it has a few different features than your standard detector. thus it's a one-of-a-kind in the marketplace.
mike valentine, who makes them, used to work for cincinatti microwave, who makes the escort units. mike left them when it became apparent that escort was heading towards maintstream -- away from their earlier roots of making the best detectors out there.
i personally think mike makes the best unit on the market, and it has features no one else has. 4 directional arrows indicate the sources of radar signals. an numerical LED tells you how many sources are being monitored. instead of reducing sensitivity of the detector like many units do for city driving, the V1 stays at it's highest sensitivity all the time, and simply filters more when you put it in the different modes. a much better system if you ask me.
once you have the arrows, the LED, and the ability to read and understand multiple alerts, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. when i get into a friends car and they have a detector but not a V1, i realize how unprotected they are.
for example, radar can only read you from the front or the back, it cannot read you from the side. so when you drive by the drugstore and it sets off your detector (those automagic doors do it), do you slam on your brakes because you can't tell the signal is from the side? you would with a standard detector. V1 tells you it's off to the left.
i know when the cop is moving through traffic, or on the other side of the road and approaching. i know when he goes by. i know if there's an army of them ahead, because i see 6 signals on my LED. i know when i pass 5 of those guys in a sting operation and i'm still beeping and showing forward, that there's a 6th hiding over the hill. (we get those targeted things all the time where i live where 12 cops will be lined up with 4 or 6 taking radar.)
you just can't go wrong. the escort may be 25 feet more sensitive, but it's about 20 years behind in the technology. superhet? oh my god, that came out in the era of HAM radios!
2003 350Z LeMans Sunset Track with Nav
No mods
Post Edited (Apr 8, 7:28am)