Decided to give one of my sons the Passport 8500 for Christmas as his was a very old relic and would require me to upgrade. So I thought I would list a few 1st impressions:

LIKES:
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1) V1 is obviously MUCH more sensitive than 8500 (will hopefully test side by side soon).
2) I really like the remote unit for V1 although I need to get it hotwired and place the remote on the steering column so I can more quickly read what type of radar is present. I like that the remote can attach to power adapter prior to hotwiring it so it's out of sight.
3) Love the automatic adjustment of light intensity (fantastic versus manually adjusting between three modes on 8500)
4) While I will admit that the arrows didn't do that much for me initially (prior to purchase), they do come in VERY handy especially with all of the false X band due to alarms, door openers, etc. (side arrows). Also, the very first alert I received was BEHIND me which was nice to know immediately since your natural tendency (at least mine) is to look ahead first.
5) Much lighter than I expected.
6) It was nice just to drive to their office to pick it up for Christmas since they are located on the north side of Cincinnati. SIDE NOTE: It was funny to see a couple of employees look out of their office windows nervously .. guess they wanted to make sure it wasn't Mike Valentine springing a surprise visit.

DISLIKES (or areas of opportunity re: business world)
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1) WAY TOO MANY Falses; especially in X band! Probably in the 3-4X area which is hugely annoying!! What is truly unfortunate is I can NOT disable X band here in Cincinnati since I have observed (more than once or twice) city cops still using X band plus most of the park rangers use X band as well!
2) Minor point: turning unit on and off is a major pain compared to the 8500. Obviously hotwiring eliminates this point.

All in all, a very fine detector (especially once I read the manual and figured out to really mute the alert correctly). It has already saved me once. On my way to Lexington, KY to pick up my stepson for Christmas, I got a K band alert ahead of me. Spotted nothing unusual but slowed down anyway. I noticed that the alert was already showing a strength of 3 (while false alerts always seem to start with just 1) so I was wary. As I watched a car speeding off the exit ramp behind me (which with the 8500 would have made me very nervous) ... with the V1 the arrow showed the threat was ahead so I continued to search the horizon. I finally spotted the trooper way up ahead, on the other side of the highway, and it looked like a disabled car (hard to explain why, but that was my first impression) but I continued to "stare" I quickly noticed it was an unmarked police car. Fortunately the person rapidly approaching from behind me slowed down as well!!

NEUTRAL:
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1) This may surprise you but it's the bogey counter! While this is always a major "claim to fame" for the V1, I find it a wash. I always had my 8500 setup to display how many signals of EACH band was present so I could quickly figure out potential threats. Example: I knew that one particular area on I75 always falsed one X band very strongly so I always watched to make sure that 2 X bands didn't appear (that actually saved my wife from a ticket once). Now I find that I must recalibrate my norms so I can more quickly assess potential threats. That same area produced 5 separate alerts with the V1. BTW .. that was in A mode. I now use L (advanced logic) mode when traveling around the city.

Any comments / suggestions ?? TIA

 

I had the passport in my FX and the V1 in my TT. I was going to drop off my TT at the shop and a friend was behind me in my FX.. We came upon a trooper stopped on the shoulder and the V1 picked up a weak bogey. The Passport never picked this bogey up at all. We also came upon one of those devices that measures and displays your speed... K band... The V1 had it wayyyyyyyyyyy before the passport even showed a bogey...

No comparison in my opinion...

 

V1 is the only way to go! Once you go V1, you dont go back! V1 has saved my *** way too many times!

 

The V1 is awsome! I'd rather have more sensitivity, especially in the mountains. It has saved me **** on many occasions!!!
When I use my older Passport in my other car, I don't know which direction the bogey is coming from. The arrows are great! I now
keep moving the V1 between cars!

 

Did you guys check out Motor Trend's latest detector test???

http://www.motortrend.com/features/c...12_0402_radar/

I'm still trying to figure out the LIDAR shifting device...

I also tested both and like the V1 better, but I'm always open to suggestions!

 

Didnt read through it...Lidar shifting is basically another name for laser jamming/shifting