You're completely serious......you actually took them apart???
Being that I don't know much about detectors... how do you tell by looking inside which one is the superior product.
How/where did you reference the internals???
Completely serious. Each time I've purchased a detector, I have taken it apart and look over the PCB to see what components are used.
Referencing the internals is easy if you have a degree in what you're looking at, like any other profession, I suppose.
As for twisted, if you read real closely, they make the H.A.R.D. unit for V1 as well. In fact, I was the one who first pointed them out.
I laugh at reviews that knock a radar detector for it's weight or the fact that it's 2 millimeter wider than another unit. Let's get real. I'm not carrying this thing around with me 8 hours a day like a cell phone, where size/weight DOES matter. AT MOST, I'm putting it in a jacket pocket or locking it in a saddlebag (someday I'll have those Beetle Bags).
I also laugh when a review knocks something for not having 8-10 cheapo, hump-shaped buttons on the exterior instead of a central knob, large enough to be manipulated with a gloved hand. Nothing is worse than trying to hit tiny, closely-croweded-together buttons when you're traveling at high speed and wearing gloves. Think about it. As for rechargeable vs. hard wired, I much prefer a wired solution so that I never have to wonder/worry if I have a strong enough battery charge to ensure that everything will work at optimum strength/sensitivity. If you can't connect a positive power lead to the battery or a main power line with a simple pinch connector, um, well, shame on you... As for taking the V1 somewhere, how hard is it to pull one phone-style plug from the side?
As for the REAL reason I prefer V1, it's all about the Ka band radar, baby. I have tested it myself with former collegues and even in my admittedly unscientific, straight-forward detection tests (including flat terrain, hilly/hidden terrain, a wide sweeping turn where the gun was hidden by trees on the inside of the turn). I tested an older Bel (this was 2 years ago), a Whistler and a buddy's Passport against my brother's older V1. I had never heard of them before then, and thought that Passport was so superior because it was small and trick looking (great criteria for a radar detector's value, huh?) and it had a lot of word of mouth.
The V1 just plain beat the diodes off the other 3. Now, granted, some may have made improvements since then (just as V1 has). Radar guns have evolved as well by leaps and bounds, in fact to the point where radar detectors themselves are almost becoming a moot point anyway with the advent of batching, bursting and "best speed" modifications that most guns are getting along with much lower passive power signatures. Just as the military saw the value in short, high-power burst mode for it's communications vs. a long, constant signal, so too have radar guns gone the way of doing a whole lot of work in less than half a second, greatly reducing its signature and, hence, possible detection at ANY distance. Which leads me to the last laughable criticism...
I bust out laughing when I read complaints that V1's detect too much ambient signal vs. other detectors. Damn radar detector, why the hell is it detecting radar so well! Gosh...
This criticism of levied most often by people who are using the detector in a ridiculous scenario in the first place: city use. Do you know how many times a patrol unit will sit in a known "false alarm" zone (near a store that has automatic doors, etc) and do pushbutton shots (only fire the radar once target is in sight, and only a short burst long enough to get a lock, less than a half second)??? Bottom line: trusting your speeding safety to a detector in city environment is just plain stupid, but so is speeding in city zone in the first place.
Where ***I*** use a detector is wide-open rural highway. If I catch a false alarm from a 6-person-don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it-town, so be it. I'd much rather be safe than sorry and put up with some of false alarms. Making units TOO discriminatory caters to city users, which, again, to me is the dumbest place to trust radar detection to begin with.
So, there, we've further qualified and fractionalized the recommendation. ***IF*** you're a rural speeder where maximum range is the key and limited possible "false" readings are welcomed vs. being too insensitive, you absolutely cannot beat the quality of the detection circuitry in the V1. It may not be as much of a visual fashion statement on a bike (??? what a criteria), but it will connect to the helmet device I have ordered and will do it's intended job better than the walkman-grade cheaper Hong-Kong units out there. Not only that, it's the easiest to control with a gloved hand, especially if you purchase the remote/discretion module that I have as well.
If you think that city radar detection is more help than setting-up for disaster in urban driving, then I guess you want one of the other cheap units that have claimed higher discretion and a lot more cool, impress-your-buddies tiny buttons on them. The choice is yours...I prefer function over form any day...
