My current daily has the Passport 9500ci. That's a real expensive unit that's built into the cars wiring with sensors in the front and rear bumpers of the car. The 2013 Golf R it was purchased by me when the car already had the system installed (I bount the R 14 months ago). At the time the original owner bought it, it was sometime in 2013 or 2014 for about $4,500 installed. The install alone costs almost as much as the unit itself. Very effective unit (there's even a better, updated unit available now), if money is no object and you're looking for one of the Best and Most effective radar detector/ radar jammers available today, I would highly recommend the newer updated version of the Passport 9500ci. I get a lot of false alarms, mostly from blind spot monitors from other cars. But when my unit says "Ka band" it's 100% a Police Officer, whether you can see them or not. The new and updated version supposedly has substantially less false alarms, but I personally can't confirm that...
I previously owned a Subaru STi when they first came out in 2004-2005. I bought the "best" unit available at that time, which was the Beltronics RX65-STI Red Professional Series Radar Detector. At that time it was just under $500 shipped. It had some tough competition at the time, and I specifically chose it to the proven Valentine One because I assumed the Valentine was going to come out with a new and updated model, simply because the original Valentine One was so old and outdated, at least as far as looks and design. I simply assumed that a new version was around the corner. Years later (till current day), the Valentine One is exactly the same unit, with a few internal updates. Long story short: I was pulled over in the middle of the Arizona desert, going from Phoenix to LA at 9am, on a Sunday morning. NO cars on the road, roads as far as the eye can see, completely straight for dozens of miles at a time. I was "cruising", not speeding, at 120mph. A cop was hiding behind 2 cactus in the center median. I was arrested, clocked at 116mph. The cop was nice enough to shoot my Beltronics RX65STI with his radar gun, 6 inches away from my detector to prove to me it was a p.o.s. I called Beltronics, they told me it was working fine, I tucked it away and of course, never used it again.
Now, my 718 is less than a month from delivery. My 718 will be a 24 month lease. Porsche will likely try and pull me out and put me in a different car in 21 months of ownership. I am not in the financial position to spend $4,500 for a car that I will likely have for 2 years, then spend a pretty penny to have it taken out and installed on the next car. Again, if money was no real object, that's definitely the route I would go. The updated version of the Passport 9500ci is worth the money, I'm just not in the position to spend that kind of coin for for a detector/jammer...
End result: I will be purchasing the best detector for the money rated by many non paid people online, personal friends and family, law enforcement, etc... The ancient Valentine One that looks like it was created in the early 90's, because it was... It seems to be the best unit that's stood the test of time and can be mobile enough to pull out and put in other cars for road trips (road trips require our BMW X5). One problem with any of these post to your rearview mirror, dash, or windshield units is the obvious: they are openly visible to law enforcement, which makes me feel uneasy, even if it completely legal in the State of Arizona. It just seems like admitting to wrong doing. I'll likely be ordering my Valentine One in a couple of weeks.
