S4thrills

Yeah, took me about an hour to figure that one out myself.

Richard Solomon

While life *IS* a compromise, I've found a couple more options for V1 mounting which offer some different compromises.

I first saw this vacuum cup mount:


I ordered one from Amazon and waited for the car to come in Then I found the same company had one which mounts to the mirror:

thinking that might be better, I ordered one of those too

Well, I finally got the car and finally got a chance to try out the mounts...

I really like the solidity of the mirror mount, and it fits quite well, but I don't like how low the detector hangs (this is with the arm Z-folded as much as possible):



So off that came and on went the vacuum cup mount - it took a lot of fiddling to get this positioned so I had the mirror angled properly. I had to position, move the mirror away to latch the vacuum cup, and move the mirror back into position... but the result was much better!


even better, this allows visor use without blocking the V1!


I've been running the suction mount for a few days now and am pretty pleased, but in posting this I confess I started thinking if I turned the mirror mount sideways instead of vertically.... I might be able to get the best of both worlds. Not sure I'll fuss with it any more though.

DeerHunter

The detector will be a lot less noticeable from the outside (i.e. to law enforcement) if you ditch the coiled cord and do a permanent wire to the detector. Otherwise, it seems like a decent mount.

Richard Solomon

Sorry, yes - I forgot to mention this is mount testing only! This is very much interim wiring!!! The visor clip position (not photographed) is still the best, but as I get older I'm wishing for the visor more than I used to So this time around I think I'm going for something which leaves the visor usable.

DeerHunter

I had the same concern about using the visor. I previously mounted my detector at the top left of the windshield, which made it nigh on invisible to outsiders, but it prevented me from using the visor without interference.

The first thing I did is buy a couple of http://www.ebay.com/itm/Escort-Permanent-Windshield-Mount-For-Beltronics-Escort-Radar-Detectors-995-965/171363468162?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D24142%26meid%3D8370156512236402371%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D10240%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D10%26sd%3D181400795651, which won't ever fall off in the sun and, more importantly, don't look like the ubiquitous RD suction cup mount from the outside. I mounted it a little lower than before and now can use the visor through its full range of motion.

subterFUSE

The mirror mounting in our Audis is a fail.

I much prefer the mirrors on my BMWs. They were mounted a slight bit lower than our audis' mirrors. I could fit the Valentine 1 perfectly above the rearview mirror and both visors could be lowered fully without blocking the detector from view. Plus, by being above the mirror, the detector was almost invisible from outside the car. Hardwired into the dome light, no cables hanging anywhere.

Richard Solomon

I'm not sure what the difficulty was here - I used the fuse panel on the driver's side and there are 3 columns of fuses. When facing the fuse panel, the far right column (closest to the driver) are *ALL* "Terminal 15" (aka switched with ignition). In fact, there are several open sockets on my car with empty left sides (load) and populated right sides (feed), so I just plugged a standard male blade connector into one and voila! switched power.

I didn't even have to lose the pink/purple fuse retainer this way.


Disclaimer: your car may vary, a voltmeter is your friend, closed course - do not emulate, etc, etc, etc.

Taylor Shaw

I have a passport 9500 installed system with shifters in front. The only time I have a issue is if I am parked in a spot close to another car where front radar sets it off. Only for a brief time until I back a few feet away and never any disruption while driving.