As a new V1 owner—just two months–I didn’t know what to expect on my first trip, a nine hour run from Florida to North Carolina. I hooked the device up in my friend’s car, much to his doubts about its usefulness, and we rolled out.
A few hours into the trip, on my driving shift, I’m on I-95 in South Carolina. With all the scattered clumps of trees in the median, I could smell a gotcha behind every one of them.
After driving just long enough to become complacent, V1 gave a short, light braap of Ka. A few seconds later, slightly stronger. “Curious,” I thought, “I wonder where that is coming from?” My old detector just beeped, so my reflex was to wonder rather than look at the Radar Locator. To my shock—I never thought about radar back there–it was coming from behind. Since the bogey was gaining on me, I eased back to the posted. The driver behind me was not as well informed.
Once he zipped around me, I could see the faint outline of what could be an unmarked Charger. V1 is going nuts. As the officer flies by us, the red arrow follows.
You think that’s the story? Oh no.
Once we pass our fallen comrade, I regain our cruising pace. Before long, the bogey counter suddenly ramps up, 1 to 2 to 3 to 4; Ka, some K, more Ka, and another K. We’re on a long sweeping bend, and I drop back to legal. When we hit the end of the bend, the synchronized gasps of my companions tell the story. Four cruisers were spaced out in the median, ready to feed their fresh catch to the six officers just up the road on the shoulder.
Again, you think that’s the story? Ooooh, no.
A couple miles past the last ambush, I’ve barely regained my serenity when V1 squawked a brief K ahead. “Again?!?,” I thought, “no way.” But V1 has been telling us straight so I ease back to an innocent pace. The radar bursts are increasing again, along with the digits in the counter. The road drops down after a bridge and another cluster of three officers, radar guns in hand, are poised in the median. Just past the ambush is an exit ramp, and I look in the mirror to see every driver’s horror–five hidden cruisers tucked next to the wall waiting to jump on command.
Never in my past life have I witnessed such succession of traps. And never in my future life will I use a detector other than V1.
Ed Cronauer
Gainesville, FL