A certain detector-testing website downgrades V-1 because its directions say, “mount it high on the windshield.” It was precisely that high position that saved me.
I was booking along the parkway when the laser warning went off, its strident tone sending my foot to the brake pedal even before I had consciously identified the warning as laser. I was coming over a small rise, still on the binders. A local on a motor was parked on the right shoulder, his laser gun steadied on his handlebars and aimed squarely at the center of my lane, ready to catch my license plate.
His one mistake: he had the gun triggered even before he saw me come over the rise. And just as my car appeared to rise up out of the road (from his point of view), the laser painted my car from top down—first the roofline, then the windshield (and the V-1!), the hood, and finally the front plate.
Which gave me those precious few feet to react, and avoid a roadside billing transaction. A dash-top unit would have cut that warning margin in half. Give me performance over aesthetics any day!
Rush Strong
Idyllwild, CA