from many research that I did before buying the Beltronics RX65, Valentine 1 is great, but it'll also run you $400... A lot of the test results showed that while V1 came in first, there were many that weren't far behind... including the Passport X50 (Will's R.D.) and the RX65 (mine) which is basically the exact same unit for Beltronics and Passport
ARE same company. Passport's highest model 9500i won't really do any better job than the X50 in terms of detecting radars, but it has a GPS that will
"remember" all the false alarm spots... which is kinda a waste of money. Beltronics' highest model STi won't do any better than my RX65, but it's NOT detectable by Radar Detector-Detectors...
"Huh"? You say... In Virginia, Washington DC, and some Canadian provinces, radar detectors are illegal... so cops have RDD's to pick out those with radar detectors... And also truck drivers can't have them either (in all states I believe). So, in California... since it's legal to have radar detectors
AND you're NOT a truck driver... buying the STi is pointless too.
In California, the "band" that you need to be concern about is Ka band... as it's fast becoming the radar of choice by police.
I would stay away from the cheap brands like Cobra and most Whistler models. What's your budget?... I would expect to spend $200+ for a decent unit. Passport has a decent one that's cordless which is really cool...
Go take your traffic school... I never really mind it... cuz there's always cute girls in traffic school