I don't have a specific detector to recommend besides the Valentine One, but I will mention the following:

A radar detector is only a tool.

If you want to drive fast and still avoid speeding tickets, there are a whole lot of other things you need to do and learn. The radar detector can handle one small aspect of the ticket avoidance puzzle, but it's not the whole picture.

I'm not going to post my exact driving habits on a public forum, but let's just say that my travel times between points A and B are significantly lower than most folks would consider reasonable. And in my entire life, I have only been written up for one speeding ticket: going 65 in a 55 zone. And that one only happened because I wasn't in "ticket avoidance" mode and wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.

Oh, and by the way, I do not own a radar detector. It is possible to avoid tickets without one. In fact, in the one situation where I was actually ticketed, the detector wouldn't have helped anyway because the cop wasn't using radar. There are techniques you can use, things you can do, and stuff you can learn about the way Highway Patrol does its job. It's not too difficult, but it all comes down to being careful and attentive whenever you're exceeding the speed limit.

Loren, if you ever want me to "talk your ear off" on the subject, we can get together the next time I'm in the Bay area (or the next time you come up to Tahoe).

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Tony Fabris