I had never used a radar detector before this past week, but a friend of mine lent me here Escort 9500ix this past week. I went on a 400 mile round trip and was very pleased with it. I have since been researching detectors online over the past couple of days and I am leaning on getting the Passport Max. It seems to have the best combo of range, as well as less false alarms. Any opinions would be appreciated.

 

I have the passport max, and love it.

 

I have the same unit & it's good but i think it has too many false alarms. It has great volume control. It warns you of upcoming speed traps, red light cameras etc. which are cool features but I've been contemplating purchasing the Valentine 1.

 

Escort Solo 3--great battery life, easy to see display, no cords, works very well. With that said, NOTHING defeats "instant on" radar--I think it should be banned.

 

I use the Valentine One mounted as follows:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f-type-72/valentine-one-install-121975/?styleid=5

When I'm going faster I also use the Waze app, which is great for detecting road hazards and cop cars (including the ones with instant on or radar) through corwdsourcing.

Haven't gotten a ticket since 1999 (when I bought the v1)

 

I have a 9500ci but I rely more on the Waze app to warn me of cops in the road ahead. It's saved me a few times, more than the detector.

 

V1. It's the arrows.

 

I have 2 Escort Passport Maxes and an Escort Solo S3. The cordless S3 is definitely convenient but doesn't have the range that the Passport Max does.

 

Escort 9500ix for 6 years and have been very happy with it. No tickets. I also have Waze always running.

The V1 is a great detector but the arrows are a gimmick and the Escort trumps it with GPS lockout of false alarms. Something that is very much needed if you always have it on while city driving. And I say the arrows are a gimmick because who cares where a signal is coming from? For one, radar bounces and you can get false hits from any direction. Second, if you get a radar hit, especially KA band, are you really going to go to do a mental breakdown of where the signal potentially came from and how you should respond? Hell no, you are going to slow down and be cautious.

 

Beltronics RX-65. Had it for years - it's been a great detector.

 

I used to fly F-14s for a living and knowing what quadrant the bogey or bandit was coming from was a big deal. That's still the case today and doppler radar is doppler radar.

A couple questions:

1. When you do a GPS lockout of "false alarms" as you call them. Are you locking out an exact frequency in that band received by the Escort or permanently locking out a significant section of that particular band?
2. What is the defined area radius, in distance, covered by that lockout?

BTW I totally disagree with your summation that the arrows are a gimmick. Used in the proper manner they far outweigh just listing to beeps. Also, there is no such thing as a false alarm. The detector is alerting to a frequency within a particular band. All are viable alerts and should be treated as such. It's for us to decipher what is a LEO, drone or proximity devise. You've been lucky thus far.


Walt




<<<The V1 is a great detector but the arrows are a gimmick and the Escort trumps it with GPS lockout of false alarms. Something that is very much needed if you always have it on while city driving. And I say the arrows are a gimmick because who cares where a signal is coming from? For one, radar bounces and you can get false hits from any direction. Second, if you get a radar hit, especially KA band, are you really going to go to do a mental breakdown of where the signal potentially came from and how you should respond? Hell no, you are going to slow down and be cautious.>>>

 

I don't think the arrows are a gimmick. statistically, half the time the cop will be on the other side of the road. so it's pretty helpful to know where the signal is coming from. if the guy is on the other side and there is a freeway divider, I'm not slowing down!

 

No it is GPS + the exact frequency + signal strength at that location based on a radius of about a half mile. It is pretty accurate and takes 3 passes (unless manually locked out) to identify that signal as being the same one before locking out. I've had one of those mobile road side speed signs setup and locked out only for the sign to be moved down the block and reappear, so the detector knew it was a new location.

As for the arrows, we'll just have to agree to disagree. I'm sure the equipment in your F-14 (extremely jealous of the career by the way) is a bit more sophisticated than a single 4" consumer detector.

 

The waze app seems interesting, although I'd rather not have to have my cell phone running all the time in the car. It seems that having a laser/lidar jammer plus a good radar detector would be the best combo...although the downside to the jammer is the cost, the issue of installing, and uninstalling when you change out your vehicle.

 

LynxFx,

Actually what you are saying is not quite true.

Take police k-Bank for example. It is defined as 24.150 GHz ±100 MHz. The 9500 series radar detectors divide that spectrum into 8 segments of approximately 30Mhz. When the detector blocks an alert via the autolearn system or manually by you, it typically blocks only one of these 8 segments. That is not not always the case however. Many times it can and will block adjoining segments thus blocking a significant significant portion of the whole band.
This can particularly be the case when locking out a strong signal and the detector receiver starts to "ghost" or overflow into the adjoining blocks. This lockout of a significant portion of the whole band can extend outwards to a 1/2 mile radius!

Because of this issue, I have seen LEOs park just on the edge of a Sam's Club near my house and shoot K-band at traffic on the adjacent road. I in fact had a discussion about this very thing with a traffic officer years ago that attended some laser jammer testing I was involved in with a buddy. (Another story)

No question the 9500 series detectors are very good and hi tech however I elected to go with a detector that does not block out potentially significant portions of a band for a significant distance and would give me better situational awareness as to what band was transmitting, the number of transmitters and their position in relation to me. That does make for more "noise" however I elect to use my brain as the filter.

I can give you lots of examples whereby having the "arrows" was of great tactical advantage to me. Just consider this though, locking out frequencies will definitely make the interior of your vehicle a much quieter environment however that does not equate to a better defense against a radar threat.

Walt

PS. Not even close. The computer was booted via an analog tape readin and the memory was about as much as a Commodore 64. We did get a spike that gave us a general azimuth and the length of the spike gave us an approximate signal strength. My defensive tactic in response to that spike depended on its location as well as strength. Just as it is right now with a V1.



<<<I'm sure the equipment in your F-14 (extremely jealous of the career by the way) is a bit more sophisticated than a single 4" consumer detector>>>

 

In Lauderdale County Mississippi (believe it or not) I have been ticketed twice by instant on ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY DIVIDER by a highway patrol vehicle headed in the opposite direction. Pretty sophisticated damn radar, which should be banned.

 

I have the 9500 installed covertly as I drive in Va a lot. It has an emitter that foils the instant on laser and its the best I've ever owned. The false alarms are eliminated by the gps feature that learns the location and type of radar and after three times it stops alerting at that spot. It of course does the red light cameras as it uses gps. I sent my rear view mirror away so it alerts in the mirror. I love it!!

 

Hey KingBlueCrab, do you have some pictures of (I'm assuming) your 9500ci that you can post? And who did you send the mirror off to? I'm looking at doing the same and am curious to see how others have mounted in their cars.

 

Have a Passport Max in my car, and I think it's a great detector. I've actually turned off the red light camera warnings because there are just too damn many of them in my area, and I tend not to try and blow through red lights anyway.

 

Are you just looking for a mirror mount? Amazon has several do it yourself mirror mounts for various radar detectors. The one for the Escort gets 4 and 5 star reviews.