Picked up an Escort 9500i detector

[aaronkamloops]

Decided on the 9500i, too many kewl features and it seems limitless for upgradability with a USB connection. Had a friend recommend it after him and a friend drove to Vancouver for a drifting competetion and he claimed it saved them 6 times in that one weekend alone. I'll post my review and opinions on it as time goes on. Heard from another car guy that he had to actually DRIVE over his radar detector in Ontario when he got caught with one and then the cop made him pick up all the bits and pieces otherwise he was gonna get a littering citation. Another reason to love B.C!!!

 

[apple27]

Decided on the 9500i, too many kewl features and it seems limitless for upgradability with a USB connection. Had a friend recommend it after him and a friend drove to Vancouver for a drifting competetion and he claimed it saved them 6 times in that one weekend alone. I'll post my review and opinions on it as time goes on. Heard from another car guy that he had to actually DRIVE over his radar detector in Ontario when he got caught with one and then the cop made him pick up all the bits and pieces otherwise he was gonna get a littering citation. Another reason to love B.C!!!

Now that you have had this a few months can you provide us with some feedback? I have an 8500 x50 and wanted to see if it is worth the upgrade.

Thanks!

 

[BioBanker]

Just FYI - you cant use that detector in Ontario. Theyll get'cha

 

[NCC-1701D]

I recently purchased the latest Valentine one..

Awesome is the word I would use for it.

Pros
- the arrows.
- bogey threat counter

against photo radar (yes it picks it up)

-I saw a photo radar van going the other way so I decided to do a U turn and test how far I can pick up photo radar heading in the same direction. Against really light traffic I get about 400m warning.
- went through 3 photo radar traps in heavy slow moving traffic. I get about 100m + warning.
- against medium traffic I got about 200m of warning time.

Trevor has a passport 8500 X50 radar detector and we tested it against my V1. We parked next to each other on a known photo radar trap and the V1could easily pick up the photo radar where the X50 had difficulties. We thought maybe the X50 was mounted poorly so Trev held the X50 out the window and the X50 against the photo radar was still had troubles picking it up. I thought maybe because I had better position on Trev so I parked behind Trev and the V1 still picked up the photo radar with no difficulties.

:conclusion against photo radar
the less traffic there is the more warning you get. I believe its because there is less cars to absorb and block the photo radar. Haven't tested the V1 against the 9500i but so far no complaints with the V1 against photo

against roaming/normal radar in the city
- I picked up a police cruiser doing normal radar for about 2km. Only confirmed roaming radar once.
- went through a construction zone with a stationary radar to tell drivers their speed. Really no surprise that the V1 picked up well in advance ~2km. But the twist was I was going in the opposite direction the radar was targeting.

against laser
I have yet to go through a laser radar trap.


highway
Haven't test it on the highway yet but will do this weekend. So far it performs awesome in the city and I do not see why it wouldn't perform anything short of spectatular on the highway.

the cons
- really sensitive to everything and I mean everything. Had to turn off x band completely because i can pick up door openers every where. Even with X band turned off. I still pick up alot of K band. K band could be radar though but it could be door openers as well.

- they could have used different colored LEDs to identify the threat. Really hard to know what type of radar you are getting hit with.


will update more when I go through more scenarios

 

[BioBanker]

It is a good detector. It would probably be my choice too if I lived in a place where theyre allowed.

 

[ffffanman]

Please do not buy the products from Escort if you have photo radar in your area.
I just got off the phone with Aaron at the factory and he and his tech told me that their product is not sensitive enough in the photo radar bands to detect the threat until you get zapped.
I know this from driving around with my X50.
The Tech recommended the following:
Best - Bell STI Driver
Next Best - Valentine One.
End result is I am pissed off and will call the manager at Visions where I bought my unit last year before I went to Kelowna and asked which will be the best unit for me, V1 or X50.
End result is I got screwed and am pissed off.
I am glad Eddie bought the V1 and I was able to find this fact out.
Now I have to make room on my dash for the big ugly V1 that I will get.
lol
Trev
p.s. For sale, one slightly used X50!!!

 

[BioBanker]

Love my STi

 

[Caveman]

Both my wife and I have the X50 and they pick up photo radar it both directions very well ... at least in plenty of time for us to slow down.
I am extremely happy with the X50 and it is one of the highest rated photo detecters available.

Trev, how much do you want for yours .... I have a 3rd vehicle I could use it in.:biggrin:

Dan

 

[Ian D]

For us who live in Ontario, which is the best radar detector that is undetectable by the radar detector, detectors? Does that make sense radar detector, detectors?

Ian

 

[BioBanker]

The ONLY detector you can run in Ontario without fear of getting sniffed out is the Beltronics STi.

Anything else and they'll get you with SPECTRE.

 

[Ian D]

Hey BioBanker:

Can you give us a personal review of what you think about your STi ?

Thanks.

Ian

 

[NCC-1701D]

Both my wife and I have the X50 and they pick up photo radar it both directions very well ... at least in plenty of time for us to slow down.
I am extremely happy with the X50 and it is one of the highest rated photo detecters available.

Trev, how much do you want for yours .... I have a 3rd vehicle I could use it in.:biggrin:

Dan

Interesting, All 3 of us will have to go out and look for a photo radar van and test them all out at the same time.

Sidenote... was driving south on Calgary trail this evening and there was a photo radar van 1 block North of Scona High School. I picked up the photo just before I cross Whyte Ave...

Driving West on 111 ave and 116st and picked up laser 2x while I was stopped at the light but saw no laser radar trap though.

 

[95EagleAWD]

They always sit there at Scona.

My friend got a ticket when we went blasting through there in his FD. Oops.

 

[BioBanker]

I think it works great - but I dont use it very much; only when Im taking longer trips and then its almost certainly when Im in my van.

It has legitamately saved me only once - we have so few cops on highways here using radar that true saves are going to be few and far between, no matter what detector you have.

I find most of the time Ill see the trap with plenty of warning, so the detector would have been irrelevant. There is also usually some traffic braking way up ahead giving me warning there too. Officers also use pacing a ton, so again, detector would not save you. Then there are those nasty laser traps - the chance that the detector saves you from one of those is smallish. The best you can hope for is to pick up laser reflections from other cars that are being targeted, or that the officer targets you from a distance beyond which he can get lock, or that you get hit by laser, slow and someone passes you at a higher rate of speed and the officer pulls that person over instead (happened to me once).

The radar save I had was in West Van when I was heading up to Whistler. K band - I had a ton of warning and I probably would have been toast.

I dont know if even a great detector is worth it in Ontario. So many people claim saves all the time but I find that 80% of the time that I am at risk of a speeding tickets, its either pacing or laser. I often drive by which looks like a radar trap - ie, car in bushes beside highway looking like it is ready to pounce, and its radar is off.

 

[Ian D]

Thanks BioBanker for your review.

Ian

 

[BioBanker]

More a review of detectors in general. Ive had a few. Compared to the others:

STi picks up as many door openers as anything else (X and K bands)
Picks up Ka extremely well AFAICT
Seems to have very strong K too

Havent seen an actual X band in years

 

[ffffanman]

I have turned the POP off on my unit and will run it for a while in AUTO mode.
See what this might bring about.
Can't wait to get together and do a side by side with Dan and the gang.
Maybe a tear this weekend.
Trev