Escort Passport 9500ix Radar/Laser Detector (Black)
by Escort Inc.
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List Price: Our Price: $431.95 You Save: $68.00 (14%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $397.48 (click here) Category: Car Audio or Theater See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Escort Passport 9500ix Radar/Laser Detector (Black)
Customer Review: Escort 9500ix does the job!
Summary: 5 Stars
This radar detector is the best one I have ever used. Not slightly better, unbelievably better.
I originally bought a Valentine V1 and I was very impressed with its range but couldn't take it going off all of the time.
I then purchased this one and it has made all the difference. I sent the Valentine V1 back. This one picks up nearly as far. It may have slightly less range than the V1 but still way more than anything else. But it is worth the difference. It rarely goes off on false alarms, but after a week it had learned all of the few false alarms in my city and now it never goes off unless it is real.
I went with a friend on a work trip 8 hours away and we took my Escort in his car. He was very impressed. It only went off about 7 times and all of them were real. The first time it went off, we didn't see anything and he said "so much for the false alarms." But then after a few minutes a police car topped the hill. The range was just so good you couldn't see the car yet but it could! After that trip, he is definitely buying one.
I live in Alabama and have never seen the speed camera part of it work since we don't have those in the cities I have visited but I have used the Mark button to mark entrances of places where I have trouble finding the driveway at night and it works great. It goes off about 500 ft before and starts counting down distance. It even shows an arrow to let you know what side of the road it is on.
The V1 is built better physically with its metal case and physical knob. This one has a cheaper plastic case and buttons but the electronics and GPS are so advanced. The brightness of the LED's can be put in automatic so the brightness varies with the sun so at night it is not blinding you but it gets really bright during the day so you can see it. And the display on the front can be changed to show different things. I have mind doing a KITT type thing with a dot scanning back and forth. Looks kind of cool. And I really like the voice announcements. I thought I would turn that feature off, but instead I really like it. The volume also softens after the initial beeps so it gets your attention but then quits being so loud. All these settings and tons more can be adjusted using internal menus on it.
Customer Review: It flunked my road test...
Summary: 1 Stars
I wanted to like this device: After all, nobody throws down $500 and plans to feel like a chump.
The main feature that excited me about this Passport was the claim that it could notify drivers about speed cameras. There are plenty of fine detectors out there for K band radar and laser traps: But a "smart" detector with GPS and a camera database was hard to resist.
I do not run red lights or do much high speed driving on interstates with 65 and 70 mph limits: But those insidious speed cameras seem to be popping up everywhere-- and it's clearly a money grab that I want to avoid. So I ordered the Passport with high hopes.
Mine arrived quickly from Amazon, and I was impressed with the build quality immediately. I couldn't wait to take it on a test drive. I had a number of "perfect" routes for this: I drove on main roads near schools-- roads where speed cameras had been installed for over two years. In fact, these cameras were so well-known that they appear on many of the free websites and in many of the free GPS databases (like trapster).
The Passport failed to detect a single one of them. I drove by many others throughout the week and did not get a single warning. Figuring that maybe I had not downloaded the latest database, I connected the device to the Escort site and double checked. Yup, it was current.
Trying to connect did expose two other major annoyances: You have to buy your own power cable and mini USB cable to update the device. This seems very cheap and skimpy for a $500 device. And you must use a PC-- no Macs allowed. I happen to have a PC and all of the right cables, but can see why somebody who doesn't would find this irritating: Especially if you're used to GPS devices like Garmins or TomToms-- where everything is relatively easy and included.
In short, the Passport is probably a swell radar detector. If you're just worried about radar and laser traps, it probably is state of the art. And there probably are many other fine detectors that do the same thing for less money.
Bottom line: It didn't live up to my expectations, and I'm glad they have a 30-day return policy.
Customer Review: decent RD
Summary: 4 Stars
I recently purchased the 9500ix after owning an 8500 for many years. I have owned the 9500ix for about a month now. Overall, I am pleased with the RD. I usually have the RD set to highway or auto and have the x, k, ka, and laser enabled. I disabled POP (since tickets cant be issued with POP alone) and ku band (since it is not used in the USA). I also turned off the feature that displays your speed when the RD detects a signal as it delays the display of what band is being used to display your speed. Okay.. now for the road test... the first week I had the RD I really didnt run into any LEO using radar. I drove by a few on the highway just sitting there but the RD didnt go off. I started to wonder whether the RD was broken but then reminded myself that not all LEO use radar when they are sitting on the side of the road. Well, a few days later, I was driving home at night on a long straight road (with some small hills) and the Ka band chirped once.. then it went full blown on. At first, I didnt see anything... but after a about a 1/2 to 3/4 mile a LEO passed me going the other way. Not bad!! The one thing I noticed with this experience and other subsequent experiences is that the 9500ix has little ramp up... one chirp and then full on... I am getting used to it and I dont think the lack of ramp up reflects poor detection (still picks up on a source just goes from "0 to 60" right away). The GPS capabilities are nice... and I love how the RD learns false positives. It has cancelled a number of walgreens and other door openers and for the most part the RD is silent until it picks up a true source. The days of hearing your RD go off all the time are over :) We dont have traffic cams in WI... so I dont care about the database too much. The RD has a number of speed traps stored in memory that it alerts you too..but I havent found this very useful yet. Overall, I am pleased with the RD... it virtually eliminates false positives and has a decent detection range. Bit pricey though and it doesnt include a USB cable to update the RD... also, not compatible with a Mac.Customer Review: Not good enough...
Summary: 2 Stars
First off, let me say that I was excited about ordering this product and with all the new revenue generating radar vans that are now going up in the Phoenix area I just could not wait to get my hands on one.
The detector arrived in a nice carrying case and looked impressive as I took it out. The update process was OK, but it took me a while because you need to use your laptop in the car to update the detector unless you have a seperate power cord for the detector which I did not have.
Then I went to drive around looking for one of these radar vans... Which is the whole reason I bought the detector. I drove around on loop 101 for a while and it did not take me long to see a van. I saw it, but not a peep from the detector until after I had almosed passed the van!!! I was very upset so I drove by it again... Same result.
I then thought that there was something wrong with my detector so I borrowed a 9500i from a friend. These two should have the same detection... And they did!
Upset and annoyed at the state of affairs I returned the 9500i to my friend and sent my 9500ix back. If you want this detector for the new radar vans it is not good enough. I worked with escort customer service and they said the same thing.
The detector does a good job with the GPS and stationary cameras, and the auto learn also works well, but I was very dissappointed with the radar vans. For almost $500 this is not worth it. I sent mine back.
I sincerely hope that someone develops a better solution to deal with these. Unless they can make the detectors more sensitive it seems like you will need a real time auto updating GPS, which is not very practical.
Score one for DPS in arizona. :((( I hope that something gets done about the state of affairs here. You can not drive for 5 miles on an AZ freeway without encountering a speed van or a stationary camera. There are 3 cameras on I10 coming into phoenix and dozens inside the city. The situation is absolutely ridiculous.
Customer Review: The best radar detector ever.
Summary: 5 Stars
I had a wonderful stroke of luck when my 9500i started acting up on me within the return period, and found this in the gold box.
In a word: "wow".
Like the 9500i, the range is nothing short of outstanding. I'm "seeing" police cars nearly a mile away on the highway, and in more than enough time to slow down in the city. The actual alert is enough to get your attention, and with AutoMute, it quiets down fast enough that you're not being constantly nagged.
While I really liked the 9500i, I absolutely love the 9500ix. Having a detector that *accurately* detects and locks out false alerts automatically is absolute bliss. Not only is it great to drive without hearing the detector going off every time you go near a grocery store, but I've also found that I pay much more attention to the alerts, now that I know the alert is real.
Sadly, though, Escort has left their Mac users completely in the dark, if you plan on pushing updates to the detector. Even if you're running Parallels or VMware Fusion (the VM's won't see it connected as a USB device). So, plan on doing Boot Camp or borrowing a Windows machine from a friend if you're looking for updates. The software itself is very good, and gives you lots of point-and-click options that you'd otherwise set through the on-screen menus built in to the detector.
You'll also find that while Escort gives you a very nice (though ridiculously huge) carrying case, they do not include a USB cable or way to power the detector outside of your car if you're doing updates. The USB port on the detector is a generic mini-USB port, so you don't need to buy a special cable if you already have something like a Treo, BlackBerry, PS3, TomTom, Canon digital camera, or other device that uses mini-USB cables. But, you'll need to figure out a way to plug in the cigarette lighter adapter if you're not taking a laptop to your car for updates.