Escort Passport 8500 X50 Radar and Laser Detector (Red Display) by Escort Inc.
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Digital camera reviews of Escort Passport 8500 X50 Radar and Laser Detector (Red Display)
Digital camera Review: Buy Extended Warrantee
Summary: 1 Stars
This thing will do a self diagnostic - fail it - and leave you mailing it back every 14 mos or so at fifty bucks a pop. "you get what you pay for" does not apply to this piece of crap.Digital camera Review: Buy anything else - You'll be glad
Summary: 1 Stars
The Escort Passport 8500 was terrible right from the start. The display stopped functioning after a few weeks. We sent it back to Escort and they claimed to have repaired it. Once again, it worked for a few weeks and then the display failed again. It had now broken twice less than three months after we bought it. The service technician said that they would replace it. So once again, we paid to ship it back to them. But instead of replacing it with a new one, they simply fixed it again. When we called to find out why they did not keep their promise to replace it, the customer service agent was completely indifferent and rude. He said that they will decide whether or not to replace items and they were not obligated to keep their promises. So all I can say is that Escort is worthless. They have defective products and poor customer service. We have now purchased a Whistler and we are completely satisified. I'm sure there are lots of other units that provide great performance for less money than this one. Don't waste your cash on this overpriced and poorly built piece of garbage.Digital camera Review: Complete Radar Detection Package for $300.00 or so.
Summary: 5 Stars
After reviewing the specs, features and real-time performance the Escort-Passport 8500 x50 unit offers, I simply had to upgrade to a REAL, user-friendly, out-of-the-box & ready for business radar detector. This is THE unit to have if you want to stay within the $300.00 price point, if not, buy the 9500ix, and OWN the road you travel. With a comprehensive and verified list of outstanding features including a microprocessor that is upgradeable (COOL; would have been really COOL about 10 yrs ago), consistent road-tests and evaluations that produce measureable and observable results along with the on-going praise and "Outstanding Performance" reviews relative to measuring, verifying and explaining all of the features and functions the Escort 8500 x50 proudly claims to have from Radar Roy's Site (his reviews are highly favorable of course), coupled with the numerous real world driving experiences and favorable reviews from a friend, my brief 'test-drive' with this unit was all that was needed to convince me to switch from an older, dated Whistler model to something that was actually manufactured this decade that really does offers an easy-to-program unit that will outperform anything you've been using (unless, you've already crossed the $300.00 threshold).
This particular unit combines nearly everything required for true 'protection' and 'detection' of multiple radar units utilzing virtualy all available frequencies and gadgets regardless of road or weather conditions. It's a true "Long Range" model that has provided me with more than ample time to 'adjust' my current driving situation. I use the Expert Mode to access a easy-to-see and understand visual graph depicting info on up to 8 bogeys along with their related strength meters; the Smart-Cord is just that, listen to it or mute and continue; the minimal 'false' alarms is a welcome relief from other previously utilized units and the choice of 'colors' (red or blue) is helpful as well. I selected the RED unit as it is still common practice for current military vehicles, aircraft and boats or other situations requiring adequate night or low-light vision to use RED lights. Red light measures about 700 nm; Blue light about 400-500 nm. Thus, they occupy nearly opposite ends of the 'light spectrum' we as humans can perceive. As we have both rods and cones for visual perception / function / acuity, using RED light allows the rods to work under low light situations or 'scotopic' (dark vision situations i.e. cockpit of your ride)instead of relying on cones, whose job is bright, day light work with color discrimination. Blue LOOKS COOL and IS; RED is FUNCTIONAL and logical; operational. Buy this one or the 9500ix, PERIOD. A Great Device. A.Womack
Digital camera Review: Detects police radars most of the time.
Summary: 4 Stars
I usually don't drive fast, but I got my first ticket followed by 2 more in a space of 3 days after moving to a suburban area. There may have been a "drive to get more revenue" by the cops. One ticket I got was for changing a lane without giving the indicator while driving at 38 mph (in a 35 mph zone) on an empty road. The cop must have been desperate to hand out the ticket! That last ticket really annoyed me as it got counted as a moving violation...so I got this detector.
Since I have this detector, I've not gotten any tickets but it's mostly because I learned about the cops hiding places and drive within the speed limit in those areas. This is my first radar so I can't compare its performance with anything else but it detects police cars even if I can't see them. However, many times it does not detect any signal even if you are looking at the cop driving on the opposite side of the road or right behind you. This detector only signals one in three cop cars that I physically see. It could be that the cop cars don't have their radar on but I can't be sure. One time I saw all cars in front of me slowing down even though the posted speed limit was greater so I automatically slowed my car down although the road was fairly empty, and then I realized I was in a school zone. I must have missed the flashing yellow light. Within seconds, I saw this cop aiming directly at my car with a pop radar gun through the front windshield but the detector was completely silent. I came back and read the manual and realized you have to TURN ON the pop radar feature, it's not turned on by default!
On auto mode it picks up a lot of X bands especially from drug stores like CVS and Walgreen's and also from gas stations. Some car dealerships set off the laser very loudly but now that I am used to the sound, I don't panic like I used to. The police is usually on the Ka band and rarely the K band.
I have definitely started driving even slower since I got this radar detector especially as the beeping keeps reminding me to go slow, even if it is a false alarm from a gas station. A couple of times it has saved me when I was going at 50 mph in a 45 mph zone, I heard the chirp of Ka band and slowed down as the cops may be in "revenue overdrive" and may give a ticket even for 5 miles over. However, it detects the police car when you're almost next to it so it will be too late to slow down if I was driving at 60mph. I've learned the key is to drive safe and never more than 10-12 miles over speed limit. Sometimes when you may be in a tearing hurry and tempted to drive fast the radar will chirp and remind you to slow down, even if you just passed a gas station!
Digital camera Review: Does everything I needed it to
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all, I am a military brat who has lived and driven in other countries. The only reason that is relevant is because for every state/country I have lived in, there is only one that has provided me the unpleasant experience of having to deal with the police; that place is the Commonwealth of Virginia (where detectors are illegal coincidentally).
After purchasing this detector and joining radardetectors.net, I have finally gotten a leg up on the money machine that is law enforcement. People complain about the sensitivity of this detector, but one must consider that radar bounces and if there is a car or truck ahead of you, they will soak up much of the radar signal and your warning time will be reduced accordingly; add to that the terrain and possible corners and you still have an element of possible capture. Also, one cannot speed with impunity, some caution is required to be able to drive recklessly and still not get caught. I have even found my awareness increase as well as a drop in the overall speed of my driving. The only time I speed up is if I get passed by someone who is driving above the limit; i follow at the distance of 1/4 mi, and if he's tagged by radar/lidar, then I get a warning sound and have enough time to slow down.
While it isnt a device that provides a shield and it wont detect a police cruiser that doesnt have it's speed detection equipment on, the X50 has served me well. The farthest distance it has given a warning was somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 miles away from the cop. I dont get too many intermittent false detections, even though I dont change from the highway setting. The design is sleek enough where it doesnt stand out when placed in my car (there's nothing worse than not being able to hide your use of a detector due to a bulky design), the smart cord works extremely well, the cloaking device has held up to electronic scrutiny (I have no fear of the police scanning me and finding its' signal); all in all, the detector is a nice all round package and deserves to be among the top detectors on the market.