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- Review count1
- Helpfulness votes58
- First reviewMarch 14, 2012
- Last reviewMarch 14, 2012
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating4
- Review comment count1
- Helpfulness votes2
- First review commentMarch 14, 2012
- Last review commentMarch 14, 2012
- Featured review comments0
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Zach123's Reviews
Passport 8500 X50 Red designed for the driving enthusiast, the Passport 8500 X50 delivers the best possible protection in its class. In test after test, the Passport 8500 X50 comes out on top. Digital signal processing (DSP) provides maximum range, with minimum false alarms.
Customer Rating
4
Great Product but Get the 9500ix
on March 14, 2012
Posted by: Zach123
from Framingham, MA
I've owned the 8500 X50 for over 5 years now and it has served in the 4 cars I've owned in that time (and still does). It's rather basic, but it's supposed to be. I leave it on highway (highest possible) sensitivity all the time so as to get better warning, but even in city mode it gets false hits galore.
My positive hits have come from as far as two miles out in the right area and I always get radar hits before I'm in the sights of the radar operator. In terms of radar detection the 8500 works as it should and it does get 360 degree hits.
The only serious drawback to this unit is the false hits. On the highway or in the country these are a non-issue. In town they'll drive you nuts. The extra $200 for the 9500ix gets you GPS-based tuning out of false hits after it sees them 3 times. I can't tell you how worth while that is. Save $200 more and get the 9500ix. If you absolutely can't, this unit is still worth its price.
I advise picking up the $20 suction mount from Escort. The factory mount works fine but it's cheap, allows the unit to bounce around a bit, and occasionally falls off on a really hot day.
Amateur users beware! Instant-on radar guns are hard to defend against. This unit will absolutely pick up an instant-on hit when the officer pulls the trigger, but if you're the only car on the road he's already got you by the time you hear the hit. This isn't a limitation with this unit, it is a fact of police radar. No detector can protect from IO radar if there isn't traffic ahead of you to get hit first (if there is, you hear them getting hit before you get in range).
ALSO, laser cannot be defended against with any detector. It is a narrow beam detection unit, which means you will only hear the hit if the laser gun is aimed directly at your car. By the time the alarm sounds, it's already too late. Only a laser jamming unit can help you with laser. The point is, if you have this and you're driving along and see an officer aiming what looks like a radar gun at traffic and you don't get a hit, it's probably laser/lidar and he just never aimed it at you (or you were close enough that he just hit your license plate and not the detector). I have received confirmed laser hits on my 8500 but in every case would have received a ticket if I'd been speeding.
What's great about it: Easy to use, good value, very sensitive
What's not so great: False hits galore in town, factory suction mount
I would recommend this to a friend!
Other Best Buy Products I Recommend
Escort - Passport 9500ix Radar Detector - Multi
(834)Ease of Use
5
Features
3
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+51points
58of 65voted this as helpful.
Zach123's Review Comments
The Passport 9500ix provides the latest in GPS powered filtering with Truelock. A radar frequency filtering system, that permanently eliminates false alerts by location and frequency. The Passport 9500ix provides total coverage with X, K, Superwide Ka, International Ku and Safety Warning System (SWS) radar capability, combined with front and rear laser detection. The Passport 9500ix also introduces intuitive AutoSensitivity which increases the range as your speed increases. The 9500ix includes Autolearn software and a blue display.
Overall4 out of 5
4 out of 5Good Detector but Too Expensive for Performance
By Anonymous2424
from Maryland
I bought this radar detector and put the extra cash into it because of the features that minimize false alarms. It is excellent at recognizing nuisance alarms and storing it, so you aren't distracted. I was impressed that after having this alarm there are more red light cameras than I had ever paid attention to before, which is excellent.
Big however; it really hasn't picked up a laser system faster than my Walmart Cobra $130 special, which is a major downside. I have not had the opportunity to test it on a longer drive/roadtrip. I am hoping this will change my mind. As of yet, I love the lock out feature for the false alarms but am not overly impressed with its detection.
Zach123
Framingham, MA
Laser Information
March 14, 2012
No radar/laser detector can really pick up laser any better than another. It's a common misconception that when you see a LEO with a laser gun aimed in your direction, that your detector should get the hit. Unlike radar, laser is narrow-beam. At 800ft from the gun, the IR laser beam is only 3ft wide. This means you could be driving side by side with another car on the highway and a LEO could lase the other car and you'd never get a hit because the beam never passed over your detector. Inside of 500ft the beam is usually so narrow (barely over 2ft wide) that when they aim for your reflective license place, the edge of the beam doesn't even reach your windshield. This means you could be directly lased in town and never get the hit. Furthermore, none of this matters. Because you're only likely to get a laser hit if it's directly aimed at you (on rare occasions you can get a reflection from a nearby car, or outside of a half mile the beam might be wide enough to overlap two cars), by the time you get a laser hit it's almost always too late to slow down. The LEO has your speed and if you were fast enough, he's coming after you.
+2points
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