|
It took well over a week to get this item. Delivery on this item left something to be desired, however. The 8500 is a great radar detector. Very accurate, sensitive.
Threat detection from rear is just as good. It's the best radar detector I've ever owned. The detection range is amazing and it detects over hills and around corners in some cases. It's nice having the option to silence the X band but I'm not ready to do that yet since there is only one X band alert during the trip.
I have a long, daily, one hour highway commute and racked up several tickets. No need for an arrow to tell you it's detecting from the rear. Often, after detection, I find myself slowed down completely and waiting for the radar threat to be within visual range. I finally had enough and purchased the Escort Passport 8500 X50.
The auto-mute function after initial alarm is great. When a threat is detected from the rear the signal strength gets stronger gradually. This detector saved my butt many times. I use the default settings for highway and they're fine.
However, after a while, I received it constantly on a regular basis, no matter how many times I restarted the unit. So essentially, I'd expect to pay another $60.00 when the unit spazzes again (which in all likelihood, would be in another year or so).The CS rep at Escort said that there was only a very small percentage of units exhibiting this problem, despite the large proportion of 1-star and 2-star ratings for this product on Amazon, citing the SERVICE REQUIRED message. I received the infamous "SERVICE REQUIRED" message in a year and a half.
This is a ridiculous design/manufacturing flaw, as the unit is supposed to be mounted on the windshield, where it may be continuously exposed to sunlight.I contacted Escort about this issue and I just received the standard response - send the unit back and pay $60.00 for service. I wanted an extended warranty for the service because I wasn't willing to fork up $60.00 for a repair, unless they'd back it up for at least another year. I wouldn't have minded this too much, except that the $60.00 service is then only warrantied for 6 months.
I purchased the 8500 X50 (in blue) in 2006. From what I understand, the unit has low-quality internals that do not hold up well to heat. The CS rep was unhelpful and only offered me an $80.00 credit to exchange my unit for a new model.If you are considering the Escort 8500 X50.SAVE YOURSELF FROM THE HEADACHE AND HASSLES - BUY ANOTHER BRAND.
At first, I could get the message to clear by turning the unit off and back on. When it did work for any extended periods of times (more than 5 minutes) without the service required message, I would receive plenty of false alerts.
This is not the radar detectors fault as suburban roads with many twists don't allow the radar to travel far enough for the detector to detect it. I've owned this detector for over a year now and find it very good on the highway as it detects most police who use radar very far away. Hope my review helped. On the highway it works very well but you still must use common sense as on the highway it cannot protect you against undercover cruising next to you or laser that is directly aimed at you and you do not have enough time to slow down. It gives me a warning in advance of at least 10 seconds which is plenty of time to slow down. However you must use it with caution as it is not as good on smaller roads with not too much open straight roads.
There is a model you can get that you can program the detector to know where the false alarms are, so if money isn't a concern I would have probably gotten the other one. The only thing I will mention (I already knew this, but forgot how annoying it can be in cities), pharmacies, banks, and other store alarm systems can cause false alarms. Otherwise, this one was definitely worth my money as it has already paid itself off plus some, in just one month. I have waited a while to review this to see how well it really works. I have had the passport for about a month and it has saved me at least 4 times including the day I turned it on.
|
