Hey folks - my wife bought me the Escort Passport 8500X (The latest one with the RED LEDs and corded) and I live down here in Georgia... so a friend of mine commented on how those things aren't worth crap these days 'cuz all decent places use laser anyway...

I still have some time to return it - thoughts?

 

Very good for radar, better than average for LIDAR, what do you need it for?

S

 

I tend to not like doing 55mph on the expressways - more in the 80-85mph range on open highways... and I don't like getting snagged... tickets hurt...

I've had it for 2 weeks now, and had it set off dozens of times, unfortunately it's always the grocery store I pass, or the mini-mart which has the auto-open doors which use either K or X band type radar'ish sensors... I've never had a hit on an actual speed trap. What's worse - I've seen several cops standing alongside the road with the (what I presume is laser) since they use it like a gun to sight/shoot through... so that won't do me jack good with this either... just kinda thinking here...

 

False alarms are the bane of radar detectors, the X50 has the ability to shut down the (little used) x-band, cutting way down on the falses.

Those guns DO sound like laser, but if they target you enough to set off the detector, you are toast anyway, so there is not much point.

S

 

My folks have a V1, which seems pretty great at picking up laser scatter. As we were driving up north, it was set off a couple times, both times likely far enough away that the cop couldn't have been targeting us very accurately - I was pretty impressed. Not something you can rely on 100%, but it sure is nice.

 

Around here, Ka is the most common band used by cops. Sometimes K, very rarely X. There is some laser.

A radar detector will catch the sitting traps, where the gun is always or frequently on, and the cop driving around with his radar blasting. It won't help amuch gainst the cop sittiing around a bend, who hits you as you come around the bend, regardless of band.

If you routinely drive 20mph above the speed limit, you will get tickets, even with a detector. You may get fewer.

The detector you have is a fine one.