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I bought my unit in Feb. 04 and it has performed perfectly since. It recognizes all bands (including Spectre 1) and has saved me mucho dinero. My car is parked outside in the blazing Florida sun and the unit has no apparent ill-effects from the heat. If a police vehicle has its detection equipment activated the Cobra 9700 WILL detect it, at least mine always does. I highly recommend this unit.
Purchased this item for my husband and I must tell you, very good investment for the money. Product easy to install, easy to program as it has direction on it (N, S, W, E). Very easy to understand, clear voice alerts and special alerts for different kinds of bands.
IT'S BEEN OK SO FAR THERE'S BEEN A COUPLE OF TIME THAT I THINK THAT COPS HAVE RADARS THAT THIS DETECTOR CAN'T PICK UP BUT THATS JUST ME....
I think I got what I paid for. It managed to detect the speed-guns and warn me to give couple of seconds to slow down (in Sri Lankan roads). However, this unit developed a serious problem. The dot matrix display panel suddenly went dark. It turned out to be a problem with a connection point of the power supply. When I twist and wriggle the connecter a bit (at the point where the external cord connects with the unit) the display panel comes back momentarily. Now I cannot see the display at day time since it is so faint. I am living with that problem. Not sure if anyone else has got the same problem.
Apart from the problem with the display, all other functions are quite OK.
THIS RADAR IS A VERY CAPABLE UNIT. AS WITH ALL RADARS, YOU HAVE TO KNOW YOUR PRODUCT. FIRST, THE UNIT HAS A SERIES OF DIFFERENT BEEPS FOR ALL RADAR DETECTION. THIS COMES WITH A SERIES OF LIGHTS. LEARN TO RECOGINZE THE RADAR UNIT. AS YOU DRIVE ALONG THE ROAD, MAKE IT A POINT TO PAY ATTENTION.
A RADAR UNIT IS NOT A LICENCE TO BREAK THE LAW BY SPEEDING!!
Since getting this radar detector over 2 years ago i have not had one ticket. I've also slowed down just a bit, but still have a lead foot. This detector has picked up police over 2 miles away and even over slight rises in the road. it's a load of money for a detector, but it's been invaluable to me on my 160 mi/day trip. Escort is definitely the PRIMO manufacturer of detectors! Other people have talked about false alarms... yes there are a few, but i'd rather be alerted to a false alarm than receive a TICKET... and the false alarms are not bad... TURN IT ON CITY.
Escort X50 is plagued by false alarms on the Laser and Pop channels. Please borrow a friends and test in your car first. I have tested in 4 different cars and everything from the horn to the turbo charging spooling up will cause this thing to go wild. I tried working with Escort to resolve problem but they wanted 65 dollars to place foil over the sensor to (Dumb down my detector). I've already given to much money to escort.
I own the 8500 and bought the x50 for my fiancee and we just returned from a 1000 mile trip through some of the most tenacios states for radar traps and I have to say that the x50 was a great DISAPPOINTMENT especially for the hefty price tag. Operating both units side by side for the entire trip my 8500 performed as well as the x50. That is to say that the x50 despite its claims did NO BETTER or no worse than my 3 year old 8500 unit. Both units have the same features with the exception of POP which is not in wide spread use as of this posting. Unless you are color blind or must have a blue display then go with the x50 otherwise save a few bucks and get the 8500 or keep the dough in your pocket and stick with your current 8500 until Passport comes out with a unit that is worthy of its price tag. I gave it one star because I feel cheated by the hype passed down by Passport and the radar detector review boys who I think are compensated by the manufacturers for their supposed unbiast reviews. "I love my 8500"
In A word the Passport 8500 is awesome. I picked it up for a road trip across the southern USA. I tested it out around Los Angeles and got a few false alarms but I also found a few motor cops hiding. We hit the road for 5 weeks and did not get a single ticket. The unit was easy to use and we quickly learned the signal types. We spotted police units approaching from behind; we were alerted to POP before it was too late. It even caught a frontal blast of Laser, I jammed on the brakes and saw the police car in the center divider, no ticket. The X band went off for every construction zone but that was to be expected. Overall it spotted all radar traps and saved us a lot of money. I would never drive across the country without this unit. Worth the price.
After driving for ~2 weeks with both x50 and Valentine One I am
keeping x50 and Val1 will go back to the vendor.
Besides the price differential, x50 offers better pop protection,
is less sensitive in the city driving and offers more up-to-date
interface.
On the other hand it lacks arrows and back window radar (it does
have a back window laser detector, which is not the same as a
full fledged radar that Valentine 1 has patented).
Arrows could come very handy, but this alone does not
justify the ~$120 difference between otherwise very similar
products.
Other than that, both units are very accurate compared to some
other detectors that I've tried. The noise level in the city
driving could get excessive, thankfully x50 comes with a very convinient mute button right on their "smart cord" power supply.
I am deducting a star for the lack of a carrying case,
as less expensive units come with carrying cases out of the box
I was expecting x50 to provide this accessory as part of the
product, not a separate purchase.
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