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Best radar detector

6K views 25 replies 21 participants last post by  Butchn 
#1 ·
All marketing BS aside, which is the best radar detector? Everyone claims to be the best. Kind of hard to tell what is up and what is down. :rofl:
 
#4 ·
All the reviews say the best on the market is the escort 9500 ix or the stealth version the 9500 ci. They have a cheaper stealth version out now which I think is called the QI45. The 9500ci can be found on ebay new for about $1080 with shipping. I've got a used ci on the way for $831 with shipping, was supposedly used for 2 weeks. We'll see.
 
#12 ·
Passport 9500ci Is the best an the market for radar detection and laser detection/jamming. Its non detectable
by cops so if you live in a state that its against the law to have them.. your all covered.
I have installed 20 of them since this new model came out and my friends that are cops come and shoot them
with laser. I have let them drive the car and I shot them with the gun. All the gun reads is - - - - :thumbsup3:
 
#15 · (Edited)
Valentine is good. But after reading up on it, I think I may should have went with a Bell system because I'm just a few mile from VA and their the most undetectable of all. My 9500ci will shut itself down for one minute when it see's a "spector"(radar detector-detector), but the Bell sti is inadvisable to it.

Curtsy of GOL.

 

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#19 ·
The 9500ci has a usb port for updates.

Since getting mine, I've found out that the best "radar" detector is the Bell STI driver ( great range and completely undetectable by VG2, mine shuts itself off for 1 minute) and the best laser jammer is the LT1. It's far and away better than anything else. The one thing escort has going for it is the gps stuff...
 
#20 ·
Best Radar Detector by Far

I have had the Escort 9500i for about three years and I still love it. (I think the current version is the 9500ci). I have avoided a number of tickets with it. The most satisfying one was coming back from Vegas. I was in a pack of cars doing about 80 mph. I got a "KA" band alert and could tell by watching the signal strength meter that the CHP was up ahead. I ducked into the slow lane only to see a Cadillac blaze by me in the fast lane. Up ahead the Cadillac was pulled over getting a ticket.:rofl: I don't see how anyone could tolerate a standard radar detector. The 9500 works like a radar detector should.
If your new to Radar detectors you may not know that Radar signals are all around you if you live in the city or suburbs. When you go to the store and the door opens for you automatically it is usually Radar that senses your approach to the door. Those signs which tell your speed on the road use Radar. A standard radar detector will alert you every time you approach any of the above harmless radar devices. Soon you will become so annoyed by the alerts that you will turn off the detector and it won't be on when you might really need it. The Escort 9500 uses GPS to identify the location of any radar signal it receives. When your driving in your normal driving route you will learn which alerts are caused by the above harmless causes because they happen in the same place. By pushing the mute button three times during such alerts the 9500 memorizes the GPS coordinates for that alert and will no longer alert you when you approach that radar signal. You will soon learn which are real alerts and know when to slow down.
The GPS on the 9500 is accurate enough to discriminate between memorized and new Radar signals. On my normal route there is a Radar sign that I stored in the 9500's memory. One day when I was approaching the sign the 9500 alerted me to a "K" band radar signal. I was surprised because I knew that I had memorized the Radar sign. When I got close enough to see the sign I was surprised to see that a cop was parked directly under the sign using his Radar. The 9500 was able to alert me to the cop and still ignore the signs Radar.
The 9500 has numerous other features including but not limited to verbal alerts, auto muting, GPS speedometer, and Laser detection.
A word about Laser detection. In most cases if a police officer gets a laser reading on your speed it will probably be too late to slow down. The laser beam has to hit the 9500 (or any detector) right on the lens to receive an alert. Lasers by nature are a pinpoint beam. An officer has to stand by the side of the road and point a Laser gun at the car to get a speed reading. Police officers are trained to start by pointing the Laser gun at the ground then bring it up on the cars license plate. Unless the laser beam hits the detector it won't go off. I once was driving down a hill on the freeway and at the bottom of the hill was a police officer pointing a Laser gun at the traffic coming down the hill. My 9500 never alerted me.
Escort does make a built in version of the 9500 which has laser sensors mounted in the cars grill. They claim it will detect laser beams. They also claim it has what they call a laser shifter which causes the reading at the officer's laser gun to be inaccurate. The downside is it costs $2000 and needs to professionally installed. :thtoppoints:
The Escort 9500 is the only detector worth buying. :thumbsup3:
 
#21 · (Edited)
I have had the Escort 9500i for about three years and I still love it. (I think the current version is the 9500ci). I have avoided a number of tickets with it. The most satisfying one was coming back from Vegas. I was in a pack of cars doing about 80 mph. I got a "KA" band alert and could tell by watching the signal strength meter that the CHP was up ahead. I ducked into the slow lane only to see a Cadillac blaze by me in the fast lane. Up ahead the Cadillac was pulled over getting a ticket.:rofl: I don't see how anyone could tolerate a standard radar detector. The 9500 works like a radar detector should.
If your new to Radar detectors you may not know that Radar signals are all around you if you live in the city or suburbs. When you go to the store and the door opens for you automatically it is usually Radar that senses your approach to the door. Those signs which tell your speed on the road use Radar. A standard radar detector will alert you every time you approach any of the above harmless radar devices. Soon you will become so annoyed by the alerts that you will turn off the detector and it won't be on when you might really need it. The Escort 9500 uses GPS to identify the location of any radar signal it receives. When your driving in your normal driving route you will learn which alerts are caused by the above harmless causes because they happen in the same place. By pushing the mute button three times during such alerts the 9500 memorizes the GPS coordinates for that alert and will no longer alert you when you approach that radar signal. You will soon learn which are real alerts and know when to slow down.
The GPS on the 9500 is accurate enough to discriminate between memorized and new Radar signals. On my normal route there is a Radar sign that I stored in the 9500's memory. One day when I was approaching the sign the 9500 alerted me to a "K" band radar signal. I was surprised because I knew that I had memorized the Radar sign. When I got close enough to see the sign I was surprised to see that a cop was parked directly under the sign using his Radar. The 9500 was able to alert me to the cop and still ignore the signs Radar.
The 9500 has numerous other features including but not limited to verbal alerts, auto muting, GPS speedometer, and Laser detection.
A word about Laser detection. In most cases if a police officer gets a laser reading on your speed it will probably be too late to slow down. The laser beam has to hit the 9500 (or any detector) right on the lens to receive an alert. Lasers by nature are a pinpoint beam. An officer has to stand by the side of the road and point a Laser gun at the car to get a speed reading. Police officers are trained to start by pointing the Laser gun at the ground then bring it up on the cars license plate. Unless the laser beam hits the detector it won't go off. I once was driving down a hill on the freeway and at the bottom of the hill was a police officer pointing a Laser gun at the traffic coming down the hill. My 9500 never alerted me.
Escort does make a built in version of the 9500 which has laser sensors mounted in the cars grill. They claim it will detect laser beams. They also claim it has what they call a laser shifter which causes the reading at the officer's laser gun to be inaccurate. The downside is it costs $2000 and needs to professionally installed. :thtoppoints:
The Escort 9500 is the only detector worth buying. :thumbsup3:
Great write up. The latest dash version is the 9500ix. The installed version is the 9500ci and the Qi45, the difference between those 2 is the 9500ci has "laser shifting" (jammer). These 3 are set (and can be unset) to automatically mute false signals when you drive past it 3 times. They use the exact frequency and GPS location to do this so as in your case above they will still alert you to a real threat. You can also mark locations on your own for known speed traps etc.

As far as installing them, if you can install radio speakers then you should have no problem with this. All the wires are plug n play. The hardest part is getting the laser receivers straight and level.

Once again, nice write up. I didn't even know the 9500i had gps...:thumbsup3:

Oh, and I picked up my 9500ci on ebay for $810 shipped and they are there new for about $1080 shipped..
 
#26 ·
I have 2 Whistlers, a older 3500 (still works & looks great, & a newer Pro 78.
I'm also getting a remote unit that will be for the 82 that mounts upfront in the nose & all you see in the ****pit is a small out of site display as the windshields on these cars are so small I don't want a detector in plain site in this car.

That said, I have have zero issues with my Whistlers.
They detect pretty far, false less than other detectors my pals use, & these 2 units I have are pretty good at Lidar detecting as well.
The Police around my area use Lidar almost all the time now & it goes off every time.

The key to good Lidar pickup, keep the detector low, like on the dash, if possible since the police usually are aiming at your front plate area.
 
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