FasPilot

I need other sets of eyes on this so please help if you can. Bear with me as I explain. Based upon reviews here and elsewhere and the good experiences of one of my business partners, I went to buy and have installed an Escort 9500ci today. My take is there is a slight edge in the reviews for LI diffusers and the V1 radar detector, but the 9500ci is thought to be a very good system and up to the job. The dealer I went to see is highly thought of and has been doing high end installs for many years. However, he voiced strong opinions against the 9500ci which he has installed many of. He said Escort has not updated it in years due to patent litigation with other makers and some laser guns have been developed that it cannot defeat. He said that after a 9500ci customer got a laser based speeding ticket, his shop tested it on a cop buddy's laser gun and it failed. He stated that our area has these new guns out in numbers.
He was very high on a Beltronics STIR Plus, together with a LI Quad diffuser. He quoted $2800 for them installed. Installed price on the 9500ci was $1820. He was putting the STIR/LI Quad system in a Ferrari FF in his shop and said it was the system of choice for new Ferraris sold by our local dealer.
Current internet prices for these components (uninstalled) are STIR--$1300, LI Quad--$900, 9500ci--$1700.
I admit that I have no expertise on these systems and maybe I missed completely on my read of actual customer's experiences with the 9500ci. But I also never heard any mention of the claims he made despite reading a boat load of stuff. He also said he didn't make any more profit on one system than the other, but Internet prices seem not to bear that out given his price quotes.
So what's up with this? Is there new gun technology Escort hasn't caught up with? Is the STIR Plus/LI Quad system so much better than the 9500ci? Is the 9500ci worth $1820? Is the other worth an extra $1000?

LI911

Appears to be documented here:

http://www.radartest.com/BEL-STi-R-Plus-review.asp

aviography

The Escort system uses an LED based laser "shifter", it's not as powerful as the LI system using real laser diode which is as powerful as the laser diodes in the LIDAR gun, far more so than the LED technology in the Escort ZR-4 laser shifter.

Can't say about the if there is a frequency pattern the shifter is not able to jam, but it's entirely possible.

shawsan

It's a rare person who can answer yr. questions with any accuracy; you need to do some research and try to distill the many pieces of data, some conflicting. Try 'guys of lidar[' etc.

Having said this, here's my 2 cents. I have the Escort system in my 458 Italia. It's saved my a** a few times and I have no doubt it shifted oncoming laser traps. But I'm doubtful it's up-to-date and capable of shifting some of the more powerful guns. My system hasn't received any software updates since installation in late 2010, nor am I aware of any significant ones.

More suprising to me is how the radar worked. I drove from Nevada to British Columbia and compared the Escort built in radar with my Valentime 1 mounted on the dashboard. The V1 consistently detected radar in police cruisers coming towards me a full mile, on average, before the Escort gave me warning. In a couple of cases, the Escort would not have saved me from getting a ticket, whereas the V1 would.

I'm therefore hesitating putting the Escort system in my recently purchased 997 Turbo S and will just rely on my V1 -- with radar protection only, no laser shifting capacity - until I'm convinced of a better product.

Oh, and there's another development here in British Columbia that may be operating in US states as well. It's a felonly to have laser shifters/jammers in one's car. Not so for radar detectors. So better conceal the laser portion so its truly invisible. There are also other 'tricks' at one's disposal but I refrain from mentioning them here so as not to dilute their value.

Best of luck.

WaltB

I'd recommend you call Cliff at Laser Interceptor and get the skinny from him. He is a straight shooter.
Personally, I have installed, used and tested LI with numerous laser guns and found it to be the best protection money can buy. Sure others will say their systems worked for them under their particular circumstances but until you do a bunch of real world testing, you really won't know and misplaced confidence is not what you want or need.
Google radar detector net and join their forum. Ask for any locals that do their own testing and see if you can join in. A buddy of mine, Stealth Stalker, since passed away, was a laser enthusiast that had multiple guns to assist others with their install. Many like others in this thread thought they had a good system only to be easily proven wrong with easy to jam guns like the Pro Laser III.

Good Luck.

Walt

Bob in NY

I'm not an expert in Bell or Escort systems but I can tell you I've owned a Valentine 1 for over 10 years. I send it in for upgrades when available for minimal charges. It saves me EVERY DAY and knock on wood, no tickets. Oh and it's $399. Buy other mods for your car with the money you save. Just my .02

Nick Wong

I also have both. In every mode, the V1 false alerts a lot more than the 9500ci. It's just a lot more sensitive. Arrows are very useful for first alerts visual scans, afterwards they don't do much unless you are passing the cop. Where I'm at, there hasn't been much laser so laser performance isn't a deciding factor.

The 9500ci came with my car. If it hadn't, I would still use the V1 (too cheap to buy a $2K detector!).

The one thing that I find bad on the 9500ci GPS system- when it records a false alert location, if there's a cop in the area using radar, it won't register. With the V1 it will alert you to the number of bogeys. I haven't really looked through the 9500ci manual to figure out how to see that on the display- but the GPS speedo readout is very, very useful IMO.

FasPilot

Thanks to those who provided info on the two countermeasure systems I asked about in the OP. I went with the STIR Plus/LI Quad system. The dealer did a nice job on the installation, fitting the two control modules inside the useless ashtray.
When I picked it up there was a brand new McLaren Spider with the top down in his shop getting the same system installed. Wow. That thing oozes speed.