I have the Escort 9500 its about 5 years old i think seems to work ok but I get a lot of false alarms. I was thinking of upgrading anyone have experience with the 9500 as compared to the new Uniden R 7 is it worth the $600 they are asking for it??

 

I think they all cost the same, Escort, Uniden etc.. If you don't need the arrows, you can get the cheaper R3. I went from the old 9500 to the R3 and bought an R7 about a month ago. The Unidens have extremely good range with Ka radar which is what I usually encounter.

 

How does the Max 360 compare the Uniden or Valentine?

 

I looked at the R7 at Best Buy today but am undecided. I used a detector many years ago but gave it up because I got a couple tickets with instant on radar. Having the detector in the car seemed to be a guaranteed ticket once pulled over. I stopped using a detector completely and I got a couple warnings but no tickets, until a couple months ago when I got pinched seemingly randomly in a group of traffic all moving ~15mph over the limit. Ironically, I was not driving my 911 at the time but was driving a bright red sports car. That made me reconsider a detector though since my bright yellow 911 seems to attract a lot of attention. I really don't drive exceedingly fast very often, but am worried about being targeted because yellow Porsche.

So, would a detector keep me from being pulled over or make me moire likely to get a ticket if pulled over? A year or so ago I was driving on an empty rural highway late one night following Google map guidance which had me turn onto a connecting road. I was driving fast, and gunned it on the connecting road up to highway speed about 65 mph when I passed a speed limit sign that said 30mph. Damn... I hit the brakes hard and dialed it down but sure enough the lights come on from a dark side parking lot where a local deputy was setup with instant on. There were no other cars around so he hit only me. He said he got me at 62mph, which would be reckless driving and cause to impound my car (I was not in my 911). I explained I thought it was a high speed road connecting to another highway and I hit the brakes hard once I saw the 30mph sign. He said he saw me hit the brakes. He gave me a warning and said be careful there are other speed trap zones in the next little town. I am fairly certain a detector would not have saved me since it was instant on with no other cars around, and also believe I would be much more likely to receive a ticket instead of a warning in that scenario if I had a detector in my car. So, just not sure it's worth it but am also feeling pretty vulnerable in a bright yellow 911.

 

Even extremely sensitive detectors like the Uniden R3 and R7 do not give license to speed indiscriminately all the time. One has to be careful. With instant on radar, because the Unidens are so sensitive with both K and Ka band detection of well over a mile, one gets adequate warning if instant on radar is in use close by.

It also helps if one is not driving a brightly-colored car with a loud exhaust which automatically draws more attention. Speaking from personal experience with my GR Boxster equipped with the sports exhaust. That car was noticed by everyone all the time. I found it disconcerting.

My dark blue 911 doesn't get noticed as often and I don't have the sport exhaust.

 

WAZE and the Escort App (shows know locations I believe).

 

Yes to both. A RD will save you a few tickets no doubt, esp if you tend to drive faster than the general traffic flow. But if you get nabbed eg, with a cop using instant-on, then you can pretty much expect a ticket. As a side note, it bugs the hell out of me when I see cops sitting on the side of a deserted road where one car might pass every 30 minutes, all on the taxpayers' dime. Hard to imagine how nabbing someone going 15 over on a quiet open road is improving public safety.

 

Excellent point. I have never thought of it that way.

 

My R3 saved me from a potential ticket a couple days ago. Cop parked in an unmarked, racing striped, slammed Camaro using laser on a backroad. I was surprised to get a laser alert early enough to matter. He switched it on too early I guess.

Been using radar detectors since the original Escort came out. Saved countless times.

 

There is a firmware update from Uniden. Easy to install. https://www.vortexradar.com/2019/06/...firmware-1-24/
Even with the K block filter, the detector is prone to K band falses from some GM vehicles.

 

The NC highway patrol in Greensboro use to drive lime vw golf's. It's getting almost not worth owning a fast car if you have to drive like a Prius all the time. You wonder whose Camaro that use to belong to. When I see cops driving 911's I'll know it's time to sell.

 

If I am getting pulled over I am probably getting a ticket 99% of the time... I am not worried nor do I think that I am more likely to get a ticket because a cop sees a legal radar detector

 

I use Waze + Escort Max360. I also use Waze + Uniden R3 in one of my other cars

In all the "official" tests, the Max360 doesn't have the range of the R3, but I find it gives enough warning in real life.

I love the arrows on the Max360, and I love how quiet it is. It has much better BSM filtering vs the R3.

 

My R7 is still quite noisy, K band, even after the firmware update. Somewhat disappointing. I may have to turn down sensitivity to city mode (10%). Seems worse than than my R3.

 

I turned off K and X band on my Max 360 along time ago. I have not come across a LEO running K or X band radar in many years.