12v Nick

I hate to be the one to bring this to your attention, but I would feel worse not doing so. We probably do more radar/laser than anyone in the Pacific Northwest and we have decided not to offer the MAX CI units until they make some major changes. As of now, it's the most expensive all-in-one unit(outside of the ridiculous price for Stinger radar/laser) and it's nowhere close to the top performing. They have a lot of explaining to do and answers to provide.

http://www.raletc.com/escort-max-ci-first-impressions/

http://www.raletc.com/escort-max-ci-...oneye-compact/

We've seen numerous private tests outside of this channel with the same results. Sad news.

goin2drt

It is sad and unfortunate that pricing is absolutely absurd. As much as I like Escort (own 3) and would love a stealth install, that isn't going to happen at that price.

Porsche_nuts

Thanks for the heads up Nick. Sad - Yes. Surprising -- No. Like many companies, Escort is great on marketing and lots of times short on performance. They have few products that stand out and most are way overpriced.

12v Nick

I wouldn't say is "absurd" pricing myself, but of course that's all relative to the value you can personally justify in the product. I think the pricing is right on par for the best performing, reliable, and well built radar/laser system on the market — of course, now they need to prove it can be just that

Escort has been the most reliable and livable radar detectors for the past decade. There are higher-performing systems, but nothing that's more "well rounded" in my opinion. That's why this is such a blow, we expected much more out of a company with this type of reputation. Worse, we were promised more....

goin2drt

Aren't they about $1k over an ALP/radar system? In other words about 30% higher and a premium? Yeah I would consider that absurd to be that much higher in price even if they were equal and actually based on this they are inferior. Bummer.

pashaj

This is what the discussion boards are for. Much appreciated.
I'll continue to monitor until something a little more reliable comes out. I'm not capable of driving faster than 25 mph 90% of the time anyway so in no rush.

12v Nick

Well, let's be fair, you have to spread the value out over the entire solution and not only the performance. The ALP system is great for performance and reliability, but we can't argue that controller looks like something that carried over from beta testing to production. Not to mention we only have an L.E.D. with no actual readout.

With the Escort/Beltronics products we get a controller that looks like it was designed with aesthetics in mind, and an OLED display with tons of useful information that we either can't get from other units, or we have to turn down the radio and listen for instead. Not to mention, Escort cares about the professional installation of their gear, and that the integrators they work with make some money, so their products are positioned higher for better margins. ALP seems to care less about their dealers, offering very little margin and lower DTC pricing.

EDIT: Escort will always have the upper-hand with their patented GPS auto-lockouts. Another reason for the premium.

Trust me, it's for the 10% times – I would hope we don't all constantly speed around town. In fact, I would bet money that the majority of folks in this community are in the top 1% of safe/courteous drivers.

bwiele

I agree pashaj. I'm of the same mind.

dodgersfanatic

Pasha,

So far I've been driving around with it for a few weeks and no laser hits yet. So far the NJ State Troopers are only using Ka Band. With those the unit has detected them way ahead of time and allowed me time to slow down. I'll let you now when I get ym first laser hit.

-Brian

Porsche_nuts

I agree with you up to a point Nick. I still think Escort marketing wins and when the majority of drivers think radar detector, they think Escort. As an all around plug and play for the average consumer, it is the radar detector of choice for many of the reasons you mention. But if you are serious about performance, there are other detectors for less money that do a better job. Why pay more money for less performance ($600 for the Max360 and $3K for the Ci is crazy)? Also, Escort is very slow to listen to its customer base regarding issues, and are slow to provide firmware updates (ALP provides updates every few months). And they charge for everything (i.e. redlight database updates, etc). I think it is best to educate yourselves as to what is out there - there are lots of choices, with many being better than Escort.

12v Nick

Check the links out... you may not even know when you get your first laser hit. Dragon Eye is fairly prominent in the NE states now.

12v Nick

I can see your position there, and I completely agree that you shouldn't pay more for less – that's just nonsense. What I'm saying is that if they can get the performance to a level that rivals the competition, they have some proprietary features to their systems that nobody else has. At the end of the day, it all comes down to relative value. For some folks, paying the premium Price for a Porsche doesn't make any sense.

(I don't hang out with those people)

erko1905

I have a feeling ALPs integrated laser+radar solution will get substantially better towards the end of the year - they really are top notch with regards to listening to enthusiasts and constantly trying to make a better product.

Unfortunately, even though Max360Ci is Escort's brand new flagship, there seem to be radar products in market that offer better range and filtering (Uniden R1/3 and Stinger) and ALP still seems untouchable on lidar. Unclear where Escort as a brand/company would go from here.

Need4S

Yow! That's a big display. Maybe RadarMirror will make one for this unit.

pashaj

Reading the articles, it's interesting they brought up the same point I made when I first read about the Max CI. It's mostly ineffective because of the two head system (As ALP was until they switched a 3 head). I'm guessing once Escort upgrades to the 3 heads in the front, it should jam the latest Dragoneye.

Thank you for the update. I'm quite curious to get your feedback in a few weeks.