asofine

Hey all,

After living in CA for 15 months, I decided it was finally time to pick up a radar detector. I chose the Escort Passport 8500 X50 ( ). I will be powering it from the battery, so no ugly chords will be connected to my cigarette lighter. I'll provide a full review once I've used it for a few days!

mike cap

I've used the 8500 and 8500 X50 in my 993 for ten years. They are a great unit. Make sure to program it so it stays in voltage display function when operating and not receiving a LE signal - a very handy feature in our cars.

How are you going to mount it? I assume you bought the hard-wire kit?

Here is a source for switched voltage to power the Escort:

http://p-car.com/diy/v1/

If you want a photo of how mine is mounted above the rear-view mirror let me know. Perfect spot and virtually invisible from outside the car.

m.capocefalo@aainy.com

asofine

Just emailed ya, Mike!

mike cap

Got it, Ill send you some photos tomorrow. Good detector choice.

911Dave

I've been using an 8500 x50 for several years and they are great. I just upgraded to the x50 Black and it's even better because it has the better lens that improves lateral sensitivity. Best bang for the buck detector on the market, IMO.

EMBPilot

would love to see photos of the mounts and how you like the 8500

im toying with the idea of doing 9500xi because it has GPS or doing 9500ci, but not sure that i trust anyone to do the install properly, or that i want to take on the job myself. I have a Qi45 in my pickup truck, and i like that you can add in the laser shifters. seems like most of the highway police these days are shooting laser, not sure which route to take.

Dryfly57

+1 on the photo mounts....

911Dave

I hardwired mine, and mounted it to the windshield using velcro. I've never had luck using suction cups as they sooner or later always let go, and then the unit falls and gets damaged or damages whatever it hits. The velcro is plenty strong and won't ever let go.

The prickly side of the velcro is cemented to the window using contact cement. The fuzzy side is cemented to a rectangular piece of plastic, which is in turn expoxied to the metal Escort mount. I can take the mount down if I want, or just leave it there and remove the detector when I exit the car. All 3 of my cars are hardwired and have identical velcro mounting. No more messing around with suction cups that only seem to last a few weeks and have to be replaced. Plus, the suction cups don't really stick well to the top center of the windshield anyway, because of the texture of the dots in that area. The velcro is quite secure and solidly mounts the detector so it doesn't move or rattle when the car is on the road.

asofine

Thanks Dave! I'm going to go with a similar setup. I used the detector today (just running of the cigarette lighter for now). A few false alarms, a few good ones!

mike cap

Adam,

Pics attached. Hope this helps. Use the standard Escort mount and 3M Dual Lock. The Dual Lock will hold a fat guy against the mirror - good stuff. You can get it in black too. McMaster-Carr. You can see it in the photo. Of course the Escort antenna has to be looking through clear glass, below the winshield cross-hatch pattern. Plenty of room to to do that.

Run the hard wire along the windshield rubber moulding. It hides it perfectly. The only tricky part hiding the cable is near the right side vent then going under the dash. There's a seam there where the cable can go through. If you were local I'd run it for you.

Hope this helps. Call me with any questions. I like your fleet of cars !!

JPS

Will that spot work ok for a V1, given it's looking in the rear direction too?

Zeichen 282

That's where I have my V1 mounted and I can confirm it works just fine up there!

911Dave

Absolutely. All the Escort and Bel RD's have both front and rear antennae.

David in LA

My V1 is also in the same location (I used a different way of mounting but the velcro idea is a much easier and more time effective although mine is probably more firmly mounted) and it works great there...it didn't seem like I lost anything as far as picking up radar signals but it probably picks up laser signals less as those are usually targeted lower on the car (headlights, license plates, etc). I think most detectors can be mounted effectively up there, the only challenge I had was with a 9500ix as sometime it took awhile for the GPS to acquire satellite signals (I think it needs to acquire at least 3 in order to triangulate location properly )

ericthepilot

Love the 9500ix. But it needs to sit lower in the windshield to get a correct and quick GPS position.
Sometimes I forget it and sits at home protecting the house while I collect tickets ....