| alanek |
I have a Passport 8500, whenever I put my car in park the Laser detector goes off.
Any ideas?
TIA
Alan |
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| stoke2 |
| that's hilarious because i have the same detector and the same thing happens. but it doesn't seem to happen consistently. whatever it is, the car must emit a signal that the detector sees as "laser" when the car is shifted into park. |
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| Fabvsix |
| Get the best: Valentine 1.......nuff said! |
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| Brad Moody |
Anything other than a Valentine is a toy and you are foolishly putting your license at risk.
I agree with Fabsix, I never leave home without it! |
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| OP MDX |
The $400 hurt at first, but has been invaluable since. I am sending it in for the $75 upgrade.
quote:
Originally posted by Fabvsix
Get the best: Valentine 1.......nuff said!
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| Fabvsix |
| I had mine since 2000 and has never let me down.....:1: |
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| alanek |
| I'm in the market for a new detector, have been satisfied with my 8500 and was going to upgrade to a 9500 w/GPS. Has anyone compared the passport to the Valentine or are you just happy with yours? |
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| OP MDX |
I had a 8500 when I purchased the Valentine. Problem with the 8500 was the false alerts with K/Ka. I've read about the 9500 and it does look promising with the memory of knowing where false alarms are. I cannot compare the 9500 vs Valentine, but I can with the 8500 vs Valentine. V1 hands down vs 8500. The arrows on the V1 are awesome. They must have it trademarked or Passport would have copied it by now. You can upgrade the V1 forever, it never becomes outdated. Mine is a 2003, Fabvsix has a model made in 2000. If we both update ours, it is as good as one purchased brand new!
quote:
Originally posted by alanek
I'm in the market for a new detector, have been satisfied with my 8500 and was going to upgrade to a 9500 w/GPS. Has anyone compared the passport to the Valentine or are you just happy with yours?
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| trixie |
I've not experienced the shift-to-park/Laser false signal. I occasionally get a false alarm that I've attributed, perhaps wrongly, to catching odd reflections just right.
After owning the original Solo for ten years, I deemed myself an Escort loyalist. I bought second detector, the 8500, when first introduced about five years ago. I selected the 8500 over the V1 after researching performance reports on-line. It did not take long to realize that I was duped, the 8500 was never superior to the V1. In fact, I'm willing to bank a paycheck that Escort sponsored the test reports that swayed my decision. (C&D eluded to this possibility in a comparison done a couple of years ago and they sited blatant cheating by detector manufactures during the 70s.) Although I still use my 8500, there was a period of about a year when false signals were frequent when operating miles from any radar source. A $50 service did not fix the problem. Just before my 8500 was relegated to the junk drawer, the problem mysteriously corrected itself. I'm saving for a V1. |
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| stoke2 |
| it's interesting you say that because i bought the 8500 because of those same reports. it's worked really well for me. at least i think it has. no tickets since i got it and it's saved me a bunch of times. i hate the fact that it's a HUGE detector though. I might sell it with my motorcycle and get a valentine for the x. |
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| trixie |
quote:
Originally posted by stoke2
it's interesting you say that because i bought the 8500 because of those same reports. it's worked really well for me. at least i think it has. no tickets since i got it and it's saved me a bunch of times. i hate the fact that it's a HUGE detector though. I might sell it with my motorcycle and get a valentine for the x.
The 8500 is not a bad detector. Excluding new releases, there is little doubt that the 8500 is the second best in the world. My issue is that I wanted the best detector and I was duped into buying #2.
Check out the most recent comparison conducted by C&D, 2/02: http://www.caranddriver.com/features/1993/the-great-detector-test.html
It looks like the web archive has been sanitized of cheating references. |
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| alanek |
From what I have read in laser forums the consensus is the Valentine has better long range detection however at the expense of false alerts in city driving.
I live in NJ and the 8500 have worked well, all the false alerts are caused at the same areas that I travel every day. This is why I am looking at the new passport with its GPS I'll be able to mark those points and eliminate most false alerts.
It also has a USB which can be used for upgrades and downloadable lists of speed traps. |
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| dj5 |
I have had the V1, Escort 8500, Escort 8500 x50 and now the Escort 9500.
The V1 had the longest X band range and the direction arrows but falsed way too much for me. The Escort 8500 has the longest K and KA band range which is the band used by most police. The 8500 x50 still falsed too much for me but not as much as the V1. For laser once either alerts you are usually caught so it doesn't really matter.
The 9500 is much better than the V1 or the 8500 X50. Very few false alarms and you can program areas to ignore or remind you to watch out.
If you are in the market for a radar detector, buy the 9500 nothing else compares. |
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| dj-mdx2 |
quote:
Originally posted by dj5
If you are in the market for a radar detector, buy the 9500 nothing else compares.
I'm intrigued by the Escort 9500i. Is it really that much better than the Valentine1 that so many people claim is the best? The new Escort is more expensive than most under $1000 dashmount kits, so I wonder if it's worth the expense, especially with the Valentine upgrade feature. |
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| Desant |
| I have 8500 and it saved me at least 10 tickets on Ka- and K- bands. None of the X-band alerts turned out to be a cop so far (I had it for a year). One time it caught a laser, I slammed on the brakes immediately, got pulled over, but for some reason cop's the laser gun did not give an accurate reading, so he had to let me go. No experiences with V1, except that the guy in the ads looks sneaky and cheesy! :) |
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| trixie |
quote:
Originally posted by Desant
No experiences with V1, except that the guy in the ads looks sneaky and cheesy! :)
The guy in the ad is not a paid actor or model. He is Mike Valentine, the company's founder. Prior to founding Valentine One, he was the genius at Escort, responsible for their original model in 1976. I believe that his departure from Escort had something to do with Escort's move towards cheaper mass produced units that did not meet his standards. |
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| Desant |
| Agreed. Yet, I think he would do himself a favor by removing his face from the ads. I doubt that lots of folks know him in person . He probably is a very smart and nice guy, but his smirk on the ad makes him look like a used care sales person (no offense intended) that is about to screw you with a "lemon" sale. Just my opinion... |
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| trixie |
| Your opinion about Mike's smiling face is why most companies hire professional models and actors to do their speaking. It's a bit sad, but true. |
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