Customer Reviews

Escort Passport 9500i Radar and Laser Detector (Blue Display)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In anticiption of an upcoming 1000 mile road trip, and knowing my tendancy to drive a bit fast, I decided to purchase a radar detector. Having never owned one in the past, I did extensive research and settled on the Passport Escort 9500i and I wasn't disappointed.

During my 1000 mile round trip, 600 miles of it was in Trooper laden Washington State. No less than a dozen times, the Escort was able to give me enough advanced warning of either rolling radar or stationary laser speed traps to get down into the speed limit and avoid a ticket.

You'd expect this though. That's its function. The extras on this really make the 9500i shine though. With the built in GPS, you can permanently silence those annoying false positives from the grocery store or fixed "Your Speed" signs. However, if you roll through a silenced area and a NEW radar signal is detected, it will alert you immediately.

If you drive a bit fast over long distances, or even can open it up on your daily commute, I'd highly recommend the added protection of the 9500i.

(Know your limits and don't speed where it isn't safe. The Escort is awesome, but it doesn't make you crash-proof.)

This will be my third and possibly last Passport product. The PASSPORT 9500ix is a really good product. It would be a great product WITH THE EXCEPTION that, even at the $499 price, Escort still wants to milk you for more. In order to hook the Passport up to your Desktop, you have to purchase an AC converter (12 Volt DC Power Cord) from them for $19.95 + shipping. Or if you own a laptop, do all of the updates and configuration in your car, (or find a very, very, very long USB cable to run to your desktop). Unlike GPS and other products, the Passport will not power off of the USB. I ended up buying a car AC/DC battery adapter at Meijer for about the same cost, but no shipping.

The database subscription I thought would be a very nice option and for a 1 year subscription @ $19.95 is a pretty good price, but wait, guess what. Unlike the rest of the world, Escort claims they don't have the ability to give your subscription code via email. Strikes me as odd since I keep getting these #!@$% email Weekly Detector Updates from Escort Radar. So once again you have to pay for shipping. Since they are only sending a code I would expect shipping to be the cost of a stamp. But Escort sees fit to charge $4.50 for this.

For $499, Escort should have included everything we would need. The 12 Volt DC Power Cord adapter and a free one year database subscription.

First things first, Escort has discontinued the 9500i in blue (but not red), which is probably why Amazon is the only authorized dealer that's selling it for well under MSRP.

A few days after I bought this, I took a trip from Detroit to Chicago, so I really got a chance to see how this fared against my trusty Beltronics RX55 Pro Radar Detector. I'm happy to report that this is the best radar detector I've used.

I thought the blue display was a gimmick for Escort to fleece tuner kids out of fifty bucks, but I was really surprised to see how much gentler it was on my eyes -- and perhaps more importantly, how it doesn't scream "RADAR DETECTOR HERE!" the same way red displays do.

Of course, actual reception is going to vary widely, based on driving conditions. Sometimes I'd get warned a mile ahead of time, and sometimes it went off just before I came in to the sights of an officer running POP. But across the board, I was always warned with enough time to check my speed and adjust it accordingly. Having the detector display your speed is a great touch.

The included case is surprisingly nice -- a bit overkill, I'd say. Why Escort would give customers a felt-lined hard case, but no simple way to power the detector off of AC or USB for updates is beyond me. Fortunately, I have a Black & Decker Jump Starter, which has a 12V cigarette-type power outlet, so I didn't have to take my laptop out to the car to update it.

Going back to the updates... you're out of luck if you have a Mac. Even if you're running Parallels or VMware Fusion (the VM's won't see it connected as a USB device). So, plan on doing Boot Camp or borrowing a Windows machine from a friend if you're looking for updates. The software itself is very good, and gives you lots of point-and-click options that you'd otherwise set through the on-screen menus built in to the detector.

Finally, if you're torn between the 9500i and 9500ix, you can buy this and have Escort upgrade it to the ix for less than the cost of buying the ix.

The combo of GPS and top of the line detection make this the best RD on the market today.
Once it learns your route there are virtually no false alarms making this a detector that you actually pay attention to instead of tuning out.
Easy to use and easy to see. I bought 2, one for each car.

Been using my Escort for well over a year, more than ample warning, even from the cops that hide on the other side of an arched bridge. Since I started using it, I have gotten zero speeding tickets (knock on wood) because I always go the speed limit or under (wink). In the past year I have only had one close call, luckily it was daylight and I noticed the cop as I rounded a curve and was able to hit my brakes before he popped me, the detector lit up like Christmas tree. close one....
Never updated my detector, it works fine as is.

The 9500i is NOT compatible with Apple computers. Escort recommends taking the detector to a friend's house who has a windows computer or buying emulation software ($70). It only works with Windows XP or Vista only.

The 9500i must be powered to download internet updates. Escort failed to include a 12V adapter in the package. But they will gladly sell you one! Ooops, sorry - NO USB A to mini USB cable either. You'll need these for detector software updates.

Visor Clip or visor mount is NOT a good idea with the 9500I. Not unless you have a convertible. This detector must have clear line of sight overhead to the sky for the GPS to locate satellites.

First off, the V1 is a fantastic and ultra-sensitive detector. I've had three of them in the past 10-years. The range is fantastic and it saved me countless times. It does have the arrows, which are great and all, but I found myself not really needing to know where the threat was coming from. What I really wanted was to 1) know the threat was real and 2) slow down to the posted speed limit if it was. The V1 never delivered on the "Is it real part?". It was always barking at me, proud to point me to various non-threatening radar-sources in the city or along the highway. Yes, it saved my ass a lot, but the noisy commute was getting to me.

I purchased a 9500i after reading some favorable reviews online. After one week, I knew this style of detector was right for me. The sensitivity was very equitable to the V1, but it shined because of its built-in GPS feature. I pass by six K-based RADAR Speed Limit signs each way on my commute. With GPS marking, I could easily lock out those specific non-threatening signals. The next time I would pass by, the system would be silent. When approaching one of these "marked" locations, the GPS icon on the display would start to rotate. This was essentially the 9500i saying, "I'm picking up the radar signal, but I'm not "bleeping" because you told me this exact location is not a threat". Simply awesome! The unit is quiet until an unknown threat is detected. When it detects something, it alerts me and I slow down. A few seconds later, I'm usually smiling as I drive by a LEO at the posted speed limit.

Like I said, simply awesome.

This is my first radar detector. I did a great deal of research and had no allegiance to any particular brand; I chose the passport 9500ix because its the only detector that I found that had a user friendly system to protect against not only radar and laser, but traffic cameras. Traffic cameras(speed and red light) are truly big brother intruding into our lives. This is particularly true in urban and surban driving. The purpose of a radar detector is to prevent tickets. Other radar detectors simply do not compare because they do not recognize these threats. Additionally, the GPS function automaticly learns false signals and eliminates annoying false positives (my friends constantly, complain about). So far I've found this to be a very user friendly package (though the mac issue is disappointing for such an otherwise well thought out system).

As the mousetraps keep improving, so must the mice.
I've been using Passports since the original Escort (Cincinatti Microwave) days. They've never let me down and the new 9500ix appears to be no different.

I've only been using it for a couple of days now, but like the ability to store/silence false alarms. The speed displayed on the display is another nice improvement. I used to automatically go to the brake when the detector went off, don't have to any more.

I have not yet tried to update data on line and have read some of the complaints, but I think it should be simple enough to hook in with my laptop in the car and connect to the network from the car.

best price!Best Buy stopped taking care of the customer anyway. This was quick and all the accessories were convenient to add.
Performance of the product is better than expected. Now I have to wait to find the radar. It adds a little edge on being able to blend your car with the traffic. First trip out found a radar over two overpass height objects. The warning time is extended to the point I have not had any lock-ons since using it. I really think they turned up the sensitivity and hoped the gps additions will turn down the nuisance alerts to a an acceptable level. The feature where the gps gives you your speed at the first alert also helps those whose odometer is not calibrated with accuracy of gps or radar. If a person wanted to drive above posted speed limits it would give them 3-5 mph advantage over other detectors. This state of the art tech is still missing stand still traffic and impending accidents over the horizon. It does give you time to smile at the heros that are out there to keep you safe and add something extra for those out there to just take your money.