see this is why they need spell check... for people like me... although spell check wouldn't have seen that as an error... readymix you learns me good!:munching:
On the interstate me and my friend normally pick up HP running with their radar on about 10 miles before we meet them. He ussually picks up a cop thats on his way to work sitting the same spot 15-17miles before where the cop is sitting. In town, I ussually pick up cops a solid mile before I meet them. Only thing that wierd on my unit is that everyonce and while I get a laser detection when traffic lights change.
That, or a few vehicles have truw neon lights somehwere on the back and set off the lazer, like a Trailblazer or Envoy, or late model Mark VIII. Or an Arby's near you...
I have the 9500ix. I do not recommend buying it. On 3 separate occasions I have seen with my own eyes an officer standing on the side of the road gunning people and the 9500 did not make a single peep. Note that this is with the auto false alarm lockout turned off. Get the V1. Or if you really want the 9500, buy mine so I can get a V1.
Just an FYI - the Escort is smarter than that. In fact, it could be argued that it works better because of this reason. The auto lockout stores several pieces of info - location, signal frequency, signal strength. It is not easily fooled into ignoring a cop hanging out by another radar source as the signal strengths and frequency are different. I have personally experienced this. When I first got my unit I used the auto lockout. One a handful of occasions it alerted to police parked at locations I had specifically blocked. Also, you would never "think its a false" since the detector doesn't go off when it thinks its seeing a "false". That said, see my previous post.
I read a lot of reviews. This one seemed to be the closest to the information I have found on the 100's of websites i have looked at this week. www.radartest.com I know that it is the version before the 9500xi but i like what it is saying. i was thinking the V1 but i am just not sure it is worth all of the false alarms. it seems that it may have a longer distance on some bands but on the important bands it doesn't seem to really out do the 9500xi. so i think i will go with the quite one and take the chance that i might get the alert a second later... but still in enough time!
Dude? Did you not see this: I made the same decision as you based on the same reasoning. Now I regret it. There's a reason most people are saying get the V1. Feel free to do the same thing, though. And again, if you decide you want the 9500 - I will happily sell you mine at a decent price so I can get a V1 instead. Also, one a site that seems to be good for tests and reviews of radar equipment is http://www.guysoflidar.com/
I'm kinda hoping he does, as long as he buys my 9500. Seriously. I want to get rid of it and get a V1 and I'll give you a very fair deal on my 9500 if you go that route ofspunk.
OK. so i hear what you are saying. But how many false alarms do people get that have the V1. From almost everything I have read: v1 = is always 1st or 2nd in every review for range of detection. the only times it is not number 1 the 9500xi is. the issue with this it seems is that it is always going off. is this what the forum V1 owners have experianced?
I get PLENTY of falses with the 9500, too. Its just part of having a radar detector. Get one that shows you frequency and signal strength at a very quick glance so you can determine for yourself quickly if its a false or not. Fwiw, the 9500ix does have a display mode that show relative frequency within a band and the strength (though the strength only has like 4 steps in this display mode, so its not as useful as it could be). Talking specifically about the 9500's auto-lockout features, what I mentioned on how it avoids ignoring cops in a tagged false area with frequency and location and strength. Well, guess what ... quite a few sources of false alerts are not consistent enough on those parameters to lock out consistently and reliably. Some locations took months and months of hitting the lockout button every time I drove by. Some silenced after the first time. Also, I'm under the impression that the Valentine has some advanced programming modes one can use to ignore very specific types of signals, and that falses can be effectively reduced this way, too. The 9500 will not eliminate your falses. Mine still spouted a few a day on my normal route, but for months it was more like a dozen falses. It takes quite a bit of time to train that thing. Is the 9500 a bad detector? Well, I would never say so, except those pesky few times I've SEEN a radar gun being used in my general direction and not gotten any tone at all. That's a pretty unnerving occurrence with a radar detector hanging off the windshield. It could've cost me over $500 in tickets (yes I was speeding every time), a license suspension, untold insurance costs, etc....
The V1 like any detecting device is there to give you information about the road. From what I can tell you get fewer false alarms with the Escort at the expense of possible missed alarms. Personally, I want EVERY alarm that is detected, and then I make the call based on the situation. This was the thinking when I was in the Navy too. You don't tone down a radar because it gives you false feedbacks, you investigate feedbacks and learn what is and isn't usually a threat. Eventually you gain your own "mind filter" for what is and isn't viable information. But seriously, this isn't a hard decision. You have multiple users telling you to get the V1, you have an Escort 9500 owner that is telling you that it sometimes doesn't detect real targets and wants to SELL IT to get a V1. If you are still on the fence about it, then you might need to do your own research and buy what you think works. Because soon, as history has shown with MNSubaru, you are going to start pissing off the people giving advice by ignoring it and being your own devil's advocate on every single piece of advice they give you. If you have your heart set on the Escort, then get the Escort, if you like the V1 then get it. You've heard all the opinions, and this decision doesn't require a 2 page thread.
readymixx - i understand... just trying to get all the information I can. The issue is that there are no good reviews on the 9500xi, only the lesser models. up until today there was also no one that even owns one. so I am sorry but i like to understand as much as i can before I blow part of a paycheck. i am here to learn, explain what i know and see where i could be missing the point. sorry man it is just my personality and style of learning. isn't the point of the forum to learn? that is why i joined. qstarin = thanks for the info. i was under the impression that the 9500i you had to put in your own lockouts. the 9500xi did it automatically... i have seen the radar gun thing as well with my older dectors. i am guessing sometimes they have it on and sometimes they just want to scare people (but who really knows). i will really rethink about going with the V1 now that i know someone who has a 9500xi.
It will automatically lockout in certain situations - mainly when a weak signal appears and disappears quickly, also it is more aggressive locking out X band signals. The user also has the option to manually lock out any signal by pressing a button while the unit is alerting. If you want to make a significant reduction in false alerts you have to manually lock out strong false alarms. The auto lockout feature can also be completely turned off. Like I said - its not a bad detector if I ignore the fact that it has definitely missed real threats. I just can't fathom or ignore how it totally missed real threats right in front of me. There are innumerable other times I've passed police cars that I *thought* were radaring and it didn't go off, but I was never sure - not like the 3 times I saw them standing outside of their cars/cycles gun in hand operating it. If there's anything specific I can help answer for you, I'm happy to do so. I thought the same exact things you're saying now when I made my decision. The 9500 does alert in plenty of time and it is nice to not have as many falses and I don't believe the false lockout feature contains any significant chance of locking out real threats (which is what most think - but after reading a lot about how it works and using it for months I think it is a safe feature), and I wanted the GPS to show my speed since my speedo is out and unfixable for now. But, it just keeps coming back to those times I know there was radar pointed towards me and it didn't alert. Seriously, other than that I could recommend that 9500ix. In fact, if it wasn't for that I'd probably be arguing against a lot of these people about how the auto-lockout is not a significantly dangerous feature.
Fixed it for ya. edit: Back on topic, I've got three friends with V1s, and all of them swear by them. I've got a Whistler, and while it has worked from time to time, more often than not it's luck that keeps me ticket-free. *knock on wood*
ofsPunk - I personally have the V1, and I can vouch for it. One quite a few occasions it has given me plenty of time to slow down before I get the party lights following me. I had an Escort 8500, and while it was good...it was no V1. The only false's that I ever get, are Laser false...due to certain lights (like was already stated with Trailblazer tail lights, and certain cruise control systems). If you feel you need a detector that is that accurate...you need one for the wrong reason. My buddy Greg had a 9500, and was completely let down in the performance of it (he owned the 8500 that I purchased from him). He was pretty convinced that the 8500 was better in range, it just didn't have the lockout feature and GPS indicated speed. Just buy the V1 already and get it over with.
You can turn the X band off on the V1 to lessen the false alarms. Before I did that, the only real X band radar I saw in 8 months was from the "Your Speed" trailers cops leave on the side of the road.
