Anyone own one? What do you think of its range. Understand it has a "timeout" feature so it doesn't run out the battery. How long does it go? Any help (including link to a good review) would be appreciated.
Radar detectors are pretty much useless where I live, but my work often takes me onto the open roads and into unfamiliar small towns. That's why I like cordless . . . I can keep it in the center console box when I don't need it (which is most of the time), and place it on the visor with one hand while driving if I need the protection. By the way, get the optional $4 visor clip, it's a "must."
The battery-saving "timeout" feature puts it into a sleep mode after 30 minutes without motion, then shuts off completely 30 minutes after that. I always manually turn it off because it beeps incessantly before going to sleep, and that attracts unwanted attention from passers-by (a design flaw). The newest version of Solo S2 also shuts off after 45 minutes of not detecting any signals (here, the warning beep is helpful).
The other form of timeout is the "duty cycle." It takes a lot of electricity to continuously scan all of the frequencies in the radar band, especially the Ka-band, which has a lot of frequencies in a very wide spectrum. That's why cordless detectors don't continuously scan frequencies all the time, but only a fraction of the time each second. That significantly cuts down on the ability to detect instant-on and POP radar . . . the detection range distance probably isn't compromised much, but the dectection becomes more of a hit-or-miss.
The battery life claimed by Escort on its website is a blatant LIE. If it's used a lot every day, the batteries last only about 2 weeks. But I don't mind because high electricity useage means high duty cycle, and better performance. Anyway, AA batteries are cheap, and since the Solo S2 will go "Low Battery" with about 1/3 juice left in them, you'll never need to buy another battery for your TV remotes and wall clocks ever again. I've thought about using rechargeables, but NiCads and NiMHs hold only about 1.2 volts at full charge (compared to 1.5 volts for disposable alkaline), and that might be a problem.
What I don't like about the Solo S2 are the annoying flashing LED power-on indicators, and the low sound volume of the Ka-band warning, which I can't hear with the windows open and radio blasting. I easily solved the flashing LED problem by putting black electrical tape over them, and I'm thinking of plugging in a louder auxiliary speaker into the earphone jack, but that defeats the convenience of having a cordless, and convenience is what it's all about with cordless. It also "freezes up" like a computer once in a blue moon, but I understand that all high-performance detectors exhibit some sort of freakish bug once in a while.
All in all, if you need the convenience of cordless like me, get the Solo S2, you won't regret it. Otherwise, the smarter choice is a good hard-wired corded detector like the X50 or the V1.
This site tells you that the Solo 2 is .3 to .5 miles behind the leaders in detecting X, K, and KA band radar and cannot detect POP radar at all because it is cordless. Do yourself a favor and get a V1, you will not regret it!!
Best Detector according to reviews Escort 8500 X50
I have been had an ealrier solo and wired escort in the past and have been doing research to upgrade, My first inclination was to go with the solo2. It is clearly the best cordless out there but I am going to go with the Escort 8500 X50 and wire it in the same manner that others have wired the Valentine 1. (There is a special cord you can buy to do this)
And frankly I am tired of reading all the raves about the V1 in other threads on this forum. No doubt it is a fine unit. But EVERY review and TEST I can find rates the X50 better. And enough about the arrows on the V1. We are Corvette drivers we; want performance. The V1 does NOT detect the new POP technology at all. And by the way the V1 is more expensive too.
I have been had an ealrier solo and wired escort in the past and have been doing research to upgrade, My first inclination was to go with the solo2. It is clearly the best cordless out there but I am going to go with the Escort 8500 X50 and wire it in the same manner that others have wired the Valentine 1. (There is a special cord you can buy to do this)
And frankly I am tired of reading all the raves about the V1 in other threads on this forum. No doubt it is a fine unit. But EVERY review and TEST I can find rates the X50 better. And enough about the arrows on the V1. We are Corvette drivers we; want performance. The V1 does NOT detect the new POP technology at all. And by the way the V1 is more expensive too.
You need to take a look at http://www.valentine1.com/pop/ which tells you about the V1's capabilities with POP radar and the V1 could detect K band POP before the upgrade and now it detects POP on both bands with less falsing than the X50 or RX65.
If what you want is performance at a price and the best long range detection in X band, K band, 10.8 miles in KA band, 1/4 mile Laser detection when the car in front is shot with laser, and full POP detection with less falsing, rear radar detection that beats the X50 by 2-3 miles in every band because it has 2 antennas with a patent, then the V1 is for you.
Every place you see that rates the the X50 first either sells it or is run by Craig Peterson who is paid by Escort and Bel so you can believe what you want about it but I have been ticket free driving 100 mph with no tickets for over 6 years.
If you check Epinions.com, they rate both and the V1 wins by a little in effectiveness and durability:
Escort Passport
Overall rating: 4.5/5 stars
Reviewed by 64 Epinions users
Effectiveness: 4/5
Ease of Use: 4/5
Durability: 4/5
Valentine One
Overall rating: 4.5/5 stars
Reviewed by 93 Epinions users
Effectiveness: 5/5
Ease of Use: 4/5
Durability: 5/5
If you go to CARREVIEW.COM, you will not find Valentine One reviews anymore because they pulled all of them and don't show them anymore.
It might have something to do with the fact that you see 3 Escort products in color pictures at the top of the page when you check on radar detector reviews.
Go to Radarbusters.com and check out their reviews but remember that they sell Escort, Bel, Whistler, and Cobra so they are biased. The first thing you see is the X50 at the top of the page and they give away a Bel RX65 quarterly so you can tell what products they are pushing. It doesn't do you any good to promote a product that you don't sell. If you click on Radar Roy's Rumble where he test a bunch of radar detectors, they are all in bold and underlined except for the V1 which blends in with the other wording so you will not notice it.
Carl Fors who runs SML claimed that X50 was the "top dog" but he said this about the Escort 8500 in 2003, "When officers were told to quick trigger (approximately one second) their radar guns against the Escort 8500, it did not see, nor report, the use of Stalker’s ATR, Stalker Basic, Kustom Directional Golden Eagle, Kustom Talon, and Kustom Falcon. The 8500 did not see any MPH POP transmissions."
Escort filed for bankruptcy in 1997, Bel did in 2000, Cobra also did somewhere around then but V1 has never filed for bankruptcy so you make the choice.
RaDarkRing,
You make some good points. However the link you posted is by Valentine tooting their own horn. All the independent reviews I read whether biased or not claim straight out that the v1 does not detect pop. The problem with epinions is that people giving their opinions may have nothing to compare to.
Based on your comments I am going to do more research. But I need some independent research which confirms 1) that the v1 detects pop and 2) that t outperforms the escort 8500.
I would certainly appreciate any else you have to say on the topic and if you could point me to any other web research
Go to RadarBusters.com and click support, then scroll down until you see the 2003 SML test as seen by Radar Roy, and then click on POP testing to see the results as he saw them. Remember that the V1 didn't have its KA band POP update yet so the results will be different now.
They tested K POP and KA POP two times for each detector and the Escort 8500 only alerted to KA POP 1 out of 2 times and it didn't alert at all to K band POP
The V1 didn't alert to KA POP at all but it did alert 2 out of 2 times to K POP.
The Long Range test in X, K, and KA band
Valentine 1 3.3 miles 2.6 miles 2.3 miles
Escort 8500 2.2 miles 2.5 miles 2.3 miles
For the rear test, Radar Roy just shows you if they alerted or not but I have a copy of the test and the V1 won by 2-3 miles in rear radar detection.
In a past SML test in 2000, they compared the V1 to the Passport 7500 and these are the results:
The V1 in X, K, KA detection
3.0, 2.6, 4.0 miles
The 7500 in X, K , KA detection
1.9, 1.4, 1.8 miles
The V1 was clearly the winner in 2000 and I still strongly believe that it is #1 in 2004 but the X50 is giving it a run for its money.
There are inconsistencies in Radar Roy's results and SML's in the 2004 long range radar test. They both got the same distances for the V1 but the X50's results are off and the RX65's results are way off. It appears that SML is trying to make the RX65 look better for some reason.
Also, SML claims that the X50 is #1 because of the Spectre III RDD results but Radar Roy said that the test was compromised because the unit might have overheated and shut down. The V1 beat the X50 by 1000-2000 ft. in not being detected by the Spectre I and Spectre II. Then all of a sudden, the X50 can't be seen by the Spectre III and the V1 does the worse it has ever done. SML doesn't say anything about the unit overheating but Radar Roy does.
I have always thought that Car and Driver was not biased but alot of people think that they are so I have looked everywhere for information about radar detectors. I then stumbled across SML and thought they were the least biased but Radar Roy's site proves that there is something weird going on with these tests. A retired police officer with 1000's of hours with a radar gun and many years on duty sees the same tests that a so-called independent radar detector testing firm sees but they get different results.
I base my opinion on the fact that I have used nearly every radar detector since the original FuzzBuster and I am ticket free with my V1 and I know where cops are located with my "useless arrows" as V1 haters call them. I also base it on past tests and word of mouth because V1 only sells from Valentine1.com and every other radar detector company sells everywhere you can think of and they have like 8+ models (Escort, Bel, Cobra, Whistler) running at one time and they will sell you whatever you want in your price range. Escort and Bel also sell other products besides radar detectors so all their money is not spent on radar detector research like Valentine One does.
The V1 only sells one model at one price that is not cordless or mounted in your grill because you lose range and POP protection in some cases with the battery operated ones. The model basically looks exactly the same as the 1992 version but it is smaller and has been completely updated on the inside to include full laser coverage, superwide Ka band, band identification, Pop protection, and constant software tweaks and updates but they give you full support for your unit and you can update it at anytime for cheaper than a new detector. I called Escort and told them I had an old Passport from a while ago and they told me they would give me like $20 off a new one which is really pathetic.
The last 2 detectors I have owned are the V1.7 and the V1.8 with full POP protection and I can't imagine driving without them. There are so many reasons to choose the V1 and not to choose the X50 but it all comes down to: Staying Power, Performance, Word of Mouth, and Full Support of their Product.
I've thought about using rechargeables, but NiCads and NiMHs hold only about 1.2 volts at full charge (compared to 1.5 volts for disposable alkaline), and that might be a problem.
You might try rechargeable alkaline, they are 1.5 volts. Although, I have experienced a problems where a good number of them stop taking a charge after a couple months.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RaDaRkInG
Go to RadarBusters.com and click support, then scroll down until you see the 2003 SML test as seen by Radar Roy, and then click on POP testing
You probably need to be looking at very recent reviews only. The V1 didn't have PoP in 2003 and I don't believe the x50 variant was released until 2004.
Out of curiosity RaDaRkInG, are you affiliated with Valentine in any way? I understand that with a name like RaDaRkInG you have an interest in detectors, but all 48 of your posts deal with buying a V1 over something else w/ no Corvette related posts.
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