Got a speeding ticket with the 9500ix

Guys I ran into your forum this afternoon after coming back from Dallas.

I've got to be honest I am very disappointed with the 9500 IX. I bought it because I read reviews stating it was the best. I got a speeding ticket the first trip that I used it. I was driving through the hills in Texas and came over a hill and boom the guy was sitting down the road and all of the sudden the KA band goes solid and I slam on my brakes. I get a ticket for 81 in a 70. Anyways there was no audible voice or alert or anything even with a slight click before just all the sudden when I was in view I was nailed. I'm not sure about what technology these guys in Texas are using but it was a TXDPS officer so I'm assuming the best.

The reason I am writing this is today I drove from Dallas, Texas to Midland, Texas on I-20 the whole way. Everything was going good and there wasn't a peep from the detector, but I saw no cops either. Finally I'm going over a hill like I was the other day and boom same thing my thing goes solid and there he is using KA band. I was only going 76 so I guess he was waiting for someone going faster.

Anyways I'm extremely disappointed and just wanted some advice or information as to what to do. I'm about ready to send this sucker back in. It honestly never even chirped to warn me. Is that because they are using POP guns out here and I am just screwed? Anyways new to radar detector world but thought I was purchasing the best. It's been a huge disappointment to say the least.

Thanks in advance for the replies

Sorry to hear about your experience. It sounds like you got hit with "Instant On" Radar and that is extremely difficult to beat in any band. The best radar detectors, such as the IX and V1, are just as vulnerable to this as the cheapest radars. In order to have a fighting chance you have to have a good "rabbit" out in front in order to beat this kind of threat. If you do not know what I mean by "rabbit", it basically comes down to a bait car that runs out in front, about of 1/3 to 1/4 of mile, at a good clip so that the when the LEO sees them and shoots their radar, your RD will detect it giving you enough time to slow down. If I don't have a rabbit, I stay within 5-8 of the PSL to try and reduce my opportunity to of getting hit. My 9500ix has been outstanding when using this technique. There are plenty of others on this site who can give better opinions and advice, but I don't think it is the RD, just bad luck.
Again, sorry to hear about your experience.

^ Exactly.

"Instant-on" is just that - instantaneous - and FWIW, I fear I/O RADAR much more than I do LIDAR, which, despite popular perception, is not nearly as invulnerable, instantaneous, and precise as it may seem.

Our own community members have even tried to "out-brake" LIDAR (without any active or passive protective measures), versus outbraking RADAR, and in every attempted case, there's almost no escaping RADAR, whereas with LIDAR, there was at least some hope.

Indeed, as jaminc said, the only defense for I/O RADAR is good driving practices - this includes the use of a proper "rabbit/bird-dog," as well as, when such are not available, to practice more defensive maneuvering, such as actively slowing before blind crests, corners, overpasses, etc.

No detector on the market today can help you avoid a ticket, via I/O RADAR, if you are the RADAR's specific target. Essentially, under such conditions, the detector can only alert you to the fact that you've been clocked.

While a more sensitive detector can potentially alert to the use of I/O RADAR, by the same enforcer, on *another* vehicle, perhaps way out of eyes' view (i.e. on a vehicle that was neither your own or that of your chosen "rabbit,") this is a scenario that is highly dependent on factors for which you cannot control. And given the fact that the 9500i and ix are already among the most sensitive of in-cabin, stand-alone detectors, it's rather unlikely that any other detector would've necessarily helped you avoid this ticket.

Furthermore, one should also remember that there are unique-detector -to- unique-detector differences - that "your" 9500ix may be more sensitive than "my" 9500ix and which may in-turn be more sensitive than "his" 9500ix, and that to complicate the matter even more, this performance margin can be limited to specific frequencies within each "band" (i.e. for the Ka-band, there's 35.5, 34.7, and 33.8 GHz). In one of Mike.B's previous posts on RadarDetector.net, you'll see that of the three V1s submitted to him, there was a 3 dB difference in laboratory-measured sensitivity.

It's very, very hard to judge what detector is "the best."

Currently, nearly every detector carries a "fault" of some kind - an area in which its performance or features is not quite up-to-par to its peers. When one review or another makes the claim that product X or Y is "best," it's likely imposing some form of that particular author's biases and/or preferences in the overall criteria - and if your own preferences and needs do not match precisely such, you may not feel the same way, as the review or reviewer.

However, with *any* of the "top-dog" detectors, you can be virtually assured of "ticket saving" performance levels, in the real-world, given that your use of them is in a proper and realistic manner.

And I think that's where you tripped over the fault line, on this one, bkcttu.

You're blaming the detector for what is essentially a scenario that it could not have helped you with - in a way, this ticket was the result of operator error, in that you did not use a "rabbit/bird-dog," as well as that you did not understand, fully, the implications of various tactical usage of RADAR.

You've mentioned in your post that you're new to the world of RADAR/LASER detectors, and I do sincerely feel bad for you that this was your "welcome" to this place.

Nevertheless, this is a valuable - if harsh - lesson: that your detector is not a "cop detector," and that there are various uses of RADAR which can defeat a detector, even one which is considered to be among the elite rank of the "top-dogs."

It is not my intent, by this post, to belittle you or to make you feel even worse than you do, now - but rather, to SINCERELY hope to educate you on some of the finer points of detector usage as well as enforcement technology.

I truly hope your coming miles will be better.

BTW, this thread from my "home" Forum of LegacyGT.com should provide good reading for you. I know it's a long thread (7 pages), but the OP of that thread painted a near-identical picture as you did, above. I think that the replies posted there will give you some further insight into just what went wrong, in both your situations. ---> Pulled Over... - Subaru Legacy Forums

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TSi+WRX's Sig:

- Allen/Usual Suspect "DumboRAT"/One of the Three Stooges

LI Rev.2.8, Ver.7.03 - quad 8.0A-f w/ 8.5 Slim-r
LPP v8.3h(CAN/AU)/10.1s, 2xF/1xR
9500i, Red (4307) w/ZR3
VEIL G4
CR8APL8s, w/LaserShield(F)
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[ Wifey's FXT -> Bue 8500x50 (Rev.5); LI Rev.2.9, Ver.7.08 - dual 8.5 ]

Me: '05 Legacy 2.5GT Ltd., mildly modified
Wifey: '09 Forester XT, barely modded
Baby-Anna: too short to reach any pedals!

Very well said, TSI-WRX!

Hi Guys!

I'm new to the forum as well as new to the use of RD's. I recently bought a Passport 9500ix and like Bk, I was a bit disappointed. After convincing my fiancee as to why I needed to spend 500.00 on this little contraption, I was pretty embarrased when today we passed two squad cars lying in wait for speeders. When approaching the first cop, the 9500 didn't go off until we were nearly past him. My fiancee wasted no time in telling me how late the passport was. The second time we passed another cop and the 9500 was dead silent. Fortunately I wasn't speeding on either encounter, but I was still a little miffed that I likely would have gotten a ticket if I was flooring it.

Like Bk said, at first I questioned the reliability of the RD and was wondering if it was working properly. After reading some of the other post on here, I have come to realize probably the most important fact that any RD user should be aware of: ALL Radar Detectors have limits, and You can still get busted if you aren't careful. I thought that having the best RD on the market would allow me to be a carefree lead-foot, in any and all situations. WRONG!

As RD technology improves, it only stands to reason that Police radar technology and techniques would also. I'm just glad that I learned the truth of it all before I got a ticket, which could have easily happened the night before as I was out doing some spirited driving with my new toy propped on my windshield. I'm looking forward to learning more from the experienced members of this forum.

Thanks Guys!