Escort Passport 9500i vs. V1

Craig · #1 (**permalink**) 2008-06-26

Almost one year ago someone asked me if the Escort Passport 9500i, with its GPS, is all that much quieter than the V1. Good question.

After field-testing both units and finding them nearly equal in sensitivity, I concentrated on the false-alarm issue. Nine months later, the question's been answered: RadarTest.com ? Best radar detector reviews from the world?s most respected authority.

The results were a bit of a surprise.

Craig

steagall1000 · #2 (**permalink**) 2008-06-26

Craig,

I'm sure your a great guy and tester, but the V1 has always had better sensitivity than the escort or should I say Belscorts. I think you also need to make it known that you are also on beltronics payroll. You have never had a valentineOne ever out perform any bel or escort since you have been testing on your website. Thats alittle fishy to me. GOL, speedzones, motortrend and car&driver have shown results that from the intro of the V1 in 1992, it has always outperformed Bel/escort. Look at how sensitive the V1's laser detection is compared to the escort. The V1 is the only laser detector that has proven over and over again it can give you time to slow down if a officer is shooting across traffic with lidar."better known as laser scatter" So after reading your results, i'm going to disagree that this escort 9500i is better than the V1. Here are some true testing results from independent testers. These guys are not being paid by escort to make their product look better on paper!!

Guys of LIDAR - Radar Detector Test - August 2007

steagall1000 · #3 (**permalink**) 2008-06-26

Craig,

How do you explain the worlds best radar detector getting spanked by the V1 over and over. Explain this footage? Again craig the V1 still is the best. It always has been!

YouTube - Valentine One vs. Escort X50 8500 1

YouTube - Valentine One and X50 Stealth Mode

YouTube - Valentine One and Escort 8500 X50 POP Radar Test

Craig · #4 (**permalink**) 2008-06-26

Hi Georgia Boy:

You’re a bit fast with the accusations, my friend, particularly with having no background in testing radar detectors, something I’ve been doing since before you were in high school.

Let’s see if I’ve got it straight. You’re offering anonymous YouTube videos by rank amateurs as an authoritative source? And you’re calling my conclusions “fishy”?

Tell you what. Drop by and we’ll take the same radar detectors used in the test, the same radar, same crew and go back to the same location. The results should be within about one or two percent of the first test. Some variables—atmospheric, oscillator frequency drift, etc.—are impossible for humans to control. So there will be some variations. But not much.

And if I’m correct, you’ll be asked to pay for the test. And you’ll post an apology on this forum.

Nearly all of the “independent” testers to whom you refer are anything but. They all have agendas, admitted or not. C/D, for example, has never declared a non-Valentine product the winner of a high-end test since 1979, a phenomenon unique in the history of consumer electronics, not to mention the publishing world. That may have something to do with a senior C/D editor having been on the Valentine payroll continuously since 1979 at a reputed 100 grand per year. He also drove Mike’s Indy car in the eighties and has generated puff pieces on Mike and his products faithfully ever since.

Another one is in business to sell product endorsements. Hire him to test your detector and if the check’s large enough, even models that are complete losers are elevated to the ranks of world-class performers. A $39 (manufacturer cost) Korean unit tested several years ago outperformed the Escort Passport 8500 X50 and the Valentine One. Perhaps you have a ready explanation for that?

I agree with you on one point: The V1 often has outperformed Escort and BEL products. For that reason I declared the Valentine One the winner of my last Automobile magazine detector test.

Apparently you skimmed over the elaborate description in my latest story of exactly what features I was testing and precisely how the units were being evaluated. If you had, you’d have noted that I was looking at false alarms and radar sensitivity, certainly not laser. Read my last reviews of the Valentine One and you’ll notice that I said its laser performance is “world class” and “the best in the business.”

I admire your unflagging devotion to, as you noted, the 1992-vintage V1. (Actually, it was designed in 1990-1991 by Clarence Groth and another engineer, not Mike Valentine.) But I’d challenge you to list several more 1992-vintage electronic devices that can outperform modern units.

So far as I know, Escort’s unaware that the story exists. At least, they haven’t showered me with cash, or even called or e-mailed to thank me. And they certainly didn’t pay for the test.

But my offer to go out and do a second test with you in attendance still stands. Let me know when you’ll be coming and I’ll make the arrangements.

See you then.

Craig

Veil Guy · #5 (**permalink**) 2008-06-27

OK,

My .02 cents, for what it's worth.

My latest Valentine 1 (of which I proudly own four), was manufactured in 2007, certainly not '92.

While the original design may have been conceived in the early nineties, the Valentine 1 has gone through some very significant evolution as manifested in its latest v3.864 and will continue to evolve, as it always has.

Using similar logic, the Porsche 911 is a "vintage" road car, however, as manifested in its latest incarnation (GT3), it is a world-class leader.

In my opinion, the Valentine 1 remains a class-leading radar detector. Is it a coincidence that many reviews (including my own) "compare" other radar detectors to the V1. I think, not. There's a good reason for doing so.

As a "true-believer" myself, the V1, remains as one of the purest radar detectors ever produced. The equivalent of a manual or stick operated high-performance sports car (like the 911), which admittedly, can sometimes be "demanding" of the driver around town.

That's why high-performance automatics are available. I would certainly put the Passport 9500i in the latter category.

But at the same time, I would take anything away from the V1 while doing so, especially on the open-highway where its reception to all radar and laser is greatly appreciated.

Ultimately, that's why I own many different radar deteectors, each has their own particular "strengths" and "weaknesses" (which I prefer to characterize as personality) and placing value on each of these abilities is a very personal and subjective thing.

In the final analysis, I am happy that each of us drivers have so many choices to make and I thank each of the manufacturers for this: Beltronics, Cobra, Escort, Valentine, and Whister.

The world is a better place with all of them.

We don't have to agree on which "features" or "capabilities are the most important, to be sure, but I hope we can, at least, be agreeably disagreeable when we don't see certain things the same way.

Peace.

Veil Guy