Owner Review: Valentine One vs. Escort Passport 9500ix

[Aquineas]

I had a chance this weekend to take about a 700 mile round trip road trip this weekend from Austin to Odessa, Tx and back. During this trip, I had a chance to compare my newly installed Escort 9500ix with Escort Live for Android to my trusty Valentine One.

The Valentine One was purchased in 2004 when I bought my Acura TL and is now on its 3rd car. I have always loved my V1, but honestly, I have been getting a little envious of late of the features that Escort brings to the table, specifically GPS awareness along with Escort Live. I'll get to the specifics of the Passport and Escort Live in a minute, but first my thoughts on the detection capabilities of both. I have both radar detectors mounted on the windshield, maybe 4 inches from the top of the windshield. The V1 was operating in Advanced Logic Mode, and the Passport was operating in stock mode as it came from the factory.

During the trip, the only police radar I encountered that I could positively identify the source was KA band. That being said, I would say that the V1 consistently detected KA band sooner than the Passport 9500ix, sometimes as much as 4 seconds sooner, but usually between 1-2 seconds sooner. When I say consistently, I do not mean 100 percent. There were at least two occasions when the Passport 9500ix notified me sooner than the V1, but the overwhelming majority of the time, the V1 warned me sooner.

Also, contrary to what I read elsewhere on the web, the 9500ix had many, many more false alarms. There was a time when I was wondering if the X-Band detectors of the V1 were even functioning, as repeatedly I observed the 9500ix warning me about X (K Band too, but primarily X) and the V1 was sitting silently. At one point I turned the 9500ix down completely and relied strictly on the visual display of my Motorola Droid because I didn't want to wake my wife along the drive.

So if I were buying strictly a radar detector and I didn't want the GPS and smartphone integration, I would definitely feel comfortable buying the V1. Those of you who already have V1s and are wondering about the same thing I was but aren't sure if the newer detectors perform better, the answer is, they don't. Your V1 is still rockin'. Maybe you'll want to do a software update (as I plan to do), but you still have one of the top detectors on the market. Those of you who don't own a radar detector and you plan on buying one, and you want:

1. The most sensitive detector you can get
2. The best made detector you can get (V1s are not made of plastic; they are made of aluminum)
3. You don't care about smartphone integration or GPS capabilities (which include some (but not all) fixed speed camera and red light camera alerts)

I'd say, buy the V1 and never look back. If however you want other features like GPS or smart phone integration, read on.

Passport 9500ix Specific Features
I was intrigued about the Passport 9500ix, not only because it has GPS capabilities, but also because of Escort Live. Escort Live is an optional kit which comes with a remote display that has two buttons on it: a button you can press at any time to "report" police activity manually, and a mute button. It also integrates with your smart phone via Bluetooth. Escort Live comes in a few permutations, including coil and hardwire options for both iPhones and Android phones.

Since I have a Motorola Droid 4 (sorry folks, it's not the sexiest smart phone, but I'll never give up my keyboard), I had my 9500ix and Escort Live hardwired at Best Buy for $50. Once it was installed, I went home and registered my 9500ix and my Escort Live on the Escort site (registration for Escort Live is required if you want to integrate with your smart phone) and then downloaded the Escort Live app for my Droid. I also was advised by the Escort documentation to update the software on my 9500ix, which required that I download a program onto my PC and plug my detector into my PC's USB port. They also have a Mac version of the software, which I didn't try but perhaps will in the future. Upon starting the app on your phone, it asks you for the username and password you gave during registration of your product. Escort Live won't load without it, and as I found out during my trip, if you lose internet connectivity on your smart phone, the Escort Live app goes to pasture. Some of you might be saying, "Well, what good is it if you don't have an internet to begin with", and I would counter with, when you're running Escort Live, the UI display on your phone provides a little more information in a more quickly digestible format than the LED display on the 9500ix. After the app is running, you have to pair your phone with the SmartWire adapter from Escort (this you must do every time you start the car, btw, which isn't that big of a deal but might bother others).

So what does Escort Live do for you? As I mentioned before, it shares police information with you and other Escort Live users. When you manually report police activity, which you can do via the remote on the Escort Live button or via the UI on your phone, that information is sent via your phone's internet connection back to Escort and disseminated to other Escort Live users. This has huge potential though I should caution that the benefit will be directly proportionate to how many other drivers in the area you happen to be driving are actively using their Escort Live and how accurate it is.

Aside from being able to manually report activity, whenever your detector encounters radar, a display pops up on your phone that lets you either Lock-out a signal (which I did a lot of, considering how many X band alerts I got) or report it back to the network. With X and K band, you have to choose to report or ignore a signal, but KA alerts always report back to Escort (which is exactly what you want since it's rare that KA falses. Not once did my Passport, or my V1 for that matter, indicate KA band activity that wasn't accompanied by 5-0).

So by my very presence and my encountering radar or seeing a law enforcement official and reporting it in, I was in theory benefitting others who might come after me. Because of my hours of travel and potentially some of the roads I was on (it was pretty late or pretty early when we drove, depending on whether we were coming or going), I suspect that I could benefit more from this than I did. I did get alerts that others had reported, but they weren't necessarily current. A typical alert would display something like this (paraphrasing what's in quotes, but it shouldn't be too far off): "Live Radar encountered, KA Band, 41 minutes ago, 2900ft ahead." Of course I slowed down when I saw this, and one time it did in fact save my bacon, so it definitely was useful.

The Passport also lets you know about Speed Cameras, Red-Light Cameras, etc based on your GPS position. We don't (that I know of) have speed cameras in Texas, but we definitely have red-light cameras here. The ones around Austin that I encountered it seemed to warn me about approximately 50 percent of the time, whereas it didn't know any of the obvious red-light cameras that I saw near Odessa.

That's my review; sorry there are no pictures but I wanted to get my thoughts down when they were still fresh.

(Afterthought
A note about Odessa, TX, a place I'd never visited before this weekend. You know that image you have of Texas being flat and dusty with oil wells everywhere you look? That's Odessa. What I found even more curious is how active the police were when I was there. We arrived in Odessa around 1:30am early Saturday morning, and my radar gun literally went off 12 times in that first night alone (so we're talking maybe 25 minutes from the time we arrived to the Odessa area to the time we checked into our hotel.) And I'm not talking the K and X band falsies, I'm talking KA band. So if you're driving around Odessa and you routinely drive 5-10mph over like I do, be careful

 

[OneFunGenesis]

Good review and great read!

I have the 8500s because the 9500 wasn't out when I bought mine. I love it but it is VERY sensitive to X and K band (store alarms set it off big time). Love the mute button though and will be hard wiring it within a few months here.

 

[Jbo]

Excellent review!

 

[Aquineas]

Mild update: I've noticed that the Escort Live software has been pairing itself automatically to the SmartWire now; in my review I stated that it has to be paired everytime. The last 4-5 times I've started my car it's paired itself off on its own.

 

[SmoovC]

Thank you for the review; it was a good read, and I appreciate the time and effort that it took to do so.

For now, I think I will stick to my STi Driver. My biggest contention is that no dash mounted unit will do a damn thing to detect and prevent laser based SMD tickets.

Not that I much care about getting ticketed; the unit (for me) is about knowing where they are at, not to get away with speeding. I exceed the limit rarely, as I like my low insurance rates!

 

[OneFunGenesis]

Thank you for the review; it was a good read, and I appreciate the time and effort that it took to do so.

For now, I think I will stick to my STi Driver. My biggest contention is that no dash mounted unit will do a damn thing to detect and prevent laser based SMD tickets.

Not that I much care about getting ticketed; the unit (for me) is about knowing where they are at, not to get away with speeding. I exceed the limit rarely, as I like my low insurance rates!

This is all so true. I do the same thing. I am not a speed demon, just want to know when to check my speed and see what I'm doing.

At 1,000 ft. the laser band is only 3 ft wide...not going to detect that ever. Shit, the laser radar unit has a scope on it....

 

[Gdog]

I have owned (3 now) V1's since 93 and it will always be my choice
G

 

[Aquineas]

The only positive thing about Lidar is that it typically has to be fired from a mounted, stationary position, so it tends to be less prevalent than radar. That being said, it still sucks to get nailed by it. I've gotten 4 tickets in the last 10 years:

1. I-10 East near Lake Charles, Louisiana (2010)
2. I-35 North at Hillsboro, Texas (2010)
3. Loop 360 in Austin, Texas (2006)
4. Southwest Parkway & Hwy 71 near Bee Caves, Tx (2005)

Every single one was Lidar

 

[rae0568]

I can't speak on the 9500ix because I don't own one since I live in N. VA. However, I do own a V1 (since 1998, last upgrade 3.872), Redline and STi Magnum and my detectors seem to alert within a second of each other. Sometimes the V1 win and sometimes the Belscort win. Because they (Redline & STi Magnum) have no LO leakage, they will not interfere with my V1 but my V1 will interfere with the Belscort products due to its LO leakage and close proximity.

From my experience and testing by others the V1 is better at picking up quick trigger IO. My Belscort is better at sniffing out off axis Ka. Each has its pros and cons and I love all three.

The Belscort has taken a major leap forward with Escort live (networking). Belscort has also promised band segmentation later this year which should allow the windshield unit to perform much like the remote 9500ci. This could be a deal breaker for a windshield unit if they hold true to their word. I'm waiting for this update.

The V1 on the other hand has made significant strides to deal with false rejection/mute (Savvy) and now V1 Connection that brings the V1 display, band frequency, programming and a visual analysis to help determine real and false threats based stored FCC frequencies to your phone via bluetooth. V1 Connection is only available to Andriod users with iOS release soon to follow. Waiting for iPhone release.

 

[Aquineas]

Here are some pictures of my setup. I wish I could have gotten some with radar nearby to show the indicator screen on my phone, but alas it is what it is.

Here's a picture of the remote:

Here's a picture of the SmartRadar App:

Here's a side view of the remote:

Here's a view of my setup from the back seat. The annoying dangling power cord you see is actually for my phone, and believe me, you need to have your phone powered while you're using this app.

Closer view of the detectors themselves:

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[NSXNEXT]

Ah my smart cord is a coiled one that is powered by the cigarette lighter.

Thanks for the pictures.

 

[GenesisCaptain]

Very good review. Your final three-point summary is spot on, except I would summarize it slightly differently. The key is that the 9500ix will learn and ignore many false alarms. So, it can dial-up some of the sensitivity knowing that it will eliminate the alerts because of the GPS feature. This works in familiar areas but not in new areas.

V1: Do not mind false alarms, want maximum sensitivity, radar traps & red light cameras not a priority issue. Drive most often in rural areas or highways.

9500ix: Drive most often in urban or suburban areas, and dislike false alarms. Want red light camera and speed trap alerts.

 

[Aquineas]

Thanks for the comments. I hear what you're saying about the 9500ix learning about false alarms, but I'm not buying the hype about the V1 allegedly spewing off a bunch of false alarms. Perhaps people aren't running in advanced logic mode (I haven't switched it out of advanced logic mode since I first powered it up), but in a best case scenario for the 9500ix, they're both quiet. In the "unknown" road mode, the 9500ix is chattier than a 6th grader after a can of Mountain Dew, and my V1, well.. just isn't.

 

[Aquineas]

Look and weep .

 

[Jbo]

Heaven !!

 

[GenesisCaptain]

Thanks for the comments. I hear what you're saying about the 9500ix learning about false alarms, but I'm not buying the hype about the V1 allegedly spewing off a bunch of false alarms. Perhaps people aren't running in advanced logic mode (I haven't switched it out of advanced logic mode since I first powered it up), but in a best case scenario for the 9500ix, they're both quiet. In the "unknown" road mode, the 9500ix is chattier than a 6th grader after a can of Mountain Dew, and my V1, well.. just isn't.

Since you have both, let us know how the two compare in your daily driving. Give the 9500ix a month or so to memorize all of the false alarms in your normal driving areas, and then tell us how effective the GPS-based filtering is. For me, it works great. When my 9500ix goes off, I am highly confident that it is a bogey. But, I do not have a V1 to do an immediate comparison.

Also, I disable X band in my 9500ix since no police in my area (in any area?) run X band. That would probably have eliminated most of the falses you saw above. Also, K band is generally a false alarm whenever it hits. I have not had the balls to disable K too, but if I did, I would probably rarely get a false alarm in any driving.

 

[gameday22]

Look and weep .

...now that's what I'm talking about, wonder how far you can push past 85 before they pull ya over lol !!