New 8500 X50's - Waste of Money & Time!

[bobdat]

I bought my first new X50 rev 6.1 at Best Buy last December. About two weeks later it got really quiet and NEVER alerted, even with known K & Ka hits. After testing it to confirm it went silent, I exchanged it for another one.

The second one had much lower max volume - you could never hear it at highway speed with normal music playing. It also had VERY short detection range on Ka. You could usually see the LEO as the X50 alerted. Again, I exchanged it.

The third X50 was a dog right out of the box - dim display, low max volume, lousy ramp up - it was either at one bar or full all the time. Worse, it would alert normally one power-on cycle and then remain silent after the next power-on cycle. Kind of like the first one. You just couldn't trust it. I confirmed it's intermittentcy by repeatedly cycling it and passing a permanent K band radar speed sign that I use for testing all of my detectors. So, I exchanged that one, too.

The fourth X50 was absolutely great - for about four months. Then, the trouble began. Whenever it was powered on with outdoor temperature lower than about 70 degrees, it went nuts! It would continuously cycle through X, K, Ka, Laser - all at full bars and tones. If I let it run for about two minutes like that, it would then mute and operate normally. So, it had a real thermal problem. I was thoroughly disgusted with Escort's total lack of quality and reliability. I returned this one for a full refund. It wasn't easy but Best Buy agreed to issue credit.

Now, here's a few facts:

All these X50's were rev 6.1 software.
All were Red LED displays.
All were late 2006 and early 2007 production.
All were absolutely brand new and shrink-wrapped by Escort.
All were tested in a 2005 Maxima; a 2007 Explorer; and a 2006 Xterra.

I had really wanted to own a Passport 8500 X50 but reality set in, finally, and I gave up!

On a lark, I bought two Bel 940's (their cheapo) at Circuit City for $124.99 each. I am absolutely blown away with how GREAT these cheapos are! They have as much or more range than the X50's when tested with stationary speed limit signs. They alert on K and Ka at least a mile or more in advance on the interstate in traffic when troopers are closing head-on. They have voice and no old-fashioned power switch & volume knob like the X50. And, they're shorter so they don't droop and pull the suction cups off the windshield like the X50.

The Bel 940's are a REAL bargain. Good looking, easy to operate, virtually zero false alarms and budget-priced. I owned V1's and those four X50's and none of them can compare to these two 940's! I found my perfect detector at last.

You guys who have the kinds of problems I did with your X50's should think about doing what I did - dump the X50 and buy a Bel 940. It does exactly what it's supposed to do - detect radar 100% accurately, as far as I can tell so far.

Just thought I'd share my tale with you guys. :roll:

[jerry540i]

Sounds like a bunch of bad luck with the X50---sorry to hear that.

The 940 however, is the best kept secret out there, as it is an excellent detector for the price. It runs on the same platform (M4 antenna) as the RX65, and the rest of the "900" Vector series.

And it performed really nicely in the last round of GOL tests. www.guysoflidar.com

J/

[KnightHawk]

Hmmmm. I got my X50 with no shrink wrap and never seen one when purchased directly from Escort or Bel.

[LordV]

I bought my first new X50 rev 6.1 at Best Buy last December. About two weeks later it got really quiet and NEVER alerted, even with known K & Ka hits. After testing it to confirm it went silent, I exchanged it for another one.

The second one had much lower max volume - you could never hear it at highway speed with normal music playing. It also had VERY short detection range on Ka. You could usually see the LEO as the X50 alerted. Again, I exchanged it.

The third X50 was a dog right out of the box - dim display, low max volume, lousy ramp up - it was either at one bar or full all the time. Worse, it would alert normally one power-on cycle and then remain silent after the next power-on cycle. Kind of like the first one. You just couldn't trust it. I confirmed it's intermittentcy by repeatedly cycling it and passing a permanent K band radar speed sign that I use for testing all of my detectors. So, I exchanged that one, too.

The fourth X50 was absolutely great - for about four months. Then, the trouble began. Whenever it was powered on with outdoor temperature lower than about 70 degrees, it went nuts! It would continuously cycle through X, K, Ka, Laser - all at full bars and tones. If I let it run for about two minutes like that, it would then mute and operate normally. So, it had a real thermal problem. I was thoroughly disgusted with Escort's total lack of quality and reliability. I returned this one for a full refund. It wasn't easy but Best Buy agreed to issue credit.

Now, here's a few facts:

All these X50's were rev 6.1 software.
All were Red LED displays.
All were late 2006 and early 2007 production.
All were absolutely brand new and shrink-wrapped by Escort.
All were tested in a 2005 Maxima; a 2007 Explorer; and a 2006 Xterra.

I had really wanted to own a Passport 8500 X50 but reality set in, finally, and I gave up!

On a lark, I bought two Bel 940's (their cheapo) at Circuit City for $124.99 each. I am absolutely blown away with how GREAT these cheapos are! They have as much or more range than the X50's when tested with stationary speed limit signs. They alert on K and Ka at least a mile or more in advance on the interstate in traffic when troopers are closing head-on. They have voice and no old-fashioned power switch & volume knob like the X50. And, they're shorter so they don't droop and pull the suction cups off the windshield like the X50.

The Bel 940's are a REAL bargain. Good looking, easy to operate, virtually zero false alarms and budget-priced. I owned V1's and those four X50's and none of them can compare to these two 940's! I found my perfect detector at last.

You guys who have the kinds of problems I did with your X50's should think about doing what I did - dump the X50 and buy a Bel 940. It does exactly what it's supposed to do - detect radar 100% accurately, as far as I can tell so far.

Just thought I'd share my tale with you guys. :roll:

Amen brother.......940 all the way!

[Orbital75]

I'm thinking it could be a few things your not looking into.

The second one had much lower max volume - you could never hear it at highway speed with normal music playing.

Have you tried the LOUD option within the Programing menu under
tone.

It also had VERY short detection range on Ka. You could usually see the LEO as the X50 alerted.

I'm guessing they use KA (35.5) in your area. For some reason
the X50 has issue with this one freq of KA. It's not that your
getting a bad unit it's all X50's on this particular freq. They do just
fine on 33.8 and 34.7 KA.

Whenever it was powered on with outdoor temperature lower than about 70 degrees, it went nuts! It would continuously cycle through X, K, Ka, Laser - all at full bars and tones. If I let it run for about two minutes like that, it would then mute and operate normally. So, it had a real thermal problem.

Do you leave it in the window in direct sunlight? If so, that tends
to cause all kinds of issues and could be why this happened.

[bigalinwv]

Wow, I have owned probably half a dozen or more X50s (red and blue) that were all, with the exception of one, used. I never had any trouble with any of them. Makes me wonder where BB is getting their supply? :roll:

I think the Bel 940 is also a great deal, although I have yet to own one. (I have owned a few of the old Bel Vector 940s, they were awesome)

I do have a question for you, is the Bel 940 light like the 795 and Pro RX55?? Those two are so light they almost feel like the cases are empty inside, kinda like an RMR radar scrambler.....

[ELVATO]

Yea, it looks like BB's order of X50s got dropped, rattled, and dropped again on the way to BB.

Or maybe they're buying refurbs, and selling them as new :shock:

[kreator]

I had a rev 6.1 from Best Buy with an issue back in December. Brand new unit, POSTed just fine, volume was fine except it was "very quiet". It didnt alert to ANYTHING (laser or radar) Took it to BB and swapped it for a new one.
My 2c... I would test a brand new unit against a source. If you drive with it for days and it remains "quiet" get a new unit

[BullyDawg19]

Hmmmm. I got my X50 with no shrink wrap and never seen one when purchased directly from Escort or Bel.

Hmmmm X2! not many posts - maybe a ploy to sell more 940's?

[bobdat]

To Orbital75:
Thanks for your help. I should have said that all units were run at factory default settings. As for the Ka in my area being short-range. Not the reason. I see normal 1-2 mile range with my 940's now. And, two of the X50's had similar long range. As for leaving it on the windshield, absolutely. I'm not about to screw around removing and reattaching a radar detector every time I get in or out of my car. I never had thermal problems with my V1's and I didn't expect to have them with these overrated X50's. By the way, my vehicles are garaged during the day. If they are outside they're either driving with AC or parked for very short durations. A radar detector should be designed to survive the envronment within which it will see service. The X50's seem not to be.

To bigalinwv:
This is the new Vector 940 which Bell introduced last fall, '06. It's rather heavy like the 955 and 995. Works great, so far.

To ELVATO:
Each and every box was pristine, outside and inside and nicely shrink-wrapped and never previously opened. If they were dropped, they certainly showed no such damage inside where they would be expected to do so. I doubt whether that was a factor. As for the refurb question, that's what I asked them, too. I pressed the issue all the way to their corporate office and they vehemently denied it. So did Escort. Who really knows, though?