Is my 8500 x50 working properly??

[bull8t]

I picked up the Escort 8500 x50 two months ago from this site new. I've got it hardwired up under the visor and I've only gotten 2 alerts, both K. Ive got is set on highway mode and I have seen numerous cops sitting in parking lots as well as on the road but the detector doesnt pick up anything.....could it just be they don't have their radar on?

[jdong]

Right, smart cops keep their radar off more often than they run it. Don't be surprised if you don't see radar running till the first speed trap you encounter.

[Esoterica]

I know how your feeling, my 9500i is new to me as well and I haven't used a radar detector in 20 years prior when I had a first generation "Fuzzbuster".

After driving around with it a few days now I was actually surprised how few cops you see are actually out there shooting radar looking for speeders. I guess prior to now actually knowing, you just automatically assume if you see a cop on the road or side of the road he's looking for speeders among what ever it is they do all day. You read around here and they credit this to an experienced cop at work not wanting to give his position away. I have a different theory, cops are real people too just like you or me, he's more likely slacking off on the job, playing games on his cell phone or taking a nap on the side of the road, at least thats what I'd be doing if I was a cop.

Give it some time before you just trust it, not because it may not be working, but because you'll develop a new sense for how to interpret it. You can't read about how to do this, the only way is getting in the car with it and driving. The first thing I did when I got mine was head right out into the mouth of the lion and cruise the areas I knew there were always police writing tickets. I wanted to get a good feel of what an actual alert was like right off the start and sure enough they were out there.

Driving in California today I was surprised though at just how many of them were out there without any radar on, and even a couple I ran into that had me wondering why they had theirs on when they were in dead stop bumper to bumper freeway parking lot traffic.

One thing about mine that has kind of pee'd me off a little is it came with POP mode off by default. I emailed Escort and asked why and they told me its because POP mode isn't very common so I shouldn't need it on.

They need to do their homework here in Nevada a little better, just about every NHP I run across sets off my POP alert. I usually see a 1 bar Ka warning for a very brief moment then blaaaaap POP warning on the display. It surprised me also how they are using their radar in very heavy and thick traffic, I can't imagine how they could possibly be singling out separate vehicles.

If you want to test yours out, come here to Nevada, they are ticket writing bedlamites, you'll get 5 true hits within 5 minutes of being here, watch out for their VASCAR though, heavy on that, heavy on POP mode and I've yet to see any of them always leaving their guns on. Little to no warning, react fast is what I'm learning early on.

So give it time, you have a 1 year warranty and shouldn't be just trusting it this early on anyhow, it takes time to develop the sense for it, but given that time they do work, and like I surprised no one around here has responded to you with already, "it's a radar detector, not a cop detector".

[focalcivic]

I know how your feeling, my 9500i is new to me as well and I haven't used a radar detector in 20 years prior when I had a first generation "Fuzzbuster".

After driving around with it a few days now I was actually surprised how few cops you see are actually out there shooting radar looking for speeders. I guess prior to now actually knowing, you just automatically assume if you see a cop on the road or side of the road he's looking for speeders among what ever it is they do all day. You read around here and they credit this to an experienced cop at work not wanting to give his position away. I have a different theory, cops are real people too just like you or me, he's more likely slacking off on the job, playing games on his cell phone or taking a nap on the side of the road, at least thats what I'd be doing if I was a cop.

Give it some time before you just trust it, not because it may not be working, but because you'll develop a new sense for how to interpret it. You can't read about how to do this, the only way is getting in the car with it and driving. The first thing I did when I got mine was head right out into the mouth of the lion and cruise the areas I knew there were always police writing tickets. I wanted to get a good feel of what an actual alert was like right off the start and sure enough they were out there.

Driving in California today I was surprised though at just how many of them were out there without any radar on, and even a couple I ran into that had me wondering why they had theirs on when they were in dead stop bumper to bumper freeway parking lot traffic.

One thing about mine that has kind of pee'd me off a little is it came with POP mode off by default. I emailed Escort and asked why and they told me its because POP mode isn't very common so I shouldn't need it on.

They need to do their homework here in Nevada a little better, just about every NHP I run across sets off my POP alert. I usually see a 1 bar Ka warning for a very brief moment then blaaaaap POP warning on the display. It surprised me also how they are using their radar in very heavy and thick traffic, I can't imagine how they could possibly be singling out separate vehicles.

If you want to test yours out, come here to Nevada, they are ticket writing bedlamites, you'll get 5 true hits within 5 minutes of being here, watch out for their VASCAR though, heavy on that, heavy on POP mode and I've yet to see any of them always leaving their guns on. Little to no warning, react fast is what I'm learning early on.

So give it time, you have a 1 year warranty and shouldn't be just trusting it this early on anyhow, it takes time to develop the sense for it, but given that time they do work, and like I surprised no one around here has responded to you with already, "it's a radar detector, not a cop detector".

Actually, just because you get a POP alert doesn't mean it is POP, could be a false from a Cobra or a short burst of Ka. Read some of the posts on here about POP and you will understand. The majority of radar detector users on here keep POP off, for a more quiet drive.

[Esoterica]

It was not a false, that's for sure. I seen him up the road with someone else already pulled over on the shoulder. I moved over to the far left lane to pass him and they were just pulling back on the road behind me. As soon as he got over into my lane behind me I got the POP warning. There were several other cars on the road so I don't know if he was shooting me specificaly, or the other cars but for about the next 7-8 miles he remained back there behind me and the POP was going on/off so many times it was like a popcorn popper. I'd say while behind me he was about 1/4 mile back.

I was impressed though that I was picking him up from behind, it answered a concern I had since I was in my work van. Its a utility van with no windows in the back. Making rear sensitivity even worse the back has large metal racks in it and directly behind my seat theres a full height and width metal wall seperating the front from the rear. I pretty much always figured as a result of this configuration any rear protection I might of had would be non existant.

I also noticed as I was initialy coming up on him at first that I got a single 1 bar Ka warning, but then nothing again till he was behind me and the POP alert kept going on and off. I don't know if that was a false or not, haven't been using this thing long enough yet to be very efficient in reading it. I assumed at the time or shortly there after that he must have POPed on someone passing him as he was about to get back on the road and that was what I was probably picking up.

So far I haven't seen any false Ka or POP warnings on this, every time there has been a very active Highway Patrol car right there. I do see a lot of false X band warnings and thought about turning X off once I get a little more use to this detector. I've had a couple single bar K band what I presume to be falses, at least I never seen any patrol cars around when they have happened, and a single false laser warning that I think we figured out the cause of in another thread here.

I must say, so far I'm not very comfortable with the short if any warning I get while using this thing up against the Nevada Highway Patrol. When this thing goes off for them they are usually right there already on top of me and its just about always been just instant full blast alerts, even in heavy traffic. California driving I do though is a slightly different story, I notice plenty of advanced warning when ever I come across California Highway Patrol in this area.

[CJR238]

Getting to know your RD and area is huge. I got a good I/O the other day and if I didn’t have a rabbit I would have been screwed. Its amazing how some areas/LEO’s use I/O and some use C/O, it’s so important to know what is used where.
It took me a good 3 months to really appreciate my 9500I and what it could truly do.

[TSi+WRX]

Esoterica - Unfortunately, there's simply no way of confirming whether or not it was POP.

Unless you physically interviewed the enforcer and he/she was forthcoming with information, there's just no way to know, for sure.

The essential problem is that we can't rule out a false-positive, conclusively, based on the data that you'd provided. I've also got the possibility of POP use in my area, but I, too, lack such conclusive evidence, and I hope that this thread will illustrate why:

http://www.radardetector.net/viewtop...&highlight=pop

The 4th post down is my standard rant on POP - combine this issue (the rather severe false-positives, with no way to definitively rule-out false-negatives, which ties into the next issue) with the rather dismal performance of the 9500i, on POP detection, on the latest round of GOL testing, you can, I hope, see why I've elected to keep POP alert "off."

[Esoterica]

Thanks for pointing me to that TSi+WRX, I did read everything you had to say on the matter and I know this is a post for the X50 but I am using the 9500 in actuality.

From what you said though is that the only reason you have POP off is because its unlikely its being used in your area and you get a lot of false alerts from it.

On that thought, I read where RadarRoy had indicated in one of his blog posts that POP is known to be used in Nevada (the state I live in),in fact Nevada is the only state he listed as being known to use it. Also, I haven't been using this long in terms of days, but I do drive all day everyday for my job so I have logged several hours of use on this new detector, and unfortunately my drives always put me in the heaviest patrolled and ticket writing areas so I am picking up many true hits (false positive as you indicate certainly a possibility).

I have gotten many false X band alerts, I considered turning X off, but decided to instead just lock them out once I confirm driving through the same area at different times and days I get the same alert. With this pretty much done now most my X alerts are locked out. I have gotten a few K band false alerts, only a couple of which I've so far been comfortable locking out, others pending. 1 false laser that couldn't be reproduced (after reading here I've decided it was from a feature on a high end model car possibly).

For me though, at this time I have had 0 false Ka alerts and 0 false (as per the display, not claiming it was true POP as per your mention which I read and understand your point) POP alerts. Any time my detector has triggered the alarm on either Ka or POP there has definitely been police radar very active in the immediate area (I live in the desert so police have no where to hide here). Also the areas I drive in and would be likely to concern me of my speed are on the highways, in town traffic is so congested you can't speed even if you wanted to so I usually have my detector not even plugged in while in town.

So if I was experiencing excessive falses like you indicate you do I'd consider turning it off as several here indicate they have done. I not experiencing any as of yet, and I do get active alerts with it on. I guess my thinking is, I don't care what the display is telling me it is detecting, it could be X or POP, but as long as it is alerting me to a problem that does exist I'm happy with it. This kind of raises my question I've had all along on POP mode though.

These times when I was seeing POP on the display and a cop with radar was 100% there and very active, had I not had POP enabled what would I have detected? Would it just of displayed as a Ka or would I have seen nothing? The thought of maybe seeing nothing concerns me enough to certainly want POP on.

The obvious answer is from what I read POP is at the same Freq as Ka, so they are essentially the same signal just a shorter burst of the Ka signal. Yet, I have experienced several short burst Ka positive hits at other times, and even with POP on they never displayed as POP as you would think given the reasoning you explain that POP is just a short burst of Ka and for practical reasoning would be indistinguishable.

So I'm not concerned about the debate on if POP is actually in use or not, but rather maximizing my detection capabilities with very little concern of the falses that annoy others (I drive a cargo van with metal racks in the back that shake and squeak all day any how so my drive is far from peaceful and quite, and the sexy voice of the lady inside my detector has a erotic effect on me).

What I have been trying to find out though and so far seems is not an issue, is that if I do have POP enabled will it interfere or lesson in any way with my abilities to pick up other threats like K and Ka band signals, or is the only reason people turn it off is to avoid possible falses, then the other question, if off will what I am seeing now as POP then display instead as short burst Ka signals detected or am I going to lose a layer of protection I otherwise had with it on?

[jdong]

The higher rate of falses might desensitize you and cause you to disregard an IO burst. The Escorts sometimes display IO bursts as POP when POP is enabled.

[TSi+WRX]

Thanks for pointing me to that TSi+WRX, I did read everything you had to say on the matter and I know this is a post for the X50 but I am using the 9500 in actuality.

^ No problem. I've been an Escort product user since about 1997, and I just thought I'd share my views/experiences, in the hopes that you can then base your own threat-assessment and determine usage accordingly.

Yes, my post is mainly addressing the x50, however, I *currently* think it cross-applies to the 9500i as well.

From what you said though is that the only reason you have POP off is because its unlikely its being used in your area and you get a lot of false alerts from it.

^ Those are my main points, yes. There is another issue, however, in that the 9500i, on the latest GOL tests (or, I should say, the latest that had the POP-test as a part of its course), seems to not perform nearly as well as many of the other top-flight (and even second-tier) detectors in the POP scenario. These three factors, combined, is what made the final decision for me to disable POP alert.

On that thought, I read where RadarRoy had indicated in one of his blog posts that POP is known to be used in Nevada (the state I live in),in fact Nevada is the only state he listed as being known to use it. Also, I haven't been using this long in terms of days, but I do drive all day everyday for my job so I have logged several hours of use on this new detector, and unfortunately my drives always put me in the heaviest patrolled and ticket writing areas so I am picking up many true hits (false positive as you indicate certainly a possibility).

That (plus your driving practices, which you detailed later) does put you in a different risk scenario. In your case, I would truly be tempted to keep POP on - and probably would turn it on - but I would also try to seek true confirmation that POP is indeed being used, at least on your most-traveled routes.

That last, however, is going to be tricky.....

These times when I was seeing POP on the display and a cop with radar was 100% there and very active, had I not had POP enabled what would I have detected? Would it just of displayed as a Ka or would I have seen nothing? The thought of maybe seeing nothing concerns me enough to certainly want POP on.

I would imagine that if such alerts were truly I/O falses, then it should still display the proper band-related warning. Again, without some way to positively confirm, this is an impossible scenario.

The obvious answer is from what I read POP is at the same Freq as Ka, so they are essentially the same signal just a shorter burst of the Ka signal. Yet, I have experienced several short burst Ka positive hits at other times, and even with POP on they never displayed as POP as you would think given the reasoning you explain that POP is just a short burst of Ka and for practical reasoning would be indistinguishable.

That's an observation that I also made and presented to several more experienced members here - and unfortunately, there's no way to tell. In this vein, I've also reported the "true hit scenario" of POP followed by a very short (but full alert) Ka/K blast, followed by enforcement action - but even then, there's just no way to positively confirm. It's truly a no-win scenario for us, unless we can physically confirm the use of POP, first-hand.

So I'm not concerned about the debate on if POP is actually in use or not, but rather maximizing my detection capabilities with very little concern of the falses that annoy others (I drive a cargo van with metal racks in the back that shake and squeak all day any how so my drive is far from peaceful and quite, and the sexy voice of the lady inside my detector has a erotic effect on me).

What I have been trying to find out though and so far seems is not an issue, is that if I do have POP enabled will it interfere or lesson in any way with my abilities to pick up other threats like K and Ka band signals, or is the only reason people turn it off is to avoid possible falses, then the other question, if off will what I am seeing now as POP then display instead as short burst Ka signals detected or am I going to lose a layer of protection I otherwise had with it on?

^ That very last question is indeed the biggest one that I have, too. I'd also be willing to trade-off a bit of falsing, knowing that I haven't lost a layer of protection.

It certainly doesn't seem that there's anything to be gained/lost via keeping POP enabled or having it disabled, at least on the 9500i (data in the GOL August, 2007 detector test).

Very good points, Esoterica, and I thank you for taking the time to reply in such detail!

Looks like this is going to be something that we're going to have to keep each-other updated on, as we both log more miles and more time with our 9500is.