Ordered a Passport 9500ix - Hope it is worth it!

**904nm** · 06-17-2009, 02:11 AM

I'm returning my XTR-690SE I received yesterday. Two things bothered me. First was that the red display is barely visible to not visible in the bright sun on my dash. The second was the amount of false alarms.

About 1/2 way through my trip today I turned off X band and turned off POP. That helped a lot, however, I still got a lot of what appeared to be false alarms. The range appeared good on the few times I saw a LEO following a warning. But there were so many warnings where there was no LEO that I started to get jaded and started not giving as much attention as I should to the warnings. That is largely why I got my last ticket from being distracted and not paying attention when I heard the beeping because my old detector gave too many false warnings.

I was hoping that with the frequency ID thingy on the Whistler would reject most of the false signals. Often I could not see if a frequency was displayed on my 690SE display to get a better idea if it was a real threat or just a generic warning. That was frustrating. There seems to be an abundance of false signal sources here in Southern California to trip up the detectors. Hoping that with the GPS the 9500ix will memorized and mute out the stationary garbage sources. Should it also do a better job at rejecting random false signals compared to the Whistler?

I read some reviews and watched a few videos of the Passport 9500ix and it seems like the best one in eliminating false signals, so that when it goes off, you better pay attention. I really hate to spend that much $$$ on a detector. I tend not to buy the cheapest or most expensive of anything as usually neither are a good value. So I'm hoping that the extra $285 is worth it. All it will take is one save to more than pay itself off. So in that respect I guess $449 is not all that bad. ($499 less $50 trade in.)

**SpeedinLancer** · 06-17-2009, 08:32 AM

The 9500ix is a great detector. It is very sensative and does a great job of getting rid of the false alarms in your area. There will be falses no matter what detector you use (RADAR detector not a COP detector) but for your local area, the 9500 will get rid of those falses for sure.

I would just be really careful about truelock locking out a real threat as that is a known issue with the detector. Just be careful with it and I'm sure it will serve you well.

**Freebird** · 06-17-2009, 08:37 AM

I would not worry about truelock here in so cal. So little K-band LEO use here the chances of truelocking a LEO is very slim. You will really notice alot better performance on ka and the red light cameras warnings are a real nice reminder also.

**SpeedinLancer** · 06-17-2009, 08:40 AM

Ah I didn't realize he was in SoCal.... my mistake.

**rocky2** · 06-17-2009, 10:06 AM

Also you will like the blue display it is very bright, and easy to see even in direct sunlight.

**sniper4usmc** · 06-17-2009, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by pilotsmith

I read some reviews and watched a few videos of the Passport 9500ix and it seems like the best one in eliminating false signals, so that when it goes off, you better pay attention. I really hate to spend that much $$$ on a detector. I tend not to buy the cheapest or most expensive of anything as usually neither are a good value. So I'm hoping that the extra $285 is worth it. All it will take is one save to more than pay itself off. So in that respect I guess $449 is not all that bad. ($499 less $50 trade in.)

$50??? I got $80 Credit toward 9500ix..I Traded in Whistler XTR-140...
and they are still running $80 traded in special for limit time...

**DrTahoe** · 06-17-2009, 12:25 PM

I am the say when it comes to purchases... Buy the middle for best value. However, I bought the 8500 X50 and used it for about 12 days. Worked great but I quickly saw where the additional features of the 9500 IX were going to make it a much better expiriance. I returned it and paid the extra $$$. I have not looked back since. I am extremely happy that I made the move to the 9500IX while I still had the time to return it.

**dbolhuis** · 06-18-2009, 05:27 PM

I've had the 9500ix for 3 months now and I don't regret spending the extra money for it. After about one week of driving my usual area all the falses were locked out so its quiet. I tried the Pro 78 and the XTR 695=poor display but all the Ka falses drove me crazy. I drive in an area with a lot of cell phone towers which is all I could attribute the falses to. The Bel/Escort don't seem to be bothered by them. I also tried the V955 and 8500 X50 blue. To me the 9500ix is worth the extra money compared to 8500 X50 blue.

**904nm** · 06-18-2009, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by sniper4usmc

$50??? I got $80 Credit toward 9500ix..I Traded in Whistler XTR-140...
and they are still running $80 traded in special for limit time...

The unit I am trading in is an old Passport 4600. But if you got $80 for a non Escort unit maybe that is what they are doing now? The trade-in form came with the $80 trade-in option circled. Just unpacked it 5 minutes ago. As Borat would say - "Is nice!"

Now I need to find the pin out diagram to run a power cord (phone cord) to the RD. I likely will also install a switch on the dash to have the same functionality as the smart cord so I don't have to reach over to the RD to silence it, etc. (Don't like cords dangling from my power plug in the car.)

**Fastgt2003** · 06-18-2009, 06:50 PM

what gets me is they sent me a thing 80 trade in for my old detector they think I'll give up a 9500ix for 80 lmfao only step up is 9500ci and I wouldn't go to them since they want retail