Older 8500 vs RX65. Interesting results

**ejames7** · 04-26-2008, 04:47 PM

I let a buddy of mine borrow my Escort this week to see what he thought of it. His whole family uses RD's so I trusted his opinion on it and he was very impressed with the range. Especially the Ka band.

Today I go over to detail my car at his place and pick it up and he goes 'oh I got your radar' as soon as I got there and I was like 'no rush' and he goes 'no its ok. Im using this new one' and showed me this BEL RX65 he just bought from his cousin. Of course I want to compare them so later on we head out. His RX on the right and my 8500 about four inches away on the left. Both lower windshield.

Almost the exact same. I mean K would go off on one then the other a half second later. I think at the most there was a 1.5 second difference in some form of a band. We did encounter two cops on the way and I was happy for once.

First cop was on 141 (anyone in Saint Louis) I was asking him about the cops in the area and he was telling me about a Z4 that got pulled over a couple weeks ago when he was driving by it. Hes talking and I'm driving and I see blue lights for a sec. I say 'hold on a sec' instinctively and we're drving there is a cop with someone pulled over. Hes like 'I knew they hide here!' and as we pass them both units detect Ka and after I pass the RX65 holds the Ka for about 2-3 secs more than my 8500 and goes to AUTO.

Next time was when we were heading by a local BMW dealer to look for fun and his goes Ka pretty high and mine is nothing and about 150 feet later I get a Ka hit on the Escort and we look and look and finally see a cop coming at us in pretty good traffic. I was trying to compute the distance his grabbed it. After we leave we head back the way we came and again Ka in his, pretty strong and about 150 feet later goes mine and the same dang cop.

I read somewhere you arent suppose to run two at the same time but I had to see! I was really impressed on how similar they were. His had a brighter display but had the voice and I didnt like that. Fun comparo though. I've wanted to do one for awhile. Crap part was I broke the little plastic thing you press to get the power cord out. It stays in fine but you can just pull it out at this point. Maybe if I send it in they will give me a new one?

**Super Dave** · 04-26-2008, 10:17 PM

The "Belscort" company is the result of the merged Escort and Bel companies that basically make the same detector but call it two different things.

Yes two detecors in the same vehicle can cause interference even if you don't realize it (via falses).

**kpatz** · 04-27-2008, 09:38 AM

What version/platform RX65 is it? You can tell by looking at the FCC ID printed on the bottom. If it ends in "M4" it's a newer platform.

**ejames7** · 04-27-2008, 07:36 PM

Can the same be said for my 8500? Can I tell the version by that? I know his 'mute' button on his cord would lower the volume. That was cool.

**ejames7** · 04-28-2008, 11:48 AM

I looked at it today and it was the M4 one so I am guessing it was pretty new?

**kpatz** · 04-28-2008, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by ejames7

Can the same be said for my 8500? Can I tell the version by that? I know his 'mute' button on his cord would lower the volume. That was cool.

Yes, you can, but all 8500s prior to the X50 use the S7 platform. The 8500 X50 used the S7 platform up until a couple years or so ago, and then went to the M4 platform.

There are some performance difference between the two platforms, in particular the M4 platform is stronger on-axis but weaker off-axis. The M4 platform seems to be more sensitive to laser as well.

**ejames7** · 04-28-2008, 08:42 PM

Oh ok. I mean tit for tat it was almost the exact same except when we encountered those two cops and his held it for longer after we passed. Makes me love these things all over again!

**DeadReb245** · 04-29-2008, 01:49 AM

Originally Posted by ejames7

....as we pass them both units detect Ka and after I pass the RX65 holds the Ka for about 2-3 secs more than my 8500 and goes to AUTO.

It may be beneficial for you to read this thread:
http://www.radardetector.net/viewtopic.php?t=36038

In the third post is a video link you should watch. The RX65 clearly appears to hold signals for longer, even though they are not present. They are just programmed with a longer ramp down, plainly put. From just watching the video you might wonder if the two other detectors were interfering with the RX65 and leading it to believe there was still Ka present, but I personally have experienced the overly long ramp down of the RX65 in action.

As for your range differences, you truly have no way of knowing if the detectors weren't interfering with one another.