Dslrip32's Redline Test Report...

[Cbr]

Well as some of you know, after discovering issues with my previous Redline, Dslrip32 was gracious enough to send me his Redline to give it a thorough shakedown. The unit arrived to me on Friday via Ups overnight. I was unable to road test it this weekend due to prior commitments but was able to bench test the unit. Where my unit was within the first 40 units produced, this Redline is a much later build date.

Upon powering up the unit on the bench, all seemed normal, I went ahead and did a factory reset of the settings ensuring there were no modifications on any of the settings. I then proceeded to fire various K and Ka band radar guns at it to see if I could identify any sort of glitch or delay. All seemed well, with a slight delay on 35.5 in comparison to 34.7. The 35.5 delay was only a mere .5-1 second slower in alerting than it was to 34.7. Overall, the unit performed fine.

Tonight, Elvato and I were able to road test the unit, here is where things got interesting. Be began our first test with a Stalker ATR 34.7 Ka gun in constant on mode. Here is where we noticed our first glitch of the night. On the very first run against constant on radar, it failed to alert to the gun until about 600 feet from the gun which was operated in C/O mode. This result seemed very similar to the issue my unit had on 35.5 where it had a significant delay in alerting to a radar signal for the first alert. Following runs were conducted and the unit seemed to perform fine, detecting radar at a range consistent with other comparable units. I feel this glitch is almost catastrophic to performance, I was able to attain a speed via radar and had a visual of the vehicle long before the unit alerted. The unit did not have any major issues reporting I/O radar.

We then proceeded to test the unit with a Kustom Talon Ka 35.5 radar gun. As with the Stalker, we began with a C/O run. Everything seemed normal upon first detection of the radar. When the target vehicle was about 700 feet away from the radar source, the unit stopped alerting to the radar for a period of about 2-4 seconds. This performance issue is consistent with my Redline unit which has since been returned to Escort for "Priority/Same day Repair". We then tested this unit against 35.5 I/O and did not notice any notable abnormalities in performance.

Finally, a K band test was performed in both C/O and I/O modes with no notable performance flaws.

After testing a second Redline unit, it appears Escort Redlines are plagued with a variety of different performance issues. Where my personal Redline had delay issues on 35.5, this later production unit had issues on 34.7 detection. Both my redline unit and this unit had the issue with dropping 35.5ghz alerts. While an Escort customer service representative explained to me that Escort had recognized a software issue with the Redline, the Escort forum representative stated that it was only my specific unit affected. After testing this unit and noticing similar performance issues, I personally do not believe that my personal unit was the only unit affected by poor performance.

I was originally planning on allowing Escort to repair or replace my unit and giving it another test. I was promised by an Escort reprentative that my Redline was marked as a priority repair and that it would be repaired or replaced on the day they recieved it. UPS indicates that the unit arrived to them Friday 10/9/09 at 9AM local time. It is now 10/15/09 and I still have not recieved any form of communication from Escort. After testing this particular unit, I think I will be giving Escort a call and telling them to keep my Redline.

I hope all this makes sense, we just finished testing and its about 4am here and I'm pretty tired. Videos will be posted as soon as possible.


Videos:

Dslrip Redline vs 34.7

Dslrip Redline vs 35.5

[Carrots]

Thanks for your time guys, interesting results, glad I didn't order one.

[Z1NONLY]

If it's not too much trouble, I would like to see if Escort can fix your's.

If it comes back to you with glitches, we will know that Escort has a problem they can't yet figure out.

But if it comes back and works as advertised, we can all have some hope that Escort is at least capable of making this thing work.

Thanks for all your time and effort, BTW.

[kpatz]

I'm betting it's a software issue, and as such all Redlines are affected. Due to it being somewhat intermittent, it may not have turned up in QA testing. Embedded software is complex, sometimes bugs aren't found until the device is released. The STi 33.8 issue is an example.

As long as Escort takes it seriously and issues a fix, it shouldn't be a long term issue. I wouldn't be returning my Redline over it. I'll just send it in once a fix is confirmed.

That said, my Redline has been awesome so far. Mine has pretty consistently beat my V1 on everything except for rear shots, obviously. It picks up off-axis signals my V1 misses, on K, 34.7 Ka and 35.5 Ka (there's no 33.8 around here).

[steve f]

Discouraging. I have an unopened Redline sitting here that I ordered from Amazon, just arrived yesterday afternoon. If I return it unopened I can get a full refund from Amazon, so it may be going back. I'm thinking that returning it and getting an STi Driver may be the way to go.

[milkman]

Discouraging. I have an unopened Redline sitting here that I ordered from Amazon, just arrived yesterday afternoon. If I return it unopened I can get a full refund from Amazon, so it may be going back. I'm thinking that returning it and getting an STi Driver may be the way to go.

That would be hard for me to send it back without testing myself. But i do see your point about sending an unopened box back. It seems like Kpatz got a good unit and some of you all didn't.

[dslrip32]

Thanks Cbr for the testing. I noticed these glitches right away with my unit, but had no Radar gun or guns to duplicate this and document this. This is why I sent it to you, and I really appreciate the testing you have done. And also you to Elvato, thanks for your time also! Hopefully Escort will get yours back to you fast. I would be willing to bet though, that they send you a completely different unit with later serial number though. Just a "hunch". Also If you need to hang on to mine a little while longer to test against yours when you get it back, please do.

[Digital Dude]

Oh well, so much for my order. I'm calling Escort to cancel my shipment today!
Thanks,
Dan

[kpatz]

A good unit? Maybe. I don't see much I/O in my regular travels, much less QT. I did see some odd glitches when bench testing, but that's a totally different environment than "on the road with LEOs".

I guess it all boils down to what you encounter on a day-to-day basis. If you see lots of I/O and QT, then the Redline, or any Belscort for that matter, won't be ideal for you, and you should get a V1. If you see more C/O than I/O, and/or the I/O isn't highly selective or QT, then the Redline may be a good choice.

Me... I like the fact that the Redline and V1 get along together, so I can benefit from both. Redline's sensitivity + spec mode, and V1's arrows, rear antenna and bogey counter adds up to a killer combination. I feel safer running both, since if one misses something, chances are the other will pick it up. Also, running both helps ferret out Cobra falses as well, as these usually only set off one or the other RD, not both.

Short of VR and Escort merging and becoming Escortine, or Valscort, we probably will never see the "perfect RD". But we'll always have choices.

[djrams80]

How could Escort blow this one, when neither the STi-R nor the 9500ci have this problem? Totally baffling! Makes no sense!