Exactly I have had my Excort 9500i for months now. Bought it @ BestBuy right when it came out and it does tall his but it's an Escort, so it actually works. I kept it side by side on my dash for a week next to my Cobra and it pwned its face off picking up cops twice as far away as the Cobra could. Screw the cobra and get the Escort, and Engadget, please get your facts straight. kthx bye
I completely agree with what has been said about Escort vs. Cobra, but I think the difference to which this article is pointing relates to the ability to share the speedtrap/light camera/school zone data.
With the Escort, don't you have to manually mark the problem areas? By the looks of one of the modules, this device can connect to a computer ... again, I think so you can upload/download a much larger database of cameras/lights.
Just a matter of time until Passport adds this function.
Honestly, once your detector gets a ping, you're allready caught for the most part.
I have a $150 Cobra and it's gotten my ass out of only two tickets (totalling a bit over $150 when you factor in court costs etc.), and escort wouldn't have gotten me out of more tickets, since i havn't been in the postition to get a ticket other than those two times.
An Escort or Valentine may detect first, and thats fine, but the only way that will help you is if you're detecting reflected radar from a car infront of you, and not bieng tracked by a cop (because i don't care who you are or how much dough you dropped on a detector, if a cop tracks you, and you're going 1mph over, if that cop is in a bad mood your ass is grass)
The only effective way to "beat" radar is a radar jammer/scrambler, legal to own, and have in your car, but not to operate in your car without a HAM liscance (atleast in NJ). The problem is, you can get caught using a jammer/scrambler, it causes a dead reading on a gun, meaning the cop knows you're going at some speed, and his gun is showing - - - (nada).
Cops HATE jammers/scramblers, because the only reaosn you'd have one is because you speed enough that the cost of the tickets you might/would get is offset by the device, so they will fuxx you up the arse in the end anyways.
But... back on topic...
it may not be the first with GPS, but afik it's the most consumer friendly (in the wallet dept.) any escort thats worth it's weight is probably over $350 to begin with, add in GPS and it's got to be over the $500 price tag the cobra has.
It's a good idea, i like cobra because they work, it may be 1.034599ms slower, but it's cheaper, and if I had the money to drop on a 'good' radar detector i would have to concider just paying for the damn ticket to begin with.
The problems i see here are the quality of the GPS (will it link quickly? will it stay linked?) and does it have laser detection.
tbh, i think it would be smart to allow updates to GPS db, allowing people to add in locations where cops hang out often, as good as my memory is, a warning would be nice to have before i have to remember what bilboard the cop is probably behind.
Anyway: Comparing a cobra and an escort is like comparing a corvette and a laborghini, both go fast, both are good looking, both get you from A to B in the end, so what if the lambo could do it faster, in the end you're only supposed to go 65 on Route 80 regardless of what car you're in.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
John @ Sep 18th 2007 2:31PM
The first? Are you sure? What about the Escort 9500i? It was released early this year and the nice lady always tells me, "GPS signal acquired."
kaztm @ Sep 18th 2007 2:50PM
Hey, don't be too harsh on Engadget.
They are just a bunch of techie-wannabes, and this isn't a news media.
Ryan Worrell @ Sep 18th 2007 4:06PM
Exactly I have had my Excort 9500i for months now. Bought it @ BestBuy right when it came out and it does tall his but it's an Escort, so it actually works. I kept it side by side on my dash for a week next to my Cobra and it pwned its face off picking up cops twice as far away as the Cobra could. Screw the cobra and get the Escort, and Engadget, please get your facts straight. kthx bye
nd @ Sep 18th 2007 4:30PM
Yeah, not only that, but I think that Joshua doesn't understand radar and radar detection technology (or the difference between the two):
"when you need that special kind of radar that they provide (the ticket avoiding kind)"
Cobra does not provide radar, it provides radar detection....or at least it tries to.
That is all. Good day.
BoneJob @ Sep 18th 2007 6:26PM
I completely agree with what has been said about Escort vs. Cobra, but I think the difference to which this article is pointing relates to the ability to share the speedtrap/light camera/school zone data.
With the Escort, don't you have to manually mark the problem areas? By the looks of one of the modules, this device can connect to a computer ... again, I think so you can upload/download a much larger database of cameras/lights.
Just a matter of time until Passport adds this function.
Ryan Worrell @ Sep 18th 2007 8:39PM
The Escort has a USB port for this function.
Paragraph @ Sep 19th 2007 10:37AM
Honestly, once your detector gets a ping, you're allready caught for the most part.
I have a $150 Cobra and it's gotten my ass out of only two tickets (totalling a bit over $150 when you factor in court costs etc.), and escort wouldn't have gotten me out of more tickets, since i havn't been in the postition to get a ticket other than those two times.
An Escort or Valentine may detect first, and thats fine, but the only way that will help you is if you're detecting reflected radar from a car infront of you, and not bieng tracked by a cop (because i don't care who you are or how much dough you dropped on a detector, if a cop tracks you, and you're going 1mph over, if that cop is in a bad mood your ass is grass)
The only effective way to "beat" radar is a radar jammer/scrambler, legal to own, and have in your car, but not to operate in your car without a HAM liscance (atleast in NJ). The problem is, you can get caught using a jammer/scrambler, it causes a dead reading on a gun, meaning the cop knows you're going at some speed, and his gun is showing - - - (nada).
Cops HATE jammers/scramblers, because the only reaosn you'd have one is because you speed enough that the cost of the tickets you might/would get is offset by the device, so they will fuxx you up the arse in the end anyways.
But... back on topic...
it may not be the first with GPS, but afik it's the most consumer friendly (in the wallet dept.) any escort thats worth it's weight is probably over $350 to begin with, add in GPS and it's got to be over the $500 price tag the cobra has.
It's a good idea, i like cobra because they work, it may be 1.034599ms slower, but it's cheaper, and if I had the money to drop on a 'good' radar detector i would have to concider just paying for the damn ticket to begin with.
The problems i see here are the quality of the GPS (will it link quickly? will it stay linked?) and does it have laser detection.
tbh, i think it would be smart to allow updates to GPS db, allowing people to add in locations where cops hang out often, as good as my memory is, a warning would be nice to have before i have to remember what bilboard the cop is probably behind.
Anyway: Comparing a cobra and an escort is like comparing a corvette and a laborghini, both go fast, both are good looking, both get you from A to B in the end, so what if the lambo could do it faster, in the end you're only supposed to go 65 on Route 80 regardless of what car you're in.