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Escort Passport 8500 X50 Radar and Laser Detector (Blue Display) | 
| Brand: Escort
List Price: $349.99
Buy New: $314.99
You Save: $35.00 (10%)
New (23)
Rating:  121 reviews
Color: blue
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 5
Dimensions (in): 6 x 2 x 3
Legal Disclaimer: ConsumerElectronics
MPN: 8500X50RED
Model: 8500X50BLUE
UPC: 037795085035
EAN: 0737795085034
ASIN: B0002ZSCJY
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
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| Features:
| • | Sophisticated long-range radar and laser detector reads all police, conventional, and "instant-on" radar | | • | Digital signal processing provides maximum range while minimizing false alarms | | • | Identifies up to 8 radar signals simultaneously | | • | Reprogrammable microprocessor can detect new radar and laser threats | | • | Blue matrix display with 280 LEDs; 1-year limited warranty |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Radar detector manufacturers are constantly playing a game of catch-up with new technologies designed to nab the lead-footed. "Pop" radar is a relatively new instant-on technology that may make a whole generation of radar detectors obsolete. These radar guns operate at low frequency until they are switched on to determine a driver's speed with lightning-fast accuracy. This leaves a radar detector little opportunity to scan and detect the radar signal. Pop radar may sound ominous, but a new crop of radar detectors--including the Escort Passport 8500 X50--offer Pop radar detection. Escort claims that the 8500 X50 is the most powerful and advanced radar detector ever, with the supreme sensitivity required to detect low-frequency Pop radar. Design
Mounting the 8500 in our test vehicle was easy and straightforward. A small suction cup bracket slides into the unit's release mechanism and easily attaches to the windshield with light pressure. The unit is housed in a sturdy plastic case that's low profile and compact--although it is larger and heavier than Escort's wireless offering, the Solo S2. The rear of the unit is dominated by a receiver window and there's a rear-facing laser detector window designed to detect laser signals emanating from behind the vehicle. 
Digital Signal Processing (DSP) provides maximum range, with minimum false alarms. | The Escort 8500 has a suprisingly simple control layout. Two buttons on the top of the unit control sensitivity settings and display brightness. They also double as selection buttons when the unit is in programming mode. The left side of the unit sports a volume dial. A mute button is positioned on the front panel next to the large, horizontal LCD display which, during normal use, graphs the intensity of the radar and laser signals the unit detects. Power is supplied by an included Escort SmartCord, which plugs into a cigarette-lighter power socket. The SmartCord features an alert LED, as well as a built-in mute button-- two handy additions. Features
The 8500 can detect all of the radar bands currently in use in North America for speed detection, including the X, K and Ka bands. The unit also features detection diodes for laser detection, but for the most powerful protection from laser detection, Escort offers the ZR3 laser jamming system, which is plug-and-play compatible with the 8500. The feature that separates the 8500 from other Escort radar detectors, as well as the entire previous generation of radar detector technologies, is its Pop radar detection capabilities. Pop radar guns, while still relatively rare in police departments, are used to identify speeding vehicles in traffic. They provide little warning as the radar signal idles at a low frequency until it transmits an extremely short, high-frequency burst to "Pop" a target. The 8500 is equipped with a highly sensitive receiving system and a digital signal processor designed to pick up Pop signals from a safe distance. Pop detection is not enabled by default in the 8500, however; users must turn it on in the settings menu. Escort probably chose to disable Pop detection by default because its increased sensitivity also increases false alerts. However, first-time radar detector users might be in for a surprise if they neglect to turn it on. 
The Passport 8500 X50 provides 3 types of warning displays to choose from. | Audio alerts are the most important feature of any radar detector, and the 8500 doesn't disappoint in this department. Warning tones get progressively louder as a threat approaches, and users can set the unit to deliver warnings at preprogrammed volume levels. Each radar band--including Pop radar--has a distinct tone, making it easy to quickly discern threats. The 8500's "AutoMute" feature automatically lowers the volume level of an alert after a period of time. False alarms are one of the major annoyances of radar detector use. In our tests, the 8500 was surprisingly adept at minimizing false alarms from home garage door systems, as well as home and commercial security systems that commonly operate on X-band radar. The unit's city sensitivity setting decreases sensitivity to X-band sources, while the highway setting does not. We found the unit's powerful "AutoSensitivity" mode the most accurate, however, as it dynamically filtered all types of radar signals and identified which sources were a legitimate threat. We got a few false alarms, but for the most part, annoying chirps from bogus X-band sources were uncommon. The 8500 has nine built-in customizable settings. In the settings mode, the LCD acts as a menu system that lets users control display brightness, automatic mute, audio tones, and power-on modes. There are also settings for disabling detection of selected bands. We liked the expert mode settings, which allow a user to get a constant picture of the intensity of all the radar bands in the area. The SpecDisplay, which is a feature exclusive to the 8500, displays the actual numeric frequency of the radar signal being received. For those living in states that prohibit use of a radar detector, the 8500 does include VG-2 radar detector detector protection, which is designed to both alert the driver and shut down the unit's oscillator. On the Road
We used the 8500 on a 20-mile stretch of busy interstate and were impressed with the low number of false alarms we received. Again, this remarkable level of accuracy is due to the unit's AutoSensitivity feature. While we encountered no police radar, other controlled tests of the 8500's performance have put the reliable range of detection at 2 miles for all bands. Meanwhile, Pop mode tests place the reliable detection range between 500 and 1000 feet. Pros
- Well-designed controls and display features
- AutoSensitivity feature greatly reduces false alarms
- Highly accurate with massive detection range
Cons
- Pop detection not enabled by default
Product Description
Hailed as the most revolutionary radar/laser detector ever. The Passport 8500 X50's new "V-Tuned" radar receiver provides extreme detection range on all police radar; conventional and "instant-on" radar, including the new POP mode radar threat, X-Band, and up to 50% more range than the original Passport 8500 on the all-important K and Ka bands. Digital signal processing (DSP) provides maximum range, with minimum false alarms. The Passport 8500 X50 is one of the most advanced and sophisticated radar and laser detectors yet developed by the professionals at Escort. Completely immune to the VG-2 detector-detector Operating Bands - X-band 10.525 GHz +- 25 MHz, K-band 24.150 GHz +- 100 MHz, Ka-band 34.700 GHz +- 1300 MHz, Laser 904nm, 33 MHz Bandwidth Laser Detection - Quantum Limited Video Receiver, Multiple High-Performance Laser Sensors Programmable Features - Power-On Indication, Power-On Sequence, Signal Strength Meter, AutoMute, Audio Tones, City Mode Sensitivity, Display Brightness, Dark Mode, Radar / Laser Bands SmartShield VG-2 Immunity Radar Receiver / Detector Type - Superheterodyne, Varactor-Tuned VCO, Scanning Frequency Discriminator, Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Display Type - AlGaAs 280 LED Matrix/Text, Bar Graph, ExpertMeter, or SpecDisplay, 3-Level Dimming, plus Dark Mode Power Requirement - 12VDC, Negative Ground, SmartCord MuteDisplay Included Sensitivity Control - AutoSensitivity, Highway, and City Mute and AutoMute, Auto Calibration Circuitry Unit Size(HxWxL) - 1.25 x 2.85 x 5.32 inches Escort One year limited warranty
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| Customer Reviews: Read 116 more reviews...
 Extremely Accurate and Simple to use. Pricey - but... January 31, 2005
J. Chatwani (Chicago, IL)
160 out of 169 found this review helpful
Before I actually begin, one thing should be perfectly clear - you're looking at this radar because you understand accuracy is not only important, it is critical when looking for a radar detector. If you look at my other reviews, you'll notice that I've given 5 stars to those products as well - you'll also notice I haven't done many reviews in the past, that's because I only really write reviews for items that I think deserve it. As for the rest, well, I don't keep the product if it doesn't meet the 5 star requirement! So trust me when I say this radar is the best you can buy under $500.
Accuracy:
I've always been a little skeptical about using radar detectors, everyone knows they won't prevent tickets every single time. But, if it can save you a couple tickets it's already paid for itself. I live in Chicago, and frequently drive to neighboring states for work and to visit family. Because of this, I knew that I would have to buy a solid detector that was effective if I was constantly on the road. I made the right choice. Driving on the expressways in the midwest is simple for me now knowing I am using the 8500 x50. It has alerted me much in advance if a cop was gunning and I've always had time to slow down and pass the cop at the posted speed limit. The three main alerts, K, KA, and X are pretty much always on target - and with minimal false readings, it stays quiet when it needs to.
Ease of Use:
One of the best aspects of this radar is how easy it is to use. Right out of the package, it's ready to go. However, if you're a little more technical and always need things a certain way, you can configure it with a number of different settings to fit your style. One of the downfalls is that I wish the x50 would have a better volume control - I feel that it doesn't go loud enough, especially when I'm listening to music in my car. To make up for it, I've moved the x50 from the center of the winshield to more to the left, so it is in my field of vision while I drive to allow me to see the display at all times out of the corner of my eye. In addition, the Escort SmartCord works well with it's auto mute button on the adaptor itself.
Value:
Hands down, the x50 takes the gold as the number one radar on the market. You're probably thinking to yourself, $340 for a radar detector is a lot of money. And you know.. you're absolutely right. But.. if you save yourself two speeding tickets, the x50 has paid for itself (not to mention the pain of having to go to court and traffic school). If this radar was over $400, it would still be worth it considering what you may be saving yourself from. I got the x50 with the blue display because it was from the Sharper Image, and that's all they had. If you want to save yourself $40 by going with the red display, I say do it and save some cash.
The Bottom Line:
If you want to make a solid investment, get the 8500 x50 and don't waste your money with a $100 or $200 radar that isn't accurate - doing that will cost you the price of your ticket plus a radar detector that would be better off being used for a paper weight. Although Bel and the Valentine One are solid detectors, they don't match up to the stats that the x50 has - see it for yourself at www.radartest.com.
The good, the bad and the noisy February 16, 2005
Tim Mouradian (North Shore, MA United States)
77 out of 82 found this review helpful
After driving for ~2 weeks with both x50 and Valentine One I am
keeping x50 and Val1 will go back to the vendor.
Besides the price differential, x50 offers better pop protection,
is less sensitive in the city driving and offers more up-to-date
interface.
On the other hand it lacks arrows and back window radar (it does
have a back window laser detector, which is not the same as a
full fledged radar that Valentine 1 has patented).
Arrows could come very handy, but this alone does not
justify the ~$120 difference between otherwise very similar
products.
Other than that, both units are very accurate compared to some
other detectors that I've tried. The noise level in the city
driving could get excessive, thankfully x50 comes with a very convinient mute button right on their "smart cord" power supply.
I am deducting a star for the lack of a carrying case,
as less expensive units come with carrying cases out of the box
I was expecting x50 to provide this accessory as part of the
product, not a separate purchase.
 Beware! August 3, 2006
Erik V (Kinnelon, NJ)
71 out of 78 found this review helpful
I ordered the Passport X50 from Amazon to save the $18 shipping Escort Radar was charging. I was told by someone at Escort Radar that Amazon was an authorized reseller.
After having my detector on for ten minutes (right out of the box), it did three "SELF CAL"s, then said "SERVICE REQUIRED". I called Escort Radar and was told "If you let the car power up the unit when you start the car, the voltage can be all over the place and the unit gets confused. You must first start the car, and then use the thumbwheel to turn on the detector." It makes some sense, but if this is really the case, why don't they put those instructions in their manual? After trying this many times, the unit was "still confused", so I returned it for a replacement.
My second detector worked for maybe thirty minutes before the same thing happened. This time Escort Radar told me "if you leave it plugged into the cigarette lighter over night, this has been found to cause problems." Well my lighter power goes off when I turn off the ignition, so this doesn't apply. Escort Radar also told me that "excessive heat" has been causing them problems. Now we have had a few days of 100 heat, and I'm sure the car gets hotter parked in the sun, but the design engineers should have accounted for these conditions plus some margin when you design something that is supposed to work in a car. It gets a lot hotter in other parts of the country. There are no warnings in the manual about not using it above 90 or leaving it off in a hot car. You wouldn't design a ski that doesn't work below 35 , would you???
The most troubling part of my conversation with Escort Radar service department was they told me Amazon is not an authorized reseller, and they have no idea where they are getting the units from. Furthermore, they will not honor any warranty nor will they ever repair the unit, not even for money.
Warning: This is the worst detector I have owned March 6, 2006
Bobby (Indiana)
21 out of 43 found this review helpful
Well, after reading all the fanatical reviews and owning a beltronics for 4 years and not getting one ticket, I decided to "upgrade" to an Escort Passport 8500 x50. It started out seeming to work wonderfully. I would catch city cops a mile away. Soon, I started getting constant X band warnings every other mile just about when nothing was even around, even in the country.
I just took a trip to Florida from Indiana. I was heading down the interstate about 93, in 70 MPH zone. I looked to my left to see a cop, and all the sudden my detector went off. It didn't go off until AFTER I passed him. Needless to say I got a ticket. Okay, I thought maybe he just turned it on. I can live with one ticket.
So I'm coming back home from Florida. Not paying attention to my speed, because I have this god-graced radar detector. Well I'm following the flow of traffic, about 50 in a 35. Sure enough, my detector goes off, and I look to the right to find a cop sitting there. He comes and writes me a ticket.
This is by far the worst detector I have EVER owned. I will stick to beltronics.
Excellent Product September 10, 2005
Eric J. Green (texas, usa)
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
I had used the RMR - C450 radar detector and jammer for about a year. That product was way over hyped and had very poor detection range. On the advise of a good friend I sold the RMR and bought the 8500 X50. I never realized how bad that RMR was until I started using this unit. I have picked up police radar close to two miles from me AND have picked up radar over a small hill well before I topped it. Another great thing is that the false alarms are few and far inbetween. The only issues I have with this unit are that POP detection is not turned on by default, the programming innerface is not real easy, and that POP false alarms do happen (maybe this is why it's turned off by default).
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