I like the smartcord for hardwireing the 8500. Remove the visors (there is one phillips screw holding each one) then remove the door sill trip (just clips, pull straight up) remove the drivers side kick panel (on the outside, next to the door) then remove the a-pillar trim. Tuck the cord up under the head rail trim, down the a-pillar. Leave the control module (with the light and mute button) outside the a-pillar trim on top of the dash. Run the power and ground wires under the dash. Crimp a spade connector to the power wire. Connect it to the "ignition on" connector on the fuse block, and the ground to the factory ground. Use double face tape to hold the control module to the dash, tuck all the wires in and replace all the trim.

Should take about 2 hrs your first time, and <30mins on subsequent attempts.

 

I have the Escort Solo 2 - Basically a 8500 powered by 2-AA batteries. Range is not as good as the 8500x50 but it is more than sufficient. On my receint trip home from SF, it detected troopers in Oregon 3+ miles before I saw them. Why would any further detection help? Batteries last about 2-3 weeks depending on your usage and it's real easy to stick it in the compartment between the seats or the trunk so it doesn't attract too much attention when unattended. Costs about $15 more than the 8500x50. The Solo2 has a "auto off" that shuts it's self down after 20 minutes with no motion.
There is a new 8500x50 with a blue display vs. the red - I think it goes for about $30 more than the red version.

Erik

 

I am leary of the wireless detectors. By all reports they loose sensitivity as the battery power is drawn, without a low battery warning.

You can still hardwire the Solo the same way as the 8500, so if you need to switch it to a buddy's or wife's car for a single trip it's easy to do, and you can run batteries then.

 

How good are either of these units at filtering out false signals? My old detector (can't even remember the name) goes off so often it isn't even worth having it on. I live in the suburbs and drive between the city, suburbs and more rural areas.

 

I own the newest K40, the 850 model. At the risk of upsetting the V1 contigency, I'm not a big fan of
the unit. Mike Valentine ramps up the sensitivity so high (definitely a good tactic for radar test shoot outs)
but several friends of mine back up in Vermont always complained that it falses too much as a result.
For me personally, directional arrows mean little since 98% of all radar tickets issued are generated
from a front-on reading. It's still a damn good detector, as is the 8500. I compared all three and went with the K40 because they offer
to pay ANY ticket you receive for up to one year (no DUI or school zone tickets) if you've
registered your unit and the latest radar test shoot out (independent study...not a car mag) I've researched
gave the nod to the newest K40.
You can't go wrong with any of the $250+ units, they are all quality devices.

 

I am very happy with the filtering out of the false alerts on the 8500

 

X50

Also, you can adjust it so you can block out certain signals to get less false alerts. But it does a pretty good job of blocking them out already.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ruexp67
I am leary of the wireless detectors.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ELAhrens

 

Judge Reginald Stanton, New Jersey Superior Court, in 1998 mandated
no laser speed reading past 1,000 feet would be acceptable evidence of speeding due to the laser gun's beam divergence. In the moving mode, radar's range is dramatically diminished compared to operation in the stationary
position seldom giving a speed reading past 1,000 feet. Why then have a radar detector with a range of five miles?
To be effective, a radar detector must have a minimum warning distance at least five times the normal targeting distance
of 1/4 mile. This would be 1.5 miles.This allows for safe speed adjustment and ample advanced warning.
Many times, extremely long range radar detectors are prone to increased false alerts. To achieve such long range reception, the
sensitivity of the detector must be increased inviting more false alerts. In this scenario, the driver is told of multiple radar gun
encounters. What a paranoid situation! The chances of you being targeted by more than one radar gun simultaneously would be the
same as you being the first human to walk on Mars.

Sensitivity results much beyond 2-miles are good for bragging rights in magazine
shootouts but in the real world, anything that can consistently and ACCURATELY
warn you from 1.5-miles away is really more than sufficient a unit to have.
If a cordless can detect (with a fresh set of batteries) signals from 2.5-miles away
and subsequently, due to low battery power, drop that range to 1.5-miles, the owner (bearing in mind the unit's low battery power warning) would really only need to pull over for two minutes, reach back into the secret compartment and
slap a fresh set in there. Knowing Escort, I believe they probably have built in
such sensitivity that at the very worst, a low battery situation ignored would
still provide you with ample warning...right up until the time the unit simply
shuts down,
In my opinion, I would never trade consistently accurate signals from a distance of 1.5 miles for an unacceptable amount of falses taken 3.5 miles away. During a three hour drive, that would drive me nuts.
All decent detectors would pick up the accurate signal from 1.5 but those with
their sensitivity driven to the saturation point would false entirely too much for
my tolerance level, which frankly speaking, goes a long way in explaining why Mike Valentine (or any others) won't match K40's "no ticket" policy for one year.
Just my .02