Escort X50 8500 Radar/Laser Detector Special Blue Review – the Layout
The Escort X50 8500 Radar/Laser detector is one of the newest on the markets today. It is very costly, but it performs to its price! First off, we can go about looking at this as I have owned one for about three months now. I saved money by purchasing it on eBay, but wasn’t able to save a lot since it was in high demand. $300 brand new in the box was what it cost off of eBay. Retailers suggest a high $350 or even $400 MSRP for this baby. Is it worth the price? Let’s find out!
First off, let’s go about taking a look at the price compared to other relevant detectors. This one can be found on eBay brand new around $300 dollars even to this day! Mind you, it has been on the market for several months now, but obviously its depreciation value has not increased one bit! Compared to other detectors that can classify in its range of performance, we are dealing with the Beltronics 995 and the V1 (Valentine One). Now the V1 has been on the market long enough for police to find out how it works and how to get around its performance, so it has some depreciation on it right now. Its benefit compared to the Escort, is that it has a tracker that tells you where the radar/laser is coming from. The downfall is its age on the market, and price. It is about $400 to $500, and even though its performance is fairly well compared to the Escort, it seems bulky and over rated. Now many people would prefer Beltronics’ 995 as their next choice. Beltronics have been in the business for years now and are perfecting their radar/laser detectors everyday. The only downside to the 995 is probably the range it has. There are certain bands of radar that it has trouble picking up, and one is the dangerous Ka-Band. The Escort (in my opinion) has them both beat by range and performance for the price. The Beltronics 995 scores in the same price range as the Escort X50, but it lacks performance to keep up with the market. So for this Escort X50 to be compared pricing wise to other competitors, it takes the cake! When looking at other cheaper but less efficient radar/laser detectors, $100 may buy you some protection in the streets, but you have to think about your area. Living in California, the cops have the latest technology, including POP detection systems, and many now use Ka-band radar and even Lidar! So even though you saved $200, I would not advise you are ok to speed without worrying about a cop picking you up. Overall, if you speed, it’s worth the extra couple hundred EASILY.
Moving onto the performance areas, this radar/laser detector has proven itself MUCH worthy around California. I have done a lot of traveling to places such as LA, Long Beach, Santa Cruz, and around San Francisco. In my various adventures, I’d have my radar/laser detector with me helping me out spot the cops. When reading about it and checking the actual performance of my Escort X50, the box didn’t lie when it read, “Has twice the Ka and K Band detection than any leading radar/laser detector today!” Indeed, it does have that! There would be cops using the deadly Ka-Band in hidden bushes, but the Escort X50 was able to catch them about 5 seconds before I were in their reach to tag. Not to mention it has saved me a couple rare times, when the cops were using the ultimate in police technology, Lidar! I only had about 2 seconds to react, but in comparison to another $150 radar/laser detector I had, I had just enough time to slow down when going 20MPH over the speed limit and save myself a hefty ticket, versus with the cheaper one, I was told of a Laser in the area after I had passed the cop! Lucky for me, I was only going 5MPH over on the freeway with a bit of traffic. Those are just 2 examples of cops using Ka-band and laser in action. Another proof of range and performance on this thing, was the fact that it started to beep at me about 15 seconds before it started going nuts and I passed a cop on my right on a motorcycle. Besides giving me so many seconds to slow down and relax, it catches those speed signs as well that tell you what speed your going. The police have updated it from X-Band to K-Band in NorCal’s parts. The Escort X50 was able to catch those things half a mile away, around corners! This truly was the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen!
It does also in fact have POP detection, but you have to turn it on. Reading the owners manual for 3 minutes should help you with that. Indeed, POP is very popular here in California, and the Escort X50 catches POP detection miles away! Along with it’s coiled up cord, 4 brightness’s modes, 3 meter modes, city/highway/auto modes, and Blue matrix LED lighting system, this radar/laser detector has proved to me to be the best on the market to date. So in conclusion, if you are a lead foot driver and are looking for a radar/laser detector for your Viper or street races, this is HIGHLY recommended! My rating on this detector was a 4.5/5. The only thing I could see improved on such greatness is the sound quality of the beeps that it makes when it detects something in the area. It can get annoying, but is well worth the “noise” if you are playing loud music and couldn’t hear the “K-Band detected” voice.
If you like to speed, I suggest this radar/laser detector! It has performance to the max, and can catch cops football fields away!
