Go Navy

My Escort battery powered Solo has saved me a number of times here in Taxifornia, where local police are used to enhance tax revenues of busted cities. The Nanny State knows what's best for you. But I digress.........

I want an aftermarket mount, NOT wired, in order to hang the detector from the rear view mirror. The rear view mirror, as you all know, is a mainframe computer itself. It's the bulkiest thing I've ever seen in any auto, and has almost no stem from which to hang anything.

No, I don't want to attach it to the windshield using suction cups although that's what I'm doing currently. Yes, I'm aware there's stuff in the Mercedes glass near the rear view mirror. No, I don't want to buy another radar detector with a different design.

Suggestions?

AkaSigFreak

I was going to suggest the Blendmount but when I checked their website- they don't list for ANY Mercedes.
Damn!

CzchMex

Ever consider taking the radar apart and installing the radar in the mirror?

http://www.radar-mirror.com/Escort.html

I know it is made for the 9500ci but I have seen people do it with single units like yours. That is if you feel like taking that mirror computer apart. I can't seem to find the links other than the one I provided, but it's there. I remember seeing it waaaaay before I had a MB.

Other than that, go to a custom audio shop and have them build you a mount out of ABS that attaches to the mirror

Ron Jr

Superglue

Mixedfruits

what i did was hang my passport 9500ix on top of the mirror so that its on the windsheild but resting on the top of the mirror, then ran a wire from the top of the car to the light in the passenger compartment

edgalang

I too was on the same boat. Wanted to hang my detector off the mirror, but eventually gave up and purchased a visor clip. Now I have my detector hardwired and hanging snugly on the driver's side visor. From the outside you couldn't even tell I have a detector because of the lack of suction cups.

Go Navy

As I mentioned, I'm not hard wiring mine, but I do have a question about your visor clip. What happens when you want to flip the visor down to block the sun? This is something I do quite often.

Thanks,

shotgun_banjo

I have mine on the lower right side of the windshield and the wire is just tucked-in behind the dash. Yes you can see the suction cup, yes you can see there is a radar detector but for installation sake it will only take you 10 min. tops. I tried hardwiring it to the upper light console but when I opened it up I can't even think of a way where to tap the wiring and not cause any problem with the controller there.

Go Navy

Again, I'm NOT hard wiring my radar detector. The Escort Solo is powered by two AA batteries. I was just looking for some way to mount it to the rear view mirror. So far, nada, zilch, zero.

I'm sure there are others who are interested in places and ways to hard wire their radar detectors.

Sportstick

You might or might not have already read this from the Valentine web site, but what the heck.....

CORDLESS RADAR DETECTOR

"I figure nobody needs another energy crisis."


There's no cordless version of V1
It's possible to run a radar detector on two throw away AAs, but you have to give up any hope of high performance.
Performance takes power. There's no getting around the physics of it. Batteries are weak sources of power. That's why electric cars use battery packs weighing hundreds of pounds, yet few of them can top 100 miles without recharging.

Laptop computers have very expensive batteries — quite heavy, too — yet they're lucky to run two hours on a charge.

A radar detector operates like a sentry making its rounds. If the territory is small, then he can watch carefully and often. Expand the territory and he has time for only quick glances. When "superwide Ka" radar guns came on the scene a few years back, the microwave territory a radar detector has to watch was expanded more than 1000 percent, compared to the good old days of X and K bands only. Now the sentry needs powerful circuits.

"SOLO S2 uses only a fraction of the power used by conventional corded detectors," claims the maker's website.
Uh-oh, here comes the energy crisis.

The SOLO S2's "High-Efficiency Power Management" is hardly rocket surgery. It saves the two AAs by putting the sentry to sleep more than 85 percent of the time. It just switches off the power-using detector circuitry.

A sleeping sentry can't possibly give early warning when radar is used in the instant-on mode. And it gives up all hope of detecting the POP mode.

Sure, a cordless detector would be convenient. And I'll be out in the lab cooking one up as soon as the laws of physics are repealed.

AkaSigFreak

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MirrorMount-Escort-Radar-Detector-Rearview-Mirror-Mount-Passport-Redline-9500iX-/111052534482?pt=US_Radar_Laser_Detectors&hash=item19db3f32d2&vxp=mtr

edgalang

Hi Go Navy,

Unfortunately until I can find a better solution, I simply do not speed if/when I have to use the visor (besides, logic dictates you shouldn't speed unless you have clear vision anyways). I agree that although it may be an inconvenience, I still find this a better solution to the suction cup method since this accomplishes a few things a suction cup mount couldn't do.

#1 Discretion
- No more suction cups visible to the outside.
- Since it is mounted really high, from the outside looking in, it is hard to see the detector even when looking at it from the driver side window. (Hopefully less chance to a ****** and grab...which already happened to my V1 in the past)

#2 Security
- Because the detector no longer has to make contact with the windshield, it no longer rattles when going over rough terrain (doesn't apply to the V1, but that's another topic).
- No more surprise dismounts. While suction cups work great, there WILL be a time where it will fly off the windshield unsuspectedly. It may take months, maybe even a year, but from personal experience, every time there is a drastic change in temperature (example when driving up to lake tahoe during ski season) the suction cups will always fail.

edgalang

Not meaning to go off-topic, but you don't. You take your existing line and fish it up under the A-Pillar, then tuck it under the headliner.

Go Navy

Akasigfreak: there are several mounts that fit Escort, but do you think the one you linked will attach to the Mercedes mirror support? There is virtually no room back there.

Thanks for the suggestion.

AkaSigFreak

If you look at the picture- it looks like it attaches by a squared U-Shape bolt over the mirror support. They also offer Money Back. Might be worth a try for $35.

I also found this one. It won't show the tacky suction cups and could probably be mounted low on the windshield.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Escort-OEM-Permanent-Windshield-Mount-For-Beltronics-and-Escort-Radar-Detectors/180973230665?_trksid=p2047675.m1982&_trkparms=aid%3D333005%26algo%3DRIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D177%26meid%3D7990732589732711742%26pid%3D100009%26prg%3D1088%26rk%3D2%26sd%3D111052534482%26

edgalang

Go Navy:

A CHP officer was following me for a bit yesterday and it totally reminded me of this thread.

I was on a freeway (slow lane) getting ready to exit and I could see a CHP officer slowly creeping up on me from a distance (Ka was going off at the time). He followed me off the freeway exit and at that moment I flipped down my visor (hiding my radar detector). He eventually went about his own business (perhaps after profiling me for a bit...I had a loaded car with wife, in-laws and a baby), but I figured I'd share another feature you wouldn't have with the suction cup or hard mounted mirror solution (although since your running on batteries, you could probably just remove the detector all together).

Go Navy

I wasn't aware that radar detectors are illegal in Taxifornia, although I also live in the Bay Area. But, since everything else is illegal except pot, I wouldn't be surprised!

Go Navy

Fellow MB drivers, it seems that Passport now offers for sale a new "sticky cup" adjustable windshield mount, which (I think) they claim will fit all their detectors. It looks compact and versatile. Hopefully I can mount it up high somewhere and leave it there. I am seduced by this design and its claims, and will have to try it despite the price. See this:

https://www.escortradar.com/stickycup/

AkaSigFreak

It is listed under the accessories for the Solo3- arent the mounts the same?

IGB

You're being sarcastic... As this is not compact:







I think I'd rather stick to the two of the smaller translucent suction cups + small bracket that came with my 9500ix any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

If I were to go with this one, I would most certainly have to take it off (I usually take it down and stick it in the netting on the side of the passenger footwell) whenever I get to my destination... The problem with that is that the two tickets I got in the past 3 years, I got because I got back in the car, got on the road, forgot to put it back up and sure enough, though it did still beep -even being down and out of view-, when it did the cop was already on my ***.

IGB

The sensitivity of a Radar detector, or its ability to detect a Radar signal does not really require much of a power source. I would venture a guess that the speaker that produces the warning tone will likely pull more power that the circuit that senses the Radar radio signal. A Radar detector is not transmitting any sort of signal or radio wave, and unlike the Radar gun that the cop is using, which would require quite a bit of energy in the form of electrical power (Wattage) to be converted into a radio wave, a Radar detector is only required to sense that incoming radio wave and to somehow signal the driver by way of an audio and visual signal...

If the Solo happened to be a Laser/Radar Jammer, which would then transmit a scrambled signal to confuse and throw the Speed measuring device reading out of whack, I would agree that a steady and stable power source other that 2 AA batteries would be required. otherwise, whoever wrote that should really stay out of the lab, stay away from cooking and keep waiting for the physics laws to get repealed...

EuroJDMBenzo

i have an escort passport 8500i if anyone wants it for 130 :o


socal area.

Go Navy

Why would you have to take the Sticky Cup off? Just slide the radar detector off the Sticky Cup mount, but leave the cup in place on the windshield. I always do that when I leave the car parked somewhere, and put the radar detector in the door pocket. I do this because I worry about some druggie smashing a window to steal the radar detector.

Go Navy

SigFreak: are what mounts the same? The included accessory for the Solo is the "old" dual cup mount, which we all get frustrated with because it occasionally falls off the windshield. The Sticky Cup is an extra $24.xx optional accessory for the Solo, and some other Escort models.

Sportstick

The guy who wrote that is Mike Valentine, original inventor of the Escort who then created his one company and the V1. You may not agree with him, but his expertise seems well established. BTW, his point was not about power draw, but that battery life is saved in cordless units by having them go into a sleep mode, which reduces instant on sensing capability.

Mike's key point in his own words.....

"The SOLO S2's "High-Efficiency Power Management" is hardly rocket surgery. It saves the two AAs by putting the sentry to sleep more than 85 percent of the time. It just switches off the power-using detector circuitry.

A sleeping sentry can't possibly give early warning when radar is used in the instant-on mode. And it gives up all hope of detecting the POP mode."

Everyone makes their own choice, but should be as fully informed as possible before they decide what to mount somewhere in their car.