I have the Passport 8500 X50 and it was on and the Auto mode was selected at the time (recommended by the manual) and YES, the POS Passport went off........when the DAMN MOTORCYCLE COP WAS MAYBE 30 FEET IN FRONT OF MEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! I saw the damn cop with my own eyes by the time the Passport even sounded!

Yeah! Thanks Passport, you POS - I'd stick with V1 from what others are talking about b/c I didn't get any time to react and there was very little traffic around me. No cars in front of me as I was first in my lane.

I wasn't even really speeding, doing 59 in a damn 40 - which all other streets that run parallel are 50mph!

I'm going to try that link out that someone posted about writing in to dispute your ticket. For CA residents anyway.


Then I leave and the cop see an Lexus IS300 and pulls him over. As I'm driving further down the road I see another person was pulled over on the opposite of the road. They were getting everyone on Shaw Ave.

So then I'm on another road (where I KNOW cops nab people ALL the time), so I make sure I'm doing the speed limit, again the Passport goes off, this time with better range but even then - IT WAS MAYBE 50 FEET and I see the cop lower his radar gun! PASSPORT HAS NO RANGE! IT JUST GOT ME DAMN SPEEDING TICKET with A WARNING TOO LATE TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT! My girlfriend even said, "this thing sucks, I'd take it back b/c we both saw the cop when he was right on top of us and it finally went off."

Nick

PS I have to say the cop was a cool guy...not a **** like some of those motorcycle cops can be. Not nice enough to take the ticket back though!

Dang that sucks man, does the Passport have some kinda thing where they reimburse you for tickets that you get?

damn that sucks. get a v1 now, i have yet to get a ticket with the v1. (knocks on wood) my weekend was miserable too when i cracked one of my chrome amg monoblocks on a pothole. that sucks!

****, that sucks. I was actually looking to buy a passport... guess not.

as for fighting the ticket, do a "trial by written declaration". it's your easiest way of getting out (and most effective in my book). I've gotten out of quite a few by doing that.

good luck

I got a ticket with my passport on. Same type of situation, it only alerted me when he was right in front of me. He was behind another car and around a corner so I didn't think to badly of the passport but in retrospect, he must have had the radar gun on the whole time which would have given the passport ample time to pick it up. I did buy a V1 for the C55 and on my last road trip we took my wifes car and I took the V1 even though its hardwired for the passport.

ok, looks like the passport is indeed a pos.

as for you guys that got speeding tickets with the passport, did the cops see it? what was their reaction? did they give you **** about it? where they even harsher?

If you pay a dollar over the ticket, the state will send you a check for a dollar. Throw that check a way. This will cause your account to be open with the state and because the account is open it will never be reported. My insurance agent told me that. If they send you a another check after 3 years, cash it. In my state, the insurance company can only check up to 3 years.

that sounds pretty interesting. i guess it cant hurt to try

I don't think Passport pays for the ticket but I do know that the K-40 does. Damit! Which is what I was planning on getting anyways.

I'm gonna do the trial by written declaration for sure. If that doesn't work, I'm definitely gonna try that trick about writing the check for $1.00 more.

In the meantime fellas, DO NOT BUY THE PASSPORT! I'd stick with the V1 which I hear now has POP mode.

That is what my insurance agent told me for the state of TN. It may not work in your state. You might want to try $2 to be safe and keep the check incase they do post your speeding ticket for the insurance companies to see.

I believe this is urban legend.

Rgds,
Norm

We had an insurance agent as a just speaker at our MBCA club dinner that told us about it.

I do know for fact that the insurance companies can only check your driving history up to 3 years in TN. I am going to try it the next time I get a speeding ticket. You have nothing to loose.

If you are in CA, it should be known that radar is being phased out and replaced with Laser. Laser is virtually impossible to detect and even my 3 V1's will only give you maybe 50-100 ft. If the cop pulls the trigger at 50 ft there is NO way to get a warning before you are at that 50 ft range.

If you want to avoid these tickets get a ZR-3 Escort Laser jammer to work in conjunction with your 8500. That gives you some time to slow down before the cop can get a reading on your speed.

Sorry you got stopped. I know my days are numbered

That's odd b/c the last one listed has to do with over paying the ticket yet that article didn't really give as convincing of a rebuttal other than saying it's false and "...If you have a passion for the beans and potato salad served at the county jail, go right ahead." Why would you over paying and then not cashing the check you receive back from the state land you in jail as the article seems to suggest? That has nothing to do with it.

I'm not saying I completely believe this trick of over paying a ticket but it just seems this point was very vague compared to the other rebuttals that site gave.

LOL, I guess I was one of those that thought if the officer didn't show you your speed that it's thrown out of court. Which this cop actually did show me how fast I was going without me asking.

Now that makes sense b/c the cop told me he was using Laser (when I asked him if he knew anything about POP radar - which he didn't). He saw my detector too and didn't say anything, nor did he seem to treat me any differently. Like I said, the guy seemed pretty cool but he's still a ******* for not letting me go! lol

Yeah, you definitely got Lidared. Even with a detector you always need to be careful when there are no other cars around because if they're using Lidar, then your detector won't pick up the "instant on" from other cars.

Suck it up and pay it like a man. You were going about 20mph over the limit which is definitely speeding. The cop wasn't an a$$hole. An a$$hole is when he/she singles you out because you're a young guy in a nice car and gives you a ticket for going 65 on a 55mph freeway when you're actually in the slow lane and everyone else is going 70. (And then decides to hit you for your tinted windows and lack of front plate) When you get caught going 20mph over the limit, you really can't complain when you get caught. ;0)

Oh, and the paying an extra dollar thing is definitely a myth. All that will happen if you pay $1 over is that the state will have one more dollar of your money.

i've had my laser detector work pretty well a few times but like someone said its only gonna give you good warning if theres other cars around or they miss you from a distance. i was driving down 87 and coming around a bend and it started going off. i'd say i had a good four to five second warning before we came around and saw the pig. deflections are awesome

I went from Las Vegas to Pebble Beach in 6 hours averaging 100+, and caught every single cop on the way.

I don't think Passport can be that bad ...? Ever think that maybe the cop turned on his radar because he saw you coming .. especially you were first on your lane? It could be possible

There's also an "instant-on" radar that they use. It wouldn't be the Passport's fault because with instant-on, there's no signal until the cop activates it, then you're screwed because (as you know now) you have no advanced warning. It's happened to me with more than 1 radar detector.....

Was there traffic in front of you at all? I ask because the one time I got caught with my V1 on was when there was no one in front of me and the cop going the other way had instant on radar - flipped it on just as I passed so I had no warning.

All of my Passport 8500 and 8500 X50 detectors provide very good detection range and I am confident in using these to avoid moving violations.

From the incident description, it seems possible that the officer waited until the last moment to activate the radar, making advance detection impossible.

If not, then it is also possible that the radar detector is broken. If so, it could be repaired to provide proper functionality.

Exactly. I have a V1 but the Escort is very good. Instant on is kinda like using a laser "detector" instead of a jammer. By the time you're warned it's to late.

i've had my Passport x50 for about 6 months now...it's been fine for me on range. Highway especially great range when a cop is sitting on the side running radar or even moving.

He must have had instant-on radar, in which case, since you were alone, he had no reason to "instant-on" someone near you, in which case, then you would probably caught it's radar and it would have alerted you. Best defense against instant-on is if the cop radar's someone ahead to give you warning. Otherwise, your really out of luck.

I'm confident in my x50...been great so far

My X50 works just fine and has saved me plenty of times... The reason I picked it over the V1 was because it has pop mode and is a 100 dollars cheaper.. just because the V1 cost more dosnt mean its the better.