Hey all...
Just bought myself a radar detector for my E500 and the booklet that comes with it says that "a few vehicles (including some Porsches) have windshields with a soft anti-lucerative coating on the inside surface. Use of suction cups will permanently mar this coating." Does anyone know if E500 has that?

 

nope.... it's all glass... so "stick" it on. Mark

 

Yep, no problem with using a Passport 8500 with a W211 windshield. Have at it!

 

Passport is a good one... I bought their new wireless Solo 2... Tired of all the wires I had with my Valentine 1...

 

who made the good radar with good price... i'm looking for one. but never experienced with radar.. so help is needed here thx

 

I feel and own the Passort 8500. It get's great/top reviews and is $100 cheaper the Valentine 1. Also, the Valentine unit is too big and bulky. Ok (maybe) if you got a big SUV, but not good for our "E's" IMHO. I've been buying Escorts for over 20 years and they all have been without flaws or issues. I bought a Valentine 1 five years ago and was shocked by its size and too many noises/alarms. I gave it to a relative two months after buying it.

Good Luck... Mark

 

Two best ones for the price out there:

Valentine One and Escort Passport 8500. The reviews are very similar. One thing that I really like about Valentine is that it shows you the direction where the radar signal is coming from. I used it with my X5 and my 540 and it helped a lot.

 

how much is passport? where can i buy it?

 

I bought a Passport 8500 a few weeks ago. It work well but people looked at me like I was an 18 year old with a new drivers license for having one -- so I sent it back.

For what its worth, 95% of the Porsche crowd use the V1.

 

Like anything else, you get what you pay for. Yea, the Valentine is a bit more, but once you use it you will see why you could never use anything else. It may be a bit bigger, but with the directional ability, etc. it is worth it. I had it on my 540 and it saved me a hundred times in two years. I just had it hardwired on my E and have it installed on the windshield just above the rear view mirror on the driver side. No wires, great visibility, and I am safe from tickets again!

 

Cost:
Passport 8500 = $299 + S&H
Valentine 1 = $399 + S&H

Where:
Passort http://www.escortradar.com
Valentine https://store.valentine1.com

Mark

 

EPower, any chance you can post a picture of the install of the radar detector?? many thanks.

 

Just had my passport 8500 installed using the hard wire kit. $35 at the local radio place. the detector is above the rear view on the driver side and the mute button is under the dash by the driver door....very slick and now my center dash door can close! Goes on and off with the car

Ed Todd
03 MB E500 Black Opal
00 BMW 540iA Burgundy
97 BMW 528iA Blue

 

Here is a pretty bad pic, but you can get the idea.

 

Snugs up there nicely. Thanks!

 

EPower - Can you tell me which fuse/connector you tapped for your hardwire kit? Thanks!!

Bruce McDonnell

 

Yes, Please do.....

All my fuses are Hot all the time regardless if the key is in, on or off!?!

Thanks Mark

 

I had a guy at a local shop, Al & Ed's Autosound do it for me. They also could not find an appropriate source up top, so they ran under the headliner, over and down the driver's side A pillar, and then under the dash to the cigarette lighter power source...at least that is what they told me. Only cost $30, and they did a great job, well worth it.

 

What is "Powerchip" and how do I find it? Cost? Affect?

 

It's an ECU upgrade that gives the e500 about 15 extra HP. go to www.powerchipgroup.com . Ask for Joel.

 

As I understand it, you dismount your on-board computer and send it to them and they install new chip(s).

What would this do to your warranty? It seems that every time we take these cars in for any kind of problem they go into the computer. Wouldn't they notice the changed chips and just void your warranty? Maybe they can not tell the chip set has been changed.

Ed

 

I talked with Joel..... No chips are change our. They just upload new perameters via a flash memory change.