Wolfman

Finally got to run the cables (SmartCord live) for our new Passport Max radar detector, so it's all neat

So far, no false alarms of any kind. Works great with Distronic. No adjustments on any bands necessary...

mikey94025

I love that there's an extra cigarette outlet to the left of the passenger foot well - It's great for connecting electronic gadgets and hiding the cord (for those of us that are scared away from even the slightest wiring).

I have a little car DVR toy that's already proved very worthwhile. It captured some silly woman who backed up up into me while parallel parking and was instrumental in proving my case to the insurance companies when there was an even sillier taxi driver claiming to witness the whole thing and saying it was my fault. You be the judge:

Daytona-flyer

Nice detector. You got yours already? I was told there was a big wait. Did you get the Escort Live?

Give us a product review when you can.

Wolfman

Think there is a 2 months wait on these. I ordered mine in June. I do have escort live and like it so far and will definitely do a write up once I can put it though its paces...

Daytona-flyer

I ordered mine yesterday. They said it would be about three weeks.

I also ordered Escort Live. How does it work? Does it use lots of minutes or data?

Daytona-flyer

However, she is driving what looks like an Alfa Romero 1750 Duetto Spyder. circa 1974.

I had the older one, 1968 I think. It had the boat-tail rear end as shown below. Mine was the first year for the 1750 which replaced the 1600 cc model.

The dealer got mine in Canada. It had no emission controls. Hence a pair of Weber carbs gave one choke per cylinder. The USA version came with fuel injection and a generally restricted intake and exhaust.

The car was a screamer for it's day.

branmin

What is so special about this detector..have a pasport from about 5 years ago?

Wolfman

Looks like they are catching up on production

I purchased the Escort Live direct wire that is wired to the 12V outlet underneath the glove compartment. The actual smart cord display is mounted inside the glove box.
You simply pair the live cord via Bluetooth to your iPhone, and then you setup a account on Escort Live and download the free app.
Not sure about data usage, don't care as I have unlimited data, but believe usage to be low as gps data is a few bits...

Don't let the app send you notifications otherwise you get flooded with messages each time the detector goes off.

The suction cup is rock solid, but more visible; I like the detector low by the dash which doesn't impact range or sensitivity, but then our state is flat as a pancake

So far, it's a nice improvement over the 9500ix.

Wolfman

Well, Speed Radar guns have improved nicely over the years, so depending on your model it might not warn you sufficiently (especially on instant-on radar)

The Max has fantastic range and filters out ANY non police radar source, so when this thing goes off, there is a reason to react.

Think of it as the 9500ix combined with improved sensitivity (like the redline) with a cool display, overspeed alerts.
It has the same GPS-based speed camera and red light camera database as the 9500ix.

The escort live feature is cool as anyone with that service can report a speedtrap location and the detector will alert you when you get into range of that trap, even if no signal is present. This is a nice feature, especially if they use laser.

Already saw that in action

Daytona-flyer

A it was only $40 for the Escort Live cable and a free year subscription to the service.

In big cities I bet it can drive you crazy.<G>.

OTOH, I wonder how many alerts I'll get on I-95 going up and back from the Smokies.

Hey for $40 it's worth a try.

Daytona-flyer

My Passport Max arrived yesterday. A much shorter wait than expected.

Wolfman, how did you run the Escort Live wire behind the dash?

Wolfman

Sweet
I pulled off the cover for the passenger A pillar and the side dashboard cover. Then remove the bottom cover under the glove box (pull back the lower carpet first).
Then punch out the hole (it's pre-cut for easy removal) on the left side of the glove compartment to place the cable for the small smart Cord live box.
Connect the smart cord to the cigarette lighter below the glove box and then run the detector cable to the dash past the passenger a pillar.

The whole thing took me 15-20minutes. Super easy install.

Hope this helps. Let me know I you have any questions.

BigHat

x

Daytona-flyer

Are you using the coiled cord into the lighter outlet?

Daytona-flyer

I had to shut off K band, just like the 9500ix, due to interference from the cars radar.

Is your display as bright as the shown intro message? Mine seems to dim when the normal display comes on. With the top down, I can hardly see it.

They want to swap mine out. Is that going to be a wste of time. My big complaint is brightness. I can live without K band.

Wolfman

The display is not as bright as the 9500 but the brightness appears the same as the start screen.

Are you setting up your detector via the iPhone app?
I still don't understand why you have to turn off K band. I have zero interference from distronic or blind spot assist, neither with the 9500 or the Max. Same with both SL550's.

Daytona-flyer

Go figure. who need K band anyway. It goes back today for exchange.

Wolfman

Here is the brightness of the display after the boot image...

Daytona-flyer

It looks like mine. But how about with the top down. My display just washes out if the sun is out. I wish white fonts, as on the start-up, were available.

Anyway, they're sending me another one.

Wolfman

I sold one of my 9500ix but will keep the other one for right now. I will buy an escort live cord for that one though.

I read on the Escort forum that there will be a new software update that will fix most of the issues, including the brightness (fonts, colors). Same growing pains that they had on the 9500. As long as these are software updateable I don't care too much.