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i did a search but didn’t see man pictures of full installs. Does anyone want to share pictures of their installs? I will be getting mine installed in about 2 weeks. I was interested in the mid city engineering piece, does it have to be spliced in or is it truly plug and play?
i’ll post some pictures in the coming days. i initially went with the mid city engineering module (which is plug and play — no splicing required), but ended up taking it out of the car after a day, and going with the mirror display, for the following reasons:
1) the display works ONLY in the dash display if you have radio, phone, or nav selected (none of which i ever use in the dash). it does NOT work in AMG mode or even in trip. disappointing and ultimately useless, and a bit of false advertising if you ask me.
2) when my installer called to ask mce about some technical issues (and whether it would be able to work in another mode) it became clear that they never tested it on a MY19. the reason this matters is because i was getting some really bad audio interference coming through the speakers with the module installed (see video below). the moment we took it out, this stopped.
3) even if it was working as promised, the display fidelity and functionality is nowhere near the oem escort unit.
4) the escort control panel still needs to be installed as a “back-up”
so in summary, the product doesn’t deliver on its significant promise. i would have probably been open to troubleshooting the audio interference issue, but seeing as it felt like an incomplete solution even when working as intended, it wasn’t worth the headache to me.
mce aside, the escort system is fantastic and a huge step up from the 9500ci (which i had in my previous E63 wagon).
i’ll post some pictures in the coming days. i initially went with the mid city engineering module (which is plug and play — no splicing required), but ended up taking it out of the car after a day, and going with the mirror display, for the following reasons:
1) the display works ONLY in the dash display if you have radio, phone, or nav selected (none of which i ever use in the dash). it does NOT work in AMG mode or even in trip. disappointing and ultimately useless, and a bit of false advertising if you ask me.
2) when my installer called to ask mce about some technical issues (and whether it would be able to work in another mode) it became clear that they never tested it on a MY19. the reason this matters is because i was getting some really bad audio interference coming through the speakers with the module installed (see video below). the moment we took it out, this stopped.
3) even if it was working as promised, the display fidelity and functionality is nowhere near the oem escort unit.
4) the escort control panel still needs to be installed as a “back-up”
so in summary, the product doesn’t deliver on its significant promise. i would have probably been open to troubleshooting the audio interference issue, but seeing as it felt like an incomplete solution even when working as intended, it wasn’t worth the headache to me.
mce aside, the escort system is fantastic and a huge step up from the 9500ci (which i had in my previous E63 wagon).
I have not had any audio problems with the integration of the mid city engineering module and my Max Ci 360 . The display shows in the instrument cluster as well as some of the HUD modes . The displays show “Escort Max 360” all the time except when radar or laser is detected when the display changes to show the signal strength .
The only thing I would have liked to see in the HUD is actual arrows showing where signal is coming from instead of just the audio notifications. Pics below : Rear laser diffusers Front radar detector behind Zunnsport
You will notice the in car Escort control module was installed under the steering module ; I am not sure this is even necessary to have as the steering wheel mute button will mute the radar alarm and the rest of the settings can be controlled via bluetooth.
I have not had any audio problems with the integration of the mid city engineering module and my Max Ci 360 . The display shows in the instrument cluster as well as some of the HUD modes . The displays show “Escort Max 360” all the time except when radar or laser is detected when the display changes to show the signal strength .
The only thing I would have liked to see in the HUD is actual arrows showing where signal is coming from instead of just the audio notifications. Pics below : Rear laser diffusers Front radar detector behind Zunnsport
You will notice the in car Escort control module was installed under the steering module ; I am not sure this is even necessary to have as the steering wheel mute button will mute the radar alarm and the rest of the settings can be controlled via bluetooth.
Your install could be improved in 2 ways:
1) The radar head behind the mesh will have reduced sensitivity. On my Porsche, I also have a mesh grille to protect the radiator. However I have a cut out in the mesh that is filled with the radar antenna, enabling the antenna to be unobstructed. This sort of thing makes a difference when you have off-axis signals, hills, or short pulses as opposed to constant on radar.
2) Your rear sensors are recessed. I used to have a similar recessed setup on one of my cars and then I got a ticket when a cop shot me from an overpass and the recess prevented the heads from picking up and responding to the laser.
Agree with the second poster on the mid city piece. I have it installed and I hate it. There are three issues:
1) Sometimes it randomly changes the settings on the radar and turns off the volume. Which is a huge risk.
2) You can't access all the menus, so it is hard to change band settings to activate segmented K band if you are driving in a rural area.
3) The display deletes the road name info when using navigation on the HUD. This is really annoying because you lose info on next turn, and road name. In the photo above where it says Escort Max CI in the HUD is the area where you are losing navigation info. Interestingly if you set the display settings to not show the Escort Max CI text, it replaces it with a blank, so you still lose that information in the HUD.
I am actually taking my car back to the installer on Friday to have them remove the mid city module and install the controller and display.
The reduced sensitivity has ,so far, been a non issue for me as this detector is so much better than any I have had before and gives me ample time to react. I have never tried to access the menu items through the steering wheel controls as the Escort app on my phone makes it so easy to change any detector settings that I have not messed with them . In regards to the volume issues / settings change I have not had them and also tend to use Waze through Apple car play so the HUD directions are not displayed .
It would have been nice to have the mid city module work with all of the HUD offerings that the car and ,as mentioned before, add some arrows to identify the source of the signal.
here's mine... the photos are deliberately wide, so that there's some context as to where the parts are located. the only thing that's a bit difficult to see is the LED (since it's thrown out of focus), which i tucked at the a-pillar and dashboard junction. the controller is to the lower left of the steering wheel and above the light switch, which i find easy to reach and not terribly distracting from an aesthetic standpoint. i love the mirror display (so much better than the mid city engineering "solution"), which also includes the directional arrows (can't see them in this photo, since it's not getting an alert).
here's mine... the photos are deliberately wide, so that there's some context as to where the parts are located. the only thing that's a bit difficult to see is the LED (since it's thrown out of focus), which i tucked at the a-pillar and dashboard junction. the controller is to the lower left of the steering wheel and above the light switch, which i find easy to reach and not terribly distracting from an aesthetic standpoint. i love the mirror display (so much better than the mid city engineering "solution"), which also includes the directional arrows (can't see them in this photo, since it's not getting an alert).
front laser shifters
rear laser shifters
control panel
mirror display
led warning light
Thanks for the pics of the install, it looks so clean. I really like that new steering wheel! I wonder if I could get it for a 2018 🤔
12-18-2018, 06:20 PM
