Escort Passport 7500 Radar Detector
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Similar in Radar Detectors
- Mute: With Mute
- Detection Mode: City / Highway modes
- Detection Area: Front / Rear
- Detection Bands: X Band K Band Ka Band Laser
- Alert type: Audio / Visual
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This Passport won't get you past many borders!
Pros
Very good X band detection, nice features, good looks.
Cons
Unacceptable K and Ka detection. High price.
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
If all you have to worry about is X-band this is a great detector. Avoid it if K or Ka is used in your area!
I decided that I needed a radar detector when the random speed traps along my daily commute seemed to be on the rise. Ole? Smokey was setting up at different places and on different days on a long stretch of country highway that is ridiculously posted at 35mph! I only do around 50, others do a lot more, but it is always the "moderate" speeder that gets busted, never the guy that is actually driving at dangerous speeds! So to give myself a little warning, I bought a Passport 7500, even though a member that I trust did not recommend the detector, I got a deal on it and decided to try it anyway.
First lesson learned: If you trust someone's opinion, show it! Driver4t5 has done tons more research on radar detectors than I ever would want to. He did an in depth review (down to feet) and comparison of the Passport 7500 with another high-end detector. The Passport 7500 failed miserably in his test in the K and Ka department. My own results conclude that he was right! I should have listened!
The Passport 7500
What a nice looking piece of equipment! It is small and well thought out. There are only two buttons on the top and an LED screen that displays all the important information. It comes with an ingenious windshield mount that holds the detector securely, and a coiled cigarette light power cord. The owner?s manual is a little thicker than most because of the advanced features, but it is very easy to read and understand.
Setup:
Using my trusty owner?s manual, I was able to get into ?programming? mode by simply holding both buttons down for a few seconds. Once in program mode, the right button becomes ?review? and the left becomes ?change?. You use the review button to scroll through the different options and the change button toggles the values. The manual has detailed explanation of all the settings. I was able to program the detector to my liking in about 5 minutes.
The windshield mounting systems it top notch on the Passport 7500. You just stick the two suction cups to the windshield, then slide the detector on to the bracket. The bracket slides inside the top of the detector and is locked by a small button. You can adjust the detector to fit the slope of your windshield. Once adjusted, the Passport 7500 stays put, no bouncing at all and it never fell of the windshield!
Plugging in the power is a matter of connecting the ?phone jack? end to the detector and then inserting the other end into the cigarette lighter. We are ready to detect radar!
My Results
X BAND ? Very good detection. I found out that the town police that set up the speed traps use X band exclusively! Since these speed traps were my main reason for wanting a radar detector, this was a big plus. I received X band warning in excess of 1/2 mile from the source. The Passport 7500 gave me plenty of time to react to X band signals. In city mode I got very few false X band alarms, usually the detector would only false when I actually pulled into the parking lot of the offending store.
K BAND ? The Passport 7500 began to show it weak side. My very first run in with K band radar got me a warning of about 4 car links! Not nearly enough time to react, had I been speeding, I would have been busted. I remember thinking to myself, ?I hope it is normally better than that, this is unacceptable!? Unfortunately, the best K band detection I ever got was about 1/4th mile. Maybe my expectations are too high, but my average K band detection was under that and unacceptable in my book. I had a lot of K band false alarms, especially near Target stores. K band is not affected by the city/highway mode so there is no way to adjust sensitivity to it.
Ka BAND ? I only had 2 real Ka band encounters. The state troopers use it. Ka detection was equal to or less than the K band detection. Since it is ?instant on? you basically have NO protection against Ka given the short range of this detector. I had a couple of false Ka?s. One place in particular, near a fire department, always gave me full Ka alerts. If the troopers use Ka in your area, you have a good chance of meeting one of them!
Summary
The Passport 7500 has some nice features, including the Auto mute function and the Expert display mode. Good looks and a lot of features are nice, but by definition a radar detector should detect radar! The Passport 7500?s performance falls well short of its $229 price tag. Even at the discounted used price of $149 that I paid it is not a bargain. I sold it on ebay for about what I paid. I will be looking into the Passport 8500 in the future, but for now I will just have to keep my eyes open for speed traps. At least I am not lulled into a false sense of security by an invalid Passport!
First lesson learned: If you trust someone's opinion, show it! Driver4t5 has done tons more research on radar detectors than I ever would want to. He did an in depth review (down to feet) and comparison of the Passport 7500 with another high-end detector. The Passport 7500 failed miserably in his test in the K and Ka department. My own results conclude that he was right! I should have listened!
The Passport 7500
What a nice looking piece of equipment! It is small and well thought out. There are only two buttons on the top and an LED screen that displays all the important information. It comes with an ingenious windshield mount that holds the detector securely, and a coiled cigarette light power cord. The owner?s manual is a little thicker than most because of the advanced features, but it is very easy to read and understand.
Setup:
Using my trusty owner?s manual, I was able to get into ?programming? mode by simply holding both buttons down for a few seconds. Once in program mode, the right button becomes ?review? and the left becomes ?change?. You use the review button to scroll through the different options and the change button toggles the values. The manual has detailed explanation of all the settings. I was able to program the detector to my liking in about 5 minutes.
The windshield mounting systems it top notch on the Passport 7500. You just stick the two suction cups to the windshield, then slide the detector on to the bracket. The bracket slides inside the top of the detector and is locked by a small button. You can adjust the detector to fit the slope of your windshield. Once adjusted, the Passport 7500 stays put, no bouncing at all and it never fell of the windshield!
Plugging in the power is a matter of connecting the ?phone jack? end to the detector and then inserting the other end into the cigarette lighter. We are ready to detect radar!
My Results
X BAND ? Very good detection. I found out that the town police that set up the speed traps use X band exclusively! Since these speed traps were my main reason for wanting a radar detector, this was a big plus. I received X band warning in excess of 1/2 mile from the source. The Passport 7500 gave me plenty of time to react to X band signals. In city mode I got very few false X band alarms, usually the detector would only false when I actually pulled into the parking lot of the offending store.
K BAND ? The Passport 7500 began to show it weak side. My very first run in with K band radar got me a warning of about 4 car links! Not nearly enough time to react, had I been speeding, I would have been busted. I remember thinking to myself, ?I hope it is normally better than that, this is unacceptable!? Unfortunately, the best K band detection I ever got was about 1/4th mile. Maybe my expectations are too high, but my average K band detection was under that and unacceptable in my book. I had a lot of K band false alarms, especially near Target stores. K band is not affected by the city/highway mode so there is no way to adjust sensitivity to it.
Ka BAND ? I only had 2 real Ka band encounters. The state troopers use it. Ka detection was equal to or less than the K band detection. Since it is ?instant on? you basically have NO protection against Ka given the short range of this detector. I had a couple of false Ka?s. One place in particular, near a fire department, always gave me full Ka alerts. If the troopers use Ka in your area, you have a good chance of meeting one of them!
Summary
The Passport 7500 has some nice features, including the Auto mute function and the Expert display mode. Good looks and a lot of features are nice, but by definition a radar detector should detect radar! The Passport 7500?s performance falls well short of its $229 price tag. Even at the discounted used price of $149 that I paid it is not a bargain. I sold it on ebay for about what I paid. I will be looking into the Passport 8500 in the future, but for now I will just have to keep my eyes open for speed traps. At least I am not lulled into a false sense of security by an invalid Passport!
