The declining popularity of smoking is having an unforseen impact on the use of radar detectors: many new cars have no cigarette lighter for a detector's power plug. Even on those vehicles that have power points, the location apparently was chosen by a 19-year-old whose only concern was to power an iPod or cellphone. For example, the 2008 Jaguar XF I tested recently had its power point located inside the center console - on the bottom, at the back. When I windshield-mounted an Escort Passport 9500i radar detector for testing, its 3-foot-long coiled power cord, now crushed underneath the console lid, was stretched so taut you could play "Dueling Banjos" on it. Same problem with the PT Cruiser I'm driving this week. It has one power point at the bottom of the center stack, also a very long way from the windshield.
Fortunately there's a practical solution for this problem: a cordless radar detector. Never more than a niche market, for the past few years the high-end segment has consisted of a single model, the Escort Passport Solo. (The Whistler DE 1788, about $110 online, remains in production, while two former PNI models, both now sold under the Road Hawk name, are still sold on the Internet.)
Judging from some chatter on the 'Net, battery power exacts a heavy toll on performance, making a cordless radar detector a poor choice for drivers shopping for the best possible protection.
Like many rumors, there's a kernel of truth in this one. Sensitivity (radar-detection range) has a direct link
to battery life. While it's possible to
design a battery-powered detector with every bit of the performance
and features of a corded model, it would suck down a set of Double-A
alkalines in roughly the time it takes you to back from your garage
into the street. This forces designers to walk a tightrope, balancing
battery longevity with sensitivity.
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To do this, every cordless radar detector has a duty cycle; it's shut down a certain
percentage of the time to conserve the batteries. We're talking
milliseconds here and you won't notice the duty cycle in operation,
but there's definitely a reduction in sensitivity, especially on
Ka band. Ka is an extraordinarily wide band, 2.6 Gigahertz (2,600 Megahertz)
wide to be exact. That's 52 times broader than X band and 13 times wider than K band. It takes any radar detector a considerable amount of time to scan all this real estate, looking for a signal that
could be anywhere. The duty cycle only hinders this process.
Net result: lower sensitivity and less advance warning of police radar guns.
The obvious question: How much sensitivity has Escort managed to retain for its cordless radar detector, the Escort Passport Solo? To find out, I ran the Solo through my battery of tests and logged a few hundred hours on the road with it. Here's what I found.
In appearance the Escort Passport Solo won't be mistaken for any other radar detector.
Its compact case is low in profile and platinum-colored, perhaps not the best choice for a piece of windshield-mounted mobile electronics. The top of the case generates windshield glare in bright sunlight, meaning it's best to mount it slightly off-center, to avoid the mirror image reflected into the windshield. Those who don't drive in the Sunbelt probably won't be troubled by this.
All of its controls, except for the mute button, are on the front, which is dominated by a liquid
crystal display. The LCD is flanked by a trio of status LEDs on
the left plus the power switch. To the right is a pair of volume
buttons and a third for mode selection. Each button is covered with
a rubber-like non-slip material and operates with a well-damped,
expensive feel. The volume buttons are very small and difficult
to operate on the fly, although the mode button can be depressed
with thumb or forefinger. Those with XXL-size fingers will probably
elect to simply hold the unit in their hand, tap the button and
return it to dash or windshield. That freedom is one of the advantages
of cordless operation.
I've seen motorcycle riders who have choosen the Escort Passport Solo due to its battery-powered design and standard headphone jack. The latter allows an interface with helmet-mounted audio systems. When the bike is parked in the garage, they use the Escort Passport Solo in their vehicles. It takes the same windshield mounting bracket and power cord as other high-end Escort radar detectors.
The Escort Passport Solo's large mute button resides front and center on the case top,
no doubt the best - and only - location for it, considering the minimal front-panel
real estate available. It doubles as a battery-level
indicator: press it and an icon depicting battery life is displayed
in the LCD, a clever and highly useful feature.
The LCD is momentarily backlit whenever a function button has been
pressed and it also stays lit for the duration of an alert. The
rest of the time it's off, to save power. Like all LCDs, it struggles
to overcome sunlight and reading it can be a chore. We suspect that
many would gladly give up some battery life in exchange for a high-contrast
red dot-matrix text display. As it is, we'd recommend keeping the Escort Passport
Solo S2 directly in your line of sight for best visibility.
When the optional power cord is attached and the volts are free
(it takes the $29.95 SmartCord)
the radar detector's display stays lit, as do
the status LEDs. It also displays vehicle voltage, if you're curious
about the state of your car's electrical system. Operation with
the power cord also permits selecting from five varieties of status
displays.
Band ID is displayed by X, K, Ka and Laser. Signal strength is
shown by a bar graph that lights progressively, left to right, and
audibly by beep frequency. The audio alerts, like those of most
Escorts of recent vintage, are highly distinctive and, with Loud
Tones option selected, easily loud enough for any cockpit short
of a AA fuel dragster.
The Solo S2 has 10 user-programmable options. Among the more useful
is the choice between three-level manual display brightness, full-dark
or auto mode. City Mode offers standard, low-sensitivity and X-band
disabling; K and Ka bands can also be turned off. And there are
alternate sets of audio tones, a fast power-up option to skip the
self-test sequence and auto shutoff. The latter warns of imminent
power-down after 15 minutes of inactivity; pressing any button acts
like a snooze alarm and resets the power, followed by a self-test
sequence to verify its good health.
If you're pestered by laser ambushes, the S2 can also be linked
to Escort's ZR3 Laser Shifter Defense System ($499.95), one of the
better laser jammers
I've tested.
The Escort Passport Solo S2 is unquestionably the most sophisticated, high-performance
cordless radar detector on the planet. But having witnessed the
lackluster Ka-band sensitivity of past competitors, the Solo would
need to deliver better performance--by an order of magnitude--to
win me over.
After a week spent field-testing this cordless model, I'd say
it has succeeded. In the Straightaway Test the Escort Passport Solo
spotted the lethal Ka-band radar from 5,325 feet away. It was even better against X- and K-band radar.
This would be superior performance for a corded model; for a cordless
detector it's little short of an engineering miracle.
The Escort Passport Solo isn't perfect but it's certainly not lacking in sophisticated technology
or performance.
| Ratings |
| Features |
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| Ka
Radar Sensitivity |
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| K Radar Sensitivity
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| False
alarms |
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| Overall Value
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