There's a certain degree of poetic justice in the notion of countering speedtrap technology with yet more technology. There's a long history of this, beginning in the fifties when traffic radar first appeared.
Drivers flashed their headlights to warn others of radar traps. Low tech, but it worked. In the mid-seventies the arrival of the CB radio created an instant community of smokey spotters. But that craze soon diminished, overwhelmed by mindless chatter and useless reports. Something better clearly was needed.
That may have arrived, thanks to the exponential growth in smartphones and internet availability. That combination has been harnessed by Escort Live, compatible with most Escort radar detectors.
Older Escort models—Passport 9500ix, Max, X70 and Redline—require an Escort Live power cord. This has Bluetooth that links it to a smartphone, letting the detector use the phone's GPS.
Compatible Escorts
- Two front, one rear radar antenna
- Directional threat arrows
- Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
- Red light and speed camera alerts
- BSM and IVT radar filters
- Magnetic windshield mount
- Undetectable by police
- Rear radar antenna
- Directional threat arrows
- Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
- Red light and speed camera alerts
- BSM and IVT radar filters
- Magnetic windshield mount
- Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
- Red light and speed camera alerts
- AutoLearn nuisance-radar lockouts
- BSM and IVT radar filters
- Wireless camera database updates
- Magnetic windshield mount
Two types of Escort Live power cords are offered for older Escorts: a coiled SmartCord that plugs into a power point and a Direct Wire version that links to the car's electrical system. The latter's thumb-size control module mounts in the cockpit.
To make everything work, the Escort Live app must first be downloaded to the smartphone. (For iPhones it's available via Apple iTunes.) With app installed and running and detector powered up, the final step is pairing of the phone with Escort Live.
We followed this sequence using an iPhone 6 (Escort Live is backward-compatible from the latest iPhone model), also with a Samsung Android smartphone. Downloading was simple in each case; creating an account with user name and password took slightly longer. Once logged in, Escort Live quickly paired with the phone, confirmed when a flashing blue LED turned solid.
Two screens are offered, Dashboard and Map; the graphics of both are attractive and coherently laid out. Most staffers preferred the map screen, finding the real-time distance-to-danger graphics more useful.
Sharing X- and K-band alerts is the user's call, requiring a press of the Report button. X-band alerts are rare, almost always generated by radar-controlled automatic door openers.
K-band alerts are equally likely to be false alarms, mainly from Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM) radar systems on nearby cars. These use radar in the rear bumper to spot adjacent vehicles and warn when a lane change is dangerous. They operate on police K-band frequencies and no detector can tell them apart.
Few neophytes can identify the source of an X- or K-band alert, leading to spurious Escort Live warnings as a result. Fortunately, the system monitors each alert to grade its validity. If no subsequent alerts to the same signal are received, the threat level is downgraded after about one hour and it's removed after another hour of inactivity.
But Ka-band alerts nearly always means police radar and for that reason, these alerts are broadcast automatically.
While testing we found that driving with Escort Live usually meant running the phone on vehicle power. With only Escort Live running and display brightness at its lowest setting, we routinely exhausted the fully-charged battery of our iPhone in less than 2.5 hours, quicker if encountering frequent alerts or when other apps were running. Fortunately, high-end Escorts come with a SmartCord USB power cord whose plug has a USB charging port.
We found Escort Live to perform as promised, faithfully passing along radar and laser alerts and reports of speedtraps in progress. A testament to the network's effectiveness is the hostility it's generated among some members of the law enforcement community. Considering the price paid for a speeding ticket, we'd say Escort Live is a cost-effective countermeasure.
Compatible Escort Models
- Two front plus one rear radar antenna
- Directional threat arrows
- Built-in Wi-Fi
- Automatic false-alert lockouts
- Red light camera alerts
- BSM, IVT filters
- Undetectable by police
- Rear radar antenna
- Directional threat arrows
- Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
- Red light and speed camera alerts
- BSM and IVT radar filters
- Magnetic windshield mount
- Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
- Red light and speed camera alerts
- AutoLearn nuisance-radar lockouts
- BSM and IVT radar filters
- Wireless camera database updates
- Magnetic windshield mount
