Does anyone own the Escort Laser Shifter ZR3?
#1
05-12-2008, 02:46 PM
Does anyone own the Escort Laser Shifter ZR3?
I was planning on going with the Valentine 1 until I talked to this guy trying to sell his V1 on craigslist...he told me he liked the V1, but it's no match for the laser shifter...so I was wondering, has anyone purchased one and tried it out? I was reading on their website and it said that if you own a escort passport 8500/9500 and have a ZR3, you're pretty much 99% sure to never get a speeding ticket.
What are your thoughts on the ZR3?
What are your thoughts on the ZR3?
#3
05-13-2008, 08:24 PM
The ZR3 is worthless. Their new ZR4 Jams to Gun. V1 is a radar/laser detector, ZR3 is supposed to be a jammer. Go to www.radardetector.net or www.guysoflidar.com to read about detectors, jammers, etc.
#5
05-14-2008, 01:51 PM
I have the Escort 9500i, and it rocks. I can't say that I've owned or tried a V1, but the GPS capabilities of the 9500i are fantastic. I don't get false alarms in my regular routes any more, and it's saved my bacon a couple of times already. I previously had an 8500i, and that was just ok. No comparison with the 9500i. I'd like to see a head on comparison of the 9500i vs. the V1 - haven't found one yet online.
Cheers
Tamir
Cheers
Tamir
#6
05-14-2008, 03:06 PM
#7
05-14-2008, 03:41 PM
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I went with the RX65 and Blinder m25 and can complain one bit. The v1 is a big plus for freeway driving but a nagging *** in the city lol. The laser jammer is only effective against laser, not radar. So in return you can mount your radar detector higher up to get better radar detection and hardwire it. They still have some blinders left on overstock that are pretty cheap. Ide make sure you get your radar detector from a authorized dealer though for warranties sake 
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#8
05-14-2008, 03:45 PM
#10
05-14-2008, 09:53 PM
Zr3
I have a ZR3 and DID get a ticket from a laser photo camera. The detector did go off and say "shifting" but my mind was elsewhere and I did not slow down. I think it will shift some signal but when you get close, the reflected signal will be stronger.
Also, I recall seeing a show on TV which demonstrated the ZR3. It showed that the laser gun could not spit out a spid while the ZR3 was shifting.
Also, I recall seeing a show on TV which demonstrated the ZR3. It showed that the laser gun could not spit out a spid while the ZR3 was shifting.
#11
05-14-2008, 11:21 PM
#13
05-16-2008, 01:35 PM
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The ZR3 is probably one of the older shifter/jammers in the market. In fact, Escort just released the ZR4. They kind of look pretty much the same from the exterior, but hopefully there are some major differences in the interior. ZR3 and ZR4 use LED technology, which is supposedly not as effective as the laser diode jammers. A good place to look at radar detector and laser jammer tests is:
http://www.guysoflidar.com/march-2007/tests.html
I own both the V1 and the 9500i. V1 is more sensitive to just about every single radar band and laser than the 9500i. I would even say that it is oversensitive, especially on the A (all bogey) mode. After some tweaking of the V1, it quieted down, and I don't get as many annoying X and K band falses (I turned X off). The V1 has directional arrows which are great. People who say the arrows are useless probably never used a V1. On the other hand, V1 can be annoying not only because of the X and K band falses, but also because of laser falses that you get from passing cars with laser sensors. It gets even more annoying when your own car (like my G35) has a laser sensor. Depending on what type of car is in front of me and the distance, my G35's laser will trigger my own V1. Needless to say, I've had a couple of heart attacks at first. But now, unfortunately, I'm beginning to tune out the laser warning on the V1.
The 9500i, while not as sensitive as the V1, is very close. It will detect most radars very close to V1's detection range. The best thing about the 9500i is its ability to filter out falses. The computer in it must be pretty smart. I rarely get X or K falses while on the freeway. I do still get K falses when I am close to door openers though. But the 9500i allows you to lockout the false alarms by geographical location thanks to the built-in GPS device. The lockout or "Truelock" serves as an automute. So next time, when you are in the same area, the 9500i won't beep when it detects the same radar band in the same frequency. The 9500i also has not given me laser falses because of my G35's own laser. In fact, I have not experienced a laser false yet on the 9500i.
I use both the 9500i and the V1. I use the 9500i for city travel. And if I go out of town, I put on the V1. I wish we could combine the best of both radar detectors into one.
As far as lasers though, if you get targetted by laser, you are pretty much screwed unless you have a laser jammer, some anti-laser coating, and/or a car with very small laser profile. The laser warning that you get from either the V1 or 9500i (or any other radar detector) caused by police laser is 99% of the time only a warning that you are about to get a ticket (assuming you are speeding). Unlike radar, lasers apparently don't scatter very much, and a laser aimed at a car in front or next to you will probably not scatter enough to trigger a V1 or 9500i.
Hope the info is helpful. I've been on this radar detector/laser jammer binge for the last month! My newest hobby!
http://www.guysoflidar.com/march-2007/tests.html
I own both the V1 and the 9500i. V1 is more sensitive to just about every single radar band and laser than the 9500i. I would even say that it is oversensitive, especially on the A (all bogey) mode. After some tweaking of the V1, it quieted down, and I don't get as many annoying X and K band falses (I turned X off). The V1 has directional arrows which are great. People who say the arrows are useless probably never used a V1. On the other hand, V1 can be annoying not only because of the X and K band falses, but also because of laser falses that you get from passing cars with laser sensors. It gets even more annoying when your own car (like my G35) has a laser sensor. Depending on what type of car is in front of me and the distance, my G35's laser will trigger my own V1. Needless to say, I've had a couple of heart attacks at first. But now, unfortunately, I'm beginning to tune out the laser warning on the V1.
The 9500i, while not as sensitive as the V1, is very close. It will detect most radars very close to V1's detection range. The best thing about the 9500i is its ability to filter out falses. The computer in it must be pretty smart. I rarely get X or K falses while on the freeway. I do still get K falses when I am close to door openers though. But the 9500i allows you to lockout the false alarms by geographical location thanks to the built-in GPS device. The lockout or "Truelock" serves as an automute. So next time, when you are in the same area, the 9500i won't beep when it detects the same radar band in the same frequency. The 9500i also has not given me laser falses because of my G35's own laser. In fact, I have not experienced a laser false yet on the 9500i.
I use both the 9500i and the V1. I use the 9500i for city travel. And if I go out of town, I put on the V1. I wish we could combine the best of both radar detectors into one.
As far as lasers though, if you get targetted by laser, you are pretty much screwed unless you have a laser jammer, some anti-laser coating, and/or a car with very small laser profile. The laser warning that you get from either the V1 or 9500i (or any other radar detector) caused by police laser is 99% of the time only a warning that you are about to get a ticket (assuming you are speeding). Unlike radar, lasers apparently don't scatter very much, and a laser aimed at a car in front or next to you will probably not scatter enough to trigger a V1 or 9500i.
Hope the info is helpful. I've been on this radar detector/laser jammer binge for the last month! My newest hobby!
Last edited by Armanius Maximu; 05-18-2008 at 02:34 PM. Reason: typo
#14
05-16-2008, 03:34 PM
Originally Posted by Armanius Maximu
The ZR3 is probably one of the older shifter/jammers in the market. In fact, Escort just released the ZR4. They kind of look pretty much the same from the exterior, but hopefully there are some major differences in the interior. ZR3 and ZR4 use LED technology, which is supposedly not as effective as the laser diode jammers. A good place to look at radar detector and laser jammer tests is:
http://www.guysoflidar.com/march-2007/tests.html
I own both the V1 and the 9500i. V1 is more sensitive to just about every single radar band and laser than the 9500i. I would even say that it is oversensitive, especially on the A (all bogey) mode. After some tweaking of the V1, it quieted down, and I don't get as many annoying X and K band falses (I turned X off). The V1 has directional arrows which are great. People who say the arrows are useless probably never used a V1. On the other hand, V1 can be annoying not only because of the X and K band falses, but also because of laser falses that you get from passing cars with laser sensors. It gets even more annoying when your own car (like my G35) has a laser sensor. Depending on what type of car is in front of me and the distance, my G35's laser will trigger my own V1. Needless to say, I've had a couple of heart attacks at first. But now, unfortunately, I'm beginning to tune out the laser warning on the V1.
The 9500i, while not as sensitive as the V1, is very close. It will detect most radars very close to V1's detection range. The best thing about the 9500i is its ability to filter out falses. The computer in it must be pretty smart. I rarely get X or K falses while on the freeway. I do still get K falses when I am close to a door openers though. But the 9500i allows you to lockout the false alarms by geographical location thanks to the built-in GPS device. The lockout or "Truelock" serves as an automute. So next time, when you are in the same area, the 9500i won't beep when it detects the same radar band in the same frequency. The 9500i also has not given me laser falses because of my G35's own laser. In fact, I have not experienced a laser false yet on the 9500i.
I use both the 9500i and the V1. I use the 9500i for city travel. And if I go out of town, I put on the V1. I wish we could combine the best of both radar detectors into one.
As far as lasers though, if you get targetted by laser, you are pretty much screwed unless you have a laser jammer, some anti-laser coating, and/or a car with very small laser profile. The laser warning that you get from either the V1 or 9500i caused by police laser is 99% of the time only a warning that you are about to get a ticket (assuming you are speeding). Unlike radar, lasers apparently don't scatter very much, and a laser aimed at a car in front or next to you will probably not scatter enough to trigger a V1 or 9500i.
Hope the info is helpful. I've been on this radar detector/laser jammer binge for the last month! My newest hobby!
http://www.guysoflidar.com/march-2007/tests.html
I own both the V1 and the 9500i. V1 is more sensitive to just about every single radar band and laser than the 9500i. I would even say that it is oversensitive, especially on the A (all bogey) mode. After some tweaking of the V1, it quieted down, and I don't get as many annoying X and K band falses (I turned X off). The V1 has directional arrows which are great. People who say the arrows are useless probably never used a V1. On the other hand, V1 can be annoying not only because of the X and K band falses, but also because of laser falses that you get from passing cars with laser sensors. It gets even more annoying when your own car (like my G35) has a laser sensor. Depending on what type of car is in front of me and the distance, my G35's laser will trigger my own V1. Needless to say, I've had a couple of heart attacks at first. But now, unfortunately, I'm beginning to tune out the laser warning on the V1.
The 9500i, while not as sensitive as the V1, is very close. It will detect most radars very close to V1's detection range. The best thing about the 9500i is its ability to filter out falses. The computer in it must be pretty smart. I rarely get X or K falses while on the freeway. I do still get K falses when I am close to a door openers though. But the 9500i allows you to lockout the false alarms by geographical location thanks to the built-in GPS device. The lockout or "Truelock" serves as an automute. So next time, when you are in the same area, the 9500i won't beep when it detects the same radar band in the same frequency. The 9500i also has not given me laser falses because of my G35's own laser. In fact, I have not experienced a laser false yet on the 9500i.
I use both the 9500i and the V1. I use the 9500i for city travel. And if I go out of town, I put on the V1. I wish we could combine the best of both radar detectors into one.
As far as lasers though, if you get targetted by laser, you are pretty much screwed unless you have a laser jammer, some anti-laser coating, and/or a car with very small laser profile. The laser warning that you get from either the V1 or 9500i caused by police laser is 99% of the time only a warning that you are about to get a ticket (assuming you are speeding). Unlike radar, lasers apparently don't scatter very much, and a laser aimed at a car in front or next to you will probably not scatter enough to trigger a V1 or 9500i.
Hope the info is helpful. I've been on this radar detector/laser jammer binge for the last month! My newest hobby!
#15
05-16-2008, 03:56 PM
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I wouldn’t call a laser shifter a bad buy. It depends on where you are. If a lot of the LEO’s in your area use laser, then a shifter/jammer might be the only thing keeping you from a ticket. But if there is barely or no use of lasers, then you should go with a radar detector. Preferably, if budget allows, you would have a radar detector plus a laser shifter/jammer.
As far as the 9500i is concerned, you need to know that 9500i works as well as whoever is using it. If you start locking out things left and right without making a few additional passes, you may end up locking out more than you want to. For example, a LEO could conceivably be operating near a door opener. So you want to make sure that the false you are locking out is really a false. Also, when the 9500i lockouts a false, it apparently locks out segments of 0.030 mhz. So if you lockout a door opener running on K band at 24.150 mhz, the 9500i is actually locking out 24.135 to 24.165 mhz. If a LEO is running a K radar gun within that frequency range in that geographical area of the lockout (some report it to be 1/10 mile radius), the 9500i will mute that signal too. The odds of that happening are pretty low, but you still need to be careful. On the other hand, if a LEO is running his K band radar, the signal of the radar gun is going to be whole lot stronger than that of the door opener. Consequently, the 9500i is going to start alerting you from much farther away, until you drive into the lockout area.
In regards to the USB, Escort has not provided to the public any software to utilize the USB port in the 9500i at this time. Whether or not Escort has something in the works is a mystery to me. However, there are a few enthusiasts out there who have created some software to take advantage of the USB port in the 9500i. A national database, as far as I know, does not exist. I am not even sure if there is any database in the works anywhere. So yes, the USB port in the 9500i is a great idea, but its potential is exactly what it is right now – potential. Here’s a link to a software that someone has created:
http://www.radardetector.net/viewtop...024&highlight=
I wish someone would combine the GPS/filtering abilities of the 9500i with the directional arrows of the V1.
As far as the 9500i is concerned, you need to know that 9500i works as well as whoever is using it. If you start locking out things left and right without making a few additional passes, you may end up locking out more than you want to. For example, a LEO could conceivably be operating near a door opener. So you want to make sure that the false you are locking out is really a false. Also, when the 9500i lockouts a false, it apparently locks out segments of 0.030 mhz. So if you lockout a door opener running on K band at 24.150 mhz, the 9500i is actually locking out 24.135 to 24.165 mhz. If a LEO is running a K radar gun within that frequency range in that geographical area of the lockout (some report it to be 1/10 mile radius), the 9500i will mute that signal too. The odds of that happening are pretty low, but you still need to be careful. On the other hand, if a LEO is running his K band radar, the signal of the radar gun is going to be whole lot stronger than that of the door opener. Consequently, the 9500i is going to start alerting you from much farther away, until you drive into the lockout area.
In regards to the USB, Escort has not provided to the public any software to utilize the USB port in the 9500i at this time. Whether or not Escort has something in the works is a mystery to me. However, there are a few enthusiasts out there who have created some software to take advantage of the USB port in the 9500i. A national database, as far as I know, does not exist. I am not even sure if there is any database in the works anywhere. So yes, the USB port in the 9500i is a great idea, but its potential is exactly what it is right now – potential. Here’s a link to a software that someone has created:
http://www.radardetector.net/viewtop...024&highlight=
I wish someone would combine the GPS/filtering abilities of the 9500i with the directional arrows of the V1.