Escort Solo Radar Detector Workmanship Very Poor Escort Passport Solo Radar Detector
ESCORT markets this unit for having the following key features that set it apart from other detectors: (1) It has the ESCORT name [Big deal if it’s a poorly made device]; (2) it’s cordless [This is a good AND a bad feature about the Escort Solo. It’s good because it’s a snap to pull this bugger down when I get out of the car, but because it has such a great power consumption, I found the estimated battery life in the owner’s manual to be totally fallacious]. (3) The ESCORT SOLO has programmable features where you can set things like the DIM level, or VOLUME level, etc. and have them remain set regardless of power-on or power-off. [This feature is highly overrated. First, the method of programming features on the SOLO is counter-intuitive such that I ALWAYS had to go back to the manual to program something. Secondly, the unit allows you to set the volume by using the dual function POWER/VOLUME bottom. Well, I found this way to set the VOLUME rather awkward since many times when I was trying to set the VOLUME the unit thought I was trying to turn it off and instead of accomplishing what I wanted, the unit did what it wanted].
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This unit is hardly worth the estimated price of $330 (or the $210 retail price I paid for it). It performs much more
like a $50 detector . In highway mode the range is fair. A state trooper running high power X-band radar is picked up for a good distance, but locally the detector’s sensitivity to instant-on that hits traffic up ahead is fair to
poor. I’ve never gotten a radared speeding ticket with this unit (I was paced and ticketed once), but I find that the unit is not very durable at all. Technically, if it was durable, it would be a great detector, but it just does not last so I can’t justify recommending it to new detector buyers !
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I’ve had it for 1 year and 9 months, and it failed to operate at about 1 year and 7 months. The manufacturer agreed to fix the unit for $50.00 (which is about 25 percent of the original purchase price), and they did fix it; but just 2 months after being repaired it suffered another electronic failure. This unit was never dropped and fresh batteries were always used with it so undue carelessness can’t be blamed. If I were to spend $50 every two months to repair this unit, I would soon deplete any funds budgeted for gadgets like this. The unit also, though touted for its cordlessness, puts a heavy load on batteries, even if it’s used in full DIM mode. The gain achieved by having a
cordless unit is negligible when the workmanship of the unit is so poor. It’s more of a conversation piece that it’s cordless. I hear that other models made by ESCORT are good, but because this unit failed to be reliable for the long-term I would NEVER buy an Escort detector again. Since this one is now broken, I purchased a cheaper Radio Shack 22-1693 [which features the full radar band coverage, Laser detection and VG2 protection]; after a while I will probably review its performance as well. I hope it works better.
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