Does anyone have experience with a battery-powered radar detector such as the Escort Passport Solo 4? I want a decent radar detector, but I don't feel like taking apart my car to tap into power. Any opinions would be appreciated.
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Battery-powered Radar Detector
- Thread starter JSWE
- Start date
I use a Passport Solo 3 for my Prius ... works fine ... I go through a set of two AA batteries every three to four weeks, but I drive about 800 miles per week. Just head to Costco and get a their large pack of AA batteries 
We also have a Prius C that uses a Solo 2 ... no problems there either.
I'll be switching to the Model 3 in about a month or two (once I pry it from the wifey, LOL). I have a Valentine One from my RX-8 (track car now) that I'll be installing on the M3 soon.
We also have a Prius C that uses a Solo 2 ... no problems there either.I'll be switching to the Model 3 in about a month or two (once I pry it from the wifey, LOL). I have a Valentine One from my RX-8 (track car now) that I'll be installing on the M3 soon.
They're strictly worse than hardwired detectors. If you're really that concerned with tearing apart the car, just route it along the headliner and plug it into the 12V cigarette adapter. No need to use the switched 12V unless you really want to.
Honestly I'd recommend the Uniden R7. Valentine One is old tech; the R7 has the arrows just like Valentine now and has much better range, plus GPS lockout, etc.
I don't actually have a RD in the Tesla since I don't tend to speed much in it. My sports car on the other hand... I have an R3 (owned since before the R7 was released) hardwired. It's connected to an add-a-fuse though, so a bit simpler. Still had to run all the wiring by pulling off a bunch of trim panels though.
GPinzone
Member
I gave up on radar detectors. Too many false negatives and positives. Waze is free and has better results.
Hardwiring a radar detector in M3 is actually not that difficult if you know what you're doing. Now that I did it once - it would be simple to do again. But the first time was a real pain. Mostly because the first method I tried didn't work very well. I searched online and found YouTube posted by some guy that tears cars down professionally saying "this is very simple to do" when in fact it's nearly impossible for the average lay person. After several hours of trying and cursing, I eventually found a different guide that was trivial to do.
As opposed to doing this several times in BMWs - where there are many different guides posted online, and you know exactly what you're doing upfront - and people posting know you're not a pro; so has always been painless.
As opposed to doing this several times in BMWs - where there are many different guides posted online, and you know exactly what you're doing upfront - and people posting know you're not a pro; so has always been painless.
I tapped power off the amp in the rear which felt less "invasive". I mounted V1 detector with 3M Lock stuff on the ceiling light.
I just had rear glass replaced and pulled it all out in 15 minutes. Not taking any chances with voiding any warranties.
12V Switched Power in Rear (Radar Detector Install)
Those battery operated Solo's are not that great.
I just had rear glass replaced and pulled it all out in 15 minutes. Not taking any chances with voiding any warranties.
12V Switched Power in Rear (Radar Detector Install)
Those battery operated Solo's are not that great.
For the $50 bucks, I'm going to let someone who knows how to do it take care of it for me. I also thought that the mounts were priced a bit obscenely.
I was unaware that cordless detectors were available, I'm a DIY type of guy, If there was a direct 12v tap-in available at the forward camera compartment, I would go for it.
Why would a hardwired detector have less range than a battery powered detector? (Urban Legend
)Regardless I'm willing to give a battery powered unit a try, which type would you use?
I was unaware that cordless detectors were available, I'm a DIY type of guy, If there was a direct 12v tap-in available at the forward camera compartment, I would go for it.
Why would a hardwired detector have less range than a battery powered detector? (Urban Legend
Regardless I'm willing to give a battery powered unit a try, which type would you use?
I think you have it wrong. Cordless detectors have less range than corded detectors. The Escort Passport Solo S4 is probably the best cordless (battery powered) detector available.
your right
Likely a few reasons, but they're somewhat related:
1) You care about battery life, so you try to do stuff like scan less frequently or use less power on your RF amps
2) Because you care about battery life, you use DC-DC converters that may be adding noise to the system (since there's sometimes a tradeoff to efficiency). More noise = less likely to detect faint signals = less effective range
3) Because you care about battery life, you probably can't run as complex algorithms in the DSP stuff, because again, that burns power. From what I can tell, the cordless ones don't even advertise 'DSP' anywhere.
4) Generally speaking, the cordless units are cheaper (likely because people less likely to hardwire them are also less likely to want to pay a lot for them). Cheaper = cheaper components = less performance
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
FWIW for those who don't want to hard-wire and don't want to run a cable all the way to the mid-console- I can confirm this operates a Passport MAX II just fine-
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J67JIOQ/
I only use it on road trips (and sometimes use it in others/rental cars too) so perm mount didn't make sense for me.... (then again neither does them not putting a 12v plug in the front console rather than just the mid-console)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J67JIOQ/
I only use it on road trips (and sometimes use it in others/rental cars too) so perm mount didn't make sense for me.... (then again neither does them not putting a 12v plug in the front console rather than just the mid-console)
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