Review Escort Redline Radar Detector

Escort and Beltronics had taken over the long range arena several years ago, first with the introduction of the Bel STi-R and then with the Escort 9500ci both of which are remote mounted units and immune to all RDDs.

However many radar detector enthusiasts or “V1 Zombies” that they are sometimes referred to on the popular RadarDetector.net forum discounted Escort and Beltronics achievements as this technology had not been followed through with their M3 platform dash mounted radar detectors.

But then in June of this year rumors began leaking out in the radar detector community about some new extreme long range radar detector that Escort was working on.

A few days later I spoke with one of my contacts at Escort and pressed for more information. He confirmed that they were starting production of a new radar detector unit called the Redline which he compared to a high performance race car stripped of all the bells and whistles found on the Escort 9500ix.

He related that Escort took used their knowledge and knowhow utilized in developing the M4 platform and integrated this into the Redline to develop a dash mounted unit that would be unmatched by any other radar detector currently in production in both range and sensitivity while also being completely stealth to all radar detector detectors (RDDs).

I told him about a planned business trip that I had scheduled in a few weeks to the east coast and of my vacation to Sturgis SD. He related that they would overnight me one of their first units as soon as one became available.

A couple days prior to my trip to the east coast the UPS truck showed up with a spanking new Redline and I packed it up for my trip, thinking that this would be a great opportunity to review the Redline’s performance against the New Jersey State Troopers X band guns.

My first encounter with X band was while I was northbound on the Parkway in Bloomfield NJ. When the Redline first alerted two bars and three miles later increased to five bars, I felt confident that I had scored my first NJ State Trooper. As I approached the state police barracks the Redline was at full alert.

I pulled into their parking lot and at the far end, at the full pumps sat an unoccupied trooper’s car.

I continued north to Route 3 then onto the New Jersey Turnpike south. While on the Turnpike I encountered two more New Jersey State Troopers that were operating X band. In each of these encounters the Redline began alerting several miles away and as I approached the signal gradually ramped up to full alert.

I then headed back to the Garden State Parkway north, and then headed into New York and onto Connecticut.

During my east coast trip the Redline gave me ample warning against K and Ka threats, but how would had these compared to the Valentine, I had to find out.

After returning home I called a “V1 Zombie” that lives in the Phoenix area and made him a deal. If he would let me borrow his new V1 for the next few weeks I’d allow him to test out a new radar detector after its official release announcement, he agreed.

My next journey, Sturgis South Dakota for the 69th annual motorcycle rally .I loaded up my forty five foot Freightliner with my “Stealth Hog” and mounted the V1 on the right hand corner of the passenger windshield and the Redline on the left hand corner of the driver’s windshield to allow for maximum separation as to reduce the chances of any crossover interference.

Perhaps the greatest threat to “lead footed” motorists like myself in Arizona are the Redflex photo radar vans that the state has contracted with for automated traffic enforcement.

When these Redflex vans first made their appearance last year in Arizona, you stood a fair chance of detecting them with a good radar detector. However, it appears since that they have fine tuned their system using lower powered emissions while also changing the polarity.

Making my way north through Arizona and onto New Mexico, I encountered seven of the Redflex photo radar vans.

In each encounter the Redline alerted first of up to a distance of 100 feet prior to the Valentine One.

Outside of Williams Arizona the V1 scored one against the Redline. There was an Az DPS officer parked in the medium using instant on K band. The V1 alerted a second prior to the Redline alerting to this threat.

Later that same afternoon a similar situation occurred when the V1 alerted a second prior to the Redline on short distance instant on Ka.

While traveling up to South Dakota through New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming we encountered a total of eleven verified K and Ka hits, eight of which the Redline alerted to prior to the V1 and during one encounter they alerted simultaneously.

In several of these encounters the difference in range was very noticeable. In one constant on K band encounter in Colorado the Redline had a quarter mile advantage.

After my arrival in South Dakota I installed the Redline radar detector on my Harley Davidson Ultra Glide Screamin Eagle edition that has been dubbed “The Stealth Hog”.

I spent the following week riding over 1200 additional miles through the Black Hills of South Dakota, northwest through Wyoming and Montana to the outskirts of Yellowstone Park, then into North Dakota and finally south back to the Sturgis.

My most interesting Redline experience while it was installed on the Stealth Hog was actually while it was parked in Redford SD, population 25.

Roshford is at the end of a fourteen mile paved county road and is a popular spot for bikers attending the Sturgis bike rally because of the “unofficial” burn out competitions that take place in front of the community store/bar.

Typically officers from the South Dakota Highway Patrol and the local Sheriff’s Office set up radar enforcement on a ridge overlooking the area and once they hear the squealing of the tires and see black smoke they converge down the hill with their ticket books.

The riders coming into Redford were all reporting the road was clear and plans were underway to start that morning’s competition.

As my bike was parked directly infront of the bar and the staging area, I thought it was prudent to move it.

As I started it up and pulled out from my spot, the Redline was full tilt K band!

I flagged one of the participants that was lining his bike up that there was an officer laying in wait somewhere in the area.

About ten minutes later a group came into town on their ATVs advising those in the staging area that there was a deputy’s SUV parked on a ridge overlooking the town, about a half mile out.

On my return trip home from Sturgis I had another unique encounter while driving through Mohab Utah.

In this encounter the Redline programmed in spec mode, where it alerts by the frequency not the band. The Redline first alerted 24.128 (K band) and then alerted 35.75 (Ka Band) and then went back to 24.128 (K band).

A few hundred feet later the V1 alerted, also reporting a double boggie.

Halfway through town I noticed the familiar glow of a speed trailer, but again the frequency changed on the Redline to 35.75 and then back to 24.128.

After I passed the trailer the signal strength decreased on 24.128 but then went full alert 35.75!

I then spotted a white and green patrol unit a few hundred feet after the trailer on the west side of the roadway.

During the course of this review of the Redline, I logged over 8,000 miles travelling through 13 states driving passenger vehicles, a commercially rated motor home, and on a high performance motorcycle.

In over 80% of the encounters when it went head to head with the Valentine One the Redline came out on top.

Another area where the Redline came out on top is filtering. I do give Valentine Research credit by improving their filtering capabilities after Automotive Weekly dubbed the V1 as the “Chicken Little of radar detectors” in 2005.

However the Redline reigns champ in this area, as an example; while traveling through remote areas of Utah the V1 alerted over 12 times to what I suspect were other radar detectors in my immediate area. The Redline only alerted three times to what I would label as a false alert during my entire South Dakota trip.

The Redline has become a permanent fixture on my high performance Screamin Eagle Harley Davidson, but would I recommend the Redline for everyone?  No!

As the tech I spoke with when I first became introduced to the Redline, he referred to it as a high performance race car stripped of all the bells and whistles found on the 9500ix.

Living in an area that is saturated with photo radar enforcement I find that the Escort 9500ix is a better alternative as it comes equipped with the photo enforcement database.

Also as my normal area where I drive is in a more urban environment where false alerts are more prevalent I find the GPS filtering capabilities of the 9500ix very refreshing.

However, if you’re a “road warrior” with a spending a majority of your time travelling interstate highways, have a CDL (Commercial Drivers License), or drive in areas where radar detectors are illegal and need a “stealth radar detector” immune to all RDD’s then yes, the Redline is hands down the worlds best super charged extreme long range radar detector made today!