jdong
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It's been….. quite a crazy week. On so many levels. I wasn't planning on a writeup today, but a great friend did a bit of arm twisting and helped change my mind. Apologies in advance for the sloppy initial notes, but I will update this thread when I have more info, and write up something higher quality once I've had enough bake time.
I just posted this on ERF and will largely quote the same thing here:
Here's some very early impressions of my Max360Ci install. Note that it's still very early on in the process, and I've had the car for barely 24hrs, and it's still the work week, so not a lot of time to do any formal testing or even in-depth experiences. I will follow up as I have more time, but I've received a lot of PM's asking for any info I have, so here it is.
I've attached some photos of the front, rear, and display. Apologies for the quick pictures. Basically, only the laser heads are visible. The radar antennas are hidden behind the bumper on the front and rear.
Initial Overall Impressions:
If you love the Max360 display/interface, you will be right at home here. The Max360Ci is best summed up as the user interface of a Max360 combined with the radar performance and stealth of having a 9500ci front+rear or better. Voice alerts are very clear and the voice is very familiar.
Oh yeah, one cool perk: When shooting with Laser, arrows do light up! I can confirm, the front or rear arrow does light up, along with the screen saying "Front Shifting" / "Rear Shifting"
Initial Radar Impressions
I've only had one 34.7 encounter so far. It was on CA-17 around a curve, and cop was driving on the opposite side (we were both going 50mph+), and a 5 ft concrete barrier sits between us. Got over 5 seconds of front warning before the cop came around the corner, which is quite good at 100mph closing speed. Arrows flipped right away when he passed.
On K band, testing in Highway+TSR mode against known door openers, the alert radius is very similar to when I had Stinger VIP, and much much better than the V1 mounted up high.
BSM filtering is good so far, but too soon to tell. Passed numerous Mercedes, Subaru, Honda, Audi, Kia vehicles with blind spot lights in their mirrors. So far, only noted BSM false is the Acura system, which plagues almost every RD on the market. I'd say it's comparable to V1 TMF2 at the moment, and is definitely better than the Max/Max2/Max360 predecessors. Again, I need more time here. It's only been an hour or so of driving experience.
Laser:
Not tested yet. I only quickly fired a Truspeed Sxb forward and back to ensure the system alerts. I plan on testing more in depth this weekend. Two notes:
- Sensitivity seems to be closer to the ALP side of the spectrum. I can fire my gun towards a wall and get alerts from the system. Note that Stinger VIP takes an opposite approach, and cannot be triggered except by direct shot. This doesn't directly translate to jamming performance, so please take this as just something informational.
- The system says "Shifting" when at a standstill, but based off my experience and RALETC's reports, the system isn't actually firing. I don't know what happens if you lose GPS in a tunnel — either Escort will have to comment on that or I'll attempt to test in a parking structure.
Nitpicks so far:
- The laser shifters are infinite jam with kill switch. Double-pressing MUTE will switch to receive-only, but by default unless you press anything, it seems like the system jams forever. I agree with the jammer community that the default behavior should be a limited-time jam followed by a long (minute or so) lockout, with an advanced testing option for infinite-jam. I hope Escort reconsiders, as having infinite jamming with an effective jammer draws a lot of bad attention. My installer explicitly walked me through how to kill the shifters. Kudos to the installer — I hope this is part of Escort's training materials.
- The screen and arrows do wash out in direct sunlight. When installing the display, do consider whether or not it's in direct sunlight. I may have to ask my installer to move the screen, as my initial position makes the screen not very visible when driving with the sun to my side. I'll take some pics later.
- USB updates can be a little finicky. You have to connect the USB cable to a computer while the system is unpowered. If the system is powered on, connecting USB doesn't do anything. This is problematic in a Tesla, where the car automatically gives accessory power as soon as you open the door. Fortunately, Tesla's car menus has a Settings -> Power Off option for turning off the car.
The bad news / ongoing problem :
Unfortunately, not everything is peachy right now. I get blips of 35.842 falses from the front antenna. I am still working with Escort on this, but the most likely theory is that this is interference with Tesla's Autopilot radar. Even though Autopilot operates on 76-77GHz, the antennas may be close enough that there's interference or overdriving.
I want to stress that it's not time yet to bring out the pitchforks. Escort is actively working with the shop and the shop is actively working with me on troubleshooting this. Within 2 hours we had some input from a tech. 12 hours later, engineering had some advice. Both Larry and Escort tech support have been responsive, and we have an action plan involving another Max360Ci system being sent so we can test moving the antenna or swapping it. I will keep everyone updated on this situation, but for now, I'd like to thank my installers, Lotts' Auto Stereo, for being on top of it. I remain optimistic that we can find a solution here.
I've encountered these kinds of situations in my testing before. The policy/philosophy that I've found to be most effective is to give some time for the manufacturer to respond and address the issue, and summarize theories and experiments only after there's meaningful results. And honestly, for the most part, these kinds of problems generally get resolved and become history, but invite a lot of speculation in a million directions.
I just posted this on ERF and will largely quote the same thing here:
Here's some very early impressions of my Max360Ci install. Note that it's still very early on in the process, and I've had the car for barely 24hrs, and it's still the work week, so not a lot of time to do any formal testing or even in-depth experiences. I will follow up as I have more time, but I've received a lot of PM's asking for any info I have, so here it is.
I've attached some photos of the front, rear, and display. Apologies for the quick pictures. Basically, only the laser heads are visible. The radar antennas are hidden behind the bumper on the front and rear.
Initial Overall Impressions:
If you love the Max360 display/interface, you will be right at home here. The Max360Ci is best summed up as the user interface of a Max360 combined with the radar performance and stealth of having a 9500ci front+rear or better. Voice alerts are very clear and the voice is very familiar.
Oh yeah, one cool perk: When shooting with Laser, arrows do light up! I can confirm, the front or rear arrow does light up, along with the screen saying "Front Shifting" / "Rear Shifting"
Initial Radar Impressions
I've only had one 34.7 encounter so far. It was on CA-17 around a curve, and cop was driving on the opposite side (we were both going 50mph+), and a 5 ft concrete barrier sits between us. Got over 5 seconds of front warning before the cop came around the corner, which is quite good at 100mph closing speed. Arrows flipped right away when he passed.
On K band, testing in Highway+TSR mode against known door openers, the alert radius is very similar to when I had Stinger VIP, and much much better than the V1 mounted up high.
BSM filtering is good so far, but too soon to tell. Passed numerous Mercedes, Subaru, Honda, Audi, Kia vehicles with blind spot lights in their mirrors. So far, only noted BSM false is the Acura system, which plagues almost every RD on the market. I'd say it's comparable to V1 TMF2 at the moment, and is definitely better than the Max/Max2/Max360 predecessors. Again, I need more time here. It's only been an hour or so of driving experience.
Laser:
Not tested yet. I only quickly fired a Truspeed Sxb forward and back to ensure the system alerts. I plan on testing more in depth this weekend. Two notes:
- Sensitivity seems to be closer to the ALP side of the spectrum. I can fire my gun towards a wall and get alerts from the system. Note that Stinger VIP takes an opposite approach, and cannot be triggered except by direct shot. This doesn't directly translate to jamming performance, so please take this as just something informational.
- The system says "Shifting" when at a standstill, but based off my experience and RALETC's reports, the system isn't actually firing. I don't know what happens if you lose GPS in a tunnel — either Escort will have to comment on that or I'll attempt to test in a parking structure.
Nitpicks so far:
- The laser shifters are infinite jam with kill switch. Double-pressing MUTE will switch to receive-only, but by default unless you press anything, it seems like the system jams forever. I agree with the jammer community that the default behavior should be a limited-time jam followed by a long (minute or so) lockout, with an advanced testing option for infinite-jam. I hope Escort reconsiders, as having infinite jamming with an effective jammer draws a lot of bad attention. My installer explicitly walked me through how to kill the shifters. Kudos to the installer — I hope this is part of Escort's training materials.
- The screen and arrows do wash out in direct sunlight. When installing the display, do consider whether or not it's in direct sunlight. I may have to ask my installer to move the screen, as my initial position makes the screen not very visible when driving with the sun to my side. I'll take some pics later.
- USB updates can be a little finicky. You have to connect the USB cable to a computer while the system is unpowered. If the system is powered on, connecting USB doesn't do anything. This is problematic in a Tesla, where the car automatically gives accessory power as soon as you open the door. Fortunately, Tesla's car menus has a Settings -> Power Off option for turning off the car.
The bad news / ongoing problem :
Unfortunately, not everything is peachy right now. I get blips of 35.842 falses from the front antenna. I am still working with Escort on this, but the most likely theory is that this is interference with Tesla's Autopilot radar. Even though Autopilot operates on 76-77GHz, the antennas may be close enough that there's interference or overdriving.
I want to stress that it's not time yet to bring out the pitchforks. Escort is actively working with the shop and the shop is actively working with me on troubleshooting this. Within 2 hours we had some input from a tech. 12 hours later, engineering had some advice. Both Larry and Escort tech support have been responsive, and we have an action plan involving another Max360Ci system being sent so we can test moving the antenna or swapping it. I will keep everyone updated on this situation, but for now, I'd like to thank my installers, Lotts' Auto Stereo, for being on top of it. I remain optimistic that we can find a solution here.
I've encountered these kinds of situations in my testing before. The policy/philosophy that I've found to be most effective is to give some time for the manufacturer to respond and address the issue, and summarize theories and experiments only after there's meaningful results. And honestly, for the most part, these kinds of problems generally get resolved and become history, but invite a lot of speculation in a million directions.
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