Escort X50 8500 repair

[FJRocket]

My cool blue X50 quit working. Doesn't help if you brain fart and leave it out in the rain. It wasn't working very well to begin with, but after a good soaking, it finally bit the dust. Out of warranty anyway.

I don't have to get gizmos repaired very often. Usually by the time they croak or I toast (drown) them, they are obsolete, and I just replace them. I was all ready to buy a new Escort. Have the Smart Cord hard wired and my HARD is set up for it, so I thought I would stick with what I have. Was trying to decide (not to start THAT controversy again) a retail or internet unit and what vendor to use. Was having trouble parting with the cash either way, because I knew I would probably just ruin it again, sooner or later. Well, if you leave it out in the rain, it doesn't matter where you buy it, does it? I don't think any warranty would help you there, and I wouldn't feel comfortable calling that a warranty issue anyway.

At any rate, I decided to call Escort. After a 20 minute wait, on their dime, the customer service guy told me it might be the Smart Cord. I have two of them. Neither one works the unit (although the both indicate power), and the thumb wheel was getting to the point where sometimes the unit would turn on and sometimes it wouldn't. So I didn't think it was the cord, since it didn't work with either one.

I got an RMA and have to include a check (or give a cc number over the phone) for $59.95 and ship the unit to Ohio. I was told that I would get my unit back "like new" with a 90 day warranty. Now THAT is more than fair, especially with return shipping included. The down side is that it may take over 20 business days to get it turned around. Oh well, no trips planned soon anyway. And $60 beats $260 any day.

Many of you probably know that Escort has such a good after warranty repair policy. I hadn't really thought much about it. I also didn't know that they take trade ins and do upgrades. Before you trash that old unit, you might want to consider contacting Escort and see what they might be able to do.

I'll re-post after the fact with a follow up report.

Now I have to get some type of hermetic seal for the thing, because I know I will probably leave it out in the weather again. :blink: <_< :huh: :dribble: :glare:

 

[HaulinAshe]

I hope they honor their price estimate. Had to send my 8500 back because I got caught in a torrential downpour and had no cover available. I also had (additionally) purchased the extended service agreement directly from Escort.

After they received my unit in for service, they contacted me to say that the unit showed signs of being wet and that was NOT covered by the service agreement, nor was it covered in the repair estimate. Check the fine print and you will see that physical damage to the unit is not covered and that's what they consider getting it wet.

It took three follow-up phone calls, four weeks and $130 to get my unit repaired and returned.

I hope you have a better experience than I did. I now carry a hotel shower cap on the bike in case I get caught in rain. BTW, treated water, like washing the bike, doesn't seem to bother the unit much. The 8500 hates rain with its acid PH.

 

[FJRocket]

Thanks Jeff, I'll keep that in mind. Even at $130, it's better than $260. We'll see what happens. You comment is one of the reasons I started this thread. I thought there might be "exceptions". Still, mine could have died due to the thumb wheel, not the acid rain. I dunno. Time will tell.

I hope they honor their price estimate. Had to send my 8500 back because I got caught in a torrential downpour and had no cover available. I also had (additionally) purchased the extended service agreement directly from Escort.
After they received my unit in for service, they contacted me to say that the unit showed signs of being wet and that was NOT covered by the service agreement, nor was it covered in the repair estimate. Check the fine print and you will see that physical damage to the unit is not covered and that's what they consider getting it wet.

It took three follow-up phone calls, four weeks and $130 to get my unit repaired and returned.

I hope you have a better experience than I did. I now carry a hotel shower cap on the bike in case I get caught in rain. BTW, treated water, like washing the bike, doesn't seem to bother the unit much. The 8500 hates rain with its acid PH.

 

[Geezer]

TripleTango posted a while back about how he put his X50 in a small Pelican box. That should keep it dry for you. I saw it at EOM and it looked good. I plan on doing it myself one of these days.

 

[Ignacio]

TripleTango posted a while back about how he put his X50 in a small Pelican box. That should keep it dry for you. I saw it at EOM and it looked good. I plan on doing it myself one of these days.

Or I documented for a V1 here and think it would be pretty applicable to an X50.....if not a slightly different model Pelican.

The easier and option is at here at legalspeeding.com. Thermo-formed plastic much like Gladware. A good value for $25 plus shipping and very water resistant. Frankly, I switched from my Pelican creation to this one and have been very pleased.

 

[TheAxeman]

TripleTango posted a while back about how he put his X50 in a small Pelican box. That should keep it dry for you. I saw it at EOM and it looked good. I plan on doing it myself one of these days.

The Legal Speeding one that Iggy mentioned is the one that TTT had at EOM. I remember him telling me he paid $25.00 for the case and $50.00 for overnight delivery ....Most expensive piece of plastic in Boone next to my Canadian Yamaha foot guards.

I remember years ago having one of the first Escort Passports that they made shipped back for a repair after a couple of years of hard use and when I got it back from them it looked like a brand new unit. Recently I shipped back my X-50 for repair under warranty and was very happy when they shipped it back to me 5 days sooner than expected.

 

[Charlie Hoss]

Valentine also gives excellent customer service. I was having problems with the optional audio module which is needed to pipe the sound thru an intercom (Autocom) on the way to EOM '05. After it sat out in the pouring rain all night, I took it apart, poured the water out, and found a small electronic part, a resistor or something, had broken loose, prolly due to vibration.

I called Valentine when I got home. They said it would be $25 to fix it. It was over 6 year old. That was better than $50 for a new one, so off it went. Within a week it was back, all fixed, AND my uncashed original check was in the pkg.

 

[ock913]

My 8500 x50 also got wet, not soaked, but enough to make it stop working all together. I bought mine from an internet retailer so I knew the warranty was not going to work. I was also quoted $59.95 and given a 20-30 day turn around time. I got it back in 17 days and it works perfectly.

My solution for future rain issues? Although not 100% all condition water proof, it works. I bought a box of Glad brand elastic lids. They look like miniature shower caps with elastic on the bottom. If it looks like rain, I put the shower caps on my 8500 and my GPS. So far, they have worked just fine.

 

[HaulinAshe]

Damn, it sounds like I am the only guy they charged extra for "wet" repairs. Must have been because I showed such good faith and purchased their extended covers (almost) all warranty direct from Escort.

Can you tell I'm still pissed off about it and just can't get over it???

 

[FJRocket]

Well, Jeff, you were right. Sure enough, I got a bill for an additional $25 to cover the water damage on the circuit board. I'm somewhat pleased that it's only that much based on your report, and also a bit surprised that Escort got to my unit as fast as they did.

Time to pony up the extra dough....

I hope they honor their price estimate. Had to send my 8500 back because I got caught in a torrential downpour and had no cover available. I also had (additionally) purchased the extended service agreement directly from Escort.
After they received my unit in for service, they contacted me to say that the unit showed signs of being wet and that was NOT covered by the service agreement, nor was it covered in the repair estimate. Check the fine print and you will see that physical damage to the unit is not covered and that's what they consider getting it wet.

It took three follow-up phone calls, four weeks and $130 to get my unit repaired and returned.

I hope you have a better experience than I did. I now carry a hotel shower cap on the bike in case I get caught in rain. BTW, treated water, like washing the bike, doesn't seem to bother the unit much. The 8500 hates rain with its acid PH.

 

[Grumpy]

TripleTango posted a while back about how he put his X50 in a small Pelican box. That should keep it dry for you. I saw it at EOM and it looked good. I plan on doing it myself one of these days.

Or I documented for a V1 here and think it would be pretty applicable to an X50.....if not a slightly different model Pelican.

The easier and option is at here at legalspeeding.com. Thermo-formed plastic much like Gladware. A good value for $25 plus shipping and very water resistant. Frankly, I switched from my Pelican creation to this one and have been very pleased.

Don't you have to worry about overheating a detector sitting in one of these boxes and in the sun?

jim

 

[Bounce]

Valentine also gives excellent customer service.
I called Valentine when I got home. They said it would be $25 to fix it. It was over 6 year old. That was better than $50 for a new one, so off it went. Within a week it was back, all fixed, AND my uncashed original check was in the pkg.

that's what i've heard other people also report over the years. i was kinda surprised to hear this about the escort repair policy.

 

[Geezer]

TripleTango posted a while back about how he put his X50 in a small Pelican box. That should keep it dry for you. I saw it at EOM and it looked good. I plan on doing it myself one of these days.

Or I documented for a V1 here and think it would be pretty applicable to an X50.....if not a slightly different model Pelican.

The easier and option is at here at legalspeeding.com. Thermo-formed plastic much like Gladware. A good value for $25 plus shipping and very water resistant. Frankly, I switched from my Pelican creation to this one and have been very pleased.

Iggy, you are probably right. I must have confused your post about the Pelican with the box I saw on tripletango's bike. In the immortal words of agent 86, sorry about that.

Regarding the radar cover from legalspeeding, can I use that with my X50 mounted on a shelf? It looks like the wires come out the bottom of the box. Is there a way for the wires to come straight out the side of the X50?

 

[FJRocket]

Mr. BROWN just brought my X50 8500 back to me this AM. The unit doesn't even look like mine. New serial number. New PCB, new lenses. New smart cord (I didn't send mine in) and a new suction cup thingy (another freebie). Wow, for $85 I sure got a lot.

Previously, I had velcroed my unit onto a bracket screwed to the right brake rez. No more velcroe. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some self adhesive magnet sheets. The kind that you make business cards and photos out of. For $5 I have enough magnets to mount everything I own to this bike. OK, well maybe not everything. But I have literally more than 10 times the amount of magnetic sheet than I need.

Anyway, I stuck one of the self adhesive backed magnets and stuck it down to the bracket. It covers the entire bracket, which is almost the same size as the bottom of the escort. A pretty large contact patch there. I have a strip of very thin steel and some double backed tape to stick on the back of the detector. I tried just using two magnets back to back, but the magnets weren't strong enough.

I'm too cheap to get a Pelican box or a vacuum formed cover that just goes over the top of the detector. They even make one of those that also covers the HARD box. Well, my HARD is sealed and under the bracket, mostly out of the weather. So the plan is just to carry a thick zip lock bag.

Turns out that I have a ziplock bag that is long enough to hold the X50 AND it can also pull down over my RoadyXT. It won't look very elegant, and I still have to poke a hole though the bag for the smart cable (or run it from a long ways through the end of the bag). Either way, it will keep the units dry.

Now all I have to do is remember not to leave the detector naked on the bike when there's a chance of rain.

 

[ionbeam]

Glad your 'repair' went well! In a few weeks someone will get your old unit after a referb. The unit you have should be the same as new in performance and reliability.

Magnets and electronics are a bad mix! If you can find any way other than magnets to affix your electronic goodies please do it Better quality tank bags with magnetic attachments have a shield over the magnet(s) to protect credit cards, tapes and other such goodies. A strong field in the right place can play havoc with memory chips too. The magnetic field won't usually kill electronics but if something like hardware gets magnetized the electronic gizmo won't recover even after the magnet is removed. Your detector may turn on and look normal but I wouldn't trust it to have best performance if it is secured with a magnet.

 

[FJRocket]

Well, this is another chance for me to take another "hit for the team", isn't it?

 

[JamesK]

Damn, I should have taken advantage of the referb service when it was competitively priced at $60. Escort now charges $140 up front for a referb

Escort and Beltronics Service Tiers and Fees
We now have these levels of service:

Tier 1 service charge is $39.95 and is for external product issues such as: button malfunctioning, case replacement, speaker replacement, etc. Tier 1 service includes the following:
- Only the issue reported will be repaired and warranted, no other service will be performed or warranted
- UPS Ground return shipping

Tier 2 service charge is $99.95 and is for internal related product issues such as: no audio, no detection, falsing, error message, no power, etc. Tier 2 service includes:
- Only the issue reported will be repaired and warranted, no other service will be performed or warranted
- UPS Ground return shipping

Premium Escort is the highest level of service for $139.95 and includes:
- Replace accessories
- FIL (First In Line) repair queue status, quicker turnaround time
- 1 year warranty on the detector
- Pre-paid shipping label supplied to return the detector with
- UPS 2 Day return shipping
- Full inspection of all systems
- Update operating software to current version
- Discount to purchase a SmartCord Live if detector is compatible

Original Passport 8500 detectors requiring internal or T2 repairs will be charged a flat fee of $139.95 or you can trade it in toward a new model or purchase a refurbished unit from our e-Bay store for $129.95.

SmartCord Live repairs are a flat fee of $19.95.
__________________

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