I figured I would post my personal review of the 9500I here as well:
When I first got my 9500I I was almost brainwashed to get a V1, but now that I have had my 9500I for many months now I don’t see any reason. The 9500I is truly an awesome RD and the sensitivity/distance is excellent.
The only real negative is the learning curve for experienced RD users, they are not use to a RD actively monitoring threats and how quiet the 9500I is to falses. You need to give it at least a month to really get to know the 9500I.
I feel it's by far the best Radar detector ever made. The features are truly awesome and it has saved me many times. Its light years ahead of any other RD I have ever tested.
It's as if the 9500I knows the difference between a real threat and a false alert.
My detailed review of the 9500I
First of all the 9500i is a great detector all around, plus it is quiet, some people love to hear the detector go off all the time to think its working, I would rather it go off knowing there is a real threat.
Escort has been tweaking the 9500i's firmware over the past several months since it is their flagship model. The 9500i now has virtually identical performance as the V1.
The nicest thing which I enjoy about the 9500i, aside from its superb Ka sensitivity considering the fact that Ka band radar guns emit a much narrower radar beam and that most Ka band radar guns are very low power radar guns which makes them very hard to detect, is its amazing quietness when driving through towns or through cities and suburbs. Thus, virtually every alert is real unless I am passing by an obviously false radar source such as a pharmacy with microwave door openers which are clearly visible to me. This is a key point. Knowing that over 9 times out of 10 a 9500i alert is real means that you will pay attention to the alert and slow down if necessary. You can't say the same about any other RD thats used in small towns or in the suburbs, let alone a large city.
The 9500i, however, is the first radar detector to match the V1 in Ka band sensitivity while providing an amazingly quiet ride through towns, suburbs and cities. I have had several 2mi alerts on KA but in my area the very windy roads cut the alert distance down to 1/2mi at times. I have also seen many reports of 6+ detection range of KA band.
I have had more saves than I could count. My newest encounter was on my trip to Vermont. I was going down a very steep mountain doing 55 in a 45mph and I got a weak KA alert, so I slow down to 45. As I reached the bottom of the mountain and the KA alert was getting stronger the speed abruptly changed to 20mph PSL. I’m thinking speed trap! And I slow to 20. Just around a slight bend there was a LEO shooting C/O KA. I got almost a 1 1/2mi warning, sweet!
I was told later that day that they sit there and give out tickets all day to people who don’t know the area.
The 9500i is really is a totally different breed of radar detector which has finally come into its own.
I would recommend the 9500I to any intelligent RD user that likes a quiet accurate detector.
Video i did with my cell phone, its showing locking out of K 24.150 speed sign signal... than alert/spinning icon for less than 1/10mi... than 1/10mi with no radar... than a new radar speed sign ruining K 24.150 and alerting: