it's my first time owning a radar detector...
i've been running it for past week...
it does not go off much... not even false alarms...
is this normal??

 

yup...the false alarm circuit is very good. If you want the 8500 to beep like mad, drive near Walmart in McCarthy Ranch. Man, those automatic doors!

jimmy

 

I don't get many false alarms with my 8500 either.

 

I get lots of X-band false alarms with my Passport 6800. Maybe I should spend the extra money for the latest model. Or will there be a 9500 model coming out soon?

There just isn't that much police radar in use in the Bay Area. Be thankful that it doesn't go off very often.

If you want to test it properly, drive up to Oregon and cruise Highway 101 through Florence. I picked up police radar three different times while driving through that small coastal town. That was the highest concentration of police radar, by far, on the Western States trip I took in May.
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S2000 at Oregon Lighthouse

http://www.geocities.com/srnelson_s2000/Day12.html