Daniel Svt Bob here. You have done your home work. The passport 8500 is the winner with high test scores in several tests.It seems slim enough to fit above the rear view mirror.Could you tell where you drilled a hole to tap in to the over head console. And what color wires you tapped in to for a positive and ground?Thanks again for your help. Bob. you can leave me a post here or contact me at Ditkamanz@ yahoo.com

 

I didn't end up needing to drill a hole for the hardwire...Passports cable was a flat one, so it fed through the edge that hit the roof fabric really easy. I left all the extra cable up inside of the upper console, there was space around the compas/temp circuit board.

Hrm, the color I tapped...mmmm, I can't remember directly off the top of my head, I used a volt meter to find which one passed out 12v...there were only two hot leads up there, a 10v and a 12v... I *THINK* it was orage with a yellow stripe? But I can't remember off the top of my head. It was one of the four corner wires of the harness. There was also the factor of the ground cable...there are no good grounding points up there (painted cab) and the two screws holding the console up are brass. I tapped into the consoles ground.. (one of the other four corners). Believe it was black with a red stripe? I used those little snap-on side-wire splice jobbies from radio shack to hook'm up.

I'll have to see if I can take it apart today, but I'm not sure if I will have the time. I will take some pics of it though assembled for you.

Thanks,

Daniel

 

Oh, one thing that is also cool is that both Escort and Valentine have a 30-day no-questions asked money-back guarentee. So if you decide you don't like it, you can easily return it.

I actually tried both before I kept the 8500. I like the directional on the V-1, but I liked the over package (smaller size), the beep sounds and the display of the 8500 better.

Daniel

 

Here's some pics:

New Pics

Daniel

[This message has been edited by thepawn (edited 03-10-2001).]