The 9500ci sells for $1599.95 USD so around $1890 inc GST in Australia. We have sold 3 of these so far to previous customers.
$1300 on eBay? Would have to be in US dollars? Well you will always find stuff cheaper on ebay.
The 9500ci sounds awesome but typical of stupid Bel / Escort (Escort owns Beltronics) they didn't quite make it perfect. There is no one damn detector that does EVERYTHING.
For example the GPS lockout is great, but there are no plans to have an Australian database available of fixed speed and red light cameras.
Also the 9500ci does not have Ka-narrow like the Bel STi-R does!
You also cannot use the 9500ci without the laser jammers connected, so it's not available as a radar detector only.
The jammers can be set to detect only (not jam) but you still must have them connected.
Initial tests show a detection range of only 100 - 200m on Multanovas, so not very good
By comparison, the STi-R gets 400+ m warning with it's Ka-narrow filter (and they both use the same antenna)
As far as the initial news story goes, yes it was a lovely waste of tax payers money spending $4k on a radar detector detector when the only RDs being used in NSW are the Bel STi's.
I happen to **cough** know someone whom has one of these Radar Detector Detectors if anyone needs more info.
Lastly laser jamming on the 9500ci:
The 9500ci uses the ZR4 jammer from Escort which has two heads up front and a single rear head. The jammer is a LED based one thou (like the Blinder, GF100 and M18) so it is not as powerful as the diode based jammers like the Laser Interceptor, Anti-Laser and Laser Pro Park.
Initial tests from Escort dealers seemed to favour the results from the 9500ci's jammers, but some independent tests from hobbyists in the US showed that it, like all LED based jammers, has it's weaknesses.
The Guys of Lidar in the USA run independant tests each year and have one coming up at some stage this year (I am forbidden to say when) and they will be doing an in depth test of most of the jammers out there.