How to Set Up & Configure Your Escort Max 360c Radar Detector

By Vortex
November 11, 2017
November 11, 2017
17 mins to read

The Escort Max 360c radar detector (buy a Max 360c here) comes with a whole bunch of different features and settings that let you customize it the way you want. Let’s go over all the different settings, explain what everything means, and help you pick the best settings so you can best program your Escort Max 360c radar detector.

Now there’s two ways to program your Max 360c. You can change settings through your detector or through your phone via Escort Live, but some detectors are only available in the detector or only in the app. Personally I find it easier to change things via the app so I’ll run through the settings in the order that the app shows them.

For more information about the Max 360c’s settings, direct from Escort, you can read over the Max 360c Quick Reference Guide.

Max 360c Video Setup Guide

If you’d like to watch a video about the Max 360c settings and see the impact of the different settings in action, here’s the video version of this tutorial:

Max 360C Settings

General Settings

Sensitivity

Adjust the sensitivity of the detector for higher sensitivity and better performance or reduced sensitivity for fewer false alerts.

Highway: Full sensitivity on all bands at all times
Auto: Reduced sensitivity on X and K bands when traveling at low speeds for fewer false alerts around town and full performance when driving on the highway
AutoNoX: Same as Auto mode, but with X band disabled altogether
AutoLoK: Even further reduction of K band sensitivity than Auto mode

Brightness

Adjust the display brightness.

Auto is recommended so that the display automatically gets brighter during the day and darker at night.

You can manually set the brightness levels with Minimum, Medium, and Maximum.

Dark disables the display altogether, including when an alert is detected..

Pilot

Enables or disables the Knight Rider-like scanning bar at the top of the display.

Personally I find the scanning bar a little distracting so I like disabling it and having bigger text and more room on screen for relevant information.

Meter Mode

Choose how radar alerts are presented on screen when they are detected.

Standard: Display both the band and the signal strength of the primary signal.
Standard FR1: Display both the band and the front and rear antenna signal strength of the primary signal, as well as how many signals total are being detected. (See the image above for an example where there is 1 Ka signal ahead.)
Standard FR2: Similar to FR1, except you can see front and rear signal strength for multiple signals.
Spec FR1: Same as Standard FR1, except you also see the frequency of the primary signal.
Spec FR2: Same as Standard FR2, except you also see the frequency of the primary signal.
Expert FR: Display information about up to 4 signals simultaneously including both the band and the front and rear signal strength.
Simple: When a signal is being detected, it displays “Caution” when traveling below the cruise alert limit or “Slow Down” when traveling above the cruise alert limit.

Arrow Mode

Configure how the arrows work, especially when detecting multiple signals simultaneously.

Single: Point towards the primary threat.
Multiple: Point towards multiple threats, blinking towards the primary threat.
Band: Point towards multiple threats, blinking towards the primary threat, and use different colored arrows for different bands. X = green, K = blue, Ka / Laser = red

Auto Mute

Automatically reduce the volume of your detector after a few seconds so that it gets your attention initially and then quiets down after that. You choose how loud or quiet the auto muted volume is or you can disable auto mute altogether and always have it alert at full volume.

Auto Tones

Choose the sounds you hear when an alert is present.

Standard: Traditional Escort alert tones
Standard+: Traditional Escort alert tones with a double-beep when an additional new signal shows up during an alert
Mild: Detector alerts sound like a doorbell chime

ZR3 Mode

Configure laser jammer (shifter) integration with your radar detector. Adjust whether you want your jammers to jam (shift) laser, detect only, or disable them altogether. You can also set the automatic shut-off time where it jams for X seconds and then automatically disarms. I recommend setting it to “Shift 4 Seconds.” Set to Off if not using an Escort laser jammer.

Voice

Choose whether you’d like the detector to announce the band such as “K band,” “Ka band,” or “Laser” during an alert. Disable if you only want to hear the beeps.

Auto Power

If your radar detector is plugged into a power source that always gets power, including when your car is off, this feature allows the detector to automatically power off after a period of time so that it doesn’t drain your vehicle’s battery.

Units

Choose if you want English units (MPH) or Metric units (KM/H).

GPS Filter

Enable GPS-based features and filtering capabilities.

Auto Learn

Auto Learn allows the detector to automatically learn, memorize, and filter out stationary false alerts that you pass repeatedly such as false alerts from speed signs and door openers in shopping centers and grocery stores.

Disable if you want to only lock signals out manually by triple pressing the mute button when in the presence of an X or K band false alert.

Cruise Alert

Low speed muting. When traveling below this speed, your detector will give a short double-beep when detecting an alert and then go silent, keeping the detector extra quiet around town.

Note: When connected to Escort Live, the cruise alert threshold will be replaced with the current speed limit of the road you’re on, information provided via the app.

Over Speed Alert

Alert you if you’re traveling over a preset speed, a handy feature to help you monitor your speed.

Language

Choose the English or Spanish language.

Display Color

Choose your preferred display color to match your vehicle.

Blue, green, red, and amber are available.

Speed on Display

Display your speed on the detector’s screen.

If disabled, it will display your vehicle’s voltage instead.

User Mode

Novice mode allows for only basic customization of the detector such as changing the display color or changing between MPH and KM/H. Radar and laser settings are all set to factory defaults.

Advanced mode allows for full customization of all of the detectors features.

Band Settings

Laser

Enable detection of police laser. Laser alerts are automatically reported to the cloud via Escort Live.

POP

Enable detection of 67 ms Ka band POP radar.This is a specific type of radar designed specifically to allow police officers to monitor a vehicle’s speed while being too fast for a radar detector to alert. However, it’s not something you’ll see in use, it’s not legal to issue tickets, and enabling POP detection on your radar detector only decreases performance to normal radar and increases the number of false alerts you’ll see to POP.

Disabling POP is recommended.

Ka Band

Enable detection of all of Ka band.

Scans for 33.400 – 36.000 GHz.

Note: If you want to enable Ka band segmentation, set Ka Band to Off.

K Band

Enable detection of all of all the K Band frequencies in use the US (with the exception of Redflex).

Scans for 24.050 – 24.250 GHz.

If you’d like to scan below 24.050, disable K Band to enable K Band Segmentation and then make sure K band segment 4 is enabled.

X Band

Enable detection of X band.

X band is actively in use only in OH, NJ, and in a few rural places around the country.

Learn which radar bands are in use in your area.

TSR

Traffic Sensor Rejection. If you have traffic sensors in your area, when you drive down the highway you will see regular K band falses every half a mile or mile or so. These are different from blind spot falses. If you encounter traffic sensor falses, enable TSR to filter out these false alerts.

TSR filters out any brief bursts of radar (ie. traffic sensor radar bursts) which does reduce performance on K band. Enable this if you encounter traffic sensor falses but disable otherwise.

K Band Segmentation

K Band Segmentation is intended for international drivers outside of the US. It allows you to selectively choose which ranges of frequencies on K band that the Max 360c will alert to.

If you live in AZ where the Redflex photo radar SUV’s are in use, you’ll want to use K band segmentation to access segment 4 which is off by default.

To enable K Band segmentation, disable K Band first and then the Max 360c will pay attention to the segments.

K Band Narrow 1: 24.050 – 24.110 GHz
K Band Narrow 2: 24.110 – 24.175 GHz
K Band Narrow 3: 24.175 – 24.250 GHz
K Band Narrow 4: 23.950 – 24.050 GHz

Ka Band Segmentation

Ka Band Segmentation on the Max 360c is a little different than how Escort typically does band segmentation. In this case it’s intended for international drivers, not for use in the US. With the Max series detectors, BS does not impact performance or what frequencies it scans for. It only affects which frequencies the detectors alerts to. You’ll also notice that the default segments are not 2/5/8 like we’d normally use in the US, but rather 3/4/5/8 which is more appropriate for drivers abroad.

To enable Ka Band Segmentation, disable Ka Band first and then the Max 360c will pay attention to the Ka band segments.

Ka Band Narrow 1: 33.400 – 33.700 GHz
Ka Band Narrow 2: 33.700 – 33.900 GHz
Ka Band Narrow 3: 33.900 – 34.200 GHz
Ka Band Narrow 4: 34.200 – 34.600 GHz
Ka Band Narrow 5: 34.600 – 34.800 GHz
Ka Band Narrow 6: 34.800 – 35.160 GHz
Ka Band Narrow 7: 35.160 – 35.400 GHz
Ka Band Narrow 8: 35.400 – 35.600 GHz
Ka Band Narrow 9: 35.600 – 35.840 GHz
Ka Band Narrow 10: 35.840 – 36.000 GHz

MultaRadar CD

The MultaRadar CD is a low powered photo radar gun used primarily in Canada, including Alberta and Quebec. It’s also used in NYC, Maryland, & Washington D.C. If the MRCD is used in your area, turn this setting on. Otherwise leave it off to avoid the unnecessary false alerts.

Note 1: If you don’t see this setting in your detector, be sure to update to the latest firmware version. It was added in firmware 1.12.

Note 2: The Max 360c does not support MRCT detection like the Max 360c International. The MRCT is used in NYC, Chicago, and Dallas. The 360c falses a lot more to MRCT so Escort left it out and instead relies on the GPS-based Defender Database to alert you to MRCT photo cameras.

Marker Settings

Red Light Cameras

Alert you to redlight cameras ahead.

Speed Cameras

Alert you to speed cameras ahead.

Speed Traps

Alert you to known speed traps ahead where police like to commonly hang out.

Other

Alert you to other types of important alerts ahead.

Red Lt Speed Cams

Alert you to redlight cameras that are also speed cameras.

Air Patrol

Alert you to areas where police often run aircraft enforcement.

Device Settings

Radar Settings

Adjust all the radar detector settings we covered here.

Bluetooth Settings

Adjust Bluetooth settings if you’re having issues with your detector connecting to your phone via Bluetooth.

Wi-Fi Settings

Configure the Wi-Fi hotspot and password that your Max 360c will use to connect.

Devices

Connect to your Max 360c if it doesn’t automatically connect or connect to a different Escort radar detector instead.

Settings in the Max 360c

Here’s a few additional important settings that are only available through the detector, not through the app.

K Notch

This helps provide additional filtering against Honda/Acura BSM falses around 24.198’ish GHz. Enabling K Notch will filter out any weak K band signals between 24.190 – 24.210, allowing only very strong signals to punch through. It’s an effective way to help filter out many false alerts that may otherwise cause the detector to alert, but it will reduce range against legitimate signals in this range too.

Clear Locations

Delete different types of stored locations. Press the Mute button to confirm.

Marked: Clear all of your manually marked alerts.
Lockouts: Clear out all of your GPS lockouts.
Defender: Clear all of the Defender database alerts including redlight camera and speed camera alerts.
Format: Clear out all of the above.

Wi-Fi

Enable or disable Wi-Fi functionality.

Off: When Wi-FI is disconnected, the speed limit on the detector’s screen will match the display color.

On: When Wi-Fi is connected, the speed limit on the detector’s screen will be white.

Escort Max 360c radar detector front display

Max 360c connected via Wi-Fi

Bluetooth

Enable or disable Bluetooth functionality.

Auto Update

Choose if you want the Max 360c to automatically update the Defender (RLC/speedcam) database or Firmware/Software when connected via Wi-Fi.

Perform Update

Update the Defender database (RLC/speedcams) or update to the latest software/firmware. Press the Mute button to confirm.

Max 360c Recommended Best Settings

Finally, since always wants to know what the best settings are for the Max 360c, here’s a list of recommended settings to start with. This is a mix of general recommendations plus my own personal preferences. Feel free to customize this further to change the color of the display, use metric units if you need, change the low speed threshold, adjust the auto mute volume level, and modify anything else that best suits you.