Back when I retired from law enforcement and began my new career in the speed counter measurement industry back in 1997 Mike Valentine’s V1 was the very best radar detector on the market.

Since there has been allot of innovation in our industry and it seems that it has flew by Mike unnoticed.

Stealth to the Spectre RDD: The “famous brands” as you like Mike calls Escort and Beltronics were the first (and only company) to figure out how to defeat the Spectre RDD (radar detector detector) with their introduction of the Bel STi.

Mike did place a winning bid on Ebay for a Spectre RDD, but I can only assume it is sitting on his shelf in his lab collecting dust as his V1 can still be detected.

GPS Integration: Then the “famous brands” beat him the punch again with the integration of GPS into their radar detectors with their introduction of the Escort 9500i and the Escort 9500ix.

Long Range Sensitivity: Then last year that “famous brand” Escort company came out with their Redline radar detector which has longer range, sensitivity and filtering then the V1.

Now with 2011 a few months away Mike’s patent on the dual antenna system will expire thus turning his “extraordinary” radar detector as he calls it into ordinary.

But what really leads me to take notice of Mike’s lack of innovation these past years was this recent magazine advertisement that he ran.

It was the same ad that Mike developed over 15 years ago after attending one of Joe Sugarman’s training conferences and published way back then!

Hell, he didn’t even change the testimonials to freshen it up a bit!

Mike has become lazy driving around in his Porsche while his dusty old Spectre sits on his shelf and has reverted to running old magazine ads from 15 years ago.

Those other “famous brands” are famous because of one thing, they INNOVATE!

“Radar” Roy Reyer

The ultimate test for any laser jammer would be to install one on a large motor home or semi truck, well back in 2007 we did just that!

During the 2007 “Guys of Lidar” test we installed four Laser Interceptor laser jammer heads on my 45 foot long Freightliner motor home. To make matters even worse, you will notice during this video that I have a chrome grill along with a chrome mirrored finish storage area just above the cab of the truck.

Side bets were placed and the odds were all stacked up against my rig and the Laser Interceptor being able to have any effect at jamming.

In the first run we were targeted with the LTI UltraLyte 125 PPS laser gun.

Then on the second run we were targeted with the Pro Laser II laser gun

Then on the third run we were targeted with the Speed Laser gun.

All runs were jam to gun!

It was only during the last run where the “Guys of Lidar” pulled out all the stops and shot my rig with all three guns at the same time!

This was the only run where they were able to clock the speed of my rig as I was less than 500 feet of their location.

Back in January we installed Escort’s QI45 radar detector in our Toyota Sequoia and for the past couple months we have logged over 1200 miles and a handful of saves from police radar and laser traps.

As the QI45 is built on the Escort 8500 X50 platform we found the QI45’s overall performance to be equal to the performance and filtering capabilities of the 8500 and the Bel RX65.

As this was my wife’s car one concern that she expressed when I told her that I would be replacing her dash mounted Escort was to make sure that this detector didn’t have a lot of “chatter” otherwise she wouldn’t use it.

After a couple days driving with the QI45 she told me that the detector had already saved her from one ticket and that she liked the fact that the display module was mounted in a location that was easily accessible to her, so when it did alert, she could easily press the mute button.

We also installed the optional Shifter Pack, which provided us with frontal laser jamming capabilities.

The following is my video review of the QI 45 with the optional Shifter Pack:

In my final review of the QI45 radar detector I rate the unit with my highest rating, Five Badges!

If you’re in the market for a remote mounted radar detector and laser jammer that is easy to install and will not break your bank account, then the QI45 would be a top pick!

During my 14 year career in the speed counter measurement industry I’ve perhaps installed over 300 remote mounted radar detectors for clients on everything from cars, trucks, RV’s, motorcycles and even a few tour buses for a few notable rock and roll and country western bands.

Typical installs can take me a couple hours and more complex installs can even take days. So when I heard about the Escort Radar’s claim that the typical install for the QI45 was under 45 minutes, I was a little skeptical.

QI45’s name represents Escort’s commitment to develop a radar detector that any automotive buff could install in under 45 minutes. I.e.; Quick Install 45.

During our installation we also installed Escort’s Shifter Pack during this same install.

Prior to our install we read the user manual and install manual for both units in full and laid out our plans.

We chose to us an “Add a Circuit” to the positive wiring harness so we could plug into an accessory socket in our fuse box. We chose the radio accessory as the detector would activate when we started the car and then turn off when we removed the key.

We then removed the lower portion of our Toyota’s dashboard and installed the controller module by zip tying it to a bracket under the dash.

The front of the antenna of the QI45 has laser diodes for laser detection. Therefore the front of the radar antenna should not be blocked by the grill or any other object. We chose a location in the lower drivers side grill area.

We choose the upper bumper area of our Toyota to mount the two Shifter heads. As we didn’t want to drill into the bumper or grill, we selected 3M double sided automotive tape to secure both the radar antenna and both Shifter heads.

To the rear of the QI45’s antenna, there are two jacks to plug in the Shifter heads.  This is a great feature as typically the cabling for the laser jammer s must be run through the firewall along with the radar detector cable.

Care must be taken to align the plugs to the antenna by aligning two white dots. If this is reversed you could damage your system.

A little tip; tape over the head of the RJ45 plug prior to pushing it through the firewall, this will help protect the little plastic tab on the jack.

Next we installed the display module on the lower right portion of the dashboard.

We then plugged the three RJ45 cables into the controller, screwed down our ground and turned the key.

Within moments the QI45 came to life.

We screwed on the lower portion of the dash, made last minute adjustments to the laser shifter heads and closed the hood. Total time for install, 54 minutes!

The installation of the QI45 easiest remote radar detector install that I’ve ever made and I’m certain that anyone with basic automotive repair skills can do a similar install in under an hour.

The SEMA show, held each November in Las Vegas, is one of my favorite annual automotive events as companies that specialize in speed countermeasure equipment show off their new gadgets designed to outsmart law enforcement speed enforcement technology.

Another plus is that Las Vegas is only an hour and a half flight in my Cessna 182 from our home in Arizona. So on Tuesday, opening day, my wife and I jumped into our bird and headed out.

We lifted off at 7:30 am and with the one hour time change landed at the Henderson Executive Airport at 8:00 am. We tied down the plane, got a rental car and I was at the Las Vegas Convention Center just before the nine o’clock opening.

Blinder Laser Jammers

Outside the convention center I met with Leon Gruner and his wife Bonnie of Blinder USA. Blinder manufactures a device designed to jam police laser.
For those of you not familiar with police laser enforcement let me explain the technology.

Police laser is a very narrow beam of light that of course travels at the speed of light, it is INSTANT!

At 500 feet the beams width is only 18” and when police shoot your car with laser, they normally aim for a reflective area of your car like your front license plate or your headlights.

So if you only have a radar detector mounted on your dash, chances are that your detector will never activate unless it picks up “scatter” and if it does, it’s too late, the officer already has your speed.

I explain laser jamming this way, “Let’s say someone shoots your car with a 5 watt flashlight, you respond by shinning a 50 watt flashlight at them, your flashlight is more powerful and would over power the other flashlight if it had a receiver to calculate speed”

Earlier this year Blinder released their new laser jammers the M-27 and M-47. Modifications included using brighter LED lights and also an interface where you can download the latest software for any new laser guns.

Coyote Interactive Photo Enforcement Detector

A comment I heard at the SEMA show this year was that new photo enforcement cameras are spreading faster than the H1N1 virus, as many cities and states have found a quick way a new to generate money without increasing taxes.

Several years ago the stand alone GPS photo enforcement camera devices hit the market place and then two years ago radar detector manufactures included this technology into their radar detectors. These devices would warn you as you approached a fixed photo enforcement camera such as photo radar or red light cameras with an audible and visual alert.

The one major drawback with these devices was the mobile photo radar vans that are moved, sometimes on a daily or even hourly basis.

Trapster then emerged on the scene, building a social network of users that would notify each other via their iPhone or Blackberry of photo enforcement locations or other high enforcement locations.

Coyote is NOW coming on the scene, merging these two technologies into one device, an interactive GPS photo enforcement detector. Coyote’s system is due to launch February of 2010.

Escort Redline Radar Detector

This summer I had the opportunity to take the Redline for a 8,000 mile cross country review testing the unit against the New Jersey X band radar guns, to Sturgis South Dakota mounted on my “Stealth Hog” Harley Davidson motorcycle, and in my RV across the southwest.

The Redline was developed to take over the long range category that has been dominated by Valentine One.

During a Speed Measurement Laboratories long range test that was held this past summer the Redline outperformed every radar detector in this class.

The one thing I liked about the Redline was the units ability to sniff out the mobile Redflex Ka band mobile photo radar vans that have overtaken Arizona and a few other states.

Passport SC55 GPS Photo Enforcement Detector

Do you have a Valentine One, Escort 8500, Whistler Pro 78 or any other radar detector that you would want to integrate a GPS photo enforcement database into? If so the new Passport SC55 will allow just that.

Designed to integrate into virtually any radar detector on the market today, you simply plug the two units into each other, turning your Escort 8500 X50 into an Escort 9500i or your RX65 into a GX65.

You instantly give your detector a brain so it can now alert to these deadly photo radar and red light cameras.

Passport QI45 Remote Mounted Radar Detector

The Escort Passport QI 45 is a new remote mounted radar detector based upon the design of the Escort 8500 X50.

Unlike more complex remote mounted radar detectors, the QI45 is very simple in its design in that it only has three modules, the antenna that is mounted in the grill, the controller that is mounted under the dash and the display that mounts on the dash.

There is only one wire that you need to feed through the firewall and install can take as little as 30 to 45 minutes!

If you want to install their laser jammer; no problem, the laser heads plug into the rear of the antenna and each head could be installed in under 5 minutes.

As a motorcyclist, I thought of how simple this set up could be to set up a remote mounted radar detector and laser jammer to your motorcycle.

Rocky Mountain Radar

What would a SEMA show be without me poking a little fun at Rocky Mountain Radar?

Well after being successful at getting Michael Churchman kicked out of Best Buy I made a promise to myself that I would lay low.

When I arrived at the SEMA show I was approached by several of the other manufacture reps that Michael Churchman was present at this year’s show and that he was asking if I was going to show up.

Mike had missed the last two years at both SEMA and CES after I sat down with him at a bar at the Stratosphere three years ago and he made the comment that he didn’t care if his C-450 radar jammer worked or not and that he didn’t have the balls enough to take me up on my $50,000 challenge.

So this year I had only planned to take a quick peek at what new devices RMR was scamming the uninformed corporate buyers with and then follow-up with our online campaign to educate these potential new clients.

I noticed that the RMR booth was still missing the Plexiglas display with the police radar gun and the little car with their radar scrambler attached. This had gone missing after I approached Rual, their head engineer, a few years back with cash in hand in challenging them to my test with TV cameras from the UPN network rolling.

During their segment, they proved that Michael’s little display was misleading and potentially defrauding the public as the Plexiglas display did not allow anyone to move the scrambler more than a few inches from the feed horn of the radar gun. In other words the RMR radar jammers would not work against any police radar gun, unless the officer was literally sitting on the hood of your car, with the feed horn of the radar gun against your windshield and the detector within two to three inches from the gun.

With our economy appearing to being on track to recovery, I was pleased to see at this year’s SEMA show that the Speed Counter measurement Industry was strong and developing new products.

Flight Home

Margie and I spent the night catching “Jersey Boys” and flew out the following morning.

A cold front came beat us to our airpark with winds gusting to 25 knots, so we had to divert to Wickenburg Airport (E25) and called a friend to pick us up.

A few hours later I returned when the winds calmed down and flew our bird back to its nest here at our home:

August 14, 2009 – Morristown, Az

On July 31, 2009 I received my first response regarding my complaint that I had forward to the Federal Communication Commision regarding Best Buy marketing and selling illegal radar jammers/scramblers on their website from United States Senator John McCain in where he thanked me for brining this violation to his attention.

Then today I received a letter from Jamie L. Friede a Customer Relations Specialist from Best Buy.

Mr. Freide writes “As I’m sure that you understand, radar detectors are not illegal in all states that while we most certainly respect your position as well as your cause, we will be able to sell these items legally on BestBuy.com to customers”

I assume from Mr. Freide’s response that he didn’t take the time to read that my concern as it was not that BestBuy.com was selling radar detectors, but devices manufactured by Rocky Mountain Radar and marketed as radar scramblers.

The Federal Communications Act of 1934 as amended makes it illegal to market/sell/advertise devices to jam police radar and other RF devices.

Infact, the FCC had cited numerous other retailers for selling the exact same items.

In response, I wrote the following letter in which I outline

1. I agreed that radar detectors are not illegal in all fifty states; however the item(s) that he is selling on his BestBuy.com website is advertised as “Radar Scramblers” which IS illegal in all fifty states!
2. Other retailers who have sold and/or marketed these devices have been cited by the Federal Communications Commission for selling these identical products under Section 503(b)(5) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C 503(b)(5) the marketing in the United States certain police radar jamming devices which include;Buy.com, RadarJammers.com, the Twister Group, Hoeffener International, Hilton AG, LTD, Global Trade Group LTD and Electronic Retail Solutions.
3. That El Paso Better Business Bureau lists an unsatisfactory record against Rocky Mountain Radar based upon a total of 21 complaints filed during a 36 month period.
4. The slews of complaints filed against Rocky Mountain Radar and President Michael Churchman with the US Federal Trade Commission, several of which address the deceptive advertising Rocky Mountain Radar uses.
5. The numerous television news reports about Rocky Mountain Radar’s deceptive advertising practices that have aired on ABC’s 20/20, CBS Good Morning, Extra, WREG-TV, KWWL-TV and the UPN Network.
6. That I personally offer a $50,000.00 reward to ANYONE that can show me a product from Rocky Mountain Radar that works as they advertise in jamming/scrambling radar.

And that;

• Marketing/selling the RMR-C435 and RMR- C450 on their web site, listed as a “fully integrated scrambler” Best Buy is in violation of 47 U.S.C. 302(b) and SS 333 as your company is marketing for sale the use of RF devices designed to intentionally jam and/or interfere with licensed radio services or other RF devices, specifically law enforcement radar equipment.
• And by continuing to market the RMR-C450 and RMR-C435 Best Buy has certainly lowered its concern for its customers by partnering with a company with such a mired reputation.

My family and I are continuing our boycotting of their stores and we asking for your help!

Jamie Friede can be reached at:

Best Buy Customer Care
P.O. Box 9312
Minneapolis, Mn 55440
888-237-8289

Escort and Beltronics had taken over the long range arena several years ago, first with the introduction of the Bel STi-R and then with the Escort 9500ci both of which are remote mounted units and immune to all RDDs.

However many radar detector enthusiasts or “V1 Zombies” that they are sometimes referred to on the popular RadarDetector.net forum discounted Escort and Beltronics achievements as this technology had not been followed through with their M3 platform dash mounted radar detectors.

But then in June of this year rumors began leaking out in the radar detector community about some new extreme long range radar detector that Escort was working on.

A few days later I spoke with one of my contacts at Escort and pressed for more information. He confirmed that they were starting production of a new radar detector unit called the Redline which he compared to a high performance race car stripped of all the bells and whistles found on the Escort 9500ix.

He related that Escort took used their knowledge and knowhow utilized in developing the M4 platform and integrated this into the Redline to develop a dash mounted unit that would be unmatched by any other radar detector currently in production in both range and sensitivity while also being completely stealth to all radar detector detectors (RDDs).

I told him about a planned business trip that I had scheduled in a few weeks to the east coast and of my vacation to Sturgis SD. He related that they would overnight me one of their first units as soon as one became available.

A couple days prior to my trip to the east coast the UPS truck showed up with a spanking new Redline and I packed it up for my trip, thinking that this would be a great opportunity to review the Redline’s performance against the New Jersey State Troopers X band guns.

My first encounter with X band was while I was northbound on the Parkway in Bloomfield NJ. When the Redline first alerted two bars and three miles later increased to five bars, I felt confident that I had scored my first NJ State Trooper. As I approached the state police barracks the Redline was at full alert.

I pulled into their parking lot and at the far end, at the full pumps sat an unoccupied trooper’s car.

I continued north to Route 3 then onto the New Jersey Turnpike south. While on the Turnpike I encountered two more New Jersey State Troopers that were operating X band. In each of these encounters the Redline began alerting several miles away and as I approached the signal gradually ramped up to full alert.

I then headed back to the Garden State Parkway north, and then headed into New York and onto Connecticut.

During my east coast trip the Redline gave me ample warning against K and Ka threats, but how would had these compared to the Valentine, I had to find out.

After returning home I called a “V1 Zombie” that lives in the Phoenix area and made him a deal. If he would let me borrow his new V1 for the next few weeks I’d allow him to test out a new radar detector after its official release announcement, he agreed.

My next journey, Sturgis South Dakota for the 69th annual motorcycle rally .I loaded up my forty five foot Freightliner with my “Stealth Hog” and mounted the V1 on the right hand corner of the passenger windshield and the Redline on the left hand corner of the driver’s windshield to allow for maximum separation as to reduce the chances of any crossover interference.

Perhaps the greatest threat to “lead footed” motorists like myself in Arizona are the Redflex photo radar vans that the state has contracted with for automated traffic enforcement.

When these Redflex vans first made their appearance last year in Arizona, you stood a fair chance of detecting them with a good radar detector. However, it appears since that they have fine tuned their system using lower powered emissions while also changing the polarity.

Making my way north through Arizona and onto New Mexico, I encountered seven of the Redflex photo radar vans.

In each encounter the Redline alerted first of up to a distance of 100 feet prior to the Valentine One.

Outside of Williams Arizona the V1 scored one against the Redline. There was an Az DPS officer parked in the medium using instant on K band. The V1 alerted a second prior to the Redline alerting to this threat.

Later that same afternoon a similar situation occurred when the V1 alerted a second prior to the Redline on short distance instant on Ka.

While traveling up to South Dakota through New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming we encountered a total of eleven verified K and Ka hits, eight of which the Redline alerted to prior to the V1 and during one encounter they alerted simultaneously.

In several of these encounters the difference in range was very noticeable. In one constant on K band encounter in Colorado the Redline had a quarter mile advantage.

After my arrival in South Dakota I installed the Redline radar detector on my Harley Davidson Ultra Glide Screamin Eagle edition that has been dubbed “The Stealth Hog”.

I spent the following week riding over 1200 additional miles through the Black Hills of South Dakota, northwest through Wyoming and Montana to the outskirts of Yellowstone Park, then into North Dakota and finally south back to the Sturgis.

My most interesting Redline experience while it was installed on the Stealth Hog was actually while it was parked in Redford SD, population 25.

Roshford is at the end of a fourteen mile paved county road and is a popular spot for bikers attending the Sturgis bike rally because of the “unofficial” burn out competitions that take place in front of the community store/bar.

Typically officers from the South Dakota Highway Patrol and the local Sheriff’s Office set up radar enforcement on a ridge overlooking the area and once they hear the squealing of the tires and see black smoke they converge down the hill with their ticket books.

The riders coming into Redford were all reporting the road was clear and plans were underway to start that morning’s competition.

As my bike was parked directly infront of the bar and the staging area, I thought it was prudent to move it.

As I started it up and pulled out from my spot, the Redline was full tilt K band!

I flagged one of the participants that was lining his bike up that there was an officer laying in wait somewhere in the area.

About ten minutes later a group came into town on their ATVs advising those in the staging area that there was a deputy’s SUV parked on a ridge overlooking the town, about a half mile out.

On my return trip home from Sturgis I had another unique encounter while driving through Mohab Utah.

In this encounter the Redline programmed in spec mode, where it alerts by the frequency not the band. The Redline first alerted 24.128 (K band) and then alerted 35.75 (Ka Band) and then went back to 24.128 (K band).

A few hundred feet later the V1 alerted, also reporting a double boggie.

Halfway through town I noticed the familiar glow of a speed trailer, but again the frequency changed on the Redline to 35.75 and then back to 24.128.

After I passed the trailer the signal strength decreased on 24.128 but then went full alert 35.75!

I then spotted a white and green patrol unit a few hundred feet after the trailer on the west side of the roadway.

During the course of this review of the Redline, I logged over 8,000 miles travelling through 13 states driving passenger vehicles, a commercially rated motor home, and on a high performance motorcycle.

In over 80% of the encounters when it went head to head with the Valentine One the Redline came out on top.

Another area where the Redline came out on top is filtering. I do give Valentine Research credit by improving their filtering capabilities after Automotive Weekly dubbed the V1 as the “Chicken Little of radar detectors” in 2005.

However the Redline reigns champ in this area, as an example; while traveling through remote areas of Utah the V1 alerted over 12 times to what I suspect were other radar detectors in my immediate area. The Redline only alerted three times to what I would label as a false alert during my entire South Dakota trip.

The Redline has become a permanent fixture on my high performance Screamin Eagle Harley Davidson, but would I recommend the Redline for everyone?  No!

As the tech I spoke with when I first became introduced to the Redline, he referred to it as a high performance race car stripped of all the bells and whistles found on the 9500ix.

Living in an area that is saturated with photo radar enforcement I find that the Escort 9500ix is a better alternative as it comes equipped with the photo enforcement database.

Also as my normal area where I drive is in a more urban environment where false alerts are more prevalent I find the GPS filtering capabilities of the 9500ix very refreshing.

However, if you’re a “road warrior” with a spending a majority of your time travelling interstate highways, have a CDL (Commercial Drivers License), or drive in areas where radar detectors are illegal and need a “stealth radar detector” immune to all RDD’s then yes, the Redline is hands down the worlds best super charged extreme long range radar detector made today!

In Part II of the Radar Detector Laws FAQ video I discuss the federal and state laws regarding radar and laser jammers.

I also discuss the the Phantom RCD active radar jammer and the Veil Stealth coating.

Many of you perhaps already know that radar detectors are legal for use in passenger cars in all fifty states with the exception of Virginia and Washington D.C.

But did you know that radar detectors are illegal on all military bases and in commercial vehicles and that some states have cited drivers for having a radar detector attached to their windshield because of visual obstruction laws?

I’ve just completed part two of my radar detector and jammer FAQ video and in this video I discuss the laws regarding the various laws in the USA regarding radar detectors.

Many of you that have been following my radar detector videos over the past eight years have contacted me asking about the new dual camera system that we’ve been using.

As I do several video reviews each month I needed a dual camera system that I could use that would be able to focus on the product that I’m testing and another camera focusing on the operator of the vehicle for commentary.

Another major consideration I had was having a system that I could easily interchange between our different vehicles and my plane.

As a pilot, I found that having a video useful in my ongoing training so I could critic my landings and take offs, but also a great tool to capturing the scenery during my flights.

After doing some exhaustive research and speaking with professionals in the industry, we chose the dual DVR camera system developed by DataToys, a company that specializes in the motorsport video industry and who have developed aviation and automotive video systems for the military, government agencies and aviation.

For the application in our Cessna 182 we mounted one camera under the wing and the other inside the cabin, mounting the DVR system under the rear seat.

Then in only a few minutes we are able to move the entire system to any of our test vehicles unplugging the cameras and the DVR from the plane and reinstalling it in our test cars for our radar detector tests.

If you’re in the market for a high quality and simple to use video recording system for your car, truck, motorcycle or plane, I encourage you to check out the DataToys.com website