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
Having the honor as being one of the first in the speed counter measure industry to review this detector prior to its release, I seized the opportunity and installed it in my 2005 Columbia Freightliner.
I then ran the antenna wire into the cab area through the driver’s door floorboard area, up the side floorboard, up to the overhead storage compartments.
After all of the detector’s modules were installed, I then connected the interface and the external powered speaker to my trucks power supply.
With the LED display and the external powered speaker being in the upper driver’s storage area, the main display was totally stealth to prying eyes. However I could easily see the display from my driver’s position behind the wheel when it activated and with the external mounted speaker’s deafening alert beeps I could easily hear it over the roar of the engine even with the XM radio cranked up to full volume.
We choose to use heavy duty double sided 3M automotive double sided tape that is available through NAPA and not the supplied antenna mount, so we wouldn’t need to drill into the front bumper area. We mounted the antenna below the front bumper in the bottom grill.
I really appreciated the two part LED and controller and their small size, as I was allowed to mount the LED display closer to the main instrument panel. The LED display also has a photo sensor installed to the front that allows it to automatically adjust for brightness.
The final step in our install was to run the power cables from the speaker and the interface to the controller and power up.
For me the rally was a great opportunity to meet and know 150 people that I had never met before. Sure there were blow-ups; one sponsor threw a tantrum after the judges discounted his team’s bonus points and one team was caught cheating as one member at a checkpoint was emailing the photo to the other driver at check in. But all in all, during the rally the majority of the contestants played fair and had a great time.
At MP 1, we pulled off the Highway and went to a “Terrible Herbs” gas station to buy a California newspaper for our state sign photo. The clerk told us that they didn’t sell any California papers and the next station was fifteen miles down the road.
Twenty miles later, we pulled off the interstate into the small desert community of Baker and located the Mad Greek Restaurant. We had a bystander photograph us standing in front and we then took a short ten minute break.
At 12:45 PST we arrived at the Route 66 Museum and between Bob and me we purchased over $200.00 worth of stuffed animals and books to give to a sick child in the hospital. We then proceeded to the original Taco Bel restaurant drive through and ordered some cold drinks. Here the clerk told us that we had to go back to the location of the museum to find the Chamber office to obtain our next clue.
Utilizing my iPhone, we located an address for the Banana Museum in Hesperia California, programmed it into our GPS and headed back south on I-15.
Arriving at the Walk of Fame, I found a tour guide selling flyers, handed him a ten and asked where “Sammy’s” photo was. He pointed a block down so I ran with iPhone in hand, snapped my own photo and headed back to our illegally parked car.
Batman and Robin also complemented the 
Once they laid eyes on the Bat Mobile, students twenty deep circled. Neil the owner and driver of the Bat Mobile fired up the rear jet engine (a large propane burner) and a four foot blue and yellow flame blew out of the rear. Neil then loaded up the rocket launcher and shot a projectile across the parking lot. All the students applauded and cheered.
So today our arsenal was whittled down to our old trusty 
At 11:40 MST we arrived at the Arizona New Mexico border pulled off the exit and drove to the Tee Pee Cigar store. Bob stripped down to his under ware, put on his cowboy boots and head dress and sat at the front door for his picture.
After snapping the welcome sign we headed for the corner in Winslow Arizona.
We entered Winslow at and I drove to the corner of 2nd and Kinsley and located the Fireball Staff tent. Before we could receive our stamp, we were told that someone from our car had to sing the tune that put Winslow on the map. I started signing and a member of the Winslow Chamber asked me to stop because if anyone heard me, they would take the town off the map, she then gave us our sticker.
After arriving in Flagstaff we got on Old Route 66 and drove to the Arizona DPS center. A few minutes after arriving we spotted a trooper. I badged him requesting a photo and he obliged.
Bob and I had made up some valuable time while on 93 from Kingman and we had passed a third of the group up prior to our arrival at the Dam. I knew that these Fireballers didn’t think of getting their newspaper in Kingman so they would be forgoing today’s state sign bonus points. However this would give them an opportunity to catch up with us.