My family and I have such loyal customers of Best Buy that they rewarded us with a Premier Silver RewardZone card. But tonight I came close to shredding it when I found that they were selling Rocky Mountain Radar’s products on their website, therefore I’m boycotting their stores and asking for your help!

Evidently the buyers for Best Buy never performed their due diligence on Mr. Churchman because if they did they would had learned about slew of complaints filed against him with the Federal Trade Commission and the El Paso Better Business Bureau.

They may had also found television news documentaries such as ABC’s 20/20, CBS Good Morning, Extra or the WWOR-TV news story where I issued my $50,000.00 challenge with cash in hand.

During the WWOR report I approached Raul, the head engineer of RMR at their display booth with a wad of $100.00 bills in hand. With cameras rolling I challenged Raul to prove to the news media and I that their product worked as advertised in the parking lot where off duty Las Vegas Metro police officers were set up with radar guns. Raul stated “Our product will not work in a parking lot”! I then offered to do the test on any street in the Las Vegas area he shook his head no!

My first cause of action tonight after confirming that Best Buy was selling these illegal devices was to write and mail the following letter to Michael Carowitz, the Chief of Staff of Enforcement at the Federal Communications Commission.

In this letter I reminded Mr. Carowitz of our nine year crusade, his agency’s enforcement actions and how we’ve had enlisted the help of Senator Kay Hutchison of Texas to take up our cause.

I also commented on how our supporters took action when Radio Shack decided to carry the Rocky Mountain Radar products and a wave of complaints and boycotts followed suit that overwhelmed the customer service department.

Therefore I’m begging anyone that is reading this post to take the following action to encourage Best Buy to reconsider their decision and remove the Rocky Mountain Radar products by:

1) Contacting Best Buy Customer Support alerting them of this post using these venues:

a) Their Community Forum:

b) By telephone; 1-888-237-8289

c) Website Contact Page

2) Alerting your friends and family through social media and posting a link to this article on;

a) Twitter

b) Facebook

c) MySpace

3) Bookmark, Digg, post information about this post with;

a) Digg

b) Stumble

c) or any other forum or social media properties you maybe active with

4) Contact United States Senator Kay Hutchison of Texas letting her know that the Federal Communications Commission has failed in its follow-up against Michael Churchman and Rocky Mountain Radar: http://hutchison.senate.gov/contact.cfm

5) Email your complaint to the Federal Communications Commission with a link to this post at; fccinfo@fcc.gov

6) And last, but not least contact Rocky Mountain Radar and let Michael Churchman know that OUR crusade continues:

a) Email Form

b) Telephone: 915-587-0307

c) Fax: 915-587-6408

ALSO PLEASE ADD YOUR COMMENTS BELOW!

http://budurl.com/9epv

The review opens up with a photo of the an Escort 9500ix and the Cobra XRS 9955 side by side on the windshield and then in his opening copy writes, “After living with each unit successively for several weeks”

Therefore this photo and his opening suggests to me that he did this test with both radar detectors this three week period with them side by side. There is no way that you can perform a radar detector test like this, especially one being a Cobra, one of the “leakiest” radar detectors ever made!

Radar detectors emit RFI (radio interference). The radar detectors would react to this RFI in either of two ways; reduce the sensitivity of the radar detector as attempts to filter out the source of the RFI, or the detector would see the RFI and report it as a false alert.

Then if you click on the photo you will see that the detector he tested was infact an Escort 9500ix and not an Escort 9500i.

Then if you read further in the article you will see that he obtained the unit on Amazon for “just over $400.00”

Well number one, the 9500ix has a blue display and not a red display and secondly the MSP from ALL AUTHORIZED ESCORT DEALERS is $499.95

Therefore the detector that was tested was NOT NEW or purchased from an authorized Escort dealer.

On my blog and on RadarDetector.net I have published several articles documenting unauthorized dealers selling used and/or refurbished units as new. Based upon the writer of this review, I can only assume that he fell victim to a “Slezebay” dealer.

Then the review says “No one, short of a government agency, has the resources to thoroughly evaluate all the detectors on the market.. “I guess he didn’t learn in journalism school to never paint yourself in a corner by never saying never”

If he took the time and did his research before he published his review he would has found our forum www.RadarDetector.net and/or my blog www.RadarRoy.com.

Today we have over 531,298 members which over 11,000 are active radar detector enthusiasts! Together we have published over 44,577 posts reviewing virtually every radar detector ever made starting from the “Fuzzbuster” to the “Cheap Ass Radar Detectors” to the newer GPS enabled units.

This review is so poorly thought-out that I’m troubled that such a prestigious magazine as Automobile allows it to be published on their forum.

What do you think? If you agree or disagree with me I’d love to hear from you and would ask that you do the following:

Comment to this posting

Go to the article on Automobile Magazine website and make your comments

Overall the performance of the radar detector was equal to the XRS 9955 unit that I tested a week earlier. Most of my driving during this review was all highway miles and logging 100 or a so blatant false alerts was a significant improvement over Cobra’s other models I have tested.

The range and sensitivity of the detector was equivalent to other radar detectors in the $200.00 to $250.00 class, giving me advanced warning to slow down to speed traps that were ahead.

However, there was one instance that was a close call. While driving south on I-17 I did get a Ka alert just seconds before I spotted the officer. I did have my Escort 9500ix at this same time and it alerted in expert mode that the officer was using 33.5 Ka a couple hundred feet before the Cobra unit.

I experienced the same problem with the windshield mount of the 9960g as I did with the 9955 in that every few hours the suction cups would come lose and the detector would fall from the windshield onto the dash.

This was my first chance to compare Cobra’s Aura GPS database to the Trinity and during my week’s test found that Cobra’s unit alerted to each fixed automated traffic enforcement camera I encountered.

Overall I would rate the radar detector performance as three badges and give high marks to their proprietary GPS database!

Radar Roy’s Rating – Three Stars

During this event, as I was “Fireballing” down I-10 just outside of Baton Rouge, I powered up Cobra’s first GPS based unit. But only fifteen minutes later, after listening to continual false alerts, I pealed it off the windshield and tossed it to the rear of our car.

This year, while I was at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) checking out their new line up (their gorgeous assistants and radar detectors) something inside of me told me that perhaps I should give the Cobra brand another shot and do a full review of their products for 2009. So last week a case of various Cobra radar detectors arrived at my office.

The first thing that caught my eye as I pulled each unit out of the box was Cobra’s claim of their new units having “fifteen band detection.”

I’m sure that you’ve had a difficult time believing someone after you caught them in a “little white lie” as I feel the same way too. But giving them a chance to explain I read the fine print on the back.

Two Safety Systems:
Safety Alert and Strobe Alert, ok, I’ll agree to these two. The Strobe Alert is a great feature that alerts to the flashing strobe emitters of emergency vehicles. And then Safety Alert, although not in widespread use is a great feature that warns of approaching hazards.

Six laser signals?
Listed are six models of laser guns that the XRS995 detects, all of which are within the same spectrum (band).

Seven radar signals?
Ok I can see listing X, K, Ka and even Ku, even though it’s not used in the USA. But listing VG2, the Spectre 1 and the Spectre IV?

But I maintained an open mind as I stuck the XRS9955 onto my windshield for six days of driving around the Phoenix area.

During my radar detector tests I always try to keep the unit programmed in the highway mode. This mode offers the best sensitivity to pick up police radar at longer distances. However in this mode you often are bombarded with false alerts which are the chief complaints of radar detector owners.

However, I was pleasantly surprised of the low quantity of false alerts I did receive with this unit. Sure when I was in close proximity of a grocery store or other establishment that had the automatic door openers the unit did alert. But I do not consider these alerts as false, as they transmit on the same frequencies of police radar.

Also when operated in this mode the Cobra XRS 9955 performed well at sniffing out police radar traps encountered on K and Ka that were a respectable distance away.

I found that the “DataGrafix” display was very easy to see even in Arizona’s blinding sun.  The graphic alerts and notification was also a cool feature showing an image of a radar gun and band as it was alerting along with a signal strength meter that has multi colored balls.

One persistent problem I did have with the XRS9955 that I would attribute to Cobra’s small suction cups and the stiff suspensions of my truck, that the detector would frequenty fall off the windshield.

Overall I would rate my driving experience over the past six days with the XRS9955 from fair to good in radar performance.

So today I decided it was time to see how the XRS9955 would fair against my arsenal of laser guns on the airstrip in front of my home. The detector did a fair job in identifying the laser alert when vehicle was over 800 feet away. But as I would expect with any dash mounted radar detector, as the vehicle came in closer proximity to the laser source and the beam width narrowed, the detector had difficulties in alerting.

Next the Spectre testing, I have both the Spectre II and the Spectre III. The only reason I even considered doing this test was to validate Cobra’s claim of complete undetectablilty to the Spectre I and its ability to alert to the Spectre I through IV.

Well I’m disappointed to report that both my Spectre I and III sniffed out the XRS9955 and that the Cobra never chirped an alert.

But overall, I can honestly say that the XRS9955’s overall performance is compatible other radar detectors in its price category and that the added features of its compass and display are an added bonus.

Radar Roy’s Rating – Three Stars

As I approached their booth I noticed that they had a faux speed camera with flash mounted on a pole and standing in close proximity were three gorgeous gals all dressed in short black skirts wearing silver police badges.

As I entered the booth one of these beautiful ladies approached with a ticket in hand saying that I’ve been “snapped” and wanted my name so I could be entered into a contest to win a free radar detector. I declined the free detector (as I have plenty already) but she then invited me to watch a video presentation about their new 2009 line up.

Of course I couldn’t refuse as she sat me down and I watched their three minute video explaining photo speed camera and red light camera enforcement and their new “Aura” automated camera alert database.

I have to hand it to Cobra this was the best speed counter measure presentation that I’ve ever attended in all my years at SEMA and CES! Great job guys and gals…..

This evening my chapter of Arizona Choirboy’s Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club had a meeting in Phoenix and since I have been fighting off a nasty cough, I decided to plug in the Cobra XRS 9430 into my truck and head off to the meeting using the route I established for my “low priced radar detector review.”

The Cobra XTS-9430 retail price is $119.95 and is a corded all band radar detector.

Again as noted in previous reviews of Cobra products, the XRS 9430 uses what I feel is somewhat deceptive advertizing as they list the detector as being a 12 band radar detector as they split and call features found on other manufacturing brands as bands.

First up on my route, was the K band trailer that the Wickenburg Police Department placed on SR93 around the corner from my home.
The trailer is located approximately 1500 feet after a banking right turn at the bottom of a hill. During previous testing an Escort 9500i alerted approximately 3000 feet north of the trailer and a Cobra XRS 9830 alerted 1500 feet away.

Today the XRS 9430 alerted at the same location as the XRS 9830 alerted a day earlier at the 1500 foot mark.

As noted in earlier tests at this distance and depending upon traffic flow and speed, it is debatable if either of the Cobra units would have given me enough time to avoid the kill zone.

I headed south to Interstate 10 through a sparsely populated area on Vulture Mine Road that is void of devices that would activate a false alert on a radar detector.  During this 25 mile leg the XRS 9430 logged in over 19 false alerts.

During this next leg, I headed to the downtown Phoenix area on I-10 without having any law enforcement I encounters.

After my meeting, I headed north on I-17 to the Carefree Highway west.

Just west of the entrance of Lake Pleasant, the detector alerted Ka. In the shadows of an access road I observed a White SUV that I suspect was a MCSO Lake Patrol Deputy running constant on radar. The detector alerted at a distance of 1600 feet away and although I may have been outside the officers kill zone, if I was speeding ten miles over, I wouldn’t have had enough time to slow down.

Once inside the town limits of Wickenburg on a Saturday night, the detector alerted to several K and Ka constant on alerts.

The first was from an unmarked SUV that was approaching my direction. I was in the downtown area where the speed is reduced to only 25. The detector alerted as the SUV completed a turn and was facing directly at me at a distance of 800 feet.

The second alert was several blocks west of this first encounter where I received a K band alert and observed a marked patrol unit parked in a lot across from a convenience store at distance less than one block.

The third was another K alert west of town where a patrol car was facing away from my direction, parked in a supermarket parking lot.

In the first encounter I strongly feel that I would have been tagged by the officer if I would have been speeding. In the second encounter it was a tossup and in the last encounter it would have been a win as the officer was pointed away from my direction of travel.

I feel that the overall performance and filtering of the Cobra XRS 9430 was fair with no chief complaints.  However as noted with other detectors in this same price point because the range is so limited there are occasions where you may find yourself in a situation where a low priced radar detector will not provide the adequate range and sensitivity to warn of an approaching threat.

Radar Roy’s Badge Rating – Two Badges

Yesterday afternoon I installed the Cobra XRS9830 into my pickup for its road test for my “Low Priced Radar Detector Review”

The Cobra XRS9830 retail price is $209.95 and is a corded all band radar detector.

Again, Cobra uses what I would consider misleading advertising on their packaging indicating that the XRS9830 is a 12 band “ultra” radar detector. The detector has X, K and Ka bands which are the standard bands used in the USA along with laser. However the detector also has Ku which is a European radar band and sliced up the laser band into four segments and add the capability to detect POP as one band, the ability to detect Spectre as a band, the ability to detect VG2 as a band, strobe alert as a band and then safety alert as a band. Their 12 band advertising could lead a unsuspecting buyer that the Cobra units deliver more than other models on the market which is completely untrue.

Yesterday morning prior to my testing of the XRS9830, the Wickenburg Police Department moved their K band radar trailer around the corner from my offices on SR93. When I first found it at its new location I was using the Escort 9500i and I visually marked the location to where the detector first alerted and the location where the detector went full alert.

So I slightly deviated  from my route this afternoon to add the radar trailer to my testing. The trailer was located approximately 1500 feet after a banking right turn at the bottom of a hill. The Escort 9500i alerted while I was inside this turn, approximately 3000 feet north of the trailer. As I approached this same location with the Cobra detector, it was completely silent.

After making the turn, I visually observed the trailer approximately 1800 feet away, at this point yesterday the Escort was at full tilt, however the Cobra was just giving out its first “chirp”. It wasn’t until the trailer was within 1500 feet that the Cobra began its full alert of the K band trailer.

At this reporting range and depending upon other traffic on the highway, it’s debatable if the Cobra provided adequate warning to avoid a ticket if this was a real encounter.

After this encounter, we headed south to Interstate 10 on Vulture Mine Road.

This area is a sparsely populated area, void of any devices that would normally activate a false alert on a radar detector such as microwave towers and door openers. During this 25 mile leg the Cobra logged over 15 X band and 3 K band false alerts.

Heading east on I-10 the detector made its first Ka alert just prior to me noticing a west bound DPS trooper. Traffic was light in this area and I could not determine from the nature of the alert, if the officer was using constant on or instant on radar. However, I would consider the alert notice adequate in that it provided ample time to slow down.

Turning northeast on the Sun Valley Parkway, I began my lookout for the Buckeye Police Officer that frequented this area with his Ka radar gun. Although I did not spot him, I did get a contestant on Ka band hit from a Surprise Patrol car further north. The officer was parked on the opposite side of the roadway facing my direction and the detector alerted within 2200 feet, well outside the kill zone.

However as I still had some time and it didn’t appear that the officer was heading anyplace soon, I turned around and installed the 9500i that I had in my truck as I was interested in seeing how that unit would do under the same situation.

After travelling two miles back west and turning around I was at least five times further away then the Cobra alerted and the Escort alerted at this location much further away the moment I applied power.

I reinstalled the Cobra and returned to my normal route and headed home on US 60.

The overall performance and filtering of the Cobra XRS 9830 was good when compared to the other detectors tested in this price range. A few added value features that I did like was the LED plasma like display that made the detector easy to see in bright light and the LED voltage meter. Does it have the performance and range to save you encounters when you’re traveling 20 or more miles above the speed limit, probably not, but I have not found any detector yet in the price area that would.

Radar Roy’s Badge Rating – Two Badges

Today we selected the Cobra ESD 7000 from our arsenal for my “Low Priced Radar Detector Review.” And I didn’t have to travel far to rate the performance or so should I say lack of, on this detector.

The Cobra ESD 7000 retails for as much as $59.95 and is advertised as being a six band radar detector capable of detecting the three radar bands used in the USA, VG2, Laser and Cobra’s Safety System.

Before heading out of town for our 85 mile trip, we pulled into the local Circle K convenience store to get a cold drink. Parked nose out in the parking lot was a Wickenburg Police Officer running a dash mounted K band radar gun with the antenna pointed forward in my direction. The Cobra did not alert until I was literally fifty feet in front of the patrol car.  It was evident that the officer’s radar gun was left in constant on, as the officer himself was inside the store getting himself a cold drink.

I parked alongside and got my cold drink and pulled out of the parking lot with the officer directly behind following. If I maintained a distance less than fifty feet the detector had no problem detecting the officer’s radar gun, any further the detector fell silent.

I continued west to head out of town and came across another Wickenburg Officer that was operating a Ka band radar gun parked along the side of the road. Again the Cobra did not alert until I was pretty much on top of him.

Realizing that if continued my normal test route was worthless and that I would be spending more on fuel then the detector was worth, so I called it a day.

I have tested hundreds of radar detectors in my day and very few have ever received a no star rating. My “Zero Star” rating has historically been reserved for those devices advertized as being capable of scrambling police radar and found as worthless as placing a brick on your dash. I’m very disappointed in that such a well known and respected company such as Cobra has lowered the bar in marketing a device such as this.

Radar Roy’s Badge Rating – Zero Badges

Wikipdedia states that the elements of patent infringement includes any party that manufactures, uses, sells, or offers for sale patented technology during the term of the patent and within the country that issued the patent, is considered to infringe the patent.

As the operator of RadarDetector.net, I have come under fire from radar detector enthusiasts for censoring messages relating to devices that I suspect violate patents and by manufactures for not censoring enough of these messages because they feel the messages themselves encourage the illegal importation and use of these products within the USA.

Today while searching the net for cases involving the speed countermeasure industry, I was surprised to find a recent filing by Escort Inc. against Cobra Electronics for patent infringement regarding Escort’s new 9500i radar detector.

In December of 2003, Escort Inc. filed patent number 6,670,905 (905 patent) for a GPS enabled radar detector that aids in the management of unrelated or otherwise unimportant sources (false alerts) and also maintains a list of the known stationary sources in nonvolatile memory. After the patent was grated to Escort, I would suspect that they used it in the development of their new 9500i radar detector.

I was aware of Escort’s patent and was one of the select few that had an opportunity to test and review the Escort 9500i’s before its release at the 2007 CES Show in Las Vegas. Therefore it was somewhat of a surprise to me (and several others in the radar detector industry) that several weeks prior to the CES show, Cobra Electronics issued a press release of having the first GPS enabled radar detector, the XRS R9G. 

It was then that I asked contacts that I had inside Escort if they had any comment about Cobra’s infringement on their patent. Then the official “off the record comment” was that they needed to look at Cobra’s new detector and their patent and let the attorney decide. After ten months of not hearing any follow-up I figured that the topic was dead, how wrong I was.

Today I located Escort’s complaint 1:07-cv-852 filed October 12, 2007 in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio against Cobra Electronics alleging that Cobra had violated Escort’s  905 patent with Cobra’s manufacture and sale of the XRS R9G.

On November 11th, Cobra Electronics filed their response to the court disputing Escort’s claim of infringement and filed a counter claim against Escort alleging that Escort violated their “279 patent” entitled “Electronic Signal Detector with Mute Feature” in development of the 9500i.

As both sides are now locked in litigation, it is doubtful that I can get either an official or unofficial response from either side. So we will keep watch for any new legal briefs or filings in this court until the case settles.

The second detector tested for my “Low Priced Radar Detector Review” is the Cobra XRS 9530.

The XRS 9530 retails for around $149.95 and is advertised as a 12 band radar detector. Cobra’s marketing of their multi bands can sometimes be misleading to consumers as there are only three radar bands and one laser band currently in use in the USA. However Cobra has a tendency to split up the laser band into four segments and add the additional strobe alert, safety alert system, vg2 alert and  spectre alert to these four bands leading a unknowledgeable consumer to believe that the Cobra units detect more radar then competitors models, which is completely false.

We installed the Cobra unit, programmed it to highway mode and added an additional 200 miles to our normal 85 mile route, as we were heading out to Tombstone Arizona for the weekend.

The first thing that struck me about the Cobra unit was on how quite the unit was. Days earlier I had taken the Whistler XTR-185 and I had logged over 15 false alerts on the same roadway. Knowing that even high end radar detectors with much better filtering capabilities would had at least alerted once on this same path, I became a little concerned.

On Interstate 10, just outside of Avondale I received my first K band alert. Ahead approximately 1800 feet, I observed an Arizona Department of Transportation speed trailer.  From my experience I knew that a high ended radar detector would have alerted to this trailer at least four times the distance of the Cobra unit if not more.

Another thing that I found unusual in this encounter and also later encounters, that after the threat passed the detector seemed to be still locked on the same radar detector signal long after it should have had diminished.

While in the Phoenix area on I-10 the detector began picking up numerous X band alerts. As X band is not used in Arizona, I switched modes to city. While in this mode the Cobra detector delays the audio reporting of X band signals until they reach level three while still displaying the alert on the display.

Again I noticed that the detector seemed to be locked on previous X band alerts on the display, much longer then I would expect.

Just outside of Tucson Arizona I noticed a Pima County Sheriff’s Office unit that was parked off the side of the highway with the nose pointed in my direction of travel. Standing outside of the car, I observed the deputy taking measurements. The Cobra unit did not alert to the deputies Ka dash mounted hand held radar gun until I was well inside the deputies kill zone of 1300 feet.

My next encounter was just outside of Tombstone, when the unit alerted to a Ka alert as I crested over a hill right into the path of parked Tombstone Town Marshall.

My overall experience with the Cobra XTR 9530 was poor. No, the detector did not disturb me with false alerts; however when I needed to be alerted the detector just didn’t stand up and do its job. My rule of thumb has been that a detector should have at least seven times the range of the police radar gun to be effective.

In the two encounters with what I fell were both constant on Ka band, the detector did not alert until I was well within the “kill zone” of the officer.

Radar Roy’s Rating – One Badge: