One casualty was Uniden and their lineup of the windshield mounted GPS devices that they had introduced at last year’s show. Weeks prior to the show they had laid off a large percentage of their staff and their radar detector line was removed from their website.

However the poor economic climate did not stop Rayee Technologies of China with their wares of “cheap ass radar detectors” that violated trademarks and patents of several established companies.

Rocky Mountain Radar also had their booth set up in front of the hall but my interview with Rayee Technologies was so overwhelming that I couldn’t bring myself to have another face off with another bunch of thieves.

I had the opportunity to have lunch with Mike Batton a lead Whistler engineer. I couldn’t coax Mike to appear on camera as he related that he was developing a new radar detector that he felt would “blow me away” and if he started talking he wouldn’t be able to stop. However he did promise me that he would get with me just prior to its release in the next few months.

The emphasis in the radar detector industry this year revolved around the integration of GPS and the detection of fixed photo enforcement cameras. Cobra Electronics really stepped forward this year in their marketing of these devices at the CES show with a very informative and engaging presentation.

And of course whom I consider the leader in the radar detector industry the folks from Beltronics/Escort were present and I had a great time interviewing Everett Morrs about their product line.

Also the delay at Hoover Dam with the Homeland Security check points are also extended during this mad rush to Vegas with all the “Zonies” heading up to see and play with all the new electronic gizmos.

So this year I was excited to have finally figured a way to cut my time to Vegas by 75% while also forever avoiding speeding tickets!

After spending a year learning how to fly, two weeks ago I passed my FAA check ride and became an officially licensed general Av8tor!

I’m also fortunate enough to live so far out in the sticks (or cactuses) in Arizona that I’m able to land and take off on my own extended driveway (airstrip) without freaking out neighbors.

So this morning Don Norton (aka: RacerX) the Cheetah rep who lives in Phoenix drove over and we jumped into my Cessna 182T (918RR – Crazy Radar Roy) and flew to the CES show this year.

At 8:00 am, just as the sun began peaking over the eastern horizon we lifted off to the south, banked to the west climbing to 8500’ toward Laughlin Nevada. An hour later we headed north to Searchlight and then started our decent into Henderson.

This was Don’s (RacerX) first trip in a private plane so the night prior to the flight I sent him a link to the AOPA website so he could take a short introductory course on emergency flight operations. During our lift off I could see that Don was still a tad nervous and I joked saying that this was way over 25 miles away from my home and this was the longest flight that I had ever taken and hoped that I could find Las Vegas.

But I commend Don as he hung tough even through some moderate turbulence and we spent the day at CES checking out all the latest radar detectors and jammers and flew out the following morning at 6:00 am.

My first stop opening day was the Escort and Beltronics booth. The first new product showcased for 2008 was the ZR4 laser shifter that will be crossed marketed by both Escort and Beltronics, but will carry the Cincinnati Mircowave’s name. The ZR4 incorporates a new “dual pulse rate” that in our test of a protype unit, jammed to gun when targeted with a Laser Atlanta programmed either normal or stealth mode.

By far the most exciting product was Escort’s new 9500CI GPS remote mounted radar detector and SR4 laser shifter. The main antenna for the 9500CI includes the stealth capabilities for the Spectre RDD as the STi-r, but also includes “smart learning” capabilities to self program (and unprogram) common false alarm locations and the ability to program speed trap locations such as traffic enforcement camera locations.

Escort and Beltronics has decided to abandon their policy of requiring professional installation on their remote models and took the extra step in color coding all their wires and connections to make it easier for the end user to install their own equipment. They are also planning on including an instructional DVD with their units.

I will be offering a full review of final production ZR4 and 9500CI units within the next eight weeks, just prior to their release.

Next up I visited the Uniden booth to check out their new MapTrax RD; GPS and radar detector combo. On the plus side I was very impressed with the GPS unit as it includes the Navteq mapping system, text to speech navigation, preloaded maps, Bluetooth integration and the ability of their detector to integrate with the GPS allowing alert messages through the detector.

However I feel that there are several items of concern with this package.

First off, Uniden has followed Cobra’s lead in misinformation by also dividing up three radar bands and one laser band and advertises their new MapTrax RD as a 13 band detector.

Secondly the points of interest do NOT include common traffic enforcement locations such as red light cameras or fixed camera locations.

And lastly from reliable sources within the industry, Uniden outsourced the design of their radar detector to Attowave who used the same platform as the RMR 450.

The MapTrax RD will be available mid April. The suggested retail of the GPS unit will be $395.00 and the radar detector interface will be an extra $100.00.

Next we headed over to the Cobra booth and checked out the new XRS-9950 radar detector. The XRS-9950 is Cobra’s new top of the line windshield mounted unit that has the ability to interface with their GPS module with included database of known fixed traffic enforcement camera locations. On the plus side the 3D full color LCD display of the 9550 was awesome and perhaps the best we have seen in the industry. On the downside, Cobra’s GPS interface is separate from the main body of the detector and requires additional windshield space and mounting.
We stopped in at the Rocky Mountain booth under the watchful eye of their staff to see if they had any new product offerings for 2008, but only found the same old propaganda material for their C-450 and Phazor radar scrambler line up.

As soon as final production models for all the units that were showcased at the 2008 CES Show become available, I will follow up with a full review.

A national motorcycle magazine has asked me to write a review on speed counter measure products for “baggers”. I saw this as an opportunity to get my Harley Ultra Classic Sreamin Eagle outfitted with all the new toys, so we took it to the show and last night installed many of the new gadgets. This morning we started our day with a photo shoot of the bike and the new equipment.

In the coming weeks I’ll be riding my Harley around Arizona testing all the new toys out, and hope to have this new review done shortly after that.

Today I had an opportunity to meet with Mike Batton, a long time engineer at the Whistler group and a user on radardetector.net. Mike gave me his low down on the new XTR-690 and their Pro 78 that is coming out, saying that both of these new detectors are Whistlers first entry into the high range and sensitivity category, and they expect them both to perform as well as the higher end Escorts and Bels.

Mike then told me that they had won a “CES Innovation Award” this year for their solar powered XTR185, congratulations!

The RMR crew was on their toes again today, according to some attendees, issuing several “Radar Roy” alerts when I was in the area of their booth. I am disappointed that neither Mike or Raul were seen any where near their warez, because I was hoping to have another special meeting with either of them again this year.

Tomorrow we have one more trip to make to return some items and bid farewell to some good friends in the industry till next year

So as the doors opened at 10:00 am, I was uploading my review of the 9500i and the upload finished at 10:01.

After the upload, I made a beeline to the Bel and  Escort booth. There I met with Escort and we discussed my test drive of the 9500i. Overall I was very impressed with the 9500i and again, it will be my top pick for the 2007 detector line.

As to answer many of the user questions on radardetector net regarding many of their questions:

Laser Sensitivity: In preliminary tests with laser, the 9500i was in par with the Bel RX65 and Escort 8500 in laser detection. So I would rate the laser performance as good.

Stealth Capabilities: No, the Escort 9500i was not designed to have the stealth capabilities as the STi in defeating the Spectre. However the 9500i is VG-2 proof.

TrueLock Feature: My experience with the TrueLock feature in locking out false alarm locations is that the radius of the area that is marked as a false alert location is very small. Even if an officer was running radar on the same exact radar frequency as the device that was marked as a false alert location, I would suspect that the strength of the officers gun would give ample warning outside the radius of the marked location.

USB Port: Initially the USB port will allow the user to store and update marked locations of speed traps into their computer and will also allow users to share their information. Escort says that they also plan on offering “marked locations” to users so they can download a larger database. This USB port can also be used to do diagnostic testing and updating the firmware, however they will not commit to a time frame when this feature will be activated.

Sensitivity and Range: I didn’t have the time and resources to do a full scale range and sensitivity report on the 9500i, however I was able to compare it to the SR7 and the STi in real driving situations. The 9500i alerted further away then my SR7 and approximately the same range as my STi in Ka alerts. On K alerts all three were about equal. We will be doing the new tests in March with the 9500i and other detectors.

Availability: Initially I was given a target date around March, but my experience is to add another month after the first announced target date so that the manufacture can address last minute issues. Also another tester of the 9500i that I spent time with today, also suggested some other features that Escort could add to refine the final production model. So my best gut tells me that I would expect that the first production units will be coming out late April or early May, but again, that is my estimate, not theirs.

Cobra Electronics

Next stop was Cobra to see their new remote mounted  XRS R7 and XRS  R9G.

The first thing that struck me was two of the letters and the number they used in the naming one of these new remote detectors, SR 7, sounds familiar?

Also I was taken back by the ooohs and aahs that a couple of 12 volt installers were making about the units ease of install.

First off my opinion of their remote is that it really isn’t a remote mounted piece at all. The combo radar/laser antenna is designed to be mounted in the passenger compartment, on the top of the windshield, in the area between the rear view mirror and the passenger sun visor, or behind the mirror if room allows.

The display unit is wireless, and can be mounted to the dash area. The user would charge the display unit using either a remote charger or the USB port when it is connected to a computer.

The remote mounted radar/laser antenna can detect radar/laser forward and rear

Cobra told me that the user could also program false alert locations into their unit and would also allow the user to mark their own enforcement areas into the GPS as the 9500i.

I was also told that at this time no testing by any outside reviewers have been done with their new unit (including Car and Driver)

Whistler Group

Stop three was the Whistler group to see their new line up that includes their new dash mounted high performance XTR690 and the Pro 78.

Whistler told us that the XTR690 and Pro 78 are equal in performance, but that the XTR690 would include a compass. They also said that both units would be similar in performance as the higher priced Bel and Escort products.

Both units were very sleek in design, however when I pulled out my camera, I was told that no photos were allowed at this time of their showcased products.

Rocky Mountain Radar

What would a CES show be without visiting the hucksters at RMR and saying hello.

However as I did my preliminary intel on their booth several times prior to making my grand entry, I noticed that both Mike and Raul were both M.I.A.

A few minutes prior to making my rounds at RMR, RacerX (a member of the radardetector.net forum) was perusing their wares. On the east side of their display I began checking out their display and I didn’t notice any new items from their radar/laser jammer arsenal that they were planning on marketing.

As I circled around to the northend, Debbie Petty saw me and stepped next to a new RMR employee “That’s the guy that is offering that $50,000 reward on our products” and as I turned her stepping back to warn the other RMR employees working the booth that were standing next to RacerX. Debbie then pointed to me and said “That’s Radar Roy, that asshole”.

Speed Measurement Laboratories

Carl Fors and I then met up for dinner after the show. Carl was also one of the select few that tested the 9500i prior to CES and we both compared our notes and overall we both agreed that the new Escort unit was a revolutionary new unit and that its performance was excellent.

Carl did say that he was planning on making some major changes to the date and testing procedures at this years test and that he would be sending out a notice soon.

Carl also told me of some new police equipment that he knows is being tested.

During the Boston National Chief of Police Association show, MPH had a protype of a Ku gun they were “tossing around” and he also heard rumors of a new laser gun that is under final development from another manufacture that he could not give any details on, but felt that it was a winner for the police side of the industry.

Earlier this week, a Whistler insider leaked information about their new XTR690 radar detector and not to be out done, today Cobra gave a sneak peak at their newest detector, the Cobra XRS R9G 12- band remote radar detector with GPS capabilities for tracking known traffic enforcement cameras and speed enforcement zones.

CES has awarded Cobra a 2007 Innovations award for this new detector.
Product release photos from Cobra Electronics show one radar detector antenna that also appears to have a smoked lens to the front where I would suspect their laser sensor, a GPS antenna, the main console that I expect would be dash mounted and the various electrical connectors for power and connectivity.
Suggested retail for the XRS R9G is $449.00 and Cobra expects to have them available in mid March.

I’m excited that the Cobra is including the GPS technology into this detector and I suspect that there will be other manufactures that will also be announcing similar GPS radar detector devices at the CES show.

However, based other users history with Cobra radar detectors on http://www.radardetector.net/ and my own experience with the Cobra line, I have my reservations on how this new detector will actually perform on the street, especially as they are using that same “12 band detector” ploy that they use in marketing their other lower end units.

Doors open at 10:00 am PST and I’ll be making a beeline to Escort/Bel, then to Whistler, and then off to Cobra.

Look for a VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT on by blog around early afternoon, during the first day of the show and other updates from CES!