Whistler Institutes MAP Policy

The Whistler Group has introduced a new MAP Policy (Minimum Advertised Pricing Policy) on a number of their electronic devices, including radar detectors.
Mike Batton, an engineer with Whistler related to me Friday that they began their MAP Program one month ago and contacted all their distributors who in turn were responsible to contact their retailers.
Mike said that they have now started the second step of their enforcement program, by contacting internet retailers advising them of the program and asking for their compliance.
Retailers who comply with Whistler’s MAP program will be afforded “Authorized Dealer Status” for their products, allowing them to offer Whistler’s full warranty which in some instances is the longest in the industry, three years.
Those retailers who fail to comply will be “black listed” on Whistler’s website and they will NOT HONOR any warranty or service issues to those companies’ customers.
Whistler’s joins many other manufactures such as Tom Tom, Escort Inc., Alpine and Beltronics who have instituted such MAP programs over the past several years to protect their retail chain from unscrupulous merchants.
I also look for other manufactures to follow suit especially in the electronics industry, since the US Supreme Court has upheld MAP policies in a June 2007 decision.

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Escort – Beltronics Factory Tour

Being involved in the countermeasure industry for over ten years since my retirement from law enforcement, I pretty much have been involved in most facets of the industry from product development, sales and marketing, product reviews to testing. But I felt that there was one important thing missing from my resume, I had never been to an actual factory to see first hand how radar detectors were made.
The Radar detector manufactures have historically kept their production and development methods very secretive because of the competitiveness in the industry. So when Bel/Escort took me up on my request for a tour of their Mississauga plant I was pleasantly surprised to hear, “We would be glad to offer you a tour.”
On Monday, June 9th, the managers of Radarbusters.com, Marina and Steve and I all flew into the Buffalo Airport. From there we were driven 90 minutes to the CN Tower in Toronto, where we met the executive staff of Escort/Bel for dinner.
Their CEO, Greg Blair, welcomed us and introduced his executive team. The newest member, President and Chief Operating Officer John Larson, had been a senior executive at General Motors with extensive background in sales, marketing and fiscal management. Greg related that he was impressed with the staff in that they take so much pride in what they do and that he was excited to take on his new responsibilities with a company that is so focused on excellence.
Greg related that earlier that day, they had broken ground on their new manufacturing plant in Mississauga and expected its grand opening in the early part of 2008. Greg explained that this new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility will enable them to meet the growing demands of the expanding radar detector industry in the years ahead.
The next morning, we all met at the Escort/Beltronics plant. Hanging above the plant’s main entrance I took notice their registration to ISO 9001 certification. ISO 9001 is a family of standards maintained by the International Organization for Standardization. Several of the principles of the ISO 9001 registration include: Checking outgoing products for defects, with appropriate corrective action where necessary; regularly reviewing processes and quality assurance systems and facilitating continued improvement.
Once gathered inside in their conference room, I was given an opportunity to field questions from radar detector enthusiasts of the Radardetector.net forum. Greg graciously answered questions and commented that a lot of their ideas come directly from the customer/user and that they value their customers’ input.
In preparation for the tour, Greg explained that they are the only radar detector company that still manufactures their units from the ground up in North America. Although one other radar detector company still claims that their product are made in the USA, the vast majority of the parts are assembled by a remote contract manufacture. Greg explained that Escort/Bel was dedicated to keeping all their manufacturing/engineering within North America to maintain a high level of performance and to be able to recruit top level staff. As an example, one recent addition to the plant included an employee who had experience with the laser missile guidance systems.
Hani AbdelGalil, the Vice President of plant operations, then outfitted us with protective ware to shield the electronics from static electricity. Hani explained that several of the electronic parts used inside a radar detector could be damaged if they came in contact with static discharges. He related that this damage may not be apparent immediately but could take several days or months to manifest, so it was extremely important for us to follow his guidance prior to handling of any products.
There are seperate teams that manufacture Bel and Escort products, however throughout the tour, each staff member we spoke with stressed their commitment to product reliability and quality assurance for the entire product line.
Hanging on the wall in the Inspection Team’s office were parts used in their detectors, packaged in individual sealed plastic bags and labeled. The Quality Manager Ahmed explained before any electronic component or part is entered into their inventory, his staff examines and tests  them to ensure it meets their high standards. Also at any stage during the manufacturing process, members of the quality assurance team will pull random samples from the production line. Hani explained that it is very important to catch a problem early as possible in the manufacturing process, to prevent it from becoming a larger problem.
From this office we proceeded to the main factory floor to the surface mount technology (SMT) line, which I would consider the birth of the production process. The radar detector circuit boards, four to each panel, are stacked up on a conveyor belt to enter its respective machine. As each panel is rolled into the SMT, solder paste is applied to the areas where components are inserted. Located to at the rear of the machine, are numerous reels each containing individual radar detector components. Once the panel of circuit boards (four individual boards) are set into the machine two rows of robotic vacuum fingers remove individual components from a corresponding reel, placing them into the correct position on the board(s). The boards are then flipped over and this entire process is repeated with different components.
I stood in awe and watched as the SMT programmed to build the 9500i, built four complete boards in less than two minutes.
There were a number of other SMT units, all operational and programmed for other radar detectors such as the STi, SR7 and the 8500 X50.
From here, the boards rolled on a conveyor belt into an oven, programmed for different heating levels at different stages. This process bonds the solder base to the individual components on both sides of the board.
As the boards exited the oven, they were evenly stacked into bin for the next production cycle.
Hani then walked us to the next stage where a group of individuals were seated, each having a high powered microscope and tools at their workstation to handle very small microprocessors. Hani related that first each board was examined to make sure that the parts were properly seated. Hani then showed me a gel pad that was no larger than a postage stamp that contained tiny microprocessors. He explained that these parts were so small, that the only way that they could be properly positioned on the board was to do them by hand under a microscope. After each board passed inspection, each team member would place several of these microprocessors onto the board.
From this station, the circuit boards moved onto their respective final assembly team. There are numerous teams, each dedicated to an individual product line. Hani explained that each member is cross-trained in each step of the final assembly respective to their product and that they rotate positions on a regular basis. He explained that this is done, so each member is proficient in each stage of the final assembly and gives each member a sense of “ownership” of the manufacturing process. This also allows team members to inspect the product for defects and gives them the knowledge of the process to suggest improvements. This also eliminates the potential for complaints that are often expressed in other manufacturing plants where an employee may have a gripe about one stage of the process without being cognizant of the process as a whole.
We entered into the Passport 8500 X50 assembly area to the first workstation, where the programming and tuning of the detector takes place. A circuit board was placed onto a holder while the operator pressed a few buttons on a computer keyboard that began the programming cycle.
Hani related that many of their competitors’ have as many as six small variable tuning capacitors that must each be tune by hand. This tuning method is susceptible to mistuning or can later cause it fall out of frequency.
All of the Bel/Escort products use microprocessors instead of these tuning capacitors. This allows for a stable and precise tuning across all the important police radar bands and removes any chance of programming/operator error.
After the detector is tuned and programmed, it is moved to another computer where a stage of calibration tests is performed. If the detector fails, it is tagged and removed from the line and given to an engineer who is tasked with finding the fault.
At the next station workers attach and solder the earphone jack, volume control/power switch, power jack and speaker.
From there the detector is placed into its case and a rubber band is placed around the unit (as the casing has not been screwed down yet) and the unit is powered up for testing.
Here the radar detector is placed into an isolation chamber and performance tested across all police radar and laser bands. Again, if the detector does not meet their high standards it is removed from the line and given to a QA Engineer to identify the fault.
After the final performance test, the radar detector case is screwed together, and the unit is packaged with its accessories.
We then moved to other assembly areas and watched the same process unfold for their other radar detector lines. [...]

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Test Drive – Need For Speed

This past Friday, I had the pleasure to work with Screaming Flea productions in Seattle Washington, who are taping a new series called “Test Drive” that will air this fall on the MOJO HD Cable Television Network and other automotive related cable TV channels such as the Speed Channel.
One of the episodes on this new series is called “Need For Speed” where I outfit two high performance cars with the latest in speed counter measure technology in an attempt to outwit an officer from the Washington State Patrol.
First up, we each explain the different types of technology police departments use, and give hands on demonstration of laser and radar guns.
I then discuss the various types of speed countermeasure equipment that is available to the driver, discussing the various types of radar detectors and laser jammers, Veil stealth coating, and provide tips in selecting the right radar detector for your car and driving habits.
Next up, we perform some testing of various radar detectors and laser jammers and make several runs with and without the equipment. In one segment, the driver (really) forgot to plug in his Escort 9500i and found himself pulled over by a trooper on the busy highway.
During the taping of the episode, the Escort 9500i (when plugged in) detected the officers K and Ka band radar guns two miles away on this busy highway, giving our test driver ample time to slow down to avoid the speed trap.
We were also successful in jamming the new Laser Pro-Lite with a new Blinder M-27 that was installed on a black Audi. In five runs we had two jam to guns with Veil and three “punch through strikes” under 275 feet without Veil.
This episode is scheduled to air first on Mojo HD in mid October. When I’m advised of date and time I’ll pass on to our readers….

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Cobra XRS R9G Review

I was first introduced to the new Cobra XRS R9G at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Trade Show in January. The first thing that set me back was all the oohhs and aahs that installers were making about Cobra’s new remote unit because of the ease of install.
I wasn’t as impressed even with their new wireless controller, as I didn’t feel that by mounting a radar detector to the top of the windshield would put it into the same classification as a remote mounted unit. However I decided to back off until I could actually purchase a retail unit to perform an install and to put the detector through its paces, I’m glad I did.
A few days prior to Speed Measurement Laboratories 2007 Radar Detector Shoot-Out, I took delivery of the new Cobra unit. I decided to do full install at SML in my Ford F-250 Pick Up and put it through its paces during the Shoot-Out.
I have to admit during and after the install I was very impressed with Cobra’s ease of install. The package comes with lock strips that you attach to the windshield and to the main unit and GPS antenna. Also the unit comes with a lighter cord and a direct wire cord that you can use to attach to your fuse box.
I chose to install the main unit and the GPS antenna to the right side of my rear view mirror and then I ran the power cable down the side pillar to the fuse box. I then plugged in the wireless controller to the lighter to charge, and attached it to the air conditioning vent with the supplied clip. The total time of the install took approximately five minutes.
After the install, we decided to first put the GPS through its paces against the red light cameras in the El Paso area. The XRS R9G does come pre-loaded with a database of enforcement camera locations already programmed into the unit; however the newer El Paso cameras were not in its database. Therefore when we first approached these locations, we simply had to press a few buttons on the controller and the locations were stored.
We returned later during the test and the unit did alert us in advance of the approaching “marked locations”. However we noticed that the unit was not programmed to alert to these locations in “the same direction” only as the Cheetah and NavAlert GPS units. The “same direction” feature is nice when there are multiple enforcement cameras in the same area, as the unit will ONLY alert to cameras that you are approaching that are used in the direction that you’re approaching from.
We then spent some time testing the radar detector capabilities around the El Paso area. We had the Cobra XRS R9G along with Escort’s SR7 and Beltronics STi operating, all in highway mode. Normally it is not a good practice to operate multiple detectors at the same time as they can cause interference with each other. However our SR7 was a remote unit with the antenna mounted below the front bumper and the STi is designed not to leak any RF, so we felt that we took the proper precautions.
Traveling north on State Route 54 from El Paso, both our STi and the SR7 began alerting to a Ka signal at approximately the same time while the Cobra unit was completely silent. Approximately a half mile away, I noticed the light bar of an El Paso patrol car parked in the left shoulder, a hundred feet beyond a forty five degree turn.
The Cobra unit remained silent during this off axis encounter, until we were stright on with the patrol car and within line of sight. This encounter would certainly have earned us a costly citation if we had only relied upon the Cobra unit.
To see if we could increase the sensitivity of the Cobra unit we switched the unit into POP mode. After fifteen minutes of what seemed to be continues false alerts, we decided to then switch POP off and to keep the unit in Highway mode.
After the SML test, we decided to keep the Cobra unit in our pick-up for another few more weeks to compare the units overall performance.
After returning home, we ran the unit against Scottsdale’s 101 freeway cameras and other local fixed photo radar and red light cameras in the area. As mentioned Cobra’s unit does not allow for “same direction” notification and this feature is almost needed on Scottsdale’s 101, as there are three cameras on each side of the freeway, for a total of six. During our trip down the 101, the Cobra alerted to all six, even to those on the opposite side.
As far as Cobra’s preprogrammed database, we did find ourselves marking a number of fixed enforcement camera locations as they were not entered into their database. Prior to this review we went to Cobra’s website to check on availability of updates, but no information was posted.
As noted in the El Paso encounter, we again found that the Cobra unit had a difficult time in alerting to off axis encounters on both K and Ka band, and lagged a few seconds behind the SR7 and the STi in all other real world encounters.
What disappointed me the most was the high percentage of false alerts and even alerting to the wrong band on several encounters.
The ratio of false alerts of the Cobra when compared to the SR7 and STi was almost 50 to 1. In many of these false alert encounters, we even shut off the STi and the SR7 to eliminate any doubt of these detectors interfering with the Cobra unit and while these units were powered off, we still encountered these same false alert signals.
In all encounters the Cobra would always indicate the correct band during its initial alert. However we noticed on numerous occasions that the display would then switch to other bands. One K band speed trailer in particular caused the Cobra to first alert to K, but then fluctuate between K, X and even Ka.
Cobra’s suggested MSP is $439.95, placing this detector in the same price category as the Escort 9500i, the STi and the Valentine One. However to compare the Cobra’s performance to against these higher ended units I can only say this, Cobra has a long way to go.
I do admit that after installing and using the Cobra, I have appreciated their revolutionary idea using the mounting the detector in the method that they have chosen. However I did find myself a few times checking under my seats, under the dash and under the floor mats trying to find the remote control head that I misplaced.
I wouldn’t find myself recommending this unit to any “road warrior” and if it is GPS radar detection that you want, I feel that you have better options to chose from considering either the NavAlert or the GPS Mirror coupled with a good high end detector.
Radar Roy’s Rating – Two Badges

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