I-Net Distributors Busted!

Being involved in the speed counter measurement industry for over ten years, I am still amazed on the ever increasing volume of black market/gray market goods that have been invading the radar detector marketplace and how they have been negatively impacting the consumer and the manufactures.
When I managed the RadarBusters website I would be flooded with inquires by shoppers asking why they should pay full retail for a product when they found the same exact item on Ebay or Buy.com for hundreds of dollars less. I would try to explain to these customers that the sellers of those devices were not factory authorized and often sold items that were remanufactured, obtained through illegal channels, stolen or even counterfeit and if they had a problem with the product the manufacturer’s warranty wouldn’t apply.
A few shoppers heeded my advise after I shown them photos of radar detectors that had been purchased from unscrupulous retails with counterfeit serial numbers and provided them with recorded documentation from an Overstock.com employee admitting that the Escort and Beltronics radar detectors that they sold were NOT NEW UNITS and only had a 30 day warranty and that if the customer purchased their “Planinum Protection Plan” for their one year warranty, their total price was $10.00 more for a used unit, then a new factory unit with the same warranty from an authorized dealer!
But a number of the shoppers fell for the scam finding out later that $100.00 they thought they saved only brought them grief finding out that the detector/laser jammer had no warranty and was now worthless as a brick on their dashboard.
During the 2007 SEMA show in Las Vegas I heard rumblings of a joint Escort, Beltronics and FBI investigation targeting perhaps the largest unauthorized dealer on Ebay; I-Net Distributors.
I heard horror stories from many of their past clients that had come to me after purchasing a product finding that the item either had no serial number or the serial number that was on the product was counterfeit. As the matter was still under investigation neither officials from Beltronics or Escort would comment. However I knew that one of my “super sleuth investigators” on RadarDetector.net would do me proud and locate the official documents from the Federal Courts once they were made public.
Today “The Professor” located the United States District Court Complaint 07-2440 JWL filed by Beltronics USA, Inc. against Mr. Steve Web, Mr. Kevin Burke and their associated companies; I-Net Distributors, Midwest Inventory and Audio Video Man all located in Overland Park, KS.
The three part complaint alleges that the accused parties obtained their radar detectors through a false designation of origin, violated the Beltronics Federal Trademark through counterfeiting, and violated Kansas and Ohio State laws by illegally removing the official Beltronics serial number and FCC certification and replacing it with counterfeit serial numbers and FCC certification.
I applaud the Beltronics and Escort staff for their hard work in this investigation that I feel that will ultimately be a win not only for their company but also for the uneducated consumer that have fallen victim to scams by these black marketers.

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Consumer Electronics Show 2008

This year’s Consumer Electronics Show was by far the most exciting for me in a long time as several radar detector manufacturers were showcasing their new line up for 2008 that included GPS radar detector integration and the resurrection of the Cincinnati Microwave’s brand name with the introduction of the ZR4 laser shifter.
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-9970 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.

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KAT Radar Detector Review

KAT-600 and KAT-DSL315 Radar Detector Review
I first became introduced the KAT line of radar detectors at the 2006 SEMA show in Las Vegas when I eyed Michael Churchman, the founder of Rocky Mountain Radar, sitting at the company’s display.
What first caught my attention was this sad and lonely soul sitting behind a weather beaten fold up table that had several radar detectors sitting on top. On the backdrop there was a single piece of paper with a hand written notice “KAT Radar Detectors”.
Later that same evening I ran into Mike at the Las Vegas Stratosphere bar where I had the opportunity to ask him about his new company. Mike related that several merchants had put up blockades because of his radar jamming features in his RMR line, so he had formed a new company K.A.T. so he could get his warez into the AutoZone stores and such. He further explained that KAT stood for “Kick Ass Technologies.”
With credit, since the 2006 SEMA show Michael has managed to get his new KAT line up listed onto a few questionable websites where they are sold for as much as $225.00 advertised as the most “feature packed value radar detector” in the automotive industry.
I felt when I began the review of the KAT line up for my “under $200.00 test” that Mr. Churchman would feel that my review would be distorted if I only did a one day driving test, therefore the following review of the KAT-600 and the KAT-DSL315 was performed over the past two weeks, logging over 1000 miles on each radar detector.
In multiple encounters in both highway and city driving, both the KAT-600 and the KAT-DSL315 performed very poorly at detecting police radar.
In two situations I was following behind an Arizona Highway Patrol officer that was using a forward facing Ka radar gun.  In each encounter as I approached the officers from the rear My Escort SR7 was on full alert Ka band from over 2300 feet away. Switching off the Escort and then activating each of the KAT radar detectors separately, neither would activate until I was within two car lengths of the officer.
The KAT detectors also performed very poorly in other off axis encounters. In three encounters we had a local Wickenburg police officer using K band radar where they were at a ninety degree angle from our approach. Again the Escort SR7 remote alerted well in advance while each of the KAT radar detectors remained silent.
In numerous head to head encounters on both K and Ka the KAT did not alert until we were well within the kill zone of the officers radar gun.
The only positive thing I can say about either the KAT 600 and the KAT DSL315 that both performed very well at not having false alerts. However, this is one heck of a trade off if the radar detector cannot detect real police radar signals.
Radar Roy’s Badge Rating
KAT 600 Radar Detector – Zero Starts

KAT DSL315 Radar Detector – Zero Stars

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