I'm new around here, but I've been voraciously reading the forums. Luckily, I found this site before purchasing from Ebay or something like that. There's a very complicated wealth of information around here/GOL/radarbusters, etc and so it's taken some time for me to sift through all of it.
At any rate, my vehicles:
2004 Kia Optima - WHITE
1999 Plymouth Grand Voyager - PURPLE
I'm located in the Cleveland area - Shaker Heights. My wife takes the Optima to Avon for her work - about 45 minutes total, including time from the start of 490 on out to around exit 153 or 156 on rt. 90. She sees police out there quite frequently, and asked me to look into detection systems. My commute in the van is less rigorous - about 15-20 minutes to the campus of Case Western, but I do pass at least one known speed trap on a regular basis, and there is one three-lane road (MLK, for those of you in Cleveland) that I'm always "self-conscious" on.
That's our situation - now, on to my plans (and your critiques)!
In both vehicles, I'm considering putting in the 9500i. I'm concerned about how I make sure that I get the unit with the ramp-up fix, as I'd like to avoid the time and shipping expense of sending the unit in for it.
On the Optima, I plan to apply VEIL paint to the front headlights (no fog lights) and the license plate. It's a white car with chrome on the front grill, so I'm not really sure if there's anything else I can do except maybe a lasershield cover? I'm not real sure if that would help in addition to the VEIL, so that's one question I have here.
On the van, I'm unsure if there's any point in putting anything on beyond the 9500i. It's got a nice big honking front end, even though it is darker I don't really expect to see laser in the city too too much, and the Optima is the "driving around" car when we're both home anyway. I might put a laser shield on the plate if I decide to put one on the Optima as well.
I think I've read about the 9500i getting a "blue" update soon? When will that be available / what will it cost / is it any different beyond the color? My choice of the 9500i is based largely on its "quiet" reputation and our location in the city. We do visit family down in North Carolina once in awhile, and go to the south part of Ohio slightly more frequently, so I was tempted to get a V1 for my van to use on those trips - however, I think I'd probably go nuts on my regular commute in the city with a V1.
I'm considering trying to skip the VEIL and get an LI, but that's a LOT of money. As you can imagine, all of this starts adding up VERY fast for a law student with a family! I've never gotten any citation, and my wife hasn't had one for ~4 years, so we do think there's reason to spend some money and keep it that way!
That said, are there any AUTHORIZED resellers who are allowed to sell cheaper than retail price, say, for the holiday season or something of that nature? I'm well aware of how MAP and MRP pricing works, but in other industries (like the furniture industry) sometimes there will be "authorized" sales.
In much the same vein, would it be possible to find an authorized reseller who could work with me on a package deal for all of this, especially as I may be looking for some smaller products (the VEIL and covers, maybe accessories) as well?
Finally, if I do end up just purchasing two 9500i's at Best Buy, is there any way to ensure I have the new ramp-up firmware? What datecode should I look for? I understand the 4-digit week-year format.
Thanks in advance for your help, and I apologize for the very long-winded post! I look forward to hanging around and learning more, especially as new products come out! I guess I picked a bad time to be in the market, right as everything's quiet until after the first of the year... oh well!
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