Hi there,
While doing a google search on my company I came across an old thread here from last December that had some rather sharply negative comments from some folks - all of whom have never bought and would never be buying from my company. In fact, the only positive thing said, was said by the one and only actual past client of my company that participated in that thread!
That thread was closed before I even knew of its existance, but I would like the chance to respond to the comments made and "clear the air" a bit.
The negative comments concerned the idea that the reprogramming we do of the Valentine One can be done by anybody and therefore it would be a waste of money to buy from us.
Here's my response:
1) Yes, we reprogram the units in the same way anyone who knows how to do so, can - but the same could be said for brain surgery, couldn't it? While reprogramming a V1 is not brain surgery, the fact is, most people have no idea how to reprogram the V1, and they have no inclination to take the time to learn how to do so. And even if they did, it takes a bit of experimenting to see how far one can safely go with said reprogramming without causing a detrimental effect on the units detection capabilities. Our services in the US are not aimed at the technically savvy enthusiasts that participate in forums such as this one - they're marketed to the average Valentine One purchaser (though even for you all, that 5 year warranty is a pretty nice upgrade).
2) As we reprogram the units, the K-Band false alarms are cut by 90% - this is a real-world figure. I use my own Valentine One with my settings around Chicago, and I LOVE it. The feedback I get from my US clients indicates that they are very happy with what I'm doing as well - quite a few of them already owned Valentine Ones, and they often send me their older units for reprogramming and then give them to their spouses.
3) In addition to reprogramming the units, we extend the factory warranty to 5 full years. If you check you will see that most warranty extension programs for consumer electronics items cost nearly as much as our $100 bump in price, and only extend the factory warranty to two or maybe three years. We provide 5 full years. We've been in business now for nine years and we take care of our past clients. We are on very good terms with the factory (probably because we buy as many as 3,000 V1s each year), and while there is no "official" relationship between my company and Valentine Research, Mike and I have met in person and he has no objections to my business.
4) As several people pointed out, most of our business is in Europe - in addition to our Chicago location, we have physical locations the United Kingdom and Germany. I think we are the most reputable reseller of the V1 overseas, and I've spent nine years researching what countries use which methods and frequencies of radar in an effort to provide the best service I can for our clients.
As I wrote, my company's efforts are not marketed to the enthusiasts that participate in this forum, but rather, to the typical buyer of a Valentine One that doesn't want to be alerted to each and every automatic door opener he passes, and doesn't know how to rectify this problem. You all know how to reprogram the units and for you, that's great. But there's a whole bunch of people out there who can and do benefit from my company's service.
Viva La Valentine One!
Best wishes,
John at RadarDetectors1
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