February 25 2011 is less than 60 days away... What about the arrows?

In 53 days from the time of this post, Mike V's patent on his dual-antennae system for the arrows will expire. As a proud V1 owner, I can only imagine the V1 becoming a product that becomes a collectors item once other companies can pick up the arrows concept.

Any thoughts on this? I know there's treads already posted about this, but it's 2011 now, and there's little time left. What do you think will happen once the patents expire in 53 days? Share your thoughts.

I honestly have no idea what to think. I just bought a concealed display today. I hope the company stays around for at least another couple years. I was only 18 when I invested in a V1 and had to save a good amount of money to get it. I would be disappointed if the V1 became a product of the past within the next 2-3 years.

In the event something does happen to VR, I'll probably just use my V1 until it dies and won't invest in another detector for a while. I highly praise the way Mike runs VR; it's small enough that it's almost personal when conducting business with them. I also respect that Mike is (from my experience) an honest businessman and won't rip you off. (example: I've seen upgrade notices for certain users where he will tell you that it's not a necessary upgrade to pay for unless you really want the feature. Other companies would market the crap out of it to get every dollar out of you.)

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Originally Posted by nyjason13

Any thoughts on this? I know there's treads already posted about this, but it's 2011 now, and there's little time left. What do you think will happen once the patents expire in 53 days? Share your thoughts.

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Pure speculation follows. What will happen? Absolutely nothing. I doubt anybody will do anything anytime soon. Like is Y2K rolled around. A bunch of hype for nothing.

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Originally Posted by v1user

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Originally Posted by nyjason13

Any thoughts on this? I know there's treads already posted about this, but it's 2011 now, and there's little time left. What do you think will happen once the patents expire in 53 days? Share your thoughts.

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Pure speculation follows. What will happen? Absolutely nothing. I doubt anybody will do anything anytime soon. Like is Y2K rolled around. A bunch of hype for nothing.

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(X2) I believe you are right ole buddy!

I always thought one can apply and try to renew a patent.

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Originally Posted by Ray

I always thought one can apply and try to renew a patent.

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i thought so too

Patents are not renewable. Once their term expires, they enter the public domain.

However, you can file for an improvement that was not previously known and possibly obtain a patent on the improved invention. Once the first patent enters the public domain, others will still be able to practice the original invention, though; just not the improvement.

Also, It takes a special act of Congress to renew an existing patent, so most patent holders must make the most of the standard 20 years during which they can hold a patent. According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, in the case of some drug companies, the USPTO will renew an existing patent on a pharmaceutical drug that has lost part of the patent period to the FDA approval process.

I had no idea there patent was expiring. I would be sweating bullets if I was Mike V. If arrows end up on a 9500ix / Redline with no further updates such as GPS it is going to be hard to stay with the V1. I would think this will motivate him to update the current V1. We will have to wait and see I guess.

You're seriously gonna rep the 315 by creating a thread like this... come on man! At least when you make a joke thread put in a fake location... you're making us look bad!

Just imagine the cost of a Belscort with real dual antennas and arrows...$750 and it will suck at QT and the arrows will flash rapidly to match the crappy ramp-up.

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Originally Posted by <>

Just imagine the cost of a Belscort with real dual antennas and arrows...$750 and it will suck at QT and the arrows will flash rapidly to match the crappy ramp-up.

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Finally something we can talk about...IF Belscort does make a move on these patents (you know, a company that actually does something innovative in this industry... still...) The price will be astronomical. I can see a dual-antenna remote system costing @ or over the 2G's mark!

Astronomically high prices are one thing we can bank on from Belscort... I think they might have a patent on that in this industry!

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Originally Posted by AirMoore

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Originally Posted by <>

Just imagine the cost of a Belscort with real dual antennas and arrows...$750 and it will suck at QT and the arrows will flash rapidly to match the crappy ramp-up.

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Finally something we can talk about...IF Belscort does make a move on these patents (you know, a company that actually does something innovative in this industry... still...) The price will be astronomical. I can see a dual-antenna remote system costing @ or over the 2G's mark!

Astronomically high prices are one thing we can bank on from Belscort... I think they might have a patent on that in this industry!

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"There's not going be a Bel-entine dash model
Ever
a 9500ci or STi-R PLUS - with arrows - $2,300 (US)
unlikely we'll ever see one of those . . . either"

I'm expecting Directional voice : Ka band 50 yards ahead, strength 9

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Originally Posted by speeddemon

I'm expecting Directional voice : Ka band 50 yards ahead, strength 9

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That would be pretty sick, very interesting to say the least. I wonder if 35.5 would have a default voice of Ka band 25 feet ahead on first alert.

Just kidding on that last part.

It would be impossible for a RD to measure distance. All it can see is that there is a signal there. Remember speed = distance/time. The speed of light is known, and the distance is unknown, so to find it you'd have to know the time it took for the signal to get there. If you had some way of knowing that you'd know the cop was there already and wouldn't need the RD anyway.

Anyway, my position on this issue is simple. I'm only loyal to VR for as long as they have the best product for my driving environment. I'm an idiot - I can't make my own RD, I just rely on other very smart people to do it for me. What they put it out is what they put out and I don't have a lot of influence in their decisions. If someone comes out with something that helps me avoid tickets better than a V1, I'll definitely buy that. (edit: unless the performance only comes in a $2,000 Belscort all-in-one detector, jammer, GPS, food processor and pan-sexual roto plooker. I have my limits)

maybe the v1 price will be significantly decreased...

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Originally Posted by Hunter

maybe the v1 price will be significantly decreased...

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yeah right. The price of these detectors haven't gone done in years.

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Originally Posted by Andrew21

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Originally Posted by Hunter

maybe the v1 price will be significantly decreased...

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yeah right. The price of these detectors haven't gone done in years.

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Because nobody else could replicate all its features. That's sort of the point of patents - the inventor gets to profit from a monopoly for a time before the invention can benefit everyone.

So how significant of a v1 hit are we talking about? I just ordered a brand new one that's coming in next week, I intend to keep it but I don't wish to take like a 200&#37; depreciation over a short period of time.

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Originally Posted by Andrew21

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Originally Posted by Hunter

maybe the v1 price will be significantly decreased...

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yeah right. The price of these detectors haven't gone done in years.

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I don't expect price to be decreased instead I expected to increase. I won't mind paying extra to have more features like voice alerts, multiple colors display perhaps a laser jammer built into it.

Think of this, escort could make a dual antenna remote system plug and play, but the cost will be pretty darn high, and then use arrows or have the display indicate front or rear.

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Originally Posted by nyjason13

In 53 days from the time of this post, Mike V's patent on his dual-antennae system for the arrows will expire. As a proud V1 owner, I can only imagine the V1 becoming a product that becomes a collectors item once other companies can pick up the arrows concept.

Any thoughts on this? I know there's treads already posted about this, but it's 2011 now, and there's little time left. What do you think will happen once the patents expire in 53 days? Share your thoughts.

I honestly have no idea what to think. I just bought a concealed display today. I hope the company stays around for at least another couple years. I was only 18 when I invested in a V1 and had to save a good amount of money to get it. I would be disappointed if the V1 became a product of the past within the next 2-3 years.

In the event something does happen to VR, I'll probably just use my V1 until it dies and won't invest in another detector for a while. I highly praise the way Mike runs VR; it's small enough that it's almost personal when conducting business with them. I also respect that Mike is (from my experience) an honest businessman and won't rip you off. (example: I've seen upgrade notices for certain users where he will tell you that it's not a necessary upgrade to pay for unless you really want the feature. Other companies would market the crap out of it to get every dollar out of you.)

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i highly praise that about him too. dude just lost like $145 but atleast he was honest. i'll def buy another V1 from him once he updates it

I'm going back to work in Mid Feb (had back surg), and am waiting until then to get a new RD, so I know how it'll perform for my commute. This way if anything puts me off, I have the 30 days to return. I was planning on getting a V1, but i'm not sure now. Is it a good idea?

ROFL!!! Epic speculation!

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Originally Posted by KaPro

ROFL!!! Epic speculation!

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+1.

Cobra will release a dual antenna 45 band detector that will leak Ka everywhere. Some of the 45 bands will be alcohol on the breath, trees, rain etc. :D

Just kidding. The only company I can see doing anything with a dual antenna setup in the immediate term is actually RMR (and anyone Attowave OEMs for). Not kidding either (that is if they're smart enough to try and capitalize on it). I remember someone opening an RMR a while back and we were discussing the fact that it was made by Attowave. Attowave made detector's have a weird copper antenna which is open on the sides. Anyway I remember looking up the patent and in the patent is also a variant of the antenna that can face two directions front and rear. While I'm not sure it was exactly dual antennas it was designed to be dual directional and as far as I know they've not yet released a product using it. While I've tested RMR products before and wouldn't buy one from them (and I can probably speak on behalf of others here saying they wouldn't either) for obvious reasons, they've made improvements based on the ones I've tried and I guarantee if they came out with such a device for $200 less than V1 there are people that will buy it simply because they know no better, it will be packaged in flashy packaging and be marketed as the best thing since sliced bread (they'll probably claim they invented it for all we know).

That said the most obvious thing here is the ones most likely to implement such a technology are really the least viable in terms of actually being competitive to a V1. Cobra's performance is spotty in many respects. RMR is blatantly dishonest in many respects. While I have not used any of Cobra's current lineup I did test RMR's supposedly best detector the C475 and while it had good K band range it was still much less than that of my V1. Overall I found it slightly better than Cobra's previous generation (plus it didn't leak anywhere near as badly as the Cobras do allowing me to actually test it side by side with other detectors). Now if they're taking what I'd consider a $130 performance detector, putting a useless scrambler in and selling it for $225 I can imagine a dual antenna variant would run close to $325 leaving the smart people in much better shape running a used V1.

Those buying a V1 or considering it probably are smart enough to realize that unless Escort comes up with a variation those detectors that will likely crop up will be lower end vendors and thus not be true competitors.

Venting over useless worrying over. V1 stays on the windshield. :D

Nobody cares about the arrows except Mike Valentine and his fanboy posse. February 25th will come and go with only a yawn in the industry.

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Originally Posted by cavili

perhaps a laser jammer built into it.

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Good lord.
http://i55.tinypic.com/5v2kbq.jpg

Not to worry about the V1. Afterall, Dec 2012 is quickly approaching...

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Originally Posted by Jon_Doh

Nobody cares about the arrows except Mike Valentine and his fanboy posse. February 25th will come and go with only a yawn in the industry.

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I should save this post. For future reference of course!

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Originally Posted by bombebomb

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Originally Posted by Jon_Doh

Nobody cares about the arrows except Mike Valentine and his fanboy posse. February 25th will come and go with only a yawn in the industry.

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I should save this post. For future reference of course!

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I'll mark his word because I'm pretty sure he's right. Somebody wake me up if I sleep through it!

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Originally Posted by v1user

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Originally Posted by bombebomb

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Originally Posted by Jon_Doh

Nobody cares about the arrows except Mike Valentine and his fanboy posse. February 25th will come and go with only a yawn in the industry.

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I should save this post. For future reference of course!

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I'll mark his word because I'm pretty sure he's right. Somebody wake me up if I sleep through it!

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If this is the case then it will be a shame, I have wonderd what other companies would make the arrows look like.

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Originally Posted by nyjason13

February 25 2011 is less than 60 days away... What about the arrows?

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The real question is how is this thread going to differ from any of its countless predecessors? What new information is there to bring to the table? None that I'm aware of.

Here is the patent if nobody saw it before: http://www.google.com/patents?id=ZOI...&q=feb&f=false

Everyone's talking about the arrows. What about the bogey counter? It's saved me a couple of times in PA.

Even if the patent expires, I've become so used to V1's reliability that it would take some extraordinary change in technology/sensitivity to make me buy another brand. V1 FTW!

Edit: See original post here:
http://www.radardetector.net/forums/...047#post815047
(Now a new thread)?

^^^
VR's website is fraught with grammatical(&other) issues... just an FYI if you didn't look elsewhere on the site.

If the issue date of this patent was Jan 21, 1992 wouldn't that mean that it expires Jan 21, 2012? Not 2011?

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Originally Posted by Nexeo

If the issue date of this patent was Jan 21, 1992 wouldn't that mean that it expires Jan 21, 2012? Not 2011?

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Patent was filed in 1991 and granted in1992.

The all new V2! 2 front and one back. Oh that's right VR have that patent. Come people it's not over it will never be over.

Dear Sir:

Thanks for your email.

I don't know of anything along those lines. However, we are always working on new things, and whenever we do them we post on the Upgrades section.

Please stay tuned there at www.valentine1.com,

Cordially,



Pete Kaufman
Sales Department