Cincinnati Microwave Chapter 11
Scott
Swenassoc wrote:
>
> Just read that the originator of the Escort radar detector filed for
> bankruptcy protection after their proposed merger with Bel fell through.
> It looks like Mike Valentine was smart to branch out on his own. I wonder
> what will happen to all the owners of Escorts when it comes time to get
> factory service.
I doubt if there are many Escort owners out there. That was the problem
- nobody wanted to buy them after Mike Valentine left. Instead of
investing in R&D and improving their core product, they decided to
diversify and sell cordless telephones, etc.
BTW, the originator of the Escort did not file bankruptcy, it was the
company that he had orignated and is no longer associated with.
In fact, part of the deal with him selling out was that he would not
manufacture a direct competing product for 5 years. He waited 5 years,
then came out with another state-of-the-art piece of equipment (like the
original Escort, then Passport, during his tenure at Cincinnati
Microwave).
-Scott
--
Remove * from address to reply.
Swenassoc
Just read that the originator of the Escort radar detector filed for
bankruptcy protection after their proposed merger with Bel fell through.
It looks like Mike Valentine was smart to branch out on his own. I wonder
what will happen to all the owners of Escorts when it comes time to get
factory service.
Peter C.
Scott
Doug Warner wrote:
> I probably would have purchased many more CM products if they hadn't
> switched to the unusable( for me) top-control configuration like
> everyone else...
Yeah, I was never a big fan of that style, either. That was a big part
of the problem. After Valentine left, they lost their uniqueness,
reputation and competitive edge. They became just another radar
detector. It's kind of hard to justify a premium price for that.
I think that they may have forgotten that the people who bought Escorts
& Passports weren't as concerned about "looking like the other guys" as
they were about outstanding performance. When CM products dropped from
the number one position in the comparison tests (like in _Car &
Driver_), it was pretty much the kiss of death.
Personally, I wouldn't have cared if they had stuck with the original
design of the Passport and just kept on expanding it's performance
envelope to stay above everybody else (which is exactly what Valentine's
done with his latest product).
Alex Leavens
Absolutely. I owned a Passport for 10+ years, and found it a rock-solid
trouble free companion (as well as one that saved my bacon numerous
times).
The newer detectors (w/ the exception of the V1) can't even match the
old Passport's combination of range and selectivity. Pretty sad, if you
ask me.
--
--alex
ShadowCat Technologies - Custom Windows Software
"Cool Toys for Cool Minds" - Custom Multimedia
"Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes
your time, and annoys the pig." --Samuel Clemens
Scott
Scott,
I'm not a newsgroup fluent guy, but I found some of your recent postings
as
I was looking for news regarding the recent events at Cincinnati
Microwave,
and thought I'd add a correction and a bit of firsthand perspective.
Please
feel free to post any or all of this (or not, as you see fit).
You said:
"After Valentine left, they lost their uniqueness,
reputation and competitive edge. They became just another radar
detector. It's kind of hard to justify a premium price for that."
"BTW, the originator of the Escort did not file bankruptcy, it was the
company that he had orignated and is no longer associated with."
"In fact, part of the deal with him selling out was that he would not
manufacture a direct competing product for 5 years. He waited 5 years,
then came out with another state-of-the-art piece of equipment (like the
original Escort, then Passport, during his tenure at Cincinnati
Microwave)."
Cincinnati Microwave was incorporated in 1976. There were 3 owners: Jim
Jaeger, Mike Valentine, and Mike's father Jim Valentine, who provided
the
venture capital. They were equal owners.
The original Escort was developed by Jim Jaeger and Mike Valentine
during
1976-1978. The product could not have been developed by either of them
separately. It was their blend of talents, perspectives, and skills that
led to the revolutionary Escort.
Escort was introduced in the Spring of 1978. From 1978 thru Spring of
1983,
Mike Valentine was the President. Escort underwent several internal
revisions during that time, improving performance and reducing cost.
In the Spring of 1983, Jim Jaeger bought all the shares of Mike
Valentine,
and of his dad, Jim Valentine, and both the Valentines went home.
(Mike's
dad was the company's Chief financial guy).
Passport was developed summer 1983 through 1984, and introduced in the
fall
of 1984.
Mike Valentine had nothing to do with Passport.
And the company continued this path, continuously developing
improvements
and implementing them in Passport, and finally stunning the detector
world
in 1989, with the introduction of not one, but two, revolutionary
detectors:
Solo. Using only 2% the power of Passport, it ran on a single 9 volt
battery for months. Magnesium case. Motion-sensing battery saving
circuit.
New patented Auto-mute. New patented articulating visor clip and
adjustable
windshield mounts. Anti-theft system with tiny digital key that fit on
your
keyring, and was powered by the detector (key had no internal battery).
And
all the performance of Passport, even without a cord.
Escort DSP. This was essentially a turbocharged Passport, using the
microwave and RF circuitry of Passport, stuffed into a slightly larger
case, alongside a Motorola DSP56000 digital signal processor, which
increased the sensitivity almost 10dB. Automute and the security system
were also incorporated.
My point is that long after Mike Valentine left, the company continued
to
innovate, arguably at an increased rate.
Passport, Solo, and Escort DSP were all done after Mike left.
OK, in 1990, Cincinnati Microwave did seem to change direction, and I
don't
have much to say about the time from 1990 to the present. (I share your
opinion that plastic-cased radar detectors with controls on the top
surface
are clearly the wrong idea).
Here's where I get my information and perspective:
I was CM's first employee, starting in 1977 in Jaeger's basement. I
assisted Mike with the marketing while he was there, and then took over
the
marketing and product development from spring 1983 until spring 1990.
I'm a
co-inventor on several of CM's patents.
If Mike Valentine wants to take all the credit for the Valentine One
(and I
guess he does, given the name.....) he can certainly do that.
But I can tell you with certainty from firsthand knowledge that Mike was
not Cincinati Microwave's Messiah. The first product came from 2 guys,
not
1. I'll give Mike 51% of the credit for the first Escort, and he
deserves
it. But he doesn't deserve 100% of the credit.
The later developments at CM came from an even larger team of guys. Mike
was a very significant part of the team when he was there. I'll gladly
give
him 51% of the credit from 1978 until he left in 1983.
And AFTER he left, we developed Passport. Solo. Escort DSP. And tons of
performance and reliability refinements that only show up when you take
a
detector apart or put it on a test bench.
Literally DOZENS of people made CM's products (from 1978-1990) great:
Jim
Jaeger, Mike Valentine, Rich Grimsley, Bob Dilgard, me (Paul Allen),
Greg
Furnish, Nelson Tharpe, Dan Bartosik, John Fende, Mike Biggs, Bill
Donnermeyer, Steve Orr, John Kuhn, Jay Eldridge, Brad Hunt, Larry
Decker.... and the list goes on, those are just the names that jump to
the
surface, 7 years after I left.............
Oh, BTW, I've got a Valentine One, and think it's a great radar
detector.......
Regards,
Paul Allen
Paul Allen / Nova Engineering / 513 860 3456 / Fax 860 3535
Ray Hsiao
dwa...@Xatlanta.com (Doug Warner) wrote:
>I didn't buy any of their later products (or anyone else's) because I
>like to mount my detector above the inside mirror, where it can't be
>easily seen. The Passport's controls are readily available in this
>position, but all the new ones either have the buttons in the top,
>where they'd be hard against the roof, or the ones with rear controls
>are simply too thick to fit in that location..
I use an Escort DSP in the same fashion with a hard wired power line running
behind the dash, around the windows trim and running down the mirror mount.
I've also owned a Passport and original Solo and the Escort DSP was probably the
last decent one they made before they went plastic. I really like the Valentine
but it's just a little too big and to use the rear detector, I'd have to use it
underneath the rear view mirror. Now if they came out with a remote rear
sensor...
I had an idea which I mentioned to CM but they didn't use: Build in a limited
range signal (with enable/disable send/receive capability) generated in a radar
hit which would set off other radar detectors built to receive it. It would
effectively increase radar detection range if there were other cars in the
vicinity using the same radar detector.
Ray Hsiao
92 Galant VR-4 #561/1000