CORRECTION:
Escort shipped its Passport Max direct to consumers during the first 90 days of launch and is now moving the product into distribution. We erroneously reported that Escort shipped Max to retailers during the first 90 days.
Escort introduced the first all digital radar detector in June, but in the next couple of weeks, the Passport Max will be available through distributors, where retailers may purchase the product.
The Max ($549.95 SRP) shipped direct to retailers consumers for the first 90 days but is now moving into distribution, said Escort.
The company claims the Max broke all its previous sales records for a new product.
The Passport Max is the first digital radar detector to convert analog radar waves to digital signals.
Typically, a radar detector is confronted with many different radiation signals from which it must decipher a true radar gun alert. Because the Max is digital, it can use digital signal processing to filter out many of these false alerts.
This helps fight a growing problem for radar detectors, as more luxury cars use radar in their advanced driver safety features, which can trigger false radar detector alerts.
The Max will be available through Escort’s 4 major distributors who each cover a territory of the U.S.
Source: CEoutlook
Often times, “distribution” sends a signal to market that the product in distribution can not contribute to the PROFIT, IDENTITY and PREDICTABILITY needs of the specialty retailer. That perception exists in large part because traditionally when a brand elects to include distributors in the supply chain they abdicate any further management. The result is a wild west kinda condition where distributors ship to any body anywhere at what ever price it takes to secure a sale. It does not have to be that way. Escort can elect to establish conditions where their distributors can make profit and the retailers (customers of the distributors) can also make profit. OR Escort can take the traditional path and perfectly meet the “bad expectations” of “distribution”. I hope they elect to take the former rather than the later.