[Resjudicata]

Originally Posted by jm_bmw_m8

I took your advice and put in a Valentine 1 with MirrorTap yesterday. If you look at this thread https://g05.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1656049 for the X5, particularly posts 19 & 21, that's exactly how everything looked and worked with the M8 convertible.

I only had to follow the first 2 steps in the Preliminary Work section to get to the wiring harness. It was a little tight getting behind there with the mirror in the way, but not too difficult overall.

Nice!!!

[redhot47fla]

Originally Posted by jm_bmw_m8

I took your advice and put in a Valentine 1 with MirrorTap yesterday. If you look at this thread https://g05.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1656049 for the X5, particularly posts 19 & 21, that's exactly how everything looked and worked with the M8 convertible.

I only had to follow the first 2 steps in the Preliminary Work section to get to the wiring harness. It was a little tight getting behind there with the mirror in the way, but not too difficult overall.

This is very helpful and much appreciated. I'll give it a try - again, if my upgrade/replacement V1 Gen2 ever arrives. At this point, I'd have to alert the board to some real issues at Valentine. Here is an edited version of an email I sent to them earlier today (customer-service deficiency issues there are an ongoing problem, according to Google reviews):

"Hi. Where is my V2? You received my V1 on July 29 at 9:54 a.m. via FedEx. I was signed for by X. Xxxx. Its serial number is xxxxxxxxxx. You have my American Express account number. I paid extra for two-day FedEx return delivery. The unit has been at your shop for 10 days and I have heard nothing. Unlike every other company in the universe, you offer no tracking capability.

"I called last week and, after waiting on hold for 30 minutes, spoke with a profoundly rude woman who just said you're doing a lot of upgrades and she had no information she could or would share. So...what is your turnaround time? Do you have an organized first-in, first-out system? If so, why am I still waiting? Please respond with information and an ETA. Thank you."

Thus far, crickets.

[bloozemanAZ]

Originally Posted by redhot47fla

This is very helpful and much appreciated. I'll give it a try - again, if my upgrade/replacement V1 Gen2 ever arrives. At this point, I'd have to alert the board to some real issues at Valentine. Here is an edited version of an email I sent to them earlier today (customer-service deficiency issues there are an ongoing problem, according to Google reviews):

"Hi. Where is my V2? You received my V1 on July 29 at 9:54 a.m. via FedEx. I was signed for by X. Xxxx. Its serial number is xxxxxxxxxx. You have my American Express account number. I paid extra for two-day FedEx return delivery. The unit has been at your shop for 10 days and I have heard nothing. Unlike every other company in the universe, you offer no tracking capability.

"I called last week and, after waiting on hold for 30 minutes, spoke with a profoundly rude woman who just said you're doing a lot of upgrades and she had no information she could or would share. So...what is your turnaround time? Do you have an organized first-in, first-out system? If so, why am I still waiting? Please respond with information and an ETA. Thank you."

Thus far, crickets.

That totally blows from a customer service perspective and I've read similar sentiment on the RDForum Valentine group. I just checked over there to see if they had any updated information and this was from today "The message that was displayed "Shipping on or Before 8/7/2020" has been removed. From replies here it didn't seem like they were really that far on backorder anyways. Unfortunately the upgrades are still on backorder and still suspended."

So it sounds like all upgrades are on backorder and suspended. One would think that whomever answered the phone could have at least told you that vs keeping you guessing. That said from reading the forum prior to and post ordering my Gen2 I know that COVID-19 has impacted their work force size as well as ability to get their custom parts from the suppliers.

In the past I've done several V1 upgrades that all went smoothly but sill I was without the detector for about a week or so. Given that the Gen2 launched just about the time COVID-19 ramped up I didn't want to take the chance on the upgrade so as mentioned I just did an outright buy on the Gen2. The thought did cross my mind at the time given the Gen2 is a completely different case plus new internals I was surprised that Valentine didn't offer the upgrade from a Gen1 in the form of buy the Gen2 at full price, send in your V1 and get a credit back on the card used once they receive the unit, etc.

[bloozemanAZ]

Originally Posted by jm_bmw_m8

I took your advice and put in a Valentine 1 with MirrorTap yesterday. If you look at this thread https://g05.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1656049 for the X5, particularly posts 19 & 21, that's exactly how everything looked and worked with the M8 convertible.

I only had to follow the first 2 steps in the Preliminary Work section to get to the wiring harness. It was a little tight getting behind there with the mirror in the way, but not too difficult overall.

Thanks and much appreciated! I had stopped looking back in April as nobody had anything in regards to the 2019/2020s with iDrive 7 vs everything at the time was from 2016/2017 and nothing matched. I'm going to keep the current wiring for now as it is too hot here in Phoenix to try and do the install without rushing it to keep from being a sweaty mess and potentially screwing something up. Hence, I'll give it a go this winter when were back into the 60s.

[redhot47fla]

Originally Posted by bloozemanAZ

That totally blows from a customer service perspective and I've read similar sentiment on the RDForum Valentine group. I just checked over there to see if they had any updated information and this was from today "The message that was displayed "Shipping on or Before 8/7/2020" has been removed. From replies here it didn't seem like they were really that far on backorder anyways. Unfortunately the upgrades are still on backorder and still suspended."

So it sounds like all upgrades are on backorder and suspended. One would think that whomever answered the phone could have at least told you that vs keeping you guessing. That said from reading the forum prior to and post ordering my Gen2 I know that COVID-19 has impacted their work force size as well as ability to get their custom parts from the suppliers.

In the past I've done several V1 upgrades that all went smoothly but sill I was without the detector for about a week or so. Given that the Gen2 launched just about the time COVID-19 ramped up I didn't want to take the chance on the upgrade so as mentioned I just did an outright buy on the Gen2. The thought did cross my mind at the time given the Gen2 is a completely different case plus new internals I was surprised that Valentine didn't offer the upgrade from a Gen1 in the form of buy the Gen2 at full price, send in your V1 and get a credit back on the card used once they receive the unit, etc.

Right. She said nothing about the item being backordered, they're still promoting upgrades on their website, and I still have nothing but crickets. And I don't have any detector whatsoever given that my Gen 1 is sitting somewhere in their office.

I would just buy one outright, as you did, but then I'd eventually end up with two. Still, I might do that one day soon and then re-sell the second one, with good customer service.

OTOH, BlendMount just notified me that the mount is back in stock and I ordered it (in the expectation that one - or more - Gen2s will show up eventually).

Kudos to BlendMount. THAT is how a professional company operates.

[redhot47fla]

Originally Posted by jm_bmw_m8

I took your advice and put in a Valentine 1 with MirrorTap yesterday. If you look at this thread https://g05.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1656049 for the X5, particularly posts 19 & 21, that's exactly how everything looked and worked with the M8 convertible.

I only had to follow the first 2 steps in the Preliminary Work section to get to the wiring harness. It was a little tight getting behind there with the mirror in the way, but not too difficult overall.

jm_bmw_m8, I summoned the courage (and plenty of Gatorade here in torrid North Florida-South Georgia), printed out the posts you highlighted and...voila! I did it. Hard-wired my belatedly arrived Valentine1 G2 using BlendMount's mirror tap, and then mounted it below the mirror using BlendMount's mount, as recommended by bloozemanAZ.

On a 1-10 handiness scale, I'm about a 6.7, and it still took me just a little over an hour. The toughest and scariest part was detaching the outer and inner mirror-base covers, but the illustrations and comments in that thread proved key. And being able to drop the 'vert top helped a bit with access.

It's really a thing of beauty, how it all comes together.

bloozemanAZ, when you're ready, reach out and I'll share a couple of additional tips.