Laser Radar Detector Comparison

Review by Chaz Edwards:

When I bought this radar detector I was at first questioning it because it was the cheapest one and a few days went by where I seen no cop and I wasnt sure if it was working, until I was coming home from my girl friends house at around 1:30 in the morning and it started beeping, I slowed down and looked around and seen no lights and I thought I was the only one on the road then I started goin down a big hill and it stoped beeping then as I got back up the other side of the hill it started beeping again so I thought the thing was junk then the radar dector started going nuts and then I seen the cop sitting off to the side with all its lights off (which is allowed in the state of Indiana) and was happy that I had the radar detector, because I would of probably gotten a speeding ticket. I figured the radar detector picked up the cop about a mile before I seen him so all in all it was a great purchase and I am very pleased with it.

Review by TRO:

I have four vehicles that I am "accountable" for. With the latest addition of number four came my fourth Cobra and the latest technology with 9 bands. I like things simple and effective. This has the same mount, the same jack input and the basically the same simple functionality as the other three. It is a little more precise as it can pick up a signal a bit quicker than the three year old one I also have.

My thinking right or wrong:

They all work extremely well for my needs from a 911 to a Standard Company Issued Impala

The total of all four detectors was under 0.

Someone will think twice about breaking a window and stealing a Price Brand Cobra given the risk for return on a resale is limited to 10 bux maybe??

I like the Cobra line of detectors!

Review by Kate Stokes:

I had used Escort radar detectors exclusively for 15 years and thought they were the best detectors for the price. Earlier this year, however, I used an Escort 8500 X50 for a lengthy driving trip and found it just barely adequate.

I had a 5K mile driving trip to take a few weeks ago so I took a chance on this unit. I'm so glad I did. What a great product! The performance of this unit BLOWS the Escort 8500 X50 out of the water. I mean blows it right out of the water. I got warnings with this unit WAY before I needed them, whereas I got them just in time with the 8500. Perhaps more importantly, I got virtually no false warnings with this unit whereas I got them ALL THE TIME with the Escort unit. The Escort unit had me braking every 3 miles for what turned out to be nothing almost every time. Again when it counted--when it was real police--the Escort only warned me a split second or two before I would have been nabbed.

I am so seriously impressed with the advance warning range of this unit, the incredibly low false warning ratio, and the bargain price of the unit. It delivers WAY more than the Escort 8500 X50 for half the price! It is one of the most cleat cut comparisons I have ever experienced; no fine line here. I am surprised that Escort gets away with delivering such mediocre results for your detector buying dollar.

I found out about this unit by conducting extensive internet research and I'm happy to say the tests found on the internet were accurate. The only way to step up to a higher level of performance will be to buy the Valentine unit for 4-5 times the price of this unit. If you are like me then you can't afford the Valentine so you are looking for other options. I respectfully argue that this is the best value (performance for price ratio) in all non-Valentine units.

Review by Todd A. Schulman:

First: the Amazon picture of the V940 is not correct. The unit that I received looks identical to the V955. This is why I'm reviewing so quickly.

Second: I thought that the mounting bracket was so small that a mistake had been made. But the mounting method is very clever, adjustable and easy to perform. It can be mounted in even a sweeping windshield. The suction cups have exceptional grip to them. Well done.

Third: Round trip on the LIE and zero false alarms.

Forth: The instructions recommend using in the highway mode, which I did. Therefore why would any of the more expensive and expansive Bels be necessary.

Fifth: The only negative so far. The top of the unit is gray. Black would have been preferable and less reflective. I found some cross-stitch material at Michael's, traced an outline of the gray area, cut out 5 holes, glued it onto the Bel, and now I have no more complaints.

Review by Careful Driver:

I got the Vector 995 because its performance is at par with the top of the line radar detectors from Bel, Escort, Valentine. Even though I rarely speed above general traffic flow, speed enforcement has picked up a lot and I didn't want to pay back-door taxes.

Its radar detection performance is at par with the best of them - usually just 5% or so less than the best for a given test. But the cost difference is way more than 5%, more like 25%+. Its laser detection is its weakness, but only when compared to the top of the line models. However, the laser detection weakness isn't really critical because laser guns are so fast and accurate that the officer has already clocked your speed before even the detector alerts (even the best one). Don't take my word for it, just go ask your local police officer. Also, the rear facing sensor is quite useless on most detectors - someone in marketing thought it would be cool and all other brands followed. It is also one of the very few detectors which can detect the Ku band, which is rumored to be introduced in the US soon (already there in Europe).

It also falses significantly less than what I've had before. I can't compare with the top 4 because I don't have them. AutoScan works best in city or when in new areas; Highway works best on rural areas or highways. Use AutoScan with care, it filters all bands and can potentially reduce detection range (because it spends some time figuring out if the radar signal pattern is like those from typical sources of falsing). Its Tech mode (showing radar freq) can be used to find out real speed gun threat when a cunning officer hangs out in an area where detectors often false (drugstore, grocery store, etc) - not fool proof though. One should note that the 'false alerts' are not really false - they ARE actually radar signals in the same band used by police. It's called 'false' because it's not a 'cop' radar signal.

POP mode, while a nice feature, usually trigger a lot of falsing on most detectors - because of leaky/crappy detectors like the Cobras. I've enabled POP for the last 3 weeks and have run it in AutoScan and City modes - no difference in falsing. Even the top 4 detectors today can't beat this. Also, the review/description is wrong - POP is disabled by default on the 995 also (maybe Bel changed it after the review).

The Vector 995 is the only one in the Vector series that can have its firmware upgraded by Beltronics - useful if they have some bug fixes and/or they have an update that does better detection.

It also has a few less features than the top 4, but I didn't care for those. Its got all the essential features one really needs for its intended use and does them extremely well. Its stellar performance makes it an awesome deal for a 5 price. I got mine on a special sale at Amazon for even less . However, like any radar detector (even the best ones), this radar detector is NOT a cop detector - so drive sensibly.

Even when the 995 is having a bad day, it is waaaaay better than the most expensive Cobra/Whistler radar detectors.

Like any product, it has quirks:

1. 3.5mm jack volume - it's just too loud even at one click above minimum (I use it when spouse/kids are sleeping on a long drive)

2. Buttons for visor clip - if you get the visor clip, the buttons are not easy to reach

And last but most important, please drive carefully. Lives are more important than seconds/minutes saved by excessive speeding and rash driving.

Bonus tips:

a. Tutorial mode - manual doesn't mention it, but I stumbled on it. Press the Dark and Mute buttons down and then the Power button to turn the unit on. Voila - tutorial mode!! Power button press exits this mode.

b. Audio/Voice alerts - learn to identify the bands with your ears, the range based on audio beep frequency, it helps keep your eyes focused where they need to be - on the road. I've turned Voice off after a couple of months, and rarely need to look at it (except in Tech mode).

c. Ebay/Unauthorized dealers - Beltronics honors warranty from authorized dealers only. Amazon itself is authorized (may change in future), Amazon's sellers are not. Ebay is not, most stuff there are refurbs or rejects and hence the low low prices. You've been informed, use common sense.

Review by D. Hunter:

If this is your first Radar Detector, it takes a little getting used to. I've had my Beltronics 995 for about a year or so now. It's been quite useful. It will NOT save you if you pass a cop and he decides to tag you. I lucked out one night when the cop couldn't find a place to turn around quickly enough when he waited until I was right next to him (going to the other way) when he turned his radar on. Do NOT think any radar detector is an excuse to drive however you feel... you WILL regret it.

Also, banks, gas stations and a lot of other little things will set the Beltronics 995 ablaze with lights and sounds.

If you're in one area, and can learn where the bands are, this radar detector becomes VERY useful. A good example... I got X band in an area where I always got K band... sure enough, there's a cop sitting right there. Also, the voice saying the band is kind of useful, as I don't have to look at it.

The Beltronics 995 offers a wide range of bands it'll detect. The tones can be adjusted to be quiet (they're pretty dang loud off factory settings and'll scare the hell out of you when you get your first tones). You can also mute it when it drives your significant other nuts.

On the whole, I'm pretty happy with it... would I buy another in the future? Probably.

Review by Steve F:

Note - see edit at end for added comments.

I bought this detector recently and just completed a 600 mile round trip to Florida. The detector performed very well, and I'm really satisfied with both the performance and value.

K-Band Performance. Very Good - On one stretch of flat road the XTR-695 alarm went off approx. 1.3 miles in advance (with traffic in front of me). Even on rolling terrain with a patrol car located at the bottom of the dip in the road, it alerted approx. a 1/2 mile away, plenty of time to slow down. Very solid performance on K-Band.

KA-Band Performance. Very Good to Excellent - It picked up an oncoming patrol car approx. a mile away with the patrolman toggling the radar on and off as he encountered traffic. Another time a patrol car was parked at the end of very long sweeping curve on an interstate, shooting across the road at about a 45 degree angle. A very difficult test, but the 695 gave about a 15 second advance warning, which was more than enough time to slow down.

Navigating The Menu - Yes, even radar detectors now have menu options, but this one is very simple to navigate. Just press the Menu button, then keep pressing it until the option you're seeking appears on the screen. You can turn off, or on, just about every feature the detector has.

X-Band - I turned this off in the menu. It's used very little in 48 states (New Jersey & Ohio being the exceptions) and turning it off cut the number of false alarms way down (all those X-band automatic door openers in strip malls are now ignored).

POP Detection - Detecting radar guns in POP mode (the few radar guns that have a POP mode that is) requires a detector to spend a lot of time searching for the very weak POP signals, usually lessening response time and increasing false alerts. I turned POP mode off. POP readings can't be used in court, they just let the police get a peek at vehicle's speed without sending out a stronger signal. I figure you'll get hit a couple of seconds later with the real radar blast if you're speeding, probably too quickly to slow down anyway, so POP detection didn't seem worth it. I had gotten a few false KA band alerts, apparently bleed over coming from other detectors, and turning off POP seems to have prevented those types of false alerts almost entirely.

Voice Alert - Great feature. This is one of those things that turns out to be much more useful than you would think. You hear a quick beep/buzz to get your attention, and then a very loud clear voice announces the particular threat (i.e. "K Band"!). You know exactly what you're dealing with without ever having to look at the detector.

Periscope LED Alert - Another feature that turns out to be of more use than anticipated (the "periscope" terminology is Whistler's btw). Two bright blue LEDs, that are raised above the top surface of the detector, flash whenever radar is detected. Even with the music cranked, the LEDs should attract your attention.

Audio Alert - The different radar bands (and laser) have their own distinct alert (buzz/beep, whatever you want to call them). According to various detector experts, the speaker in the XTR695 is one of the largest in the business. All I know is that it's capable of being very loud, depending on how you set the volume control.

Display - This is the one area I'd say Whistler has room for improvement. The main display is dim, but it's not unreadable, at least not in my vehicle. Whether or not this is going to be a major issue probably depends on the individual and the particular vehicle (or the ambient lighting in that vehicle). For me, with the voice alerts telling me which band the radar is on (or announcing a laser hit), the loud audio alerts and the flashing blue 'periscope' LEDs, the display just isn't that important.

A note on detection distances mentioned above. I run the XTR695 in Highway Mode. I do not use any additional filter modes (Filter1 or Filter2). The 695 uses a basic filter mode from the factory, and that is the only filtering that was being done. The encounters were all with traffic in front of me, which makes a big difference in the real world. If you have the bucks, some of the more expensive detectors will pick up radar farther away than the 695, but some will not. Do your research before investing a lot of money in a detector. While this detector doesn't qualify as the very best out there, it has done very well in most of the tests I've come across.

In summary, a very good detector, and well worth the money.

Edit 12/18/08: I still like this detector very much. I wanted to add however, that the main reason I chose the XTR695 over the Whistler Pro 78 was due to the RSID feature available with the XTR695. After living with RSID for awhile, it hasn't proven as useful as I thought it would (it's not a scam by any means, and works perfectly well). If you want the top-of-the-line from Whistler, by all means get the XTR695. However, if price is a concern, then the Whistler 78 should provide similar performance at a lesser price (and with the nice blue LED display to boot). Again, I'm very satisfied with the XTR695, but wanted to pass on my experience in case anyone is trying to decide between the 695 vs the 78.

Review by Marshall D.:

Wow.

This is my first radar detector, and I spent hours and hours researching and reading reviews. I was going to initially go with the Bel Vector 955, which is one of the industry leading detectors out there, but the sheer amount of features and performance drew me to the XTR-695.

I've owned this detector for a month now, and every option in this feature-packed detector comes in handy. First time it went off, the RSID flashed up with the frequency, indicating a positive match on a known police radar. One mile later, I passed a state trooper. Since then, this little device doesn't disappoint. I've set colors to certain bands so I know just by the color what I'm up against. The periscope leds give you a quick heads up, even under the loudest circumstances. Even on windy roads in the countryside, I can still detect radars coming up in enough time to let me react.

One of the greatest features of this detector (I think) is the sheer stealth of it. I chose this detector over the Bel because the Bel has a silver casing that reflects sunlight, giving everyone a clear view that you have a detector. The Whistler is jet black, leaving no glare, and besides the two windshield cups, people really can't see that you have a detector until they are close to you (Whistler recommends you install the detector as low as possible on the windshield, right above the wipers, got my first laser detection when I finally did that).

The XTR also has several modes of dimming, so you can essentially tell the detector to turn off all lights until it gets a signal. Coupled with the fact that I've turned off X-Band to reduce false alerts, this detector stays silent and out of sight until I need it to be, which is really great since I believe a detector should be as small a distraction as possible until you really need it.

One of the biggest gripes people have with this detector is that the display is a little hard to read. Sure, it doesn't look like GPS device when it goes off, so this doesn't bother me, and I consider it an added bonus since I don't need a marquee on my windshield just to tell me the letter "K" and the number "9" (which indicates the band and strength). I can read mine just fine when it goes off, and i don't need to read it when it's not detecting anything. You don't even need the display since a woman's voice can alert you to the band, and the periscope leds flash faster with the strength of the signal.

All in all, a strong detector for a steal. My buddy has a Valentine-One, and while I didn't feel like spending 0 on a top-notch detector, the Whistler XTR-695 is worth every penny (it's saved me a speeding ticket a few times too!), and the RSID and LSID is worth it alone, since when I see those frequency digits displayed, I'm 99% confident that there will be law enforcement around.

Review by Daniel G. Lebryk:

This is definately not a pretty radar detector. In the days of Apple design, and GPS's looking great and slim, LCD televisions, and kitchen appliances looking and functioning great; there's not a lot of excuse for poor industrial design. More on the construction in a moment.

January 8, 2010 update. The Railroad signal also works, it went off near a railroad track. The Emergency Vehicle alarm has gone off a lot lately, for police cars and Ambulances. Very nice.

The display has gotten a distinct burn in for the speed display (I'm testing Cobra's warranty repair service with this - January 23, 2010 - a brand new core unit arrived quickly, Cobra made good on the warranty, no questions asked). The display does not work at all if you leave the detector in the cold, around freezing. Once the unit warms up it finally works, but it will be an ugly orange for a long time. And see the comments about getting a bean bag mount - the suction cups do not work at all in the cold.

SOFTWARE update - Cobra now offers 64 bit for Vista and XP software. It only took them 6 months to deliver the update. Boo on Cobra for pitiful software support. They get really bad marks for their inability to support their device. Follow the install directions very carefully.

October 10, 2009 update. The Emergency Vehicle alarm finally went off. Another that made me almost jump out of my skin, the noise is a lot like a police siren. A police car was pulling somebody over with siren going. Well before I could hear the siren, the alarm went off on the screen. I had already seen the lights before the alarm went off. If a police car is equiped with a special transmitter, the Cobra will go off.

September 26, 2009 update. Laser detector finally went off. About made me jump out of my skin. The sound is kind of Star Wars, crazy buzzy sound. The goofiest icon come up, its an image of a gun with a laser sight on it. But the good news - it works. Definately works just fine. I've also had some fun with this unit, the Chicago area has a ton of construction with threatened photo radar speed enforcement. The amazing thing, if they ever turn on those radar guns that are out there right now, Chicago will make a ton of money. This unit warns for those guns a long ways in advance, and it beeps like insanity whenever I am on top of one. This thing really works.

June 2, 2009 Tech Support update. Well this is not the fastest company I have ever met. Web support via the web form is pitiful at best. Twice I entered the exact same information and never got a response over a 1 week time period. I finally used an email address (it's buried in an advertisement looking thing on the FAQ's) and got a response within two hours of their normal business hours. And I got a nasty gram from somebody telling me to relax, tech support would get back to me (after over 7 work days, I lost all hope), they did receive all three of my emails. Frankly, a really poor showing on their part. God help you if you need tech support from this company. The FAQ section for the radar detectors is just awful. Pretty well worthless.

Back to Original Review:

The really great news, this radar detector flat out works. It works well. I'm amazed at how well it works. Photo, Ka, X, and Caution Zones - saw them all, they all work just great thank you very much. Haven't seen a laser alert, emergency vehicles, or a Railroad crossing alert yet; but I'd have every reason to believe those will work when they are really there.

The good - 1/2 mile down the road, Ka chirped on, the lovely lady said Ka Alert, and two balls of signal strength. Sure enough, a 1/2 mile later down the raod, a policeman with radar pulled somebody over. Pretty darn good proof the unit can detect radar.

Unboxing - I've posted some pictures of unboxing. It's actually some pretty decent packaging and got my heart rate up just a bit. You see, I used to be addicted to radar detectors. And then Laser came along, and I lost interest, (I'd already been through X band, then get a new one that would do Ka, enough already). Well that whole world has settled down now.

What is in the box? This funky looking radar detector with a big honking screen on the back end of it. And this really hideous half arm, half wart hanging off the side of the body; the GPS receiver. A coiled power cord. A goofy looking female mini-USB to male USB cable. A really crummy cheap window suction cup mount. A chunk of velcro. And an instruction book bag.

The installation. Ouch. The first step, you have to register the GPS and update the database. If you use the wrong model number to register the GPS you'll be ripped off your lifetime Aura database updates. Make sure you use the XRS 9960G model number - not the number on the radar detector. And you have to input the serial number off the little dinky GPS receiver. Once registered, you then have to download and install a little piece of software that will live on your computer forever - it's called RDA GPSL-55 (you got me how they came up with that gorgeous name). Then you are supposed to plug in the USB cable and the GPS receiver. Now if you have Vista, the website says you are on your own. With XP they give you step by step instructions. Well, the best deal, if you have Vista or XP 64 Bit - don't even bother. The software / driver will not work at all, nothing, nada. So you have to find a 32 bit machine to do this update. My Aspire One netbook did the job. Then you have to remove the GPS when you start up the RDA GPSL-55 software, and you have to enter the GPS serial number. Once all that craziness is done, you might get lucky and the GPS will update with it's brand spanking new database. Mine finally did after three tries.

So software set up - just not cool at all. Forget 64 Bit operating systems. And forget about any kind of real live software support on the Cobra website; it just doesn't exist at all.

So now that the little reciever is updated, I installed this in the car. Cobra needs to take a lesson from Garmin, or the GPS industry, about car mounts for devices. They shipped the cheapest piece of garbage to hang this on your windshield. The metal is nothing to bend. The suction cups are exactly that, suction cups that are very hard to push on or remove. So, bottom line this thing looks like garbage hanging from the windshield.

The power cord is way too short. I had to stretch is a long ways to work in my Buick Rendezvous (I know a radar magnet) - if those suction cups ever let go, this unit is flying to the back of the bus quickly. The Mercedes was a little better.

There's one other critical design flaw. The socket for the GPS receiver is a standard mini-USB connector; cheap and not exactly super secure. Definately not an automotive type connection. The power socket is right beside that GPS socket. The GPS almost covers up the power socket, and when you stretch the power cord, it stresses the GPS connection. First time around, the GPS wasn't seated right because the power cord pulled it out.

Now the good stuff. Power this up, and you are greeted by one of the nicest female voices I've heard on an electronic device in a long time. And then you get to look at the display. Well Cobra could have spent maybe five more dollars on this display. It is super low res, the icons are really goofy looking and super clunky. For some unknown reason, they love how much electricity the unit is getting, there's this huge battery in the default display that tells you 14.7V, or whatever is going in. I would haver rather seen the speed displayed.

Customization through the menus is not super intuitive, there's only 4 buttons to work with. They don't always do exactly what I thought they should, a minor annoyance.

Now on to the testing. About 1/4 mile from a camera monitored intersection, the displayed turned to a camera with a green donut, and the Cobra lady said Photo Alert. A bit closer, and an arrow appeared at the top. Closer and the donut got larger and yellow. Closer still, the donut turned red, by that time I was pretty much at the edge of the intersection. This was pretty cool. Worked every single time.

I found a policeman staked out on a road, doubled back and got the Ka alert mentioned at the top of the review. Given the two level signal strength, it wasn't a false alarm. And the fact that he pulled somebody over, well it was real.

The Caution zones is kind of interesting. It's apparently areas where a lot of accidents have been reported. Sure enough, Caution came on with an exclamation point in the middle of the donut, and Cobra lady told me Caution Alert. The color change was exactly like the Camera alert. The two that came up were in front of a school at a very busy intersection. And the second was in front of a hospital.

False alarms. It did a pretty darn good job rejecting them. O'Hare airport is notorious for heavy duty false alarms everywhere. I got X and Kz alarms, but all were only one ball signal strength. The other great thing this unit does, once the alarm is set, you get the voice plus a tone. Then you get tone. And if the signal doesn't get stronger, the tone gets quieter; but the X or Ka radar gun icon stays lit up. It's a really great way to work.

Multiple alarms - got a caution and an X band alarm at once. The Caution stayed huge and the X band radar showed up on the screen. So both were there to see.

Highway driving. Well this is a bit strange and will take some getting used to. Those Caution and Photo alarms are all based on GPS coordinates data. When you travel along a highway, sometimes you will pass near one of those areas. Well you have to look closely at the icon for the direction the arrow is pointing. If it's pointing straight up, that zone is probably on the road in front of you. If it's to the side, well it's probably not a highway warning, but a street parallel to the highway. It's tricky to see at first.

Oh the GPS speed was off by between 1 and 2 mph. I know this because I've calibrated this vehicle's digital speed display with two Garmin GPS units. The Cobra thinks the speed is really 1 to 2 mph slower than it really is.

So bottom line - it's a really good unit, that does exactly what they say it does. It could be much better built. The Passport series from Cincinnati Microwave is much better built - their GPS receiver is built in. However, their displays are all words, no pictures. So Cobra wins there. As Cobra's highest end radar detectors, they did a great job on the things that count; and did a poor job on the visual part.

The part that I find amazing, couple this with a Garmin Nuvi GPS; and it will be hard to look at the road. I'll almost need a copilot to help me with all these gadgets! Safe travels.

Review by Tarun Chachra:

So I have been using this Radar Detector for about 5 days now and loving/hating every moment of it. I am not convinced....here are my thoughts.

The box includes the detector, a suction cup mount (works well), a piece of velcro for dash mounting, a gps receiver dongle, a usb to mini usb cable (12 inch cable), and of course the power cord.

What I like:

1. The unit is designed well and mounts very easily using the suction cup mount (I do not want to permanently attach adhesive backing velcro to my dash).

2. The ability to update the GPS dongle with up to date camera and speed trap information (When the site works)

3. The intuitive (compact) display that gives you basic GPS info (direction and so forth).

4. The voice feedback when an alert is detected.

What I dislike:

1. The website was down for-ever and in FireFox shows that it is blacklisted by Google. Internet explorer does not show it blacklisted and works just fine.

2. The updates to the GPS dongle must be on a Windows based PC running a 32bit OS. MAC's are not supported.

3. Horrible support. I tried to call when the site was down to see if they had a solution....no response, no call backs.

**NOTE: You download a small software from the website which you install on your pc..once installed you plug the dongle in and you must enter the serial number on the back of it so you can get the update...

My experience:

I live in the land of State Troopers (New Jersey) and commute to the city that invented the Traffic-Cam (New York City). My total round-trip commute is about 125 miles daily...therefore I spend a lot of time in my car. I have never felt the need for a Radar Detector because I was afraid that it would make me drive a little bit more faster then I do already.. That being said I definitely wanted to give this puppy a shot and see what it detected and what it did not.

I finally got the GPS dongle updated with the latest database that had updated information about camera's, speed traps, etc....apparently this is updated every 24 hours (when the site is up and running). Plug in the dongle and turn the unit on and you are ready to go.

First test, locally around my home where I know we have 3 live cameras at traffic lights and 2 dummy cameras. I drove my little car near the dummy cameras and no alert...drove past the live cameras and 2 of them showed an alert while the 3rd did not. I made a note of the 3rd one so I could add it to the database (you are allowed to login to the site and add updates for all users .. nice feature). Quick Note: June 25th Evening - Drove home via this camera that I added to the database and voila it actually worked...the device notified me of a camera.

Second test, the police department in our area tries to be nice and instead of issuing citations they install these radar's on wheels that notify you of your speed so that you can control yourself (ha...I do live in the boonies). What better way to test a radar detector then to drive by these things...without facing a real officer. - I know of 4 of them on a regular basis. I drove up to two of them...meaning driving towards them and the detector started to signal an alert..probably about 3/4 of a mile before I got there. Awesome. Now then I drove up to two of them from behind....on one I got an alert 1/2 mile before and on the other about 1/4 mile before I got to it. It works..

Third Test - The good ole' NJ highways with state troopers galore - now in unmarked Dodge Chargers. Woo Hoo...this was going to be fun...but I didnt go nuts driving fast...just wanted to see this puppy work. I start off by changing the device to Hwy mode and off I went. I drive on i78 about 45 miles one way each day and there are a lot of speed traps. The rate of detection here was disappointing...about 50% of them never caused a signal...but that could simply mean the trooper wasn't looking for anyone. Still...pretty good. PS. I did turn on all of the available bands on the unit (it covers 15 different ones).

Fourth and final test, The city of the cameras! I drove through the Holland Tunnel into NYC ( I had turned the device to City mode before entering the tunnel). Naturally I got a lot of false K Band alerts (to be expected in dense areas with lots of wireless garbage). However here is where this thing came out in full force. It detected EVERY camera at EVERY light and warned me about it.... Gotta love that. I knew about most of the cameras it found but there were 6 that even I missed on my route from the Holland tunnel to midtown NYC. AWESOME.

Why then is my rating of this product 4/5 (i would have given it a 3.5 if I could). I simply dis-like the fact that the website is useless and blacklisted to boot. I also am a bit annoyed that I have to use a Windows PC at 32bit to install/update the GPS dongle. I use 64bit operating systems on a regular basis and mac's when I can...so the ability to update on any of them would be awesome...but I cant hate them for not supporting 64bit...a lot of companies don't. My main complaint is that its not MAC friendly. Last but not least...my main concern is that if people don't buy enough of these types of devices, the database will become outdated and thus the GPS dongle will be just that...it will tell you which way you are going but not be able to alert you to traps, troubled areas etc.

I still think the product is great but Cobra needs to work on implementation a little bit more. 3.5/5 for me...but since no halves are allowed its rounded up to 4.