20 responses so far ↓

• 1 Culver

  In City Mode it alerts for a lot of false alarms.

  In Highway mode it missied a real alert.

• 2 O'Hair

  I have had a Cobra Rador detector before. This is a new one I bought. Works great and has alot more bells and whistles than my old one. I highly recommend it.

• 3 Nestlerode

  I like the sensitivity of the radar detector, I replaced an older cobra detector, it picks up radar signals from a good distance. For the price I got my money’s worth.

• 4 O'Day

  The Cobra XRS 9950 Maximum Performance 12 Band Radar/Laser detector was purchased by myself from Amazon for $104.02 to replace my aging Whistler Model 1773 Radar Detector / Laser Detector (purchased from Best Buy in January of 2005 for $125.99). The Whistler radar detector still works and is quite satisfactory, but I was nervous trusting it since I have depended upon it and used it uninterruptedly for four (4) years in my 2004 Nissan Maxima SE 6 speed manual automobile. I have been using the Cobra detector unit for three (3) days, and I am blown away by its style, features, and ease of use. It is an incredible purchase for $104.02.

  The Cobra detector unit was shipped from GizmosForLife and arrived via UPS normal shipping within three (3) days of placing the order. The package was light, and so is the radar detector. The detector unit isn’t heavy at all – some of the reviews which claim that it is large left me with the impression that it might be heavy. Also, the unit is NOT particularly large compared to my Whistler radar detector unit – it is perhaps 1 inch longer, and roughly the same width. The Cobra unit arrives in a standard, retail plastic blister pack which must be cut open with scissors. Inside the blister pack is the detector unit, a coiled D/C power cord for your automobile, a windshield suction cup mount, an alternative dashboard adhesive mount, detailed instructions plus an instruction addendum, and a Cobra registration card.

  COILED D/C POWER CORD:
  This cord is too short for comfortable, easy usage with most automobiles. Since the cord is coiled, it will stretch. However, the length and elasticity of the cord will sometimes cause the detector to snap-back out of your hands and fall to the floor of your automobile as you’re attempting to seat it within the suction cup mount. BE CAREFUL – you may want to seat the detector unit FIRST and then plug in the power cord. Also, the placement of the D/C power receptacle on the detector unit is on the LEFT side – this means that in my Maxima, the suction cup mount must be placed slightly to the right of the dashboard center stack to keep the coiled cord from obscuring my view of the center stack information cluster / Navigation Computer screen. The combination fuse / D/C power receptacle seated easily and snugly into my auto’s cigarette lighter.

  WINDSHIELD SUCTION CUP MOUNT:
  Despite what the reviewers are saying, this is a high-quality unit – especially when compared with the mount that came with my Whistler detector unit. It’s not cheap at all. The Cobra’s suction cups, rubber vibration peg and attached metal bracket are black. The plastic / rubber cups are rather large, and do a great job of seating on the windshield glass and staying put. The bracket will most likely need to be adjusted to properly fit your windshield by manually bending it with your fingers so that once the detector unit is mounted, it is completely parallel to the ground and facing backwards / rearwards out of your rear window. Don’t be afraid to do this – the metal won’t break unless you bend it back and forth several times unnecessarily. The detector unit does not move or vibrate unnecessarily when mounted to its bracket.

  COBRA RADAR/LASER DETECTOR UNIT:
  This unit is not the latest made by Cobra, nor is it the greatest – Cobra now makes a 9955 15-band model and a 9960G 15-band model, both with a few more features than the detector unit I have purchased. However, this model – the 9950 12-band – was within my price range, and is fantastically adequate. I set the unit up and started using it without reading the instructions – that’s how easy it is to use – although it is by no means a “simple” unit. The only feature I was not able to properly set up without reading the manual was the compass feature. I was immediately impressed by the detector unit’s menu, the super bright, adjustable display (4 brightness settings), and the wealth of information provided to the user while the unit is in operation. The only thing I didn’t initially like was the unit’s screen-saver mode: This is a little orange dot that is factory preset to blank-out the display and appear 30 seconds after the last signal prompt / display picture, thus saving the screen. The orange dot appears and disappears every 5 seconds, depending upon how hard the engine is revving (it appears every second when my auto is at idle). This feature can be overridden by the menu: If you want the display to be visible and on continuously, simply access the menu and follow the prompts to turn of the screen saver. After reading the directions, I got an even great understanding and appreciation for the unit’s features. I was able to set up the unit’s magnetic compass, which works perfectly.

  1) SIGNAL STRENGTH: The visual and audio signal strength indications are excellent. When the signal is distant or negligible, you get one visual dot, a corresponding picture, a descriptive voice alert and a lower tone. When the signal is nearby and strong / important, you get from two (2) to five (5) orange / red vertical visual dots positioned on the right side of the display window, a corresponding picture, a descriptive voice alert and a LOUD tone. The tone also increases in rapidity with signal approach. The distance and range of the unit is very good.

  2) TONE ALERTS / VOICE ALERTS: The tones or sounds that the unit is provided with are sufficiently engaging and do not fall prey to the ambient noise of your vehicle – the sounds are distinctive. The voice the unit uses is female, smooth, and clearly enunciated.

  3) APPEARANCE: DO NOT leave this unit sitting unattended on your windshield – it is attractive and will invite curiousity – and possibly theft. It is a tiny bit unsophisticated with a few sharp edges and a space ship / death cruiser appearance – some would say it looks like a child’s toy – but this feeling will pass as you begin to trust the unit and rely upon it for accuracy.

  4) ERGONOMICS: The buttons are mostly well-placed, but the volume dial rotates too easily and the placement of the power cord on the left side of the unit may annoy some people. The screen is well-protected by a huge, 1/2″ plastic lip protrusion all the way around, which also prevents sunlight from washing out the display. The bracket release button on top of the unit must be pressed *very firmly* to release the unit from the suction mount – this may give some people a bit of trouble and may take a few times to master. The detector unit indefinitely remembers all user-selected settings, even when disconnected from a power source.

  5) UPGRADEABILITY: According to the instructions, a separate Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) unit may be purchased and plugged into the detector unit to provide Red Light Camera locations as well as relative satellite speed sensing for your automobile. The Red Light Camera locations data is provided from a Cobra database, but the user may also easily add Red Light Camera locations into the unit’s memory with the touch of a button while in close proximity to a specific Red Light Camera.

  6) “WOW” / FUN FACTOR: Very High. The unit is attractive, racy and invites experimentation. Be warned – you may be tempted to speed just to test it out!

• 5 Kemp

  My wife and I got this Radar Detector, because we were going to be traveling to family back East. We got the Cobra, because of the price and had all of the features that I was looking for and more. Yes, it did detect the Police radar, but one feature that it had that I did not know about, is when a fire truck or ambulance is comming the detector will sound a siron and picture of a ambulance will come up on the display, so I have a chance to pull over. I have had this detector for almost a year and my wife and I will always have it in the car. This is one great item and I would recommend it to anyone. One very HAPPY owner.

• 6 Utke

  So far so good sleak look, very adjustable, plenty of warning time,
  Hope the screen last longer than the last one Two years screen died.

• 7 VanDusen

  The product is all it is supposed to be. Great price compared to other on-line offers. My only problem with it is the poor instructions. Needed to explain steps a little better and not concern themselves with saving on paper.

• 8 Unfried

  The product worked normal for couple months and then a blue streak/line appeared in center from top to bottom of the display screen. The line does not go away even after turning device on/off several times. Left device off for few days, still the line appeared when I plugged and turned on the device. Previously had voice-alert Cobra radar and after few years, the speaker started to crackle everytime it announced the alerts. Was hoping for better performance and luck with this device, but faulty display makes Cobra products less appealing to me now. Past the product return window, so unfortunately cannot return product. Very disappointed in this product due to display problem.

• 9 Shim

  my unit – after about a week – kept flashing a “spectre alert” – even though was parked in my own garage ! called help line apparently needs to be sent back to have sensitivity turned down !

• 10 Tarbet

  The Cobra XRS-9955 provides very decent K/Ka Detection, definitely notice an improvement from the Cobra 9950 that I owned. During a driving test with my friend, it seemed to performed about the same level (in term of sensibility and number of false reading) as his Beltronics Pro GX65, a detector that costs twice as much as the Cobra. However, we did noticed the XRS-9955 is a bit slow to react and alert to instant-on radar. The Whistler Pro and Valentine One performed noticeably better in this area, but again they cost much more. The Cobra 9955 is a good choice for the money.

• 11 Vales

  I have found a couple of camera’s that this product did not show up. I plan on turning these in but how many more is out there that i don’t know about. I pass a THP one night and never got no signal warning but there is always that chance that he wasn’t running radar. More time will tell before i take off and se it on a trip.

• 12 VanDerSchuur

  1 Fantastic value 4 your money!
  3rd Cobra product in Auto Radar Detection
  Easy to set up and download updates
  Great LIFETIME UPDATES Service by Cobra owned company
  Ez to hide on dash and while you park your car
  Easy to program every function
  Caught every camera and “Danger” zone so far in 10 days of driving, 1200 miles.
  I drive 50-60k miles a year
  I raced cars in 8 states
  I drag race, drift & AutoX as well as street race
  I burn rubber daily & I CHIRP-POWER-CLUTCH BRAKE daily
  I’m a good landlord and rich, but I want to feel like a “child” daily.
  I’m a Litigation paralegal with 114 court cases of experience.
  I got 2 moving violations this year and am at 1 point on my drivers license.
  This has slowed me down and made me stop at yellows vs. “zoom through”.
  GREAT BEHAVIOR CONTROL INSTRUMENT FOR AGGRESSIVE DRIVERS!!!

• 13 O'Shaugnessy

  As an engineer I have done some repeatable tests and every time I got same results, hence this unit is reliable in my opinion. I was able to pick all traffic photo enforcement areas and radars in different states. Display of GPS coordinate is a cool feature when you need to let others know where you are at. The “small USB” based GPS antenna should be reinforced a little bit for more mechanical ruggedness. I am not using the octopus grip clips that comes with the kit. Again…. design problem, The grip, length & angle of metallic piece, total weight of the detector do not match and fells from wind shield after a few road bumps. It is not major thing, you can buy different mount or stand.

  Over all I am pleased with the product.

• 14 Puterbaugh

  This is an outstanding product and best value for the buck of all radar detectors I have seen or heard about.
  The only con I saw so far is that it gets some false alarms. Nevertheless, better safe than sorry – all it does is respond to beams and frequencies. It does have a toggle button city/highway to mitigate significantly false alarms, yet when you are on the freeway, it better be on highway mode.
  Now to the good stuff: It has a sweet display, way better than even the high end detectors have!
  The GPS module is a genius idea. You’ll be surprised how many red-light cameras are out there that you are unaware of. AND EVEN if you are familiar with them, it turns out to be a great reminder and a wakeup call right and ahead of time.
  This toy has already saved me twice so it has already paid for itself!!! I’ve gotta tell you one very important thing readers, and I hope this will not be censored: Lately, if you’ve noticed, there is an increasing number of patrol officers PICKING ON PEOPLE TO GENERATE MORE REVENUE TO THE GOVERNMENT, WHO IS DEEP IN DEBT. So it’s not that I don’t drive safely – I DO. But it’s time we be ahead of the game here!
  It covers virtually every type of radar detection out there!
  It has a compass, it can show your car battery voltage power, it can display your speed and you can set a threshold speed after which you’ll get a warning. It can show you your GPS coordinates at all times. Beautiful easy to get interface to configure the device to your preferences. What more could you ask for?
  So you see, not only is it a fine radar detector – it is much more than that. No other radar detector even comes close feature-wise – and that’s where I see this product’s strength. I am extremely happy with this purchase.

• 15 Sievert

  The Cobra XRS is a blanket to the city/highway driver. The Cobra XRS 9960G let’s you once again enjoy driving.What a product. Thank you Cobra,keep it up.

• 16 Reichardt

  Ok for the price. Alerts when the situation is so close. Need to alert littler farther distance. Intelimute is good.

• 17 Kessler

  This is the second detector I have owned, my old one stolen from my truck when it was at the tire dealer overnight (They don’t know how to lock the truck or set the alarm apparently). I am far happier with this detector than my old one. It is more stylish, the speaker is clearer, the screen is sharper and it functions well too.

• 18 Holloway

  Cobra 9940 seems to work well for the bands it covers (at least I get lots of false alarms, probably due to cell towers and similar things), but I’ve been by at least 2 speed traps in NH where the gun has been up and on me without a response, so I suspect they are using newer technologies. If I had known, I would have shelled out more $ for a later model.

• 19 Federico

  For starters it does pick up radars at a good distance the problem is it picks up everything else to. luckily its not an annoying sound when it goes off if you turn off the voice alert. I think for the price its a good product.

• 20 Nunn

  OK, the compass does not work well at all. I am over that because the the performance from this unit has been great. I am a traveling sales engineer and I put on 2,000 mile per month. I bought Cobra from some kid off Craigslist for $80.00. By far the best $80.00 I have ever spent. Sure the cobra will go off when you pass a Wallgreens or other building with automatic doors, but around the city and highway, as long as you know what band your county cops or state police us, this cobra is AWESOME! This cobra has got me out of at least 12 tickets already. I speed all the time, I have a Bonneville SSEI with some bolt on mods done, so you know I love to cruise at 90++. Can’t tell you how many times I have traveled down 80/90 or 94 coming out of Chicago and running back to MI and this cobra goes off only when it is supposed to. Yes sometimes you get cross dectection from another road next to highway or whatever, but that meas you just slow down for a bit and then speed right back up.

  I would recommend this unit to anyone. In fact I just bought a second one for my girlfriend who has an even heavier foot then I do. LOL Great product for the price!

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