Cobra is on a roll with the Cobra Road Scout, the First Radar Detector of its Kind

Keep an eye on the new Cobra Road Scout

Cobra Road Scout Dash Cam & Radar Detector Summary Review/></a></td></tr> <tr><td class=
Cobra Road Scout Summary Review

There was a time that Cobra was the butt of jokes, about their products perceived low performance and RF “leakiness.”  Well Cobra has come a long way in twenty years.

About five years ago, Cobra released their first detector featuring digital signal processing with their DSP-9200BT radar detector.  After testing that detector, we determined that its performance was no joke.  It was very respectable. Where it was a little weak was in its filtering out of K-band collision avoidance systems, of which there are many more on the road as there was then.

As a manufactures of a variety of products, not just radar detectors, Cobra has manufactured dash cams.  So they have a lot of experience in the dash cam space.

Well folks, Cobra has taken what they’ve learned from their radar detector production as well as their dash cam experience and make the first of its kind radar detector and integrated dash camera.

The new model is called the Cobra Road Scout.  The convenience of having both a dash cam and a radar detector in one chassis can’t be understated.

The Cobra Road Scout is pretty sophisticated in its own right as is supports two, count ’em, WIFI modes.  One for the radar detection side and one for the dash cam side.  It also has bluetooth connectivity for pairing with its accompanying Cobra iRadar smartphone application.

Using iRadar you can wirelessly configure the detector and also benefit from the crowsourcing activities of both the Cobra Aura and Escort Deference photo enforcement databases.  You can also log and also receive in near real-time marked locations of police traffic enforcement so you’ll be warned of an approaching speed trap or photo enforcement trap, among other things.

The dash cam operates in full HD at 1080p/30fps (or actually 29.97fps).  Video quality appears to be good but I have found the video to have a little more contrast than need be.  I have fed back this observation as well as some others and the Cobra development team appears receptive to them, so perhaps we will see some changes soon which should approve the utility of the dash cam function.

In terms of radar performance, as stated the Cobra Road Scout has been evolved from Cobra’s first DSP model stated above but has been the beneficiary of better filtering to better combat K-band collision avoidance systems.  I’ve been told that the sensitivity of the new Road Scout has been spec’d to the Escort Passport 9500ix, Escort’s most popular selling detector of all time.  This means if things really pan out like they should, the new Cobra Road Scout should act like a better filtered 9500ix.

Furthermore, for the more advanced user, the Cobra Road Scout can be K band-segmented (for even further increased filtering).  For example disable the KN4 (K Narrow 4) window, you can further eliminate alerts from those pesky GM, Cadillac, Fiat, Acura, and Honda vehicles.  This is a very good thing because these vehicles are very common and you’ll likely encounter them very frequently.

At $449 think of getting two pieces of electronics in one package–a good radar detector, and a good dash cam.  If you consider the cost of these devices if purchased separately, it becomes clear that the Road Scout is a bargain.

Cobra DualPro 360 Cobra’s Highest Performing Radar Detector to Date is a Bargain

The new Cobra DualPro 360 is not your father’s Cobra!

Cobra DualPro 360 Review

We’ve put about 3000 miles over the past seven months of testing on the new Cobra Dual Pro 360m and we’ve come to the conclusion that not only is this the best radar detector ever offered by Cobra, it’s the best radar detector for the money.

For only $449, the Cobra DualPro 360 features include: a front and rear facing antenna, directional arrows, best-in-class filtering of K-band collision avoidance systems, GPS for use with its built-in photo-enforcement database, bluetooth for integration into Cobra’s iRadar smartphone and crowd sourcing application, to name some highlights.


For a more extensive information read our Cobra DualPro 360 review and radarbusters.com for an extensive collection of video which feature the Cobra Dual Pro 360’s performance.

Veil G5 Test : Outbraking Latest Police Lasers – LTI SXB, Kustom PL4, DragonEye Compact

Stealth Veil G5 first test of its kind

Veil Outbrake test versus latest police laser guns: LTI SXB, Kustom Pro Laser 4, DragonEye Compact

In April of 2018, BuyRadarDetectors of Rock Hill, South Carolina performed an unbiased test of Veil, the first of it’s kind with the goal of determining whether a vehicle treated with Veil G5 could successfully outbrake the latest police lasers.

The late model police laser guns used consisted of the Laser Technologies TruSpeed SXB (LTI SXB), the Kustom Signals ProLaser 4, and the DragonEye Compact with the latest firmware at the time.

Even though the DragonEye police lasers have merely a 1% marketshare and there has been a disproportionate amount of focus on this gun in the forums, we have included the gun since it’s a nice gun, nonetheless and laser jammers have a tough time beating them.

You are far more likely to encounter a Kustom Signal’s police lasers because these have an extensive history and long-running contracts with police departments throughout the country for both laser and radar products.  The same holds true for police laser guns from LTI.

The latest Stalker gun, the Stalker RLR was not available for this test but will be included in a future test.

There have been a number of bogus reviews out there conducted by groups and/or individuals closely aligned with certain laser jammer companies–having direct financial interests in promoting certain laser jammer companies’ products–who have discounted Veil’s effectiveness.

Fortunately, the great group of guys from BuyRadarDetectors gave us an honest, thorough, and truly unbiased test of Veil G5.

The test was conducted using video from both inside the vehicle and from their targeting position giving you a unique view of the dynamics of the test.

For about one tenth (or less) the cost of police laser jammers, Veil has the ability to provide sufficient protection against police laser in typical targeting situations and since Veil is a stealth laser absorbing coating, it can be as or more effective than combating variable pulse laser guns like the DragonEye Compact where laser jammers would fail with instant-punch through regardless of the distance.

We would like to thank Danny and his crew for this test, the results of which speak for themselves.

Whistler Releases it’s Affordable New Whistler CR97 GPS Radar Detector

New Whistler CR97 Released

Date: September 14th,2018
By: Veil Guy

Whistler CR97
Whistler CR97: Whistler’s New Affordable GPS Detector

After months of anticipation, Whistler is finally releasing their new top-of-the-line affordable GPS detector, called the Whistler CR97.   The Whistler CR97 is the successor to the very popular outgoing model, the CR93.

A lot of development work has gone into the new Whistler CR97 and we’ve have the privilege of helping shake things out over the last year when its development began.

I have driven more than 12,000 miles over this time and have seen the CR97 be improved and refined. Whistler has some nice things in store for those interested in investing in a great performing detector without breaking the bank.

Those that have read me for a long time know that I have been a fan of Whistler for many years as I believe their top end detectors have been overachievers.  No time in history has this been more true with the new CR97.

This time around, Whistler has really stepped up their game with two significant improvements.  The first is sensitivity.  Whistler claims that the new CR97 has increased sensitivity to police radar–up to 6dB on Ka-bands (which equates to double the alerting range) and up to 3dB on K-band (which equates to a 50% increase in alerting range) as well as increased sensitivity to X-band (something that we have always wished for).  Sensitivity to police laser remains exceptionally strong and we found the C97 is able to detect new VPR (variable pulse rate police lasers).

But we feel the real star of the show is it’s unique ability to identify new fangled radar used for ticketing, called FMCW or frequency modulated continuous waveform radar.  FMCW radar has been used internationally for some time in the form of Jenoptik’s MultaRadar CD/CT photo enforcement systems.  These very low-powered K-band systems are extremely hard to detect and variations of these systems are currently deployed in the U.S. and we believe we will continue to experience more of these systems over time.

The problem with these systems is that they appear similarly to the radar used in automotive collision avoidance systems.  The most sophisticated detectors today (often costing twice as much of the CR97) tend to filter these ticketing systems out along with the CAS systems.

Knowing this, Whistler has come up with an ingenious system to specifically identify these systems which are currently being used in both speed radar and speed on green photo enforcement systems.

At a low price point of $249.95 (MSRP is $299.95), the Whistler CR97 is our pick for those looking for an affordable GPS radar detector that offers high levels of performance sometimes matching (if not exceeding some detectors costing twice as much).  We expect great new things from Whistler in the future, too.

You can read a detailed review of the Whistler CR97.

For those interested, you can purchase one at RadarBusters.

Veil Guy

FIRST LOOK at Uniden DFR8 & Uniden DFR9 Radar Detectors

FIRST LOOK: Uniden’s Mid-Priced Tier of Detectors

 

Uniden DFR9/DFR8

The fourth of July is rapidly approaching and I already can feel that traffic enforcement is at a heightened pace.

Luckily for me, I’ve been test driving two of Uniden’s new mid-tiered price radar detectors, the DFR8 and DFR9 and it didn’t take me long to realize just how prepared I was to face the impending onslaught of traffic enforcement with these two new little jewels.  Yes, the top-of-the-line R1 and R3 detectors are awesome, but for those on a slightly tighter budget, look no further than here.

You can read more about what these detectors are all about with my brief introduction.  I’ve  also been accumulating a good number of video encounters and will be adding them to my youtube channel as I get them.

Here’s a video of a good encounter to give you a good idea of their performance and alerting behavior:

Thank you, Uniden, for giving us the first look and congratulations on what is sure to be another successful product launch.  Keep the good times, rolling!

Veil Guy

Escort Max 360c Review Preview: Industry’s Highest Tech Radar Detector Yet

Escort Max 360c Review Preview

The Industry’s Highest Tech Radar Detector Yet

Escort Max 360c Radar Detector

Escort continues to develop new and innovative radar detectors (at increasingly high price points) and the new Escort Max 360c is no exception.

Think of an Escort Max 360c as a smaller more capable Max 360 with built-in WIFI connectivity that can communicate directly through the Internet to cloud services, such as Escort Live! and potentially other services (hint, hint).

The Max 360’s highlights:

  • Escort Max 360c has all of the features of the original Max 360
  • Front and rear facing antenna with directional arrows
  • GPS photo enforcement and red light camera database
  • Direct WIFI connectivity to Escort Live! and software updates
  • Magnetic mount found on the Escort iX and Escort Redline EX
  • K-band segmentation
  • Ka-band segmentation
  • Auto LoK reduced K-band sensitivity
  • New improved bright OLED display

To learn more, read our in-depth Escort Max 360c radar detector review preview.

Veil Guy

Cedar Electronics’ Escort/Beltronics/Cobra/WASP Companies Crackdown on Unscrupulous & Unauthorized Dealers

Escort Finally Crackdowns on Unscrupulous & UnAuthorized Dealers

Cedar Electronics Holdings is finally lowering the boom in a big way on unscrupulous & unauthorized dealers selling “gray” market products often below MAP pricing.

This activity has been rampant on sites like Amazon and eBay as well as on some independent dealers websites for years.

How it hurts consumers, like yourself

When you buy an Escort/Cobra/Beltronics/WASP product from one of these sources–sometimes at heavily discounted prices–you are actually buying a product that has no warranty.  If the products fail at any point, you are out of luck.

You may also be getting outfight counterfeit, refurbished, used (and repackaged shrinked wrap and all) product.  To make matters worse, the companies (online “stores”) that choose to have Amazon fulfill their product offerings can their products pooled into other models that are offered by legitimate authorized dealers.  While it may appear like you are getting a deal in pricing or the benefits of Amazon Prime, you may be in fact, subjecting yourself to getting a gray market detector.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) for multiple stores has made it difficult on Cedar/Escort to crackdown on this activity. In fact, it has been taking them years to get their arms around this rampant problem.

The problem gets compounded even further because of Amazon’s pricing mechanisms.

What happens is this.  A new store briefly pops up or long time offending unauthorized dealer (such as JB Tools) offers an Escort Max 360 for $509 ($140 below MAP), other stores, including Amazon, cascade down in pricing automatically.

So what happens is just one bad actor can undermine the whole pricing mechanism, even the outright fraudulent “fake” listings.  As a result, product pricing sometimes rapidly fluctuates (like the price of gasoline) with no stability.  The fraudulent stores quickly appear and disappear after taking your money, not delivering product, but harvesting your consumer information for potentially nefarious purposes.

That hurts the consumers who buy from legitimate dealers who paid the proper pricing. Imagine purchasing an Escort Max 360 or Escort Redline EX at their MAP pricing only to see that that same unit is now selling for $500 just a day later!  This sort of price instability also hurts your ability to sell your used high quality detector when you look to purchase a newer more capable detector.

What even more despicable are bottom-feeder sites pretending they are authorized dealers but in reality are not.  These fraudulent sites can also have sales affiliate relationships with other seemingly independent sites that are front-ending their sales.

Beware of sites that on the surface appear to be legitimate review sites but are in reality affiliate marketers masquerading as “independent reviewers.”  These sites generally either have little useful or outdated information (often recommending products that have been discontinued) and direct to you to other faceless store sites on Amazon so they can get their sales commissions up-front.

Even social media platform sites (such as online forums) that do offer useful information but direct you to either unauthorized dealers/stores or to dealers who are masquerading as authorized but are not–are actually doing you a HUGE disservice, because they are directing you to gray market products and dealers that have no quality control or warranty support.

These sites often have embedded “real-time” pricing which favor the lowest priced products, which means you are being directed to the worst offenders and the most unscrupulous dealers!  Others’ product ratings and their associated affiliate links are driven strictly by how high a commission they are getting paid, without regard to the quality or the legitimacy of their selection or that of the seller they direct you to.

These affiliate marketing sites basically have no vested interest in the legitimacy of your purchase because they have zero skin in the game and got their money upfront without concern of consequences to you.

You can easily spot these activities when your click gets redirected (sometimes multiple times) and then lands you on some buy page.  If you look at the URL address in your browser, you will generally see a string of text that may include something like “affid=” followed by some numbers or letters.

If you see this type of behavior when you are researching product, you may want to clear your cookies or at least browse in incognito mode so your subsequent browsing activity isn’t being tracked by these and other sites.  

Bottom line, learn what you can from these sites, but avoid the click-bait and instead go to an authorized dealer to make your purchase.  You’ll be happier and more protected in the long-run.

How it hurts the legitimate dealers and manufacturers

Authorized dealers, such as RadarBusters.com and it’s sister companies PowerSports US Amazon and PowerSports US eBay, invest a tremendous amount of time, capital, and resources into providing real product education and class-leading pre and post sales support.

When sales are made by unauthorized dealers who offer no value other than the appearance of “good pricing,” that undermines the ability of these companies to maintain the same level of support year after year.

And it even comes back to the manufacturer, Cedar.  They have to spend a lot of time and resources tracking down these gray-market products through blind product purchases and when customers–who attempt to get post purchase support–find out their purchases are fraudulent.  It also diminishes the sense of quality of the Cedar brands long-term, namely Escort.

What Cedar (Escort) is doing to combat this

Cedar recently retained a law-firm which is now actively engaged in sending cease-and-desist letters to all gray marketers with the very real threat of litigation and with the legal precedent to back it up.

They have also been more vocal and public in making announcements–both on their company websites and official support forum–of these unscrupulous dealers. (click on sample image below of one such recent announcement). 

Cracking down on patent infringing products

Cedar is also in the early stages of cracking down on patent infringing companies engaged in marketing competing countermeasures using Escort’s (and their associaties) intellectual property without license.  This includes certain remote-installed detectors and laser jammers.

Cedar is not alone in in this effort, either.  Other manufacturers who’s IP have been infringed are also beginning taking steps in this regard.  So it’s imperative as a consumer to be aware of the changes that are happening in the background and so you are not trapped with a purchase of a product that may no longer be permitted to be sold and supported in the marketplace.

For those that have been around in the industry long enough, remember companies like Laser Pro Park, Drive Smart, to name a couple.  Ultimately, the consumers of their products were left holding the bag with no product support or hope of product updates or replacements.

As a side note, you may eventually see a lot of such products being “dumped” on sites like eBay or Craigslist.  Just know if and when this happens, while the deals may look to be enticing, they may not actually turn out that way.

Cedar provides an online list of unauthorized dealers, but be aware of the risks, the list is far from complete.  A good rule of thumb to follow is, if the products are heavily discounted or the store names look like they have nothing to do with the specialty industry, they’re gray-market.

I’m pleased to see this development because it is in the long-term interests of the Cedar Holdings brands, especially Escort and ensures that their customers will continue to have the highest levels of customer satisfaction that Escort has long been known for since the days when it was first known as Cincinnati Microwave, nearly four decades ago.

It’s also healthy long-term to this industry I have known and loved for so many years!

If I get permission from their law-firm, I will post the specifics of the cease-and-desist letter that is being sent out, in a subsequent post.

As the holiday season approaches, shop wisely

Veil Guy

RadarBusters is NOW STOCKING Uniden R3 and Uniden R1

We’ve been informed that RadarBusters.com has received the second part of their replacement stock following up on a small amount of Uniden R3s that they had received earlier last week and that were shipped out.

They are currently working on fulfilling backorders of both the Uniden R1 and Uniden R3 radar detectors and will be working overtime over the weekend to get their customers’ orders processed and shipped.

Once all backorders are processed they will process new orders.

The Uniden R1 and Uniden R3 radar detectors have been in extremely high demand (for good reason), so they are suggesting that if you are interested in either model, to place your order as quickly as possible before their stock is sold out.

We understand they have more Unidens coming, but with tropical storm Harvey, and now hurricanes Irma and Katia, unforeseen delays of future product shipments may be adversely impacted at least for a time.

In other words, they are recommending that you ‘get them while you can!’

Where to Purchase the Uniden radar detectors:

Escort Max 360 gets an improved IVT filter with their latest firmware update

Yesterday, Escort announced the release of a long-awaited firmware update to the Escort Max 360.

There are two versions of the firmware depending upon the bluetooth chip set  incorporated, with the later Max 360s getting version 1.60.  Earlier models receive the version 1.30, but they are both essentially the same but simply with different version numbers.

Be sure to use the right firmware for the particular detector you have.  You can determine the serial number on your detector.

MAX 360 with Bluetooth Classic (serial number beginning with 79) has been updated to firmware v1.6

and

MAX 360 with Bluetooth Smart/BLE (serial number beginning with 85) has been updated to firmware v1.3

The key improvements are to the IVT (CAS/BSM filtering) of K-band systems of vehicles as well as the lockout feature.  Fortunately, you will not lose you previously stored false alerts and the detectors will immediately begin relearning more accurately.

It’s safe to say other Escort detectors with IVT will continue to receive updates to improve the effectiveness of K-band collision avoidance systems filtering.

RadarBusters early allocation of Uniden R3 radar detectors now in stock

Despite the small weather delays that are effecting the delivery operations from parts of Texas, we understand RadarBusters received a limited early allocation of some Uniden R3 radar detectors.

We understand they are beginning to process back-orders and the balance of Uniden R3 and Uniden R1 radar detectors will be in stock sometime after the Labor Day holiday on Monday.

They have hundreds coming in, but the demand has been tremendous, so they are recommending that for those that you that have been waiting be sure to get orders in for either the Uniden R1 or Uniden R3 as soon as possible so you don’t miss out on their allocation.

Uniden has been averaging about 30 days to provide allocations.

You can purchase them at the following links:

We’ll post any updates as we learn more. In the meantime, have a safe holiday weekend and our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by Harvey.

VG