Cobra ESD-9160 - 55? We dont want to go no stinkin' 55!
Written: Nov 10 '02 (Updated Aug 04 '04)
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Pros: Nice looking unit, very functional, compass, saved me lots of money in tickets.
Cons: False alarms around town, attracts thieves if sitting on your windshield.
The Bottom Line: I would recommend the ESD9160 to anyone because of the fact that it has saved me multiple times. It is the best investment I have made in my car.
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| Wisky's Full Review: Cobra Electronics ESD 9160 CS Radar Detector |
55, 65, 75, 80, 90. . 100.. . 110. . . . . 112. . . . [beep beep beep] . . . 100. . 70, 63, 55. . . [be-be-bebebebeeep]
If you’re like me, the $105 you will spend on the Cobra ESD-9160 will quickly redeem itself, over, and over again. Don’t be fooled, it will help you when it can, but remember what it is – a radar detector, not a cop detector. And even that statement is not 100 percent accurate. It would be accurate to say that it detects a certain range of frequencies that police generally use in their speed traps. But that’s not the only time these frequencies are used, it is also used for traffic light sensors, bank security, automatic door openers, and many other every-day things – this translates to lots of useless beeping and chirping.
False Alarms are probably the only thing wrong with this particular unit, during my first couple weeks of owning the 9160, I found myself getting on the brakes quickly and hardly – only to find that there was absolutely nothing to brake for. After about a month of going about your daily driving routine, you will know which parts of town are false-spots, and it will be expected and second nature to ignore these alarms. It usually is not too hard to tell an actual police signal from one of an automatic door opener. Cobra recognizes this problem and gives you two modes of use, city and highway, when to use what is pretty self-explanatory, what city mode does is it receives every type of signal as it would in highway mode, but it mutes it unless the signal is strong enough to be an actual radar or speed trap. Although switching over to city mode will save you some false alerts, I leave mine on Highway all the time as I am too lazy to switch the unit to city/highway every time I drive around, and I rather be safe than sorry (highway mode does not mute any signal no matter how weak it is).
Range on the Cobra 9160 is great on highways, many times already, I have been speeding only to have my unit start at “signal strength 1” father than ¼ mile back to quickly climb to “signal strength 4 – 5” as I became closer to the radar unit / speed trap. And then the signal strength decreases as I pass the speed trap at 55 innocent MPH. There is more than enough time to slow down for most speeds.
Functionality - Even with the semi-frequent false alarms around town, and the rare falses on the highway, the Cobra 9160 has probably saved me hundreds of dollars in tickets, thousands of dollars in surcharges, and months of time without a license, and possibly a night or two in jail. If you’re not a speed freak like I am, but occasionally forget that you’re a couple MPH over the speed limit, I would still recommend the 9160 to you, and with a built in functional compass, it makes getting around easier than you think.
Roundup - What can I say? I’m extremely satisfied with this unit, for around $100, I am convinced it is the best $100 spent on my car, and its plug and play – no programming required for basic use. But if you desire, you can set a certain about RPM to activate the unit at so that it doesn’t annoy you when you’re going 0 MPH. And in order to use the compass you need to calibrate it (it takes about 2 minutes).
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Wisky
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Member: David Wilinsky
Location: Little Ferry NJ USA
Reviews written: 155
Trusted by: 45 members
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