A Poor Detector...
Written: Feb 12 '02 (Updated Feb 13 '02)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Effectiveness: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Detects Safety Alert Signals, X, K, Ka, laser, VG-2 undetectable, display is good
Cons: Ka band performance is HORRIBLE! X and K detection is poor. Low alert volume.
The Bottom Line: I would *NOT* recommend this detector because of its poor performance and low volume. Save your money and buy a decent detector, like one from the Bel line.
|
|
|
| beeej259's Full Review: Cobra ESD 6500 Radar Detector |
I purchased this detector on ebay for about 50 bucks. I am about 4 months ago and have been extremely dissatisfied with its performance. I own a CB from Cobra and it has worked very well, so I thought that their radar detectors would also work above par. Was I ever wrong! The detection on this unit is so bad that I can see the cop before the detector alerts me of radar. But I will get into that later.
The Detector itself
The case of the detector is pretty sturdy with a nice display that supports text. Although the detector supports Safety Warning System messages, I have yet to see one. I live in New Jersey and I don’t think that NJ uses these messages. VG-2 is also not used here and in most cases the VG-2 alert goes off when another detector passes by. The text color is green and is JUST bright enough to see in the sun. The dim feature is great at night, and you can even turn off the text and just have the sound of the detector alert you.
The alert tones are all different with X being the loudest out of all. I wish this wasn’t true because X also falses the most out of all of the bands on this detector. K band is second loudest, and Ka is too quiet to even hear if there is music on. There is a volume dial, but the detector isn’t loud enough to use it. It comes with a mute button, and a city option that displays X band, but doesn’t beep until the detector reaches 3 out of the 5 led’s.
RADAR DETECTION…
The Cobra Esd 6500 is one of the worst detectors that I have ever used. It picks up X band fairly well. My best experience with it has been at about .3-.4 miles away from the cop. However, this was in a straight line, and the cop was parked on the side of the road facing my car. K band is also decent, and I was able to pick up a cop from about .2-.3 miles away, again with the cop facing me. However, K band detection isn’t always as good. As I rounded a turn, a cop was driving in the other lane and the detector gave me a one second warning before I saw the cop pass. I guess this is because the field of view (like your peripheral vision) is very limited.
Ka band is a whole other story. Just the other day (February 10, 2002) I was on Route 17 in Mahwah, NJ doing about 70 MPH in a 55 zone. As I was going underneath a bridge my detector beeped out Ka and the LED lit up as 1. About a half second, yes, one HALF SECOND, there was a cop facing my car on the side of the road, and I got pulled over. I was so disappointed with the Ka performance with this detector that I threw it in the back of my car and I am about to re-sell it on ebay because it is such a bad piece of equipment. I get about 10 falses per day with this detector that are all on X band, and when driving by a Drug Fair store or Burger King or Shop Rite, it always falses on either K or X.
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
beeej259
|
|
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 5 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2010 Shopping.com, Inc.