Cobra Electronics ESD 9200 Radar Detector

I used this detector off a friend's father for over a week. He had received this off of Ebay for the going rate. For the price you really do not get something more in the protection compared to the old 6000 series. The new thing with Cobra is the incorporated the Strobe Alert warning that emergency use to change traffic signals.

Cobra has updated their detector line not to long ago. This new detector line-up is longer and displays the new futuristic design. It color is graphite on the front-top and gray on the rest of the case. The case is plastic. The plastic feels kind of cheap.

The display on the detector is clear and somewhat understandable at first. With in the first day, you can understand how the display works. It has the power symbol on the left, X K Ka L V W 3 level bars. The confusing part at first on the display is the band signal will light up then when the signal gets stronger then the bars will light in segments corresponding to the radar?s distance. The ?X? is X band. ?K? is K band. ?Ka? is Ka band. ?L? is Laser. The ?V? is Vg-2 detected. ?W? I believe is the Strobe Alert and Safety Alert icon.

There is the Voice Alert system. It gives a good clear indication of what band is detected, but with a poor dialogue. When a band is detected, the voice says ?Be careful, K alert,? over time this can become annoying. My Whistler voice alert is excellent to the point, ?K band.?

The Vg-2 alert system can be a nice feature. This feature would serve a purpose to the Virginia State Driver?s and truck drivers who know they especially that they cannot run such device.

The Safety Alert System, developed by Cobra years back, is a nice feature. This feature would only serve the purpose if your local and/or state government, construction crews, and rescue operate these devices. The Safety Alert operates in the lower K band allocated to police radar. The unfortunate thing here, if the Alert system is operating behind this Cobra I would of most likely have seen and heard the vehicle it is operating on. This is do to the poor rear detection of the Cobra detector.

The Strobe Alert, developed by 3M company, can be an asset. If you are in the new noise reduced high class vehicle or playing your radio at a volume that over powers the sirens of an emergency vehicle is where this can help. The only problem with this, if approached from the front you should have seen the vehicle. From the rear, if your detector is blocked by a vehicle or cab the detector would not see the signal.

The performance of this detector is almost what I had expected it to produce. Since I had a 6500 Cobra it produced fair detection ranging, just enough to slow before the officer could get you. Well nothing has changed on this 9200. The range of detector in the city has been 1/3-1/2 mile in K band. False alarms are minimal. My Whistler barks more than the Cobra, but give little more performance. Rear protection is poor.

I would recommend this detector only to the drivers who need a little protection. If you drive 12+ over the limit stay away from this device.