Cobra XRS 9960G Radar Detector

This week I’ve been teaching my SEO training workshop in the Phoenix metro area and I’ve been using the Cobra XRS 9970G as my primary radar detector for this review. So driving back and forth from my home and driving over 1000 miles the past five days I really had a great opportunity to test it out against the automated photo enforcement cameras that the Arizona Highway Patrol have set up on our Arizona freeways along with the red light cameras in Peoria and Phoenix.

Cobra XRS 9960G Radar Detector Review

Overall the performance of the radar detector was equal to the XRS 9955 unit that I tested a week earlier. Most of my driving during this review was all highway miles and logging 100 or a so blatant false alerts was a significant improvement over Cobra’s other models I have tested.

The range and sensitivity of the detector was equivalent to other radar detectors in the $200.00 to $250.00 class, giving me advanced warning to slow down to speed traps that were ahead.

However, there was one instance that was a close call. While driving south on I-17 I did get a Ka alert just seconds before I spotted the officer. I did have my Escort 9500ix at this same time and it alerted in expert mode that the officer was using 33.5 Ka a couple hundred feet before the Cobra unit.

I experienced the same problem with the windshield mount of the 9960g as I did with the 9955 in that every few hours the suction cups would come lose and the detector would fall from the windshield onto the dash.

This was my first chance to compare Cobra’s Aura GPS database to the Trinity and during my week’s test found that Cobra’s unit alerted to each fixed automated traffic enforcement camera I encountered.

Overall I would rate the radar detector performance as three badges and give high marks to their proprietary GPS database!