Radar detectors are a tricky purchase, primarily because most suck. That includes the $49 Woot special you got last Christmas. If you want to risk a $200 ticket plus insurance premiums with a piece of plastic that cost less than that, be my guest.
Cobra’s XRS R9G represents the pinnacle of Cobra’s radar detectors. While the Cobra brand doesn’t have the legendary rep that Valentine, Beltronics (STI model) or Escort (Passport 9500 model) might, the XRS R9G is trying hard to change that.
To that end, Cobra has packed a number of slick features into this thing: GPS, so it can remember where you have marked false signals (by a shopping center, for example), a traffic-light and speed camera database so you know where the hidden ones lurk, and the ability to recognize your speed and mute itself if you’re going below a preset limit.
Does this make the XRS R9G worth $450 (about the same as other top-of-the-line detectors)? I’m not sure, but fortunately we don’t have to figure that out, as Amazon stocks it for a mere $257.90. Woot!
