Cobra - XRS-9960G Review

Bottom-Line: I would highly recommend the Cobra XRS-9960G.

The Cobra XRS 9960G Radar Detector is a 15-band GPS enabled device that utilizes Cobra's trademarked (free) AURA database that tracks area speed and red light cameras and alerts you to their presence.  In addition to detecting X/K/Ku band radar guns the XRS 9960G has the ability to alert you when approaching fixed red light, speed, and photo radar cameras. The AURA database-housed in a small GPS fob connected to the main detector via a USB port-is maintained by Cobra, and updates can be downloaded straight to the GPS device via the Internet.  The GPS' functionality also enables the XRS-9960G to display your cars' current speed, and a GPS based compass; way cool!  The GPS Locator fob/module is extremely compact and easy to remove, making updating very easy via an included USB cable that plugs into any available USB port on your computer.

My Viewpoint The XRS-9960G is a pleasure to use right out of the box.  It has an easy to see/read display that offered quite a bit of useful information.  But, I have to admit that in the full light of day that display is hard to read.  Thankfully, there are also easy to understand auditable and spoken alerts.  In addition, like most modern radar detectors, the XRS-9960G has a city/highway mode. 

Though a little larger than other radar detectors, driving with the XRS 9960G was a nice experience; very important-the alerts seemed to be both timely, colorful, and (mostly) accurate.  I say mostly because the XRS 9960G seemed to have some false alarms.  More than once the unit alarmed on "K-band" without any visible police presence.  But I do believe the "false alarms" might have been caused the every present CCTV camera that seems to be popping up in every big box parking lot.  There were a few more issues I had with the XRS 9960G like the length of the alarms; some would flash by so quickly I missed them.       

However, based on my experience in the Chicago area, the AURA Database appeared to be up to date, and made me aware of quite a few speed and red light cameras that I had not been aware of before including a brand new installation not too far from my residence.