So how good are the inexpensive Cobra radar detectors? Why don’t we do a top of the line Cobra SPX 7800BT review and see what Cobra’s latest and greatest radar detector is capable of?

Personally I’m generally a fan of the higher end radar detectors. My point of view is that while you can save $200 or whatever by going for a lower end radar detector, if you get owned because you were using a lower end RD, the costs of the ticket, lawyer fees, court costs, insurance hikes, time and headache of dealing with the ticket, etc. far outweigh the money you saved by going with a lower tier RD. In a sense, this is a pay to play game.

That said, people keep asking about the more affordable radar detectors. Plus, after a while, I get tired of talking about and testing the usual contenders like the Redline, V1, and Max2. At one point I saw a comment online about how forum members think that the only acceptable choices are the Redline or V1 and how everything else must suck. Reading this, I started wondering just how good some of the less expensive detectors really are. Sure they’re not going to give the same performance as the higher end detectors and we should expect that, but will they still ultimately save us from tickets in the majority of situations? At the end of the day, isn’t that what really matters? Heck, even with the best detector money can buy, you can STILL get owned.

For the sake of understanding more of the big picture both for myself and for others, I’ve been spending time playing with some of the more affordable radar detectors lately. The Uniden LRD950 (now DFR7) has been showing a lot of promise so I’ve been spending time running that to get a better feel of it. This weekend it decided to commit seppuku so it’s currently in the mail heading back to home base to get repaired. Now that my attention is focusing back to the other options out there, I figured I’d start sharing with you guys some of my experiences while I play with a high end Cobra.

I’ve currently got a brand new retail Cobra SPX 7800BT that I’m testing thanks to @BestRadarDetectors. (A HUGE HUGE thank you to everyone who’s loaning me detectors to test!!! The community at RDF is utterly amazing and I’m truly honored to have a chance to work alongside you all. 🙂 )

When it comes to testing, I like to remain objective and unbiased as possible. Sure I’ve heard the typical “Cobras suck!” and “Cobras leak!” comments too, but I haven’t had any first hand experience. Having run this Cobra for a little while now, I gotta say that it’s opening my eyes to what’s possible. Seriously. Some of the things it is doing is just blowing my mind. It’s sucking in ways I didn’t even know was possible.  😯 Sure it costs less than the other options, but OMG…

As I play with it, I figured I’d go ahead and share my impressions with you.

So with that said, what’s the Cobra SPX 7800BT all about?

Cobra SPX 7800BT Review

Overview

The SPX 7800BT is Cobra’s high end detector that features their best performing and longest range radar platform, has bluetooth to pair with your phone, RLC alerts, a fancy OLED display, and so on. Think Cobra’s competitor to the Max2 but without GPS lockouts. It retails for $280 but you can find it online for less…

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