~~ DON'T GIVE ME A TICKET ~ I HAVE THE COBRA XRS RADAR DETECTOR! ~~

You never see him coming. The man in blue.

Here you are, driving along, minding your own business. You are jamming to 'The Beatles' on cd, and the next thing you know, WHOOWHOO. Blue and red sirens are behind you, flashing, and causing you to pray that this is not a scene from "Terminator 2", with the cop asking you if you have seen the boy in the picture!

I hate being pulled over. It has happened to me twice in my life. The first time, I was just being a free spirit, going 47 in a 35. The cop was very nice to me though and only nailed me for going 5 over - my first offense. The second time, I went through a yellow light too fast, and it had turned red as I drove through it. Picky-picky-picky. I was pulled over and warned without any citation. Very, very lucky. It must be my little girl smile??

Well, now I no longer have to worry if my apologetic grin will work it's magic, because I now have a COBRA RADAR-LASER DETECTOR! This little gadget is more than just a warning to slow down, but it also help you locate the police or EMS in the area, in case you need assistance, or need to be aware that they may be coming through traffic and you have to get out of their way!

This little detector can pick up all kinds of radar guns that patrol officers use, and gives you at least a few minute warning to slow down. Most of the readings have been real, there have not been many false ones, because you never know what might accidentally set it off. It is much better than the last one we had, where it went off all of the time around electronic fields, alarm systems, etc.

We have a GPS system, so I never use both at the same time, even though this sits on my dashboard and the GPS on my windshield. It is too confusing. I mainly have this on in the mornings when I am rushing my son to school, when I am on the express way, when I am driving through small towns and in construction zones. I have noticed in small towns there is a lot more patrol activity than in busy metro areas.

This detector has a 12 band detector and picks up most POP guns that police officers use to track your speed. It shows everything on a digital display that I normally do not even look at, depending how bumper to bumper traffic is. I try not to take my eyes off the road, and I will listen for the audible voice cues instead. In the event that an EMS is in the area, a strobe warning will go off, even though I have never had this happen yet.

This is your watchdog. It senses your speed and knows who is waiting to bust you. It goes out of it's way to reduce the amount of false alarms so that you do not have to worry each time it is set off. If there are road hazards ahead, it warns you with it's internal safety alert. It also has an 8 point compass, Smart Power technology that will turn off the detector automatically when your car is off to save the battery and is lightweight and small enough to carry comfortably. It is 4.9" H X 3.0" W X 1.4" D. The Easy-Set menu is very easy to use an set up, and we have not had any problems thus far with either the mechanics or the quality of ticket-risk we have gotten from this little lifesaver!

We have had this for about a year now, and it is still working hard! We paid about $150, give or take, and it has been a worthwhile investment. Seeing as the average ticket costs about $75 and up starting at 5 over the speed limit, I am sure it has saved me about $400 and maybe even a point on my license! I am sure in the future, my husband will find some neat little gadget to replace it, but for now, we are satisfied!