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Cobra SPX 7800BT Radar Detector Review

By Vortex
April 14, 2015
April 14, 2015
21 mins to read

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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Permanent link to this article: https://www.vortexradar.com/2015/04/cobra-spx-7800bt-radar-detector-review/

How to Minimize False Alerts on an Escort Max & Max2

By Vortex
April 11, 2015
April 11, 2015
1 min to read

If you’d like to learn how to setup and configure your Escort Passport Max or Max2 to customize it to the way you want, maximize its performance, and minimize the false alerts, this programming tutorial video will guide you through the different Max2 settings and options, what everything means, and how everything works. 🙂

Click here to purchase an Escort Passport Max2.

Enjoy!

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.vortexradar.com/2015/04/how-to-minimize-false-alerts-on-an-escort-max-max2/

How to Manually Program a V1

By Vortex
March 29, 2015
March 29, 2015
1 min to read

Here’s a walkthrough on how to manually program a Valentine One Gen1 radar detector through the detector itself. This V1 programming video will explain what all the different settings mean and which options you should choose.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.vortexradar.com/2015/03/how-to-manually-program-a-v1/

Radar Bands Explained: X Band, K Band, & Ka Band

By Vortex
February 18, 2015
February 18, 2015
3 mins to read

Police radar uses different antennas that transmit on different frequencies. There are many different sources of non-police radar that also transmit on the same frequencies. Here’s what everything means and how to deal with them.

Last Updated: March 2026

X Band

X band operates at ~10.525 GHz. It’s older tech that requires a large bulky antenna because of its lower frequency. X band has been mostly phased out in the US, but is still in use in OH, southern NJ, and a few rural places throughout the US. Automatic door openers can also trigger X band alerts.

K Band

K band operates ~24 GHz. It uses a smaller antenna than X band. Police across the US still widely use K band. Your radar detector will also alert to K band transmitted from automatic door openers, speed signs, and certain vehicles equipped with collision avoidance systems and blind spot radar, making it the noisiest band for false alerts.

Here are some of the radar detector filtering options and what they’re used for. The exact settings names will vary by manufacturer:

Highway / City modes: Varies the sensitivity of the detector, higher sensitivity and longer range on the highway, reduced sensitivity and shorter range in the city.
Low Speed Muting: Quiet the detector down when driving past shopping centers around town
GPS Lockouts: Learn and mute stationary false alerts from speed signs and automatic door openers
K Filter: Filtering for blind spot radar on nearby vehicles
Traffic Sensor Filter: Filter out brief blasts of radar from traffic sensors on the highway

Ka Band

Ka band runs from 33.4 to 36.0 GHz and requires the smallest antenna of the three. It is the primary frequency used by law enforcement today. Ka produces far fewer false alerts than K band. Satellite dishes and a small number of speed signs can trigger Ka alerts, but the vast majority of Ka band alerts are real and should be taken seriously.

The best radar detectors have multiple filtering options to help deal with these different false alerts.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.vortexradar.com/2015/02/radar-bands-explained-x-band-k-band-ka-band/

How to Set Up your Escort Redline

By Vortex
April 13, 2014
April 13, 2014
2 mins to read

Here’s a video tutorial on how to set up and configure your Redline for maximum performance.

To purchase a new Redline, click here.

This tutorial is designed for people new to the Redline. Think Redline 101. 😉

The video’s just over half an hour long since it covers a lot of material and many of you may not need to watch the whole thing, so below you’ll find a guide as to what’s covered where so you can skip to the parts you’d like to watch, as well as the recommended settings.