False alarms

[Cobra_user]

Hi,
has anybody similar problems?
I have Cobra XRS9700. It sometimes goes off 'Spectre Alert' when driving thru industry areas (warehouses etc.). Usually the false alerts from automatic doors come in K band but what can cause Spectre Alerts??

[Radar Roy]

The Cobra 9700 was designed to alert to the older Spectre 1, the problem is that all the Spectre 1 units have been upgraded to the Spectre II and the Cobra will not detect them.

I commend Cobra for doing something for the Spectre, but as soon as they did, Spectre updated their software.

So at this point you could ignore them or if they bother you too much, get a detector that does not have this feature.

On the other false alerts on K band, a detector with higher filtering may help correct this problem such as the Escort 8500 X50 or the Bel RX65 that both use smart filtering...

[compu44]

I used a cobra 9700 for a little while, and I feel your pain. Just one Spectre alert with the tones of that unit seems like an eternity. There's a solution though. Just disable the Spectre detection of the cobra. The manual tells how (also available from www.cobra.com if you've tossed the book already). It's not hard to do and only takes a few seconds. As Radar Roy said, the 9700 can't detect the spectre II, so it's pointless to have spectre detect enabled even if you live in an area where detectors are banned. It will gain you nothing but a headache.


The cobra also has a City X+K mode, but I didn't play with it much. Basically it sounds one beep on X when the signal is detected, then continues alerting after the signal strength has passed 3 bars. It does likewise with K, except that one full bar is the threshold for alerts there. You can change between the several city modes on the 9700 by holding down the City/Highway button.

[Kissa]

Hi,
has anybody similar problems?
I have Cobra XRS9700. It sometimes goes off 'Spectre Alert' when driving thru industry areas (warehouses etc.).

I have noticed that my Cobra 9870 gave false Spectre alerts while my cellular phone was active (icoming or outcoming phone call). Do you have mobile phone?

[compu44]

I noticed back when I had (uggh...) AT&T wireless on a moto V60I/t (more uugh..) that it would occasionally set off the POP alert on my RX65. Actually took me a fair bit of time to make the connection.

[stealthJamal]

The Cobra XRS9700 seems to be a pretty good detector for the price. It detected Ka and K band from the 2 mile cone in SML's 2004 test. I think the unit performed just as well as the RX65 and the V1 in that test because I don't care about X band detection. Can you turn X band off on the 9700?

Jamal

[compu44]

The 9700 does have an x-band defeat feature.

[BuckeyeCivic98]

The Cobra 9700 was designed to alert to the older Spectre 1, the problem is that all the Spectre 1 units have been upgraded to the Spectre II and the Cobra will not detect them.

I commend Cobra for doing something for the Spectre, but as soon as they did, Spectre updated their software.

So at this point you could ignore them or if they bother you too much, get a detector that does not have this feature.

On the other false alerts on K band, a detector with higher filtering may help correct this problem such as the Escort 8500 X50 or the Bel RX65 that both use smart filtering...

But your test shows different Roy.

Detector Spectre II Test
Bel RX65 Detected at 1382 ft.
Cobra 9400 Detected at 1355 ft.
Cobra 9700 Detected at 890 ft.
Escort 8500 X50 Detected at 1382 ft.
PNI Silver Bullet 7500 Detected at 1112 ft.
PNI Silver Bullet 7600 Detected at 1096 ft.
Valentine 1 Detected at 100 ft.
Whistler 58/73 * Detected at 463 ft.
Whistler 3450 Detected at 324 ft.

[Veri]

I think you have it the other way around. What're you trying to say?

[jimbonzzz]

Those are the distances that the Spectre detected the detectors, not the distances that the detectors detected the Spectre, to my knowledge there aren't any detectors that can detect the Spectre (or can avoid detection by the Spectre...yet)

Jim

[BuckeyeCivic98]

Those are the distances that the Spectre detected the detectors, not the distances that the detectors detected the Spectre, to my knowledge there aren't any detectors that can detect the Spectre (or can avoid detection by the Spectre...yet)

Jim

That's for clearing that up for me jimbonzzz I was confused what that ment. I thought cobra tried to do that?

[futbolfirefan]

I got a VG-2 alert in my cobra 9400. It just went infvcking sane. Then I crapped my pants. Actually i didnt but I got freaked out even though I dont live in VA

[compu44]

I got a VG-2 alert in my cobra 9400. It just went infvcking sane. Then I crapped my pants. Actually i didnt but I got freaked out even though I dont live in VA

VG2 alerts come from other detectors, it seems. I used to get VG2 alerts and Spectre alerts when everyone was leaving the parking lots at my school (lots of detectors going). If you look in the manual for your detector, it should tell how to disable detection of the VG2 and the Spectre (if the 9400 has the spectre detection). I would suggest doing so.