Cobra XRS 9960G: Excessive False Alarms and Incomplete Hazard Database Reduce its Value

The industry calls radar detectors "safety devices," which you might charitably call a polite fiction. Sure, some of the umpteen bands these devices can receive will warn of oncoming emergency vehicles, railroad crossings, and construction zones - assuming someone pays for the transmitter (with tax money? in a red state? bwa-ha-ha-haaaa). In truth, in a decade of owning detectors with this capability, only two BestBuys and a Home Depot have ever warned me of oncoming trains. No, the reason for owning a radar detectors is to avoid traffic tickets, which even the manufacturers admit: "You should take appropriate action immediately whenever an Instant-On alert is given"; or, in other words, "Slow down: there's a cop with a radar gun ahead." Honesty: always the best policy.

Years ago, I had a six-band radar detector; then came nine- and twelve-band models. Now I'm up to fifteen bands: four different radar bands, both passive and instant-on; three detector-detector signals; six LIDAR (sometimes known as "laser") detectors; and two flavors of safety-signal detection. The XRS9960G is really a Cobra XRS9955 with a GPS tacked on to track location and speed. The GPS comes with a lifetime (its life, not yours) subscription to AURA, a database of speed traps, red-light cameras, and other "wallet hazards'" That last, I suspect, is why Cobra wanted people in Houston - home to fifty red-light cameras - to test the product. Oh, and you can also store hundreds of "personal locations" (high-accident intersections, speed traps, ex-girlfriends' apartments, pole-dancing schools...)

Like other radar detectors, the XRS9960G juts back from the windshield on a suction-cup-mounted bracket (or mounts with Velcro®). The awkward, front-heavy shape created by an oversized screen is worsened by the GPS unit plugged into the left-hand side, which also conflicts with the power cord. There are five top-mounted buttons: a City/Highway switch, mute button, and dimmer switch are joined by a mount release and a menu button. The four switches are overloaded: in menu mode, they scroll among choices or toggle settings on/off; in regular mode pressing the mute button when there isn't an active alarm cycles though the screens (speed, lat-long, compass, etc.). Progamming is easy, with on-screen menus and voice prompts/confirmations. Figuring out what everything means requires study of the user's manual. That's because of all the bands...

Da bandsssss:  You got your different flavors of radar (X, K, Ka, and Ku) plus instant-on detection of radar guns ("POP" alerts). Since X (and, for that matter, K) signals are nearly ubiquitous in urban areas (X is used for automatic doors), "city" mode can be programmed to ignore X or X and K. You get three different radar-detector detector bands (VG-2, Spectre I, and Spectre IV), and can program VG-2 for visual display only (a blessing, since the audio is extremely irritating). You get six different LIDARs (LTI 20-20, Ultra Lyte, Pro laser, Pro Laser III, Speedlaser, and Stalker), all detectable over a full 360° if the detector is properly mounted. For the final two bands there's Strobe Alert (emergency vehicles) and Safety Alert (road hazards).

Can you shut that thing up? Yes: besides being able to disable any alert in the menus, there's (of course) a volume control disk on the left side. The mute button immediately silences any alert, and most alerts also AutoMute after a few seconds. Users can program full muting of all alerts when the engine RPMs fall below a set point, the "IntelliMute" function.

Anything else? Sure: the XRS9955 has a built-in magnetic compass, which is overridden by the XRS9960G's GPS: once it's locked in sufficient satellites, the GPS supplies an eight-point compass display. It also supports speed display and lets you program an alert for when you exceed a set speed. There's also a voltmeter with on-screen display and a shutoff function if battery output drops below 11.9v.

What's all that technology like on the road? Glad you asked: living with the thing is like spending time with a particularly obnoxious mockingbird. It can emit a near-constant stream of chirps, squawks, screeches, sirens, beeps, boops, and buzzes. K and/or Ka band radar signals leak constantly from the cruisers of at least one of the four local police forces (Harris County Constables); so whenever a patrol car is anywhere nearby, the K or Ka signal warbles constantly. That AutoMute function sort of works - it mutes the alarm but if there's a "burp" in the signal it comes back on full volume. On the other hand, County Sheriff cruisers don't seem to put out any kind of signal at all (nor does the DHS car I see cruising Eldridge...)

It's good that you can disable X and VG-2 alerts, since (as far as I know) about the only place they're still used by police is in places like Bugtussle and East Podunk. I gather they got tired of false positives from automatic door openers and microwave towers. I can't speak to the LIDAR alerts; I've only heard that alarm once (and it was on a different Cobra, years ago). As for the others...

POP (instant-on radar) alerts are ubiquitous, especially when driving the toll roads - it's almost as if the EZTag sensors are tripping them. Since POP signals are from hand-held radar guns, they have a limited range; however, I have yet to see a cruiser anywhere around when I heard a POP alert. I also get frequent Spectre I false alarms: the radar-detector detector signal also shows up without an obvious police presence.

I'm especially disappointed by the GPS. It gets speed, direction, and location right - I fed googlemaps the lat-long coordinates it records for my house and came up within thirty feet or so. The "user-defined locations" work - I'll never drive past my driveway or the entrance to the parking garage at work again. However, even though I've twice updated the GPS from the AURA database, the detector fails to alert me that I am at an intersection with red-light cameras. I already know where they are; HPD not only published a map of the sites, but they also post signs at the intersection warning people that there are cameras (in case you miss the half-dozen cameras mounted on the light standards). I tried at several intersections; came home and updated the database again; and then tried two of them again the next day. Nope: not a single chirp.

Don't get me wrong:  I have nothing against radar detectors; having owned several over the years. I still use them on road trips (when I can find them buried in the electronics collection). I'm not particularly impressed by this one, however, because of:

• faulty AutoMute system that fails to suppress signals from one minute to the next
• excessive false POP alerts warning of instant-on radar
• excessive false positives for Spectre radar-detector detector signals
• an inaccurate or incomplete AURA database that lacks publicly-available red-light camera locations
• design flaw that kinks the power cable when the GPS unit is installed

The XRS9960G  has many attractive features like colorful display, but this is a device that is supposed to protect the public, or at least the public's wallets. Excessive false alarms (remember the little boy who cried "Wolf!") and a $140 (list) GPS unit that doesn't know where red-light cameras pretty much negate that core function.


Please note: the people at Cobra provided a free Cobra XRS9960G Radar Detector in return for my honest opinion. Well, they asked for it...

westcoastpower.net - Satisfactory (Mostly)

westcoastpower.net

Remember Saturday Night Live skits about the tape store at the mall – it only sold one thing: Scotch Tape®. Well, I’ve found a similar vendor on-line that sells only one product: laptop power. It’s West Coast Power, operating from a website called WestCoastPower.net.

Merchandise: The only things this niche business sells are laptop batteries and AC adapters. Their battery selection covers the ten most popular brands (Acer, Apple, Asus, Compaq, Dell, Gateway, H-P, IBM, Sony, and Toshiba), and they stock adapters for the same brands. I needed a replacement battery for a Dell, since mine had a bad cell and died completely.

Payment: West Coast Power accepts payment using the big four cards (VISA, MC, Amex, Discover), check, or PayPal. Ordering uses the shopping cart model under https security encryption. The site is a Yahoo merchant, using their secure servers and privacy policy. I haven’t seen many vendors lately who still accept checks – I assume (but did not verify) that merchandise will ship after the check has cleared the bank.

Shipping: The site operates out of Vancouver, BC, and Seattle, WA; for non-duty shipping to both countries. Expedited and overseas shipping are available, for a fee. As of this writing ,  2-day ground shipping is free for orders over $25 within either country – since everything they sell costs more than that, shipping is effectively free. My order was shipped the following day (I ordered on the web after business hours) and arrived at my home two days later via USPS Priority mail, in perfect condition. West Coast Power sent a confirmation e-mail plus a shipping notice with the tracking number.

Navigation: The site’s pretty simple: you either search by battery number or laptop model number. For my Inspiron battery, the number stamped on the old battery is RN873. Searching on the part number returned the 6- and 9-cell batteries; searching on the laptop model number returns batteries and adapter (and a couple of Compaq batteries). Their “drill-down” capability - choose laptop battery, click on brand name, etc.- is incomplete, so you’ll need to use a search box. I found my battery in just a couple of minutes, including cross-checking the model-number search results with the battery part number results.

Warranty: West Coast Power has a thirty-day satisfaction guarantee, though you’ll have to pay to ship unsatisfactory merchandise back. All merchandise has a one-year warranty.

Prices: The battery I ordered sold for about 40% of the cost of a direct order from Dell. I could have ordered the heavy-duty 9-cell battery instead, and still paid less than half of list. Price-wise, a clear winner.

Merchandise: According to West Coast Power, all batteries and adapters are made to OEM (original equipment manufacturer’s) specifications. That’s code for “Made in China.” The battery I received is the same size and shape as the one it replaces, fitting perfectly in its slot. The battery ships with instructions on calibrating the laptop’s battery meter; simply cycle the battery a couple of times. I’m not certain that the battery capacity is the same as my previous battery – the discharge seems to be much more rapid; less than two hours as compared to over three for the old battery even after a year of use. I probably should have gotten the heavy-duty version.

I was able to find a battery listed for my six-year-old Sony VAIO laptop as well, so they stock at least some older batteries.

Overall: A simple website where it’s easy to find a replacement battery, even for aging laptops. Prices and warranty are good, and shipping can’t be beat unless the company pays you for the privilege of shipping to you. Return policy and payment options are also standard or better, since they accept both checks and PayPal as well as credit cards. On the downside, the batteries sold at West Coast Power may have lower capacity than your OEM battery – one more example of getting what you pay for.

Laser Optics and Nano Receiver: Logitech V450 Nano

One of the things that came along with my new job was an older laptop (it might more accurately be described as a "boat anchor"), and along with it came a ginormous "portable" wireless mouse. The thing comprised mouse and receiver, both about the size and shape of a VW Beetle (the old style). Luckily, before I had to tote laptop and gigantic rodent appendage across ten time zones, the mouse stopped working (well, it might have had a le-e-e-tle help there...) In its stead, I talked the office manager into ordering an eensy-beensy cordless laser mouse, the Logitech V450 Nano to be exact, based on my positive previous experience with a pair of Logitech V220s.

Here are some basic specs for the V450 Nano:

•      The mouse operates on two AA batteries that are - get this! - included.
•      It's plug-n-play under Windows XP or Vista (32- or 64-bit) or Mac OS X 10.39 and later. You may be able to get drivers for Windows 2000 and older, but check with Logitech before buying. Ditto for Linux.
•      It requires a USB port for the receiver.
•      The mouse is about 4" x 2½" x 1½", slightly larger that the V220
•      It's ergonomically shaped to fit in the palm of the hand, and can be used either right- or left-handed, with a soft rubber grip notched on either side for the thumb
•      It's beyond optical, it's a laser optical mouse, with higher precision and finer resolution than "ordinary" optical mice
•      A 2.4GHz wireless signal is highly reliable: I've never experienced a dropout or delay, even from across the room

Like its little brother, the V450 is a two-button mouse with a scroll wheel that can be programmed to act as a third button (for Linux fans, among others). You have to download Logitech's SetPoint program and drivers from the corporate website to do so, however - and to enable other mouse features as well. It operates like a standard "dumb" mouse with the default Windows mouse driver.

So why do they call it Nano? Hold onto your hat: the 2.4GHz wireless receiver for this baby is MINUSCULE! It's a tiny (about ½" x ¼" x ¼") plastic blob sitting atop a USB plug. It's so small that they call it a "plug-and-forget" Nano Receiver. It's no longer necessary to unplug the receiver from your laptop and stow it in the mouse like you do with a V220 or V320; just leave it plugged in and go. If you absolutely insist on storing it, the Nano Receiver tucks into a special slot in the battery compartment (and turns the mouse off at the same time). Or you can leave it plugged in and turn the mouse off with a bottom-mounted switch - your call.

A small green LED lets you know the power's on, turning red when the battery's low. According to Logitech, battery life is 12 months. My V220 specs out at 6 months, and regularly beats that mark.

Special programming features: If you download SetPoint, the V450 has additional functions. By default, the wheel's programmed to scroll the current window right-left with a wheel "tilt." If you press and hold the wheel, you get software zoom to enlarge/reduce the current window. Both actions - tilt or press - can be re-assigned to several other functions, one of which is volume control for the speakers.

Living with the V450:

Installation is dirt-simple: it's plug-n-play. No software's included in the packaging; Logitech supplies no drivers for pre-XP or -OS X operating systems. My laptop still runs XP, and the mouse worked immediately upon installation.
Download: The download software (Logitech's SetPoint software) is HUGE; it compresses to a 60 MB self-extracting file! It includes the Yahoo toolbar, which can be rejected at install, but has no other switches. Installing the software creates a desktop icon and a tray icon, both of which pull up a rather crude GUI that duplicates mouse controls normally found in the control panel - handedness (right vs. left), the number of lines scrolled per spin of the wheel, and cursor sensitivity and speed. It also controls programming of the special wheel functions, so you can't get around downloading it if you want those functions.
Physical stuff: The receiver only projects about 0.25" out from the USB port so you really can plug it in and forget (though probably not so much if it's on the back).
Range: It's a minimum of ten or twelve feet from the receiver, at least with fresh batteries. I definitely find that useful for presentations.
Surface Sensitivity: It's worked fine on a plain countertop, rubber mousepad, magazine surface, newspaper, cloth, and wooden desk without any tracking problems.
Portability: It's quite compact, though it still weighs about the same as a conventional corded mouse (a few ounces).
Buttons: Many add-on mice come with extra buttons under the thumb and ring finger for additional controls; if you're used to them, you'll not find them here. If you're not, you probably won't care.

Is it really Ergonomic? Well, that might depend: the V450 is less "chunky" than the V220, as it's the same height with a slightly larger footprint. It's still rather small for a large hand, however. If portability isn't your driving need, I'd suggest a larger wireless (or even corded) mouse like the two-bugs model that died to get me this one.

Overall: A nice little mouse with few shortcomings. Logitech sells nicer mice, but they cost more than this one's $50 price tag. I'd recommend the V450 for medium to heavy use, though not for cursor-intensive pastimes like CAD or gaming; and I especially recommend it for travelling, where its light weight and plug-and-forget Nano Receiver will be a blessing. Oh - and replacement receivers are available from Logitech for a mere ten bucks, so you can literally forget the receiver as well!

AT&T U-Verse: “U” Stands for Underwhelming

If you haven’t already been exposed to the hype, it’ll come soon – “Highest…!” “Newest…!” “Change the Way…” “Fastest…!” They’re talking about AT&T U-verse, marketing it as the greatest innovation since sliced bread. But is the hype true? Around my house, the jury’s still out…

What it is: it’s bundling, pure and simple. AT&T brings signal to your house from the pole – the same signal that Comcast or Time-Warner would bring you - except that they use FiOs (fiber optics) instead of copper cable. The AT&T difference is that everything funnels through a “residential gateway.” That means high-speed internet, residential telephone (VOIP), and cable television - Internet-protocol television (IPTV), to be precise. It all comes in through a single device, which is both a wireless router and has an Ethernet connection to the main television controller. All other televisions in the house have their own control box; and the main one has a built-in DVR (optional). If you can connect a computer to the residential gateway via Ethernet, you have a cabled connection; otherwise internet traffic is via wireless.


Telephone: We didn’t get telephone service, so I have no opinion.

Television service claims: U-Verse offers five 100% digital service levels plus an HD option. You don’t get premium channels (e.g., Showtime, HBO) until the second-highest level; the lowest level is “basic cable” – local broadcast stations, ESPN, CNN, and a few others. You, of course, get every shopping channel known to humanity, however. There’s also a “U-Family” package that must’ve been designed in Colorado Springs.At the highest level, you can see anything you ever wanted to – at least anything available on channels regulated by the FCC.

You can, of course, get Movies on Demand and Pay-Per-View. I’ve not bothered with either, but the services seem fairly straightforward.

A major selling point of U-verse television is that the DVR can record up to four programs simultaneously, and playback can be watched on any television set in the house.

Television service observations: In keeping with AT&T’s nickel-and-dime mentality, every additional television control box after the first costs extra. HD costs extra. If you get the bottom-level cable packages (U-family or U-100), the DVR costs extra.

Both claims about using the DVR are true. You can record multiple programs simultaneously; you can play back on any TV in the house. You can even watch to a certain point on one television and pick up where you left off on a second. If you’re watching the same recording on two different televisions, though, there’s an annoying skip. Oddly, if viewers of two televisions happen to be watching the same channel simultaneously, the signals are curiously out of sync – no idea why.

Video signals are clear and clean, though there’s inordinate noise on the audio channel, with constant background noise that’s annoying at low volume. We didn’t spring for the HD package – why pay an extra ten bucks for something we can’t use? Each control box (required, unlike conventional cable that works on cable-ready televisions without a controller) has its own remote – they’re all alike, so I advise labeling them.

Uverse also has a couple of v-e-e-e-r-y   s-l-o-o-o-o-o-w services that are supposed to be real whiz-bangs. There's internet yellow pages (pretty useless, IYAM), and on-line picture storage and on-screen viewing (haven't tried it - why bother when there's flickr and picasa, huh?). Oh, and the world's lamest local weather service, "weather on demand" - it takes five minutes to boot up and when you get it, the video may be as much as 24 hours out of date. Where I live, the "local radar" is on a six-hundred-mile scan, so it's completely useless. AT&T refuses to buy "Local on the 8s" from The Weather Channel, instead saddling their subscibers with their home-grown crapola.

Internet service claims: there are billboards all over town claiming the “fastest internet service in Houston.” The fine print, however, reveals that only one level of service – the new Max 18, at 18 mbps downloads and 1.5 mbps uploads – is that fast. The base level is a mere 1.5 mbps downloads, 1 mbps uploads; everything else costs extra.

All the usual goodies apply to AT&T-Yahoo: up to 10 email accounts, online webmail (if you call Yahoo webmail), included McAfee security suite. You can have a "personal homepage" for each account as well.

Internet service observations: We ordered the second tier service – “Elite” – which has advertised downloads up to 3 mbps and uploads of 1 mbps. Several bandwidth tests yield results in the neighborhood of 2.8 mbps downloads, 0.94 mbps uploads. It’s in the ballpark. Wonder if they’ll accept checks for 94% of the subscription fee, though? It’s DSL, so expect the slowdowns typical of the service when neighborhood traffic is high.

The free McAfee Security Suite includes virus protection, firewall, and something called SiteAdvisor, which appears to be moderately useful. The "personal homepage" is nothing but "MyYahoo.com," and isn't even a homepage - it's a portal page.

Overall service observations: You get what you’re paying for, though you’re paying for a lot: our bill for second-tier television and internet service plus two additional controllers is about $80/month plus taxes – somewhat less than what we paid for expanded digital program plus broadband to Comcast in Illinois.

The intangibles that make so much difference:

The free installation took five hours. No one ever mentioned that you don’t get a separate modem, so any computer that doesn’t have a wireless card has to be wired directly into a port on the “residential gateway.” In our case, a little tough since the desktop computer in the office is on the opposite side of the house.

The installer left no documentation except directions for the remotes. We have no channel list¹, no features list, no instructions for the DVR. We received no instructions about setting up wireless – not even the WPA key!² What’s worse, after six hours on the phone with AT&T “support” – I use the term loosely – I found no one who’d send me hardcopies. They all told me to go to the website and view the PDFs.

The controllers randomly go tits-up every few days: it took an hour of surfing the website to find out how to reset them.

On-line support is lousy. Need I say more?

The remotes are ill-designed, not to mention resetting themselves every couple of days so that they don’t communicate with both television and controller.

Telephone support is worse than lousy: I get about a 10% success with telephone support. At least half the time, telephone support sends me to the wrong support team (they seem to think U-verse is Dish television). When you do get support, either phone or on-line chat, the representatives rarely know the answers to questions more technical than "how do I reset my email password?"

The bottom line: AT&T U-Verse is little different from any other cable/internet service. You’ve got relatively dependable television service and reasonably dependable internet service; backed up by on-line and telephone support that will consistently frustrate you. No way I’d switch from another cable company – you’re not getting anything special enough to go through the hassle.

¹ After two months, a single channel list (quite badly formatted, IYAM) arrived in a monthly “U-Guide” magazine, which is little more than a thinly-disguised advertisement for PPV and MoD services.

² The WPA key is printed on a label near the base of the “residential gateway.” So is the password for the modem (the modem’s IP address is 192.168.1.254, in case no one told you – which wouldn’t surprise me at all)