Customer Ratings & Reviews

The product is just straight trash. Don’t buy if you’re expecting the dash cam portion to work like it says it does on the HD drive app. Doesn’t connect to live camera, and you can’t view the recordings you’ve done with it.

I have had a dash cam in my car for the last 3-4 years - but never I have not had a radar detector in my car for at least 10+ years. This is the first unit I have seen that has both the dash cam and radar detector. I will say that you do give up some quality on the dash cam by having both units combined. The camera is still a good quality but it does get washed out by the sun at times where as my other units did not. Set up for the device was easy - but it definitely had a few learning curves to figure everything out. It installs very easily on the windshield via suction cup. There is no heavy tape that is forever adhered to your window. The first I noticed right out of the box was that it has an annoying alert when you go over 70 miles per hour. Our speed limit is 70 miles per hour on our main interstate - so that needed to be turned off right away. I have not figured out how to adjust the rate of speed. I get a lot of K radar alerts in my area (every sign that tells you the speed limit and tracks your speed) so it sounds off a lot because of those. It has a mute button which makes it easy to silence. I have yet to see any other radar detected in my area. There are two apps that you need for the device - one for the radar detector and one for the dash cam. Neither are superior but they get the job done. I found it easiest to to set them up when I was at home and connected to my Wi-Fi. Overall - this is a good unit that combines both radar and dash cam.

My experience with Radar detectors is incredibly limited. I had one roughly a decade ago and I had nothing but issues with it as it would constantly alert without anyone in sight. It seems it was better suited at picking up bands used in Banks and Security systems in places like retail stores or Convenience/Gas stations. So far in my limited time with the Road Scout, it’s been nothing but good. There were a couple times where it didn’t alert when there was a police car sitting on the side of the road. Perhaps their radar was off, but they sure seemed like they were sitting to catch someone. It happened I think once more, When I did have one behind me one day going through a school zone, the detector constantly alerted me to their presence, I was able to just press mute and all was fine. Of course it eventually went off again as there was another officer less than a mile up the road lying in wait again at a different school zone. It appears to be working just fine in that sense. The Dash Cam seems to work great as well. You do need their app, I have both iRadar and DriveHD installed on my phone to get all the benefits of the device. I noticed with DriveHD there was a fair bit of latency and delay with the dash cam to my phone. I didn’t go back to see if this was there in recorded video though. It’s likely just something where you’re going to get a delay with it being WiFi to your device, which of course is going to be better than dealing with Bluetooth for HD video. I wish there was an option to change the resolution though. It would certainly help with how much time you can record. I did go ahead and put a 32GB MicroSD card in there as that is what shows as the maximum amount it supports. From some other reviews it seems it can also use up to 128GB but it’s not expressively supported in the documents. I’ve got one from my previous Dash Cam that I can test with, something I’ll likely do next time I’m out and about. I really like the fact that this is all in one. It’s much less to deal with and less cumbersome that having a Dash Cam and separate Radar Detector taking up a larger amount of your windshield and or Dashboard. Despite all that’s contained in the unit, is a very reasonably size device. It almost looks like an old school style of Binoculars which I think is just sleek and cool. Setting it up and installing it was a breeze. I may look at going the hardware route so that way recording is possible at all times if someone bumps in to the car. One thing of note, if your car does not have an 12V in proximity to the windshield, you’ll need to make use of the Elite Series Straight SmartCord as it is a substantially longer cable. The one that was included wouldn’t even reach my Windshield. I have 2010 Buick LaCrosse and for some reason it was thought that putting the 12v inside the console inbetween the driver and passenger seats was a great idea, unfortunately that’s far from the case. ***I do want to mention, and this does not affect my review in any way. Because of the shorter cable included, since this was for a review, I reached out to Elite and spoke with someone in their customer service about this. I did not go in to the phone call with any expectation, but the customer service representative went above and beyond my expectations. I explained to them that it was a review unit and that I was unable to do anything with it due to the ridiculous placement of my car’s 12v and they put in an order for me at no cost, the longer power adapter. I was already set to plunk down the $30 for the adapter, but to go out of the way for a customer like this, it really speaks to company that they care for the customer. I just again wanted to mention this, and also again reiterate, this does not at all influence the review as I was willing to already spend the money so I could utilize the product.*** All that said, if you’re in the market for a Dash Cam and a Radar Detector, this is an incredibly great proposition for combining both devices and putting it in a sleek, well designed compact as it can be package. I look forward to many years of service with the device and am sure it will continue to please.

The video will not connect to my phone!!! I can see or use the camera for this it will not sink

Not at all the product I thought it would be. Incredibly difficult to setup if you dont know how to use electronics.

I want to start out by saying that I have never had a radar detector before. This being my first time using one, I was not sure what to expect. At this point, I’m not sure how useful this device will be for me. Driving in town the alarm goes off every now and then for things other than actual police radar. Sometimes it goes off and then I see a police car. When it does, I usually have a fair amount of warning. I have had the opportunity to go on a longer drive on the highway and after this experience am even more of the belief that these things may be giving people a false sense of security. I passed a few police cars that were parked in the median watching for speeders and the radar detector never went off. Then I went through a few road construction sites and it went off at the entry to the road construction site. Is there a constant radar source at the entry to alert owners of radar detectors to slow down? I’m starting to think there may be. This unit needs to be paired to your smart phone in order to use either of the companion apps. When I took it out of the box and plugged it in, I was able to pair it with my iPhone XR. Then I started to look for the wifi network in my car. It did not see my wifi in my car, but it did see my home wifi, so I went ahead and connected it. Once connected to my home wifi it let me know there was an update, so I went ahead and updated the unit. After updating I could not get it to connect to my iPhone again. I could see it in my Bluetooth settings, but I could not get it to pair again. I then proceeded to spend an hour or so looking for information on the internet and found nothing about pairing it. Then I searched YouTube and found a couple of useful videos on how to set it up, but nothing on pairing it. I finally reached out to Cobra and they were very helpful. It turns out it was a simple thing. I just needed to go into my phones Bluetooth settings and forget this device, then it would see it and I could connect again. It would have been nice if that would have been in the manual. Speaking of manual, the manual that comes with the device is a quick start guide. Searching on the internet, I did find a more in depth manual. It would have been nice if they sent that one along. The device is a 2 in 1 device being a radar detector and a front facing camera. In order to use the camera function it needs a separate smart phone app. So you need the Drive HD by Cobra app for the camera and the Cobra iRadar app for the radar detector. They operate completely separately. Also, I should mention that once you set up the Bluetooth with your phone, then connect to wifi in your car, it will connect to your phone, but then it will connect via wifi, it will only connect via one or the other, not both. Overall, I think this unit is sensitive enough and could be a very good unit. I just think the documentation is lacking. On the plus side, it is very customizable so you can set it up pretty much exactly how you like it. As an example, you mark false alerts (big button on front of unit), set alerts by specific speed, by speed over speed limit (requires wifi to be working), change screen color and many other options. So I would recommend this unit, but know the documentation is lacking. I’m told the company is working on this and hopefully will get better.

the good: - camera/radar detector combo - Personally this is something I wasn’t even aware existed until relatively recently - the ability to have both in one device. I love the compactness of having both functions in such a small device. In my use thus far (daily driving plus a relatively long weekend drive to the Grand Canyon) I noticed that I didn’t have many false positives. Almost every time it went off I was able to spot the source not long afterwards. To me that speaks to the quality of the radar detection tech; it really only alerts you when there’s something to be alerted to. The camera quality is also pretty good for what it is and how small this unit is overall. Plenty of resolution and field width to capture quite a bit of what’s going on in front of you. - mobile app control - I’ve put the app control in both the negative and positive sections of this review, mostly because, well, it is both good and bad. It is a welcome feature to be able to connect and control via mobile app, instead of cycling through buttons and functions on the device itself. However…(see below). - sleek design, adjustable color theme - The unit itself looks a bit like really small binoculars - again, pretty small when you consider it’s capabilities. Other radar detectors may be a bit smaller, but this is by no means intrusive on the window. Other cameras I’ve seen or used personally have been significantly bulkier. - mount (magnet and suction cup stability) - The windshield mount is excellent. Strong and stable, the suction cup stays put where you mount it. The unit itself has this ingenious little magnet connector that kind of tilts in and keeps it secure. - onboard readout and customization - Even though there are limited colors, I really like the ability to customize the “theme” color. The readout itself is intuitive, pretty much what you’d expect from a high end radar detector. - included 16GB memory card for video recording, ready to go out of the box. - included carrying case the bad: - bluetooth/wifi connectivity issues - In my testing, I had issues with my initial setup either with direct bluetooth connection or from the unit itself to wifi. If this tech actually worked it’d be very welcome, but it’s sketchy at best. The directions could probably use a once over as well. - mobile app control - As I mentioned earlier, I have this entry in both good and bad. It’s here mostly because A. there are 2 individual apps used to control each function (one for radar and one for camera), and B. neither app works all that well or is very intuitive in my opinion. Not so bad that you can’t use it, just a bit tedious to figure out. overall: Overall this is a solid and very capable device. I would definitely recommend it for anyone wanting both features in one unit, but the mobile app support does fall a little bit short. 4 stars.

The Cobra Elite Road Scout is the combination gadget that really works! It was easy to setup and connect to the car, though with the limited instructions, it's features weren't apparent. I had to go online to download the pdf from the Cobra site because I didn't want to get an app to look at directions. Using the unit is easy enough, adjusting brightness, sensitivity, volume, and even marking a speed trap is easy to do. Though it's a 2 in 1 unit, the radar works independently of the dashcam, complete with having to download 2 separate apps. The Drive HD app easily connects and allows you to view the recordings and/or download them to your phone. (You could also do this by connecting it to a pc using the micro USB port.) The iRadar app however, is not so straightforward. It offers 2 views, a map view and a dashboard view; neither of which offer any reason why the app should be connected offering a further distraction while driving. It includes a 3 month trial subscription of Defender that alerts you of nearby speed traps then it costs $50/yr. It also doesn't automatically connect when you turn on the car and I'm not about to manually connect it every time I have to go somewhere. The charger uses a rather strange rj45 connector to power the unit meaning all the setup and adjusting had to be done with the car running on idle. Though the 12v adapter includes a USB port for phone charging and a button for muting the radar chirping sounds among other things. I used it on a trip to the shore and during my 1 hour transit, I logged maybe a handful of signals, 2X, 2K, and 1Ka with the Ka being an actual radar gun. Since the pandemic began, I've seen far less in the way of speed traps and police actively pursuing speeders, and as such, the speed limit of 65 on CT highways has been largely ignored for the more favored 80+ when possible. So had this been the same time last year, I'm fairly certain this unit would've earned it's keep. The dashcam does a great job recording 3 minute clips in 1080p and night driving shots are still clear and understandable. It's expensive at first look, but buying each one separately would cost easily as much, not to mention taking up more space on your windshield. It's a good buy for the driver in your family with lots of great features and only minor issues. I would've liked for the dashcam to take advantage of the fact it's connected to a radar and record the speed and if there are any bands being detected. Also, the iRadar app should connect automatically and I don't much like the idea of paying extra for "Defender" features. Other than that, it's worth it.

I’ll try to keep this as precise as possible since there’s about a hundred bells and whistles for this product. Out of the box, the radar detector comes with quality packaging and a little carrier case in case you don’t want it sitting out on your dash all night. The SD card is already in the system but you’re provided with the case fit that as well, and all attachments needed for setup. Installing the device was incredibly easy, which isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing. This is my second dash cam, the first was soft installed by me including a long wire that runs through the boards in my car and took an hour to install but is very discreet. This took about five minutes and isn’t discreet at all. Basically, you have a suction cup that sticks to the middle of your dash, that has a really strong magnet to hold onto the radar, then the radar has a relatively short wire that runs from your cigarette lighter to the device. If you don’t have a cigarette lighter or the lighter is quite far from your dash (such as the back of a center console in a truck or large SUV), don’t buy this. Even in my very tiny Prius, I felt having a very thick wire run from the center of my windshield all the way down the windshield to the cigarette lighter to be very intrusive and distracting. That was probably the biggest con in my opinion. Installation and setup was fairly easy but also convoluted. I installed in my garage so I had WiFi pairing on and could download the updates for the device, which I assume are important. The frustrating thing was trying to keep the WiFi as well as Bluetooth both paired was a task as they’d both seemingly disconnect quite a bit and I couldn’t figure out why. Secondly, you have to basically download an app that’s designed to pair with the camera. My pairing or the app would never work unfortunately so my only way to view the videos was to take out the SD card and view them on my computer. Note that the video quality is REALLY good. Then you have to download a different app for the radar detector version of this. Here’s the issue with that. Radar detecting us largely dead and most police use laser detectors instead. Laser detectors generally are too quick to the point that once they’ve seen you it’s too late, so the laser detection portion of this is largely useless. When you’re using the device and it pings a laser ahead of you, it’s mostly always someone from the app community that went on and pinged one on their map, but by the time you’d dive by 30 min later, the cop is gone. Also, I got plenty of false pings just sitting in my garage. It does have a speedometer on it too, which is... fine? There’s a function you can elect to use where it warns you if you exceed a certain speed. The issue being that it’s a tad delayed from your car speedometer, and most people already have a working speedometer right in front of them and know how fast they’re going, so having a second device doing the same function is again, pretty useless. The other notable issue is that even with the volume all the way up on the device, it’s barely louder than the music I play, so I can tell there’s an alert, but can barely hear what it’s for and end up needing to check the app while driving. The best detection feature in my mind is that it dies pick up most red light cameras or speed cameras, that said, most of those are on Waze now, anyway. Note as well that the radar detector app you use is only free for a year, after that it’s $5/month. So... all in all, this is a rare device that I don’t recommend unless you want an expensive dash cam. It seemingly does work at its best if you life in a highly monitored area and allow this to pair with your Bluetooth and Apple Music (seemingly the only music option). That way you can control your music while using the radar detector and their map system all on one app that you can just watch while driving. Besides that, it’s a cumbersome set up and execution that takes up a good amount of windshield and has a card running right in the middle of your line of vision. The pros again being the quality of video, packaging, and red light cam detector. I couldn’t recommend this to anyone.

It’s has been a long times I have used a radar detector in my car and cobra makes great products. This is no exception and has many great features that I will discuss with one down side. First off it is definitely a premium product. It comes in a made case which you can store it in when not in use. One of my favorite things is that it has a built in dash camera built into a decent sized package. Some of my favorite features are that it can tell you where speed cameras and red light cameras are located. The small lcd screen also shows you the current speed limit which is awesome. All of this pairs with the app for your phone and overall is a great all in on package. You can also mark false alerts and it will store them in the system. The only downside to this detector is that is has a proprietary charger that looks like a telephone port. This is the biggest downfall in my opinion. Although it has micro usb this can only be used to update the system. The included power adapter is not extremely long and in my car it gets in the way of my shifter. Allowing it to be powered by micro usb would make this device much better.

Positives: Dash camera is clear and easy to use The “smart power adapter” really is smart - and has a handy mute button that ends up right behind my shifter in reach Easy magnetic mounting and removal for not so great areas or garages Areas of opportunity: One too many apps - you have to install two different ones to use all of the device features in iOS and that just seems like one too many Reboots a lot - without any clear reason why - but at least tells you it’s auto rebooting Goes off a lot and there is nothing to be found. Overall, i think this product is good for someone who needs a radar detector and is used to using one. I haven’t had one in years and i personally found the constant false alerts distracting and the app functionality cumbersome at best. I would hope for some improvements before i could recommend this device to others but it has great potential if they can clean up some of the usability issues.

I opened the box and the set up was extremely easy to understand. I set it up and had it working in approximately 10 minutes with my phone. The radar tracks speed and is right on par with my speedometer. It alerts you anytime it senses radar. I had to bring the volume down because it was a little startling the first time it hit. I have never had a radar detector before, so it took some time to get comfortable with it. There's no way to see what the camera is picking up without using the app on my phone, so that was a little different for me. I really like the size and build of the device.

I am very impressed by this Cobra 2-in1 Radar Detector and Dash Camera. When you take it out of the box, you will notice that this is not a small device, but that is to be expected since you are getting a radar detector and a camera. You don't have to but it is recommended that you download the apps to adjust the settings on the detector and camera. Once you are ready to install it in your car, you will notice that the suction cup does an extremely good job of keeping the detector in place and steady, this is especially important if you activate your camera. After setting it up in your car and downloading the I Radar app, you are ready to adjust the setttings to your liking. With the app you can adjust the alert types, audio alerts, over the speed limit alerts, day/night mode and you can even have it have it help you find your car. As I stated earlier, you don't have to mess with the app for the detector to work for you, it just enhances your experience. It has been at least 3 years since I last owned a radar detector, mainly because I don't speed as much as I have gotten older, but we all still do it. I was very surprised to see how much they have improved in that time. All it takes is one instance and you are stuck with a $200 plus ticket. On the radar itself you can also adjust some of the settings. You especially want to pay attention to the sensitivity. If not adjusted properly, it will even pick up the motion detectors. I have used it for over a week and I am very impressed by its accuracy and range. My daily commute is 20+ miles and I cross many suburban towns that love to set up speed traps and I feel way more confident if I decide to speed now that I have this Cobra. It has consistently picked up police radar at least 1/2 mile away, which is plenty of time to slow your roll. Now on the dashcam. I have never owned a dashcam, but nowadays it seems like a good idea to have, especially if you are ever in a car accident and you need evidence to submit to an insurance company. I was kind of skeptical of the quality of the video, but after using it and viewing it, I was blown away by the quality. The quality was just as good during the night. The product comes with a 16gb SD card if you want to download some of the video, which is nice. Overall, I am very impressed by the accuracy of the radar detector and the video quality the dashcam produces.

This is a great little machine. It picks up radar and laser signatures from very far away. The sensitivity can be adjusted as well so you don't pick up signal from automatic doors and things like that. Connectivity with an iPhone and the device has been sketchy. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't however that doesn't change how well it picks up radar. Very securely mounted to my vehicle. Hardwired option would be nice but no harness was included. Customizing the lights and sound was a plus. One of the local cops was very interested in learning about it when he parked next to me at a gas station. Thankfully these are legal in my state. Made for a fun conversation.

Love my Cobra Road Scout. A nice addition to my car.

is not working at all even the police fond of me it doesn't have any response