Customer Ratings & Reviews

Radar detector works great. Does not give false alarms for new vehicle side, front, and rear anti collision or lane variations. Has excellent range. Good countermeasures says that the threat must be detected before the threat detects you.

After spending a few weeks with the Cobra 480i radar detector, I can confidently say it’s one of the best driving tools I’ve ever added to my setup. Whether you’re a daily commuter or someone who enjoys spirited weekend drives, this little device delivers exactly what it promises — peace of mind and solid performance. Pros: ✔️ Excellent Detection Range: The 480i consistently picks up signals well before I even get close to the source. It gives me plenty of time to adjust my speed and stay in control. K and Ka band alerts are especially reliable — the Ka detection, in particular, feels like it punches way above its price range. ✔️ Low False Alert Rate: Let’s be real: nobody wants a detector that cries wolf every two minutes. With the 480i, false alerts are rare thanks to its advanced filtering and built-in GPS. It learns the local signal noise, so I’m not constantly getting pinged by automatic doors or motion sensors. ✔️ Bluetooth App Integration: Pairing it with the Drive Smarter app adds another layer of functionality. Real-time alerts from other users and updated red light/speed camera locations make it feel more like a connected community tool than just a radar detector. ✔️ Compact and Discreet: It doesn’t take up a lot of dash space, and the display is clean and easy to read without being a distraction. I can check the signal type and strength at a glance. ✔️ Build Quality: It feels premium and well put together. Buttons are tactile, and the magnetic mount is rock solid — even over rough pavement. Things to Know: While voice alerts are helpful, they can be a bit chatty on longer drives. I ended up adjusting the volume and alert settings to make it less intrusive. It doesn’t have the directional arrows that come with more expensive units like the Valentine One Gen2, but honestly, I haven’t missed them. Final Thoughts: The Cobra 480i strikes a perfect balance between performance, features, and price. If you're looking for a dependable radar detector without jumping into the ultra-premium price range, this is it. It’s smart, sleek, and genuinely helpful on the road. Would I recommend it? 100%. Whether you're driving across town or cross-country, this thing earns its keep. Want it tailored more toward daily commuters, car enthusiasts, or a more technical tone? I can tweak the review to fit your style.

When you buy a radar detector, you're assuming that you're going to experience false positives. However, for only <200$, you're getting a package that can read crash frequencies, cops, and more, at the range that's astounding to me. Perfect for long trips, or general cruising. In my opinion, there is little to no point in upgrading to a higher tier system past this, it's not going to eliminate false positives or increase range dramatically, unless you want light statistics, etc.

Exceptional product just upgraded from my cobra i300. Seems to be a lot more sensitive, and I love the digital screen which goes to sleep with a scrolling bar. The app allows you to customize the hardware to your personal preferences. Never travel without it on. The Drive Smarter app also provides an option to post alerts for the community of accidents, traffic delays, and the obvious lol. They have removed a few functions from the previous icobra app. Which I preferred however, it does its job. Stating the obvious as with all Devices made to alert you of pending expensive tickets. This device will only alert you if Superheterodyne or laser equipment is in use.

So far its been good. I haven't used cobra for a while now. So I wanted to give it a try, as it was easy-to-use and easy for me to just buy another for my other car. It's been frustrated moving my escort radar from one car to another. This cobra radar is doing it job so far. Be sure to down load the app it comes in handy. For a low budget this is a great purchase.

So far so good, i have used the radar for a few weeks now and a couple false alarms but saved my butt yesterday! Great product for the price being so cheap.

For the price, this has all of the essentials. It reads X, K, and Ka, and it's all packaged up into a nice little unit. I have no experience with the corresponding phone app, but I've heard from friends that have this radar that it isn't very good. It runs perfectly fine without it, though. Another hurdle I ran into was how short the power cable was, and I needed to get a 12v socket extension that ran from the center console to above the driver's footwell, so I could mount cleanly mount the radar to the top of my windshield. Other than that, no complaints.

At $150 you won’t find anything that has the range and features. It’s not perfect, you have to find the sensitivity to fit your drive. Will false alarm just like any detector, when app connected it provides a ton of information and was seamless to pair to my Galaxy S9. You’d spend more than double to get a better detector, not range wise but added features like directional indicators and better false alarm prevention. It’s VG2 invisible, has tons of range and nearly any feature you’d want on a radar detector. My only real complaint is the false alerts and difficulty balancing eliminating them and still picking up legitimate threats.

Was in the market for a basic radar detector without having to spend lots of money and when it comes to these you get what you pay for. It's a decent radar detector for beginners and people that want to be cautious of the small things. It will definitely get laser and cops using radar. Only thing is, there are lots of false alerts. If you're looking for little to no false alerts, I recommend buying a higher priced detector. This will get the job done, but be aware that it will give off false alerts.

On certain day's I travel the BQE and notice more police parked along the S/B side, since using this detector I've been tagged with laser more then once. I travel the speed limit so it was of no concern until seeing cars stopped by the highway lane in front of the police , NOT GOOD! I've noticed more hits with laser on some roadways so I'm not traveling without it because traveling further there they are. It goes crazy until I get far away from the police cars. Not many false alerts as with my 4 year old cobra. The app is cool showing red light cameras. I'll tell you it's like walking in a dark room not knowing where they are hiding, this let's me have some idea what's going on.

Took me a long time to figure out what each frequency meant but this is highly worth it! SAVED ME several times from hiding cops and speed traps! 100% worth the money if you have a heavy foot (like me). Easily adjust volume and sensitivity of the radar and track everything! If you pay for the app you get a ton more features but still extremely functional without the app. Highlyyyyyy recommended!

I’m very pleased with this purchase. It works like a charm and is loud on the lowest setting.

like it so far!! I don't use it daily; however it seems to work when in use

I've only had this a few weeks, but I will give my honest review. There are plenty of what seems to be false alerts, mostly K and X bands. I've never seen a police car when those bands hit. Usually X band seems to hit around department and grocery stores. KA band seems to be the most common for police, based on just a few weeks of using this. Every time I've seen a police car, it's been the KA band. I've not been hit with Laser yet, so I can't say anything about that. Seems to be great on the interstate and highways, but not so great for congested areas, that's where most false alerts seem to come from. Overall, I'm happy with my purchase, and I would recommend this product.

Excellent piece to have always on guard in case you go over the speed limit without even knowing

Easy to use and lots of updated features like the cobra app that gives you a lot of useful information. Also the sound is clear and holds a perfect range.

Love this radar one of the best things I bought so far

The 480i does a great job of filtering out false signals, particularly IVT technologies, and ignoring things like door openers. It has properly identified actual threats while staying quiet most of the time I've been driving. You need to spend some time configuring this detector to get the most out of it. Load the iRadar app on your phone, grab a beer and spend some quality time with it. Once I got it dialed in, I found it to be excellent. To get the most out of it, keep it paired with your phone while you're driving. You'll magically get reports from other Cobra iRadar users to keep you well informed. For $150, it's a great detector. I'm keeping it!

I was disappointed with this dectector overall. Installation was easy enough as I still had a hardwire installation from a previous device that decided to quit. Inside the box you get the basics such as the device (obviously), a 2 suction cup window mount (and some velcro for a dash install I assume), and a long power cord. Once I got it up and running and set up, I downloaded the app, synced it and off I went, and this is where the disappointment started. When the device is in standalone, it did not seem to pick up much. The second day I had it, I passed 2 cops doing traffic enforcement in my area, and it did not beep or alert me one single time BUT it did go nuts when I pulled into Walgreens. Thinking maybe it was a fluke, I decided to open the app and while sure it worked, using the app requires 2 things. First is your phone to be within your field of vision (If you lay it on the seat, you can not exactly keep looking over at it when and if it decides to send an alert) and second, your phone connected to your cars stereo. I have a 2015 Fusion which has the basic AM/FM/CD combo but also I subscribe to Sirius AND use an SD card for my own music. When I finally did get an alert , I could NOT hear it as my radio was set to Sirius and I also do not clip my phone to my vents or anywhere within my field of vision Given it barely works in stand alone and I can not hear it when linked to the app, for me this device is no bueno. When I was messing with the app, it does have a rather neat feature, a crowd sourced alert based system that allows you to either report something you see or be alerted to what someone else reported, and for the latter, it gives you an option to either confirm or deny said alert.

This product is very easy-to-use. Its been upgraded over the years. I owed an earlier model and it lasted 10 years. Its a bit too sensitive for my taste so you get some false alarms. Considering its price it does its job well. I like the app that goes with it and find it useful.