Cobra Adds Radar Detector + App System

By Lisa Johnston -- TWICE, 10/18/2010

CHICAGO — Cobra Electronics added to the radar detector/iPhone app fray with the launch of its iRadar Detection System at a suggested $169.

The system packages a radar/laser detector with a free iPhone app that lets users control radar-detector settings via the touchscreen of a Bluetooth-connected iPhone. In addition, the app uses the iPhone’s GPS to alert users of known driving hazards and speed- and redlight cameras via Cobra’s Aura Camera and Driving Hazard database. Alerts can be relayed through the radar detector.

The app also lets consumers use their iPhone to view past alert locations as well as their current speed, compass heading and car-battery voltage.

The radar/laser-detector unit operates as a stand-alone detector when not paired with the app.

An Android version of the app is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2011.

If a user is traveling in a friend’s car with an app-equipped iPhone, a Cobra spokesman told TWICE, the iPhone will receive alerts of known hazards and cameras via its GPS technology.

Although the app works with a Bluetooth-equipped iPod Touch, the Cobra spokesman told TWICE that it would have more limited functionality. Because it lacks GPS, he said, users would not be able to get hazard and camera alerts.