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The Affordable Cobra RAD 500G Radar Detector - REVIEWED
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May 29, 2025
There are lots of radar detectors on the market for $400-$500 or more, but if you just want a reliable device that won't break your budget, it's tricky. The Cobra RAD 500G offers some impressive smarts and features a sophisticated GPS-based tracking system along with lots of anti-false reading filters and a surprising price tag. Tech expert Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ gave the RAD 500G a test run on a road trip to Breckenridge, Colorado and found it was a simple, reliable radar detector. Check it out on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2NGJ0LS or SamsClub: https://www.samsclub.com/sams/cobra-rad500g-radar/prod22180911.ip
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a radar detector for less than the price
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of a single speeding ticket let's check
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it out Dave Taylor here and I'm up in
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Breckenridge Colorado of 9600 foot
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elevation not a lot of oxygen up here
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but there are a lot of roads and getting
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here is really interesting a beautiful
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drive and a perfect opportunity to test
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out this this is the Cobra rad 500 g
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radar detector and you know what it's
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pretty nice it's a real entry-level unit
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so it's not 399 or 499 there are a lot
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of really fancy ones but for the price
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this packs a lot of capabilities it's a
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GPS receiver and what that means is that
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it actually has the ability to know
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what's in the area when you're driving
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through so it'll trigger things like
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there's a red light camera or there's a
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speed camera or there's a known speed
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trap coming up all of it will just be
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displayed right on the front and they do
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that by using something called the aura
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database and it's a location-based alert
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system very slick so there are all sorts
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of buttons and settings and options and
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all this stuff you know what to do any
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of them the way I did this was I plug
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this in I use the windshield mount to
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plug it in and then it went straight
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into the 12-volt power adapter aka
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cigarette lighter and then it just sat
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on the dashboard I'm actually facing me
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it's sat on the dashboard
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you know just at the very bottom of the
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windshield and did a great job so here
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for example is what you see when there
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is something that it's sensed but it's
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pretty far away and you know it's far
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away because there's only a single bar
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as well I got closer to cops on the side
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of the road or speed traps then the
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display got a lot more exciting
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generally though it just had a little
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bar that went back and forth which
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reminded me a lot of like
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Cylons in Battlestar Galactica I know
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kind of geeky I own it
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so this is not one that pairs with your
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phone and gives you all the controls
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there so everything's right here on
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board which is nice it's simple
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so there's volume control and I've found
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when I put the volume really low it
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worked just fine
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it would just still flash and I would be
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able to see right there you know right
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on the windshield that something's
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coming up let me drop it down a couple
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of miles per hour so one of the great
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things about a GPS based radar detector
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is you can lock out false alerts but
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really these devices are kind of just as
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much about not alerting you in correctly
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as they are about alerting you for
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active live issues so they have an
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updatable ivt filter to help with false
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alarms
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they have anti falling circuitry there's
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just a lot of stuff that they have that
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helps you ensure that you aren't gonna
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actually have this go off every time you
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go by a supermarket door you don't want
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that and by the way supermarkets with
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their automatic doors some radar
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detectors actually see those as threats
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that's not a threat unless you're
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driving into the supermarket and the
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doors not opening not an issue for me so
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let's see what else going to tell you is
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that it supports detection of instant on
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radar because some cops are getting
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pretty sneaky with their radar systems
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so this supports that and it also can
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recognize laser eye either in front or
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behind you so for that you obviously it
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needs to have a reasonably clear line of
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sight through the back window so
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sometimes I tried using it when it was
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actually in the sort of lower
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stick-shift area and that worked really
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well for generic detection but obviously
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that's not going to help me with the
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laser eye so generally you want to have
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it on your windshield somewhere and I
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think that will help it work better I
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like it it's very simple Cobra I think
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makes really nice radar detectors I'm
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not a huge fan of driving crazy fast but
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you know when I'm on long road trips I
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also don't want to be stuck right at the
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speed limit so having some knowledge
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that over the next hill there's a cop
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sitting
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is a darn beneficial thing now I want to
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hasten to tell you that radar detectors
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are not okay if you're in Virginia or
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Washington DC so if you're gonna use
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this there be super low-key and stealthy
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about it or possibly just unplug it and
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then when you get out of Virginia you
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can plug it back in and keep yourself
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safe so like I said it's pretty darn
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inexpensive the cost of speeding tickets
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can be crazy like two three four five
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hundred dollars you don't want that you
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don't want that at all so something like
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this is a much better investment ahead
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of time and there's no points there's no
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potential jail time there's no having to
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do traffic school which as anyone who
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has done it knows is super tedious and
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not a fun way to spend a day and traffic
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school cost money too so it's not like
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it's a freebie okay so the only thing I
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want to talk about is price still but
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before we get there let me ask if you
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can go ahead and subscribe to my channel
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really appreciate when you subscribe and
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give me some feedback on this video too
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I'm still trying to figure out how to
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breathe up here really 9600 feet I feel
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like I'm like on my way up to Everest
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it's pretty high altitude but it is
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worth it because it's beautiful here
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the Cobra rad 500 g radar detector it
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will cost you a hundred and ninety nine
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eighty five at amazon.com but do your
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online shopping wisely I found it at
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Sam's Club for a hundred and forty nine
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ninety eight that's fifty dollars
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cheaper that's a pretty good deal one
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hundred and fifty bucks for this all
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ready to go with all of these features
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that's a no-brainer for anyone who's
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doing road trips or anyone who just has
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a heavy foot on their gas pedal so I say
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check it out and I will catch you in my
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next video
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