Concealed Radar Detection

[Dejablue]

After much research, I have decided to buy a radar detector.

I have considered all of the top brands, Escort, Valentine, and Cobra.
The issue for me is that I do not want to stick a unit on the windshield of my Z.
The Escort Max2 and Valentine 1 are $500.00 plus and I don't want to spend that cash and of course these are windshield mounted units.
I wish these had corresponding concealed versions, but they do not.
Concealed radar systems can run in the thousands of dollars and that's not an option for me either.

So…
I bought the Cobra iRadar S120R.
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_079IRS1...S120R&skipvs=T

It's a couple of hundred bucks cheaper, and probably not as sensitive as the top detectors, but it mounts behind the grill and runs to an iPhone app by bluetooth connection. It features a crowd sourcing app which builds a database from results of over a million other iRadar users to enhance it's detection abilities, which I think is a great resource.
Of course it's effectiveness is yet to be experienced for me.

I can not find any legit comparisons for this model to the others, even though it has been available since late 2013.
I am holding my expectations in check for this unit, as there is probably a good chance that it will not measure up, but with a 60 day return policy, I can check it out and return it if it doesn't impress.

Now, as I await it's delivery I want to explore, and hopefully the members here will contribute any input about this detector you may have, or maybe more important, inform me about the best way to connect to a switchable power connection under the hood, and the best way to access the area behind the grills on my 2011 Z4.

Thanks in advance for any input!

[rking117]

One concern i have with it is that it does not have any rear facing capability. Great for the popo sitting in the median but nothing for the one that entered behind you that you didnt see. I would hate to have to buy two to get rear protection. the other concern is what if i do not load the app itself? does it still provide me with a warning? I would assume that it would auto-load like some other apps do but there was no mention of it that i could see. then the next part is what if i am using my GPS? will it warn me even if it is not the active app? I know it said that you can play music but what about other apps? these are all big questions for me.

[Dejablue]

Originally Posted by rking117

One concern i have with it is that it does not have any rear facing capability. Great for the popo sitting in the median but nothing for the one that entered behind you that you didnt see. I would hate to have to buy two to get rear protection. the other concern is what if i do not load the app itself? does it still provide me with a warning? I would assume that it would auto-load like some other apps do but there was no mention of it that i could see. then the next part is what if i am using my GPS? will it warn me even if it is not the active app? I know it said that you can play music but what about other apps? these are all big questions for me.

All valid points.
These are some of the things I kept coming back to as well.
I guess I feel like some protection is better than none, because I don't see myself mounting a RD on the dash or windshield.
The manufacturer maintains that it can be run in the background, so until I experience different I'll believe 'em...but if it is an issue, that will be a deal breaker for me.
I'd also say that buying a RD for me is not so I can race the car around like a speed demon. It's more about having some defense for the fact that this car just goes fast without even noticing it!

[Dejablue]

I powered up the Cobra S120R concealed radar detector yesterday.
It was pretty easy to mount the unit behind the grill using the bumper reinforcement. A nice clean install.
The wiring was another story.
Pretty straightforward running the cable, once I decided to cut through to the fusebox using the rubber gasket thing on the passenger side firewall.
Fed the cord through with a coat hanger right to the location.
I had bought a fuse tap to connect the power, but for some reason, I realized after much dicking around trying to get the unit to power up and connect by bluetooth to the phone app, that the fuse tap was not getting power.
Maybe there is a specific kind which mates properly with the BMW fusebox, but neither of the two I have worked.
It would have saved me a lot of time had I known that, but there is no way to visually know if the unit is powered up.
Anyway I figured that out and just went direct to Fuse #20.
It is a seat power outlet and I had info that it was a switchable current, but because the electrical system powers down 20 or 30 minutes after you pull the fob, I couldn't confirm it for what seemed like forever.
Once it did shut down I replaced the fusebox and upper footwell panel, which was a real PITA I must say.
Then the damn unit wouldn't repower up!
So, back to dismantling it all again, which was quicker the second time, to find out that while replacing the fusebox in it's position, I had broken the ground connection, which is a Torx screw just to the front of the fusebox.
So back to reassembly and connection to the unit which went well.

Now, the unit is a front facing concealed radar mounted in the front of the car, which leads to questions about it's effectiveness for radar coming from the rear. This issue was resolved not a half of a mile from my home when a police car pulled behind me. He was sending out KA band radar which this unit picked up immediately…even from way behind my car as I drove on.

I haven't had the chance to get out on the highway to try it out yet, but early results are very good. I like the iPhone app, and the iRadar crowd sourcing abilities to use other iRadar users data as it is uploaded to all other users anonymously.
It does work well in the background if I choose, and that was a big concern.

All in all I think it will be the sort of protection I was looking for, without a windshield mounted unit costing twice as much.

[Dejablue]

[rking117]

nice job... Glad it is working for you. If you would post an update on how it is performing after using it a while. I want to get an understanding of how it is truly working after you learn the detector a little more. Things i am interested in are does the unit miss picking up police you know are pinging? if so how far away are they from you? what kind of range are you truly getting out of the unit?

I have a whistler 690SE dash mounted version and for the price it is very sensitive. I usually pick up police ahead of me at almost a mile away and in the rear while a shorter distance still enough to say that i am protected.

If you get even close to this i think i might make the move to this or similar device.

[Dejablue]

Originally Posted by rking117

nice job... Glad it is working for you. If you would post an update on how it is performing after using it a while. I want to get an understanding of how it is truly working after you learn the detector a little more. Things i am interested in are does the unit miss picking up police you know are pinging? if so how far away are they from you? what kind of range are you truly getting out of the unit?

I have a whistler 690SE dash mounted version and for the price it is very sensitive. I usually pick up police ahead of me at almost a mile away and in the rear while a shorter distance still enough to say that i am protected.

If you get even close to this i think i might make the move to this or similar device.

My experiences with the S120R to this point are mixed.
There have been times where it notifies me well in advance of actual radar sources, and other times where I see the police at the same time the radar alerts me, which is not what I'm looking for.

Around town, this is not one of those high end units like the Escort Power Max that "sees" around hills and such. It always picks up the K Radar sources, like the roadside speed indicators. It has alerted me to police at the rear of my car pretty well too.

I have decided to see if I can move the unit a little closer to the grill to see if that helps with the units ability to notify sooner.
The app which runs the whole thing is very user friendly. It operates well in the background, and uses voice alerts through the car's audio system very well.

Overall, I knew this would not be a unit with the sort of responses that you'd get from those top line detectors, but for my purposes to this point, there are more to like than not with this detector.

[rking117]

Originally Posted by Dejablue

My experiences with the S120R to this point are mixed.
There have been times where it notifies me well in advance of actual radar sources, and other times where I see the police at the same time the radar alerts me, which is not what I'm looking for.

Around town, this is not one of those high end units like the Escort Power Max that "sees" around hills and such. It always picks up the K Radar sources, like the roadside speed indicators. It has alerted me to police at the rear of my car pretty well too.

I have decided to see if I can move the unit a little closer to the grill to see if that helps with the units ability to notify sooner.
The app which runs the whole thing is very user friendly. It operates well in the background, and uses voice alerts through the car's audio system very well.

Overall, I knew this would not be a unit with the sort of responses that you'd get from those top line detectors, but for my purposes to this point, there are more to like than not with this detector.

Great info. thanks for sharing

[DKZTT]

Too late to chime in, but get the K40 and call it done.

[Dejablue]

Originally Posted by DKZTT

Too late to chime in, but get the K40 and call it done.

At nearly $2 grand for the RL360i I think I'll take my chances.