Cobra Gps's

[cutsandbruises]

I woke up this morning and stumbled down the stairs to read the morning newspaper as I usually do. There on the front page of the buisness section was an article claiming that Cobra, a tiny electronics corporation on the Northwest side of Chicago,is betting on dominating the Global Positioning system technology market. According to the paper The Cobra GPS 100 is one of the corporations new held held GPS devices. This company has previously manufactured CB radios , radar detectors, and two way radios.

As far as I can tell from reading the forums people tend to be either Garmin or Megellan users.

But these guys say they will corner the market..

Any thoughts on this?

[+Jamie Z]

Cobra has a good long history with electronics. I wouldn't hesitate to put my faith in a piece of Cobra equipment. Thing is.. I've already got a good GPS, so I don't need another.

 

Corner the market? I doubt it. Sell a few? Sure, if they do it right.

 

Additional units to choose from can only help the market.

 

Jamie

 

[edit] Here's the Miami Herald edition of the article.

Edited December 22, 2003 by Jamie Z

[+briansnat]

If they make a quality GPS at an affordable price, then more power to them. The will probably have a tough time dislodging Magellan and Garmin from the top though. There a lot of very loyal Maggie and Garmin users out there. Cobra would have to really wow them to lure them away, especially since a lot of people have already invested in the mapping software for their preferred brand.

 

Now if they come out with a GPS that uses non proprietary mapping software like NG Topo! and Delorme, as well as Mapsend and Mapsource, they certainly would turn a lot of heads.

Edited December 22, 2003 by briansnat

[+Breaktrack]

If they make a quality GPS at an affordable price, then more power to them. The will probably have a tough time dislodging Magellan and Garmin from the top though. There a lot of very loyal Maggie and Garmin users out there. Cobra would have to really wow them to lure them away, especially since a lot of people have already invested in the mapping software for their preferred brand.

 

Now if they come out with a GPS that uses non proprietary mapping software like NG Topo! and Delorme, as well as Mapsend and Mapsource, they certainly would turn a lot of heads.

Yup, all the features of an E-trex Vista at the price of an E-trex Yellow.... oh yeah, I'd buy one with the mapping features you mentioned....lol.

 

[+CYBret]

Cobra's the one that advertizes a 14 channel GPS, right?

 

I have a hard time imagining how that works when I rarely use all 12 as it is.

 

Bret

 

Edit: Oops. Looks like it's 18 channels

Edited December 22, 2003 by CYBret

[+Doc-Dean]

If they make a quality GPS at an affordable price, then more power to them. The will probably have a tough time dislodging Magellan and Garmin from the top though.

The same thing was said about M$ and Palm in the handheld market and just a few short years later M$ is about to do it....

[+Team Giblert]

Cobra have a long way to go before their units are the least bit useful for geocaching.

 

1) They need to publish the data interface so common programs can actually upload/download waypoints to it. It's compatible with nothing out there except their own software, which I believe costs extra $$ (along with the cable which also costs $$)

 

2) It needs to not decide 'Arrived at destination'. When your cobra gets about 15-20m from the waypoint it says "Arrived at destination" and stops navigating.

 

For these two reasons, a friend of ours just sold hers and is now using an eTrex Legend (which she just loves). Maybe it Cobra fix a few of their issues, it'll be popular, but until then....

[+Johnnie Stalkers]

Cobra cacher here. After a few months of using the Cobra GPS500 I have to say I am very pleased with it. That being said I have to say I have never used any other brand or model.

 

Yes the "Arriving at destination" is a bit wierd ar first. Usually happens between 50 and 100 feet. Heck I get that close I switch to map screen anyway.

 

Still haven't ordered the cable for mine. I believe it works with mapquest which I happen to use anyway. Have yet to hunt something that required a laptop and manually entering coords takes me about 10 seconds....I couldn't plug in my USB cable that quick.

 

I can't imagine the 18 channel doing much...it does lock pretty quick, but I'll still lose signal in heavy foilage and downtown areas with tall buildings.

 

That being said, some of you Mag / E-Trek people need to meet us out at a cache one day and we can take turns trying out each others units. (OMG I cannot believe I said that, but its funny so it stays

Edited December 22, 2003 by Johnnie Stalkers

[+gallahad]

It's pretty easy to make a claim for future success when the R&D people are still excited about a new idea. But I don't envision Cobra having much of an impact on the GPSr market. Some of the feedback on their current stuff (example) would lead one to suspect they'll be producing a piece of equipment that is somewhat limited in its performance capabilities. If they had any real creative people on their team I suspect they'd have made some inroads in the professional and amateur radio markets in the past, but they focused most of their attention on the CB radio market.

Edited December 22, 2003 by gallahad

[+gallahad]

...Yes the "Arriving at destination" is a bit wierd ar first. Usually happens between 50 and 100 feet.

 

OK, here's a user description that I'd use to support my point. Cobra advertises that its GPS is useful for the golf course. They claim " the Cobra GPS can be used to provide the remaining distance to the green, critical for making club selections. The only requirement is to first save the coordinates of the center of each green on the course. The GPS 100 has the memory to load and save coordinates for 18 holes on 25 courses." Johnnie_Stalkers tells us that his experience revealed an accuracy of 50 - 100 feet. I don't know anyone in the sport of golf that would accept that margin for error from a GPS when estimating distance to the green. Most golfers that I know can pretty well judge distances with that degree of accuracy without the need for electronic navigational devices.

[+Johnnie Stalkers]

...Yes the "Arriving at destination" is a bit wierd ar first.  Usually happens between 50 and 100 feet.

 

OK, here's a user description that I'd use to support my point. Cobra advertises that its GPS is useful for the golf course. They claim " the Cobra GPS can be used to provide the remaining distance to the green, critical for making club selections. The only requirement is to first save the coordinates of the center of each green on the course. The GPS 100 has the memory to load and save coordinates for 18 holes on 25 courses." Johnnie_Stalkers tells us that his experience revealed an accuracy of 50 - 100 feet. I don't know anyone in the sport of golf that would accept that margin for error from a GPS when estimating distance to the green. Most golfers that I know can pretty well judge distances with that degree of accuracy without the need for electronic navigational devices.

Let me clarify this point Gallahd. It appears my statement was unclear. The "Arriving at Destination" feature, while quirky, is not inaccuracy. It is a warning you get as you approach your goto. More often than not the cobra puts me within feet of the cache (if not standing on top of it). Not knowing what make/model the cache owners are using tells me the cobra isn't any different than any other unit as far as accuracy.

[+Sparky-Watts]

Cobra has made some exceptionally good quality electronics in the past, I'd be interested in doing a side by side comparison with them and Mag and Garmin prods.

[+Halden]

Who carries the Cobra GPS units? I can't find them listed on any canadian retailers? Are they only available in the US rught now?

 

From the reviews I read on epinions they are a decent product but not all the way there yet. More competition and more R&D can't hurt.

[+Johnnie Stalkers]

Cobra has made some exceptionally good quality electronics in the past, I'd be interested in doing a side by side comparison with them and Mag and Garmin prods.

Well if your piece of..uh I mean..uh fine navigational aid can steer you a little in my direction lets give it a try. Sort of the GPSr exchange program.

[+Sparky-Watts]

Cobra has made some exceptionally good quality electronics in the past, I'd be interested in doing a side by side comparison with them and Mag and Garmin prods.

Well if your piece of..uh I mean..uh fine navigational aid can steer you a little in my direction lets give it a try. Sort of the GPSr exchange program.

Hey, I'm not doing much of anything for the next few months! Sounds good to me!

[+webscouter.]

Maybe they will integrate the GPS with a radar detector so you can see were the police trap is hidden.

[+trippy1976]

I'm willing to eat crow on this in a few years, but Garmin and magellan seen to be here to stay. We already have other options for GPS units (Lowrance, for one) but you hardly hear anyone talk about them. The only brands capable of drumming up honest to goodness excitement seem to be Garmin and Magellan. For me... it's in that order (coke!)(Chevy!)(Intel!)

[Jeremy]

I actually just got my hands on one recently. Once I put together my thoughts I'll post them to the site. I'm primarily a Garmin V user, but I am both familar with and impressed with the Magellan units.

[+Sparky-Watts]

I actually just got my hands on one recently. Once I put together my thoughts I'll post them to the site. I'm primarily a Garmin V user, but I am both familar with and impressed with the Magellan units.

Jeremy, when you post this, why don't you pin it to the top and compare all the units you've had some experience with? I think that'd be a good source for the newbies (and old-timers) to check and use for their buying experience. Not saying that there already aren't great advice and comparison threads already, but something at the top of the forums would be easier to find and help to decrease the amount of "Help me pick out a GPS" threads.

[+gallahad]

...something at the top of the forums would be easier to find and help to decrease the amount of "Help me pick out a GPS" threads.

I'll drink to ... errr, vote for that

[+Byron & Anne]

I seem to have a completely different view point on Cobra. Having been in the electronic manufacturing business for 40 years I can't think of anything good to say about Cobra products. From the 2 or 3 products I disected, benchmarked, what ever you want to call it where you take it appart and record what makes it work, they ranked right up there with McToys. Granted the last time I did that was 20 years ago. Maybe they've changed, but I doubt it.