Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsUniden DFR7 ($250) vs Cobra RAD450 ($115) vs 8yr old cobra EDS 7000 ($50)
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2018
In a nutshell, the Uniden gets an A+, the Rad450 a B+. Of course the uniden is twice as expensive so it should be better. But The RAD450 performed quite admirable for it's price. It is not quite as sensative as the uniden facing forward. For cops coming from the behind, the uniden definitely seems more effective. It takes awhile to figure out what is the best settings for these units. Both of their directions are decent but could be better. If you want to just set it and forget it use #5 for the uniden and #6 for the RAD450.
The "quite ride" for the uniden works with the GPS speed. on the unit No sound below a certain speed. This works perfectly for
filtering out useless parking lot and stop light false alerts. Because the uniden can also mute specific locations it is even more versatile for filtering falsie's. I did not use this in any of my tests. Because the RAD450 doesn't have GPS, it's "quite ride" works differently. An audio will sound for a few seconds (2 or 3 beeps) then go silent. If it doesn't have a 30-40 second space between alerts, it will remain silent even if it gets a new alert (it will always display the alert). This works quite well for parking lots since you are getting many multiple alerts rapidly. Yet, this shouldn't be a problem while driving highway or city. In the driving test below I had all kinds of falsie's on the old radar including the blind spot radars used on cars. While following a Chevy equinox on the highway, my old unit cycled on and off continuously while behind this car. Both the uniden and RAD450 were totally silent. They didn't register any alerts. Other cars caused the same thing in my old unit but I couldn't identify which
car was the source. The other 2 units remained silent.
I was fortunate that the day of testing, Cops were everywhere so I got good data. I didn't get the actual distance on the city speeding trap, but both the Uniden and RAD450 were equal distances and gave enough warning to slow down. The old unit gave maybe enough warning. In summary,
the uniden is a terrific unit. Spending anymore I think is a waste of money. If you can't afford the $250 price tag, the RAD450 is a pretty good unit and option. Anything cheaper than the RAD450 will most likely behave just like my old 7000 which is rendered useless due to falsie's.
Also, as an aside note, the "intellimute" option on the RAD450 does not work on a 2004 Lexus rx330. Supposedly, the unit can tell the RPM of the engine through voltage spikes in the electrical system. My guess is that it won't be able to read most cars so don't count on this as a useful filter option. Regardless,The RAD450 works well enough for the price. So, I am keeping both; The uniden for my main car, and the RAD450 for my second car. I should be well protected in both less all those annoying falsies! Hope this review helps. (see test data below)
Big Box parking lot test driving around in a circle.
1) Uniden DFR7:
Saved muted Locations: none
25 mph quiet mode on.
All filters on.
K set to wide.
Ka set to narrow.
# of beeps: 0
2) Cobra Rad450:
All Filters on
Quiet ride off.
# of Beeps:
Sensitivity @ Max: 158
Sensetivity @ Med: 52
Sensetivity @ Low: 10
3) Cobra Rad450:
All Filters on
Quiet ride on
# of Beeps:
Sensitivity @ Max: 6
Sensetivity @ Low: 2
4) Cobra EDS7000:
# of Beeps: 132
Number of Falsie's and Beeps Driving 90 mi. (suberbs/highway)
* note each falsie produces multiple beeps
5) Uniden DFR7:
Saved muted Locations: none
25 mph quiet mode on.
All filters on.
K set to narrow.
Ka set to narrow.
Falsie: 1
Total # of Falsie beeps:3
True Alert: 3 of 3
Highway distance to cop:
Week alert: 1.4 mi
Full alert: 0.8 mi
6) Cobra Rad450:
All Filters on
Quiet ride on
Sensitivity @ Max:
Falsie: 4
Total # of Falsie beeps: 8
True Alert: 3 of 3
Highway distance to cop:
Week Alert: none
Full Alert: 0.8 mi
7) old Cobra EDS7000:
Falsie: 43
Total # of Falsie beeps: 482
True alert: 2 of 3 (yep missed one)
Highway distance to cop:
Week alert: none
Full alert: 0.5 mi
