Cobra Drive HD Dash Cam

So, I have had dash cam's for the past year or so. All from China, the last being a good cam (DVR207) which in itself received good reviews. That is, until I figured out if was putting out spurious signal emissions that were screwing my FM signals up. My GPS traffic receiver could no longer receive signal, weak FM radio blocked, etc. Nothing worked to resolve that other than to wait until "FCC approved" US based companies got into the game....and now, Cobra and soon Garmin (next few weeks) are finally jumping in. Took a shot and bought this cobra about a month ago, used from Amazon ($93). When I received it in 2 days, looked to be new. If you're used to these type devices or are a nerd, it wasn't to difficult to get through the menu system. But for most, it would be nice if they could put a basic manual together with simple instructions. The biggest step, is that the menu cannot be accessed while recording. Most dash cams don't come with a external off/on mic button, this does which is great. The screen is not bad for the price, pretty much have to be right in front of it. No side viewing. The camera rotates but you have to manually go into menu and flip image. That should be a future firmware fix, that if you rotate camera, the image automatically flips. The suction cup has been good so far...though that will be finally determined once the Texas heat arrives. Note, make sure you remove the plastic suction cup cover that it shipped with, it peels off otherwise ain't gonna work. The boot-up and auto start of recording is fast and has been without issue so far. Once you mount device in plastic mount and it clicks, I don't think it will come out very easily without taking it off of windshield and strong arming it out. I just remove microSD card instead of taking entire unit inside to laptop to review video. Now for performance: I have not taken any still shots, no use. The video resolution I am using is the 1080P HD which gives 1920x1080 and 55 min with supplied 8gb card or 220 min with 32gb card which is what I am using. This resolution aslo gives you a wider view though a little distorted on edges which makes sense. Speaking of the microSD card, it is on the right side of the unit and comes out fairly easily with a pen or long finger nails. Everything seems to just work, the time stamp is top center, not in the way. The video output, even with a class 10 microSD card still gives you a twice/sec very brief stutter. Not really a big issue but somewhat annoying when reviewing video. Must be a throughput issue at higher resolution? The HD resolution, not awesome but not that bad either. You can read license plates in daytime if they are within one car length. The tint on my unit leans towards blue which I have read on other reviews...not that big a deal. If I am in a accident or something happens within view of this camera, I don't think I really care that the trees seem a touch blue. For the price, this is a must have. The Garmin unit without the GPS, like this one, will sell for $219 next month. I cannot imagine anything better with that unit except the video being crazy sharp but I doubt that will be the case. This thing just works. I have not had one issue with unit and I drive for a living. Have probably put 5000 miles on car since installing and no lockups, failures to start. I have mine set to record for an extra 15 min after power is disconnected, the battery handles that without issue. I really haven't tested non-replaceable battery, but seems to be OK. The supplied cord is long enough for my install, probably 8 ft or so, don't remember. If I remember something else, I will add later. I will also add any issues if they occur, once it starts heating up in a few months. Whoops, almost forgot...the video during daytime is pretty good though you will get dark area's (low contrast) that will severely show pixel's, not that big an issue. Also, night time video is pretty good if you're in a city with street lights, otherwise your head lights are all you're gonna see. Also, the IR lights are a waste of time. Make sure you leave them off, they just make things worse at night. Playback hasn't been a problem on my computer with built in windows 7 player. If you do have a problem, download the Cobra dash cam player from Cobra's website. It is actually for the CDR-830 (GPS version) which has not been released yet. It will obviously not show you any GPS data but the video from this unit plays fine on it. Hope this helped, if you have any questions feel free to ask. I have not posted any video on uTube but there are several samples after searching. Night Visibility: Keep in mind that you're buying a $100 camera, not a night vision device. If you take your smart phone out, hold it up to the windshield at night, this is pretty much what you're going to get. If on a country road, moonless night, all you're going to see is what the headlights are hitting. On the other hand, if you mainly drive in the city with plenty of street lights, this device isn't that bad.