Customer Reviews
Superb GPS 
2007-01-21
This is my 3rd GPS and I finally got it right! The Cobra 4000 has a beautiful huge screen and is very intuitive to use. The maps, as with most GPS units, could be more up-to-date since my house address, which has been here for 20 years, is not listed. The POI database, however, is phenomenal compared to my previous GPS units. I find about 90% of the places I look for in the POI info. The unit gets confused if you make a lot of changes while it is trying to follow a route. It also has given me conflicting instructions at times but I think this is due to problems with the maps rather than the unit itself, and one which I have seen on multiple GPS units. The combination of soft and hard buttons is effective, the volume is easily adjustable and can be very loud if desired. The day-night mode for the display is great! I see lots of complaints about the mount but I love it! I have a flat dash in my van and could not use the dash mount on my last GPS because it wouldn't pivot enough for the unit to be seen easily. The Cobra mount works great on both the windshield and on a flat dash. It is heavy but has not come loose yet on the two vehicles on which I have placed it. I am very happy with this unit and glad that I bought it.
Good, with a few glitches 
2006-11-03
I actually love the Cobra GPSM 4000 Nav One. However, there is a problem it has that is not just some small problem to me. On several occasions, it gives the incorrect names for exits. The saving grace is that the distance until you reach the exit is correct. For example, I needed to take interstate 64W. Exit 64W was 1 mile away, and exit 64E was 0.5 mile away. The Cobra told me to take exit 64E in 1 mile. Therefore, I have been able to take the correct exit because it gives the correct distance, but it shouldn't be that way.
Other than that issue, I love the Cobra 4000. It is great to have it in the car and have access to Points of Interests immediately. I also like that I can plot the point of someplace I want to return again, and save that place to my address book. It is also quick to find where you are.
Awesome visibility, great usability 2006-08-23
Our primary criteria were good visibility while mounted on the dash (or windshield) and, naturally, something that would be reasonably easy to use. This certainly meets those. The only visibility problem we had was that the screen was *too* bright while driving at night-fortunately there were two of us so the screen could be turned towards the passenger & away from the driver. Bright sun-never a problem. Driver's ability to read the screen when unit was mounted in front of the passenger-never a problem.
We had a problem in one area where roads that, according to the unit, crossed the freeway didn't. It kept telling us to take left turns that didn't exist, but we just kept going until we found a road that did cross, and it re-computed the route nicely.
Our salesperson warned us that the database only contained 'yellow page' addresses, but he was nice enough to suggest that we use the Map function to locate the nearest intersection & route to that when trying to find an address that wasn't in the database. That worked pretty well for us although we have a lot more learning to do before we'll feel really comfortable moving around in the map.
Similarly, we have quite a bit more learning to do before we'll be really comfortable designing a route we actually want. I'd like to see an option to say 'take this road' as well as the 'avoid this road' option-but I can realize the programming problems involved with that (e.g. the road you want to take may not take you where you want to go). Once both of the choices (fastest & shortest routes) took us on confusing winding paths when there was a more easily navigable option I could see on the map-but I couldn't figure out how to get the unit to map that route. An 'easiest navigation' option would be nice but I have no idea how a program could determine that.
Never had any problem or significant delay in finding our current position, never any significant delay in re-routing when we took a 'detour' (or missed a turn), very good voice prompts (although it prefers to use route numbers rather than street names, e.g. WA 529 vs. Meridian Rd.). Considering the current state of the art, this is an awesome unit.
Cobra 4000 GPS 2006-06-26
This is a fantastic machine. We used it on a 4200 mile vacation trip and it performed 99% perfectly. We had two glitches. One was when it told us the correct off-ramp but the number of the ramp was wrong.
And going through Salt Lake City with very quick freeway transitions it couldn't keep up with them.
We used it to find motels, gas stations, post offices, etc.
I would also like to see a way of mounting it to the dash instead of the windshield. It weighs two pounds.
nothing comes close..a must for somebody on the GO 2006-06-05
Truly nothing comes close to this..nothing compares.After months and months of planning and window shopping and frequenting all the sites and stores where i can potentially buy a GPS.Truly,this is worth all my wait and patience.I just knew something out there is better than the famous brands im seeing @ BestBuy stores and Circuit City.The screen is great and the instructions are so precise,accurate and voice prompt is so clear,you won't even need to keep on looking at the screen to keep on the right track.The auto rerouting is an important factor for me too.PLus,the address book is totally cool and a timesaver.Everything you are looking for is here.From out of the box,i literally just plug it in my car and off the road i went.IT is user friendly too.It is not complicated at all.With its one touch "go home" button.It will literally take you home.Will even offer you two route options,how cool is that huh?Its worth my money its worth the wait.To travel with confidence on the road means a cobra by your side!
Cobra GPS 2008-06-04
So far I find the Cobra unit is very accurate and has all the features I need. I like the large screen and voice directions. The only problem is I can't get an additional windshield holding mount. So I have to move the holder from vehicle to vehicle. Cobra does not offer additional mounts for the 4000 unit. Overall for the price it is an excellent buy.
GPSM 4000 2008-04-14
I just had this over the weekend and only payed 125 so heres my thoughts. For what I paid for it I can't complain about what it is/isnt. But if I would have sunk any real cash into this I'de be sending it back. This is a very good sub $200 gps. Heres what you should really know. It has speech. but limited text to speech. So basically if you want a gps to tell you all the street names.. Not happening here. I added all the updates when I got it so I can tell you the 3d graphics.. like you see now on most gps's (like tomtom) is not as good. also you really have to clean your windshield
before you stick this on your dash. I had it come off the glass 2x already in 3 days. It is a pretty hefty item to hang from a suction cup.
I ended up placing it so it actually rests on the dash while attached to the window.
Good points. The screen auto adjusts to the daylight/or lack of
the navigation is spot on. with the update installed I dont have the problems others have/ I had the updates on before I ever test drove it.
The voice commands are clear but mechanical sounding female voice. You would think the a gps that actually has a microdrive inside could have added other voices to the package. I got the database update. so I can not comment on how the new maps compare to the old. But the last update is 2006 and its close but not perfect. One quirky thing about this is it has modest actual street address finding.. It will list roads when it can not find the actual address. in a couple cases it says "no data" this is no big problem just annoying. for what i payed for it its great. The 5 inch screen.. 4.4 actual inches and a icon strip on the side is a lot easier to see than the tomtom go. May not mean much to you younger people but when you get older this is a selling point. If you can latch onto one cheap its a 4.5 at +200 a 3.5.
I forgot to add with the updates. it doesn't jump page to page like mentioned in other reviews.. it moves along just like a tomtom.
Not worth any amount of $$$ - You will get lost if you use this!!! 
2008-03-09
Bought this unit for the big screen size and some other reviews that I had read. What a mistake. The unit operated for a few weeks OK with the turn by turn directions a major plus. However, after the initial break in period the unit lost all inputed memory which wouldn't have been a problem for me, but my wife was on business trip and she can't read a map from a Victoria's Secret catalog. Anyway, she lost the home memory function and manually inputed our address. After traveling 3 hours she was directed to the middle of the state, about 2 hours from our house where she called me and I was able to help her get home although she was 4 hours and 300 extra miles late!
Went to the Cobra website for FAQ's about the problem or maybe a software patch, which there was one for this unit from 2 years ago, later than what I had installed, downloaded it, installed it and next time we stared the car there was a loss of internal memory and the unit stated in the welcome screen that there is possibly an update to the system memory. Called Cobra tech support, they told me to send it back and they updated the BIOS and installed the same update which I had done previously. This worked for 2 days with the same result after that with all loss of inputed memory.
In summary if you want to buy this product you should be pretty sure of the warranty and possibly what the return restrictions are as some stores won't accept returns of used GPS units.
If all the inputs you made to the memory drop off and you can't retrieve it don't even hesitate and call Cobra support at 773-889-3087 to ask how to return this model as it seams they can't even fix it.
So don't waste your time and hard earned money, buy another brand.
Excellent Product 2007-10-04
I purchased this item after spending days reading other reviews on various products. I have a navigation system in my BMW and was hoping for one just as good to use in my motorhome. This one is actually better than the BMW navigation system.
Solid Affordable Aftermarket Navigation, but... 2007-01-23
After a disasterous experience with a Sony NavU70 unit and after considering the Garmin system owned by a friend, and after doing extensive research and demoing some products at the local Circuit City, I finally selected the Cobra GPSM4000 sight unseen and bought it through Amazon. Frankly I wasn't expecting too much, and the appearance of the unit struck me as a little retro (too much chrome for my taste, as though this unit had been designed as an add-on for old GM vehicles). But when I put it in my 4x4 I was impressed. Although the manual warns you that it can take up to 20 minutes for a brand-new unit to orient itself based on the signals received from the orbiting satellites, the Cobra 4000 oriented itself within 60 seconds of being turned on. It was so quick that I found myself wondering if the people at the factory had somehow pre-programmed my location.
The screen is nice and bright, the touch-screen functionality is just the right degree of sensitivity, and all the key parameters are tunable through the menu options so you can customize the unit to perform according to your own preferences. New locations are simple to store (which makes waypointing easy) and the system provides breadcrumbs which is essential for off-roading. The Sony unit referred to earlier in this review was an ergonomic disaster and didn't support breadcrumbs nor simple location storage. It was pretty, though.
As real-time traffic data comes on-stream in the USA the real-time traffic option will become more worthwhile. I didn't purchase this option with my unit because it's not really available yet in my region and besides, there's no alternative when the local freeway is jammed. There is no route work-around possible, so it wouldn't help me much on a day-to-day basis. But one day, when the service is cheap and there are alternative routes to be found, it will be a worthwhile addition to the repertoire of all in-car navigation systems.
I really like the larger screen size, though while it is technically 5 inches in diameter the actual map size is about 4.5 inches because the borders are occupied with soft keys. Still, that beats the 3 inch and 3.5 inch screens found on other units like Garmin and Magellan and TomTomGo.
Voice prompting is nice & crisp, but the on-screen direction arrow with distance indicator is a little small, for those situations when you want to check whether it's the next turn or the one 50 feet after that.
Some GPS units scroll smoothly as you travel, keeping the cursor in the center of the map. The system in my Acura does that and I've become used to it. The Cobra unit works the other way: the cursor representing your vehicle travels across the screen and then, just as it reaches the edge of the screen, the entire map "jumps" to a new page and the process starts all over again. While my preference is for the Honda/Acura approach, the "jumping page" is something I can live with and isn't too distracting in practice. I care more about the accuracy of the unit and the Cobra is very accurate and fast to adjust.
The unit comes with a windscreen mount, but there's also a base plate in case you want to mount it to a horizontal surface. I was somewhat concerned about placing the unit in the windscreen area because off-road in the desert in the middle of the day it can get awfully hot right there, even with the A/C blowing hard. So I chose to purchase the optional external GPS receiver, which I mounted in the windshield area, and I placed the Cobra unit in the center binnacle where it is easy to see yet out of the direct sunlight (which also improves general visibility, as the screen never washes out because of being hit by direct light).
UPDATE: February 26th 2007. After taking the unit on its first extended trip (3 hours) it exhibited a major defect. After 25 minutes of continuous operation the unit began emitting a hot metal smell and the upper left portion of the screen became hot to touch; simultaneously the upper left portion of the screen turned dark and no longer displayed anything. After another 5 minutes the screen began to blink on and off rapidly, rendering it useless. Turning on the A/C and directing a stream of icy air at the unit did nothing to ameliorate the problem.
Beach Audio accepted the return of the unit and shipped me a replacement; I have not yet taken the replacement on a long (3+ hours) trip to see whether the new unit overheats like the old one did. Hopefully it was a one-off manufacturing defect as apart from the malfunction I was pleased with the previous unit.
