FAQs

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Dash Cams - SC Series - General Questions

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Only Cobra's SC Series cameras (SC100, SC201, and SC200/200D) are compatible. Drive Smarter does not support legacy Cobra dash cameras (DASH Series, CDR Series) at this time.

No, Drive Smarter is a free service provided to users of our SC Series cameras.

You may have previously established a Bluetooth connection with the camera. If this is the case, please go into your phones OS Bluetooth menu and 'Unpair' your camera from your phone.

Simply enable the G-Sensor and Mayday setting on your camera, andenter your Emergency Contact info into Drive Smarter. From there, Drive Smarter and the Dash camera will take care of the rest. If the camera detects that you have been in a serious collision (Level 5 G sensor event) it will automatically lock the latest recording and notify your emergency contact. 

You do not need to manually establish a WiFi connection to your Dash Cam. Drive Smarter uses Bluetooth to automatically manage connection types depending on which feature you are using within the app. If you are using a feature that requires WiFi, the app will walk you through establishing a a Bluetooth connection. Note: Older Android Operating systems (Android 6, 7, and 8)  may prompt the user to exit the app and connect via the OS WiFi menu.

Marine Radios - General Questions

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You might have sold your boat or entered a wrong MMSI number at setup, there are a couple reasons why you might be in need of a MMSI reset. The distributor in your country and in some instances the original point of sale can help you out with this. In most cases this does require you to send the unit in and there is a chance there will be a fee in place to get this sorted.

Warranty on Cobra Marine products is being covered by our distributors and resellers. In case of a warranty claim it is important to reach out to your original point of sale or the distributor directly. While our products have a 3-year limited warranty in the US, warranty conditions may vary between our European distributors.

In this case it is best to contact the original point of sale and/or the distributor to see what can be done. Cobra Electronics Europe does not carry out repairs directly for customers.

We carry a variety of replacement parts and accessories , we do our best to keep inventory up to date. If you are looking for a part that is not available in our webshop, it is best to reach out to the original point of sale and/or your local distributor.

Two-Way Radios: Troubleshooting

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Please note that the advertised range is only under ideal conditions such as:

-Fresh batteries

-Absolutely no obstructions between the radios (for example communication over water or from mountaintop to mountaintop)

To maximize range, please make sure that the batteries are fully charged.  If your radios use AA size or AAA size batteries, then you can try regular alkaline batteries.

Channels 8 to 14 are locked on low power per FCC regulations, so try using channels 1 to 7 or channels 15 to 22.

On some models you can adjust the transmit power level.  Make sure it is set to HI.

Please note that use inside a building or inside a car will reduce the range.

When you turn on your radio it will perform a display test.  Everything will light up on the display, including the low battery icon.  The display test lasts a couple seconds, after which you will get the normal operating display.

Please ignore the low battery icon during power-up.  After the display test is done you can then see if the low battery icon is showing.  If the batteries are low then the low battery icon will be flashing.

Cobra has used two different types of call signal: analog and digital.  A digital call signal is used on models with VibrAlert, and is necessary in order to activate the vibrate feature.  Models without VibrAlert use an analog call signal.

Digital call signals are not fully compatible with analog call signals.  If your Cobra radio has VibraAlert, then it has a digital call signal that will only work properly with other Cobra VibrAlert models.

Numerous models of Cobra handheld radios have a special feature which prevents accidentally charging alkaline batteries.  If alkaline batteries are charged, they will leak!

To prevent charging alkaline batteries, the radio has a separate charge contact which touches the side of the battery.

Alkaline batteries have a plastic wrapper all the way down, so they will not touch the charge contact and will therefore not charge.  

The issue is that other brands of rechargeable batteries also have a full wrapper, and so they too will not charge.  The solution is to peel the wrapper from the negative end of the battery.  Use a sharp knife to score all the way around, and then peel off the wrapper so that the battery looks like the picture above.  Do it to all the new batteries.

This is due to FCC regulations.

The FCC has set exposure limits on how much RF energy is allowed to be absorbed by your body.  The transmit power must not exceed the SAR limits.  The amount of allowed power will depend on variables such as the transmit frequency, proximity of the antenna, etc.

Typically when a headset is plugged into the radio, the radio is then worn on the belt using the integral belt clip.  This places the antenna right up against your body.  The FCC mandates that we must therefore lower the transmit power in order to stay within allowable exposure limits.

If you need absolute maximum transmit power, you will need to unplug the headset.

International Use of Two-Way Radios

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Cobra manufactures and sells PMR radios and is a leading brand in Europe.  PMR radios are not available in the USA because they are not FCC-approved.  They are only available in European countries where PMR has been approved for use.  Please visit local retailers in those countries.

PMR has been approved in the following countries:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom