EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fourth (really 3.5) in a weekly series on avoiding red light tickets here in Chicago–soon to be the red light camera capital of the world.

About a week or so ago, I did a rather extensive piece regarding using GPS units to help alert drivers to impending red light cameras.

Within the article, we covered a product from Cobra called the Nav 5000. At the time we had limited info on the unit, because Cobra had not responded to several requests for information.

Well, Chris Kooistra from Cobra finally did get back to me.

He was kind enough to give The Expired Meter some additional information about the unit and to say the least, we’re impressed. Impressed enough that I felt we needed to revisit this product and pass on this additional info to Expired Meter readers.

The main difference between Cobra and other GPS manufacturers is that, according to Kooistra, it has the only red light camera database that is “100% verified.”

“All of the information in our database has been checked and verified from official sources such as DOTs, police departments, traffic management offices, etc.,” says Kooistra. “A lot of the databases out there now rely on consumer input or hobbyists who compile their own data based on what they see.”

Kooistra says this type of un-verified data can lead to “false alerts,” which will lead to drivers ignoring the warnings from the GPS and possibly getting ticketed or making the detector useless to the driver.

Cobra has a staff who’s only goal in life is to give Nav 5000 users the most accurate, up-to-date red light and speed camera database.

“We have dedicated team here at Cobra that focus on nothing but updating our red light and speed camera database.” says Kooistra. “They are in constant contact with municipal traffic and Department of Transportation offices, checking city updates, as well as verifying camera locations from news articles across the nation.”

From what I can tell, it’s the only red light database that can say that.

“Lastly,” continued Kooistra, “we also verify against top red light and speed camera manufacturers giving us yet another verified source of information for camera locations across the country.

The company also allows Nav 5000 users to update their GPS red light/speed camera databases at the Cobra website so they are regularly so units are always up-to-date with the newest red light camera locations.

Kooistra also have three radar detector units that utilize Cobra’s red light camera database. This includes the XRS 9950 and XRS R7, both of which have the red light camera data feature as an optional accessory or the XRS R9G which comes standard with the red light data.

Here is the technical skinny on the Cobra XRX R9G radar detector. This unit as an MSRP of $440.00.

And here’s the tech lowdown on the Nav 5000 GPS unit which has an MSRP of $445.00.

Based on my research, Cobra seems to have the best GPS product out there for warning drivers of red light cameras.

If you are serious about avoiding red light cameras, and have the cash, Cobra has you covered.