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Cobra 2010 GTL AM/SSB CB Radio Review
This
was Cobra's attempt at a cheaper and newer style replacement for the Cobra
2000. As everyone knows the Cobra 2000 was one of the best radios ever,
and is very sought after.
The Cobra 2010 is a nice radio, but fell short of being comparable to the
Cobra 2000.
It's a 40 channel AM and Sideband radio with Upper and Lower Sideband and
the following features Volume, Squelch, RF Gain , Mic Gain, Voicelock
"clarifier" , AM, LSB, USB knob , SWR, MOD knob, ANL button, NB Button, Ch
9 button, Channel changing large Knob, Weather channel button
Radio has a top facing speaker which is a pretty crappy sounding speaker
in my opinion..
This radio does have dual meters which is something I always appreciate on
a radio. One meter for RF signal and one for Modulation and SWR. The
digital display shows channel, mode, frequency, and RX/TX notification to
let you know when you are transmitting.
The built-in Frequency counter is only 5 digits long and so it really
isn't useful for anything unless you decide to add extra channels to the
radio. If you choose there is a button option to have the time shown on
the display.
This radio was very nice looking and I liked the way the knobs and buttons
were placed. I liked the dual meters. I wish the frequency counter would
have been 6 digits like the cobra 2000.
The receive on the radio was okay - my magnum radios have much better
ears. The radio worked fine on AM - pretty good audio once peaked (not
loud by any means though) and good swing, but on SSB the audio wasn't
great and the swing was very disappointing. My particular radio had better
swing on AM than SSB so I don't know if this was just my radio or the
Cobra 2010's in general.
The radio board is very easy to navigate to adjust internally for
modulation and output power.
Overall the radio is packaged very nicely and I like the layout, but the
performance for a SSB radio was nothing impressive. And as for the
frequency counter - without the 6th digit it's pretty much useless. The
radio came with a power microphone stock, but I never got to try the
microphone as it was broken when I received it, which may not say much for
it's durability.
I'd recommend an older Cobra 2000 or Uniden/President Washington Base any
day over this radio. The audio on those models would flat-out smoke the
audio on this radio. And they sound better on SSB.
These will sell on ebay from $80-$100 used. To me they would only be worth
about $60-$70 used. Since you can get a nice Uniden Washington for $80-100
used, to me it's really no contest.
The things that this radio does have going for it are the weather
channels, emergency weather alert tone (radio on or off, as long as it is
plugged in if a weather service alert is issued the radio will beep), and
the dual meters.
When I first
saw this radio I had hoped that it might be something special, but in
reality it's very mediocre. Many people will like it for the digital look
and the sleek case, but even if they can get it talking where they like
it, it still can't compare to the original Cobra 2000 GTL.
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