Tag Archives: Cobra

CES 2016 – PART 3 – CB DISTRIBUTING and PRESIDENT USA

CB DISTRIBUTING

01Booth of CB Distributing

At CES there is only one distributor who is present each year with a booth. That is the company CB Distributing from Portland OREGON. They are USA West coast based and for them it is a good opportunity to meet new and existing customers.

02Talking to customers

The program they display has much similarity with the Avera program. That is why we always pay a visit to their booth. They show Cobra CB and marine, Uniden CB, Stryker 10M, GearKeepers for CB, Firestik Antennas, K40 and Wilson antennas and their own line Accessories Unlimited and lots more.

03Cobra CB and Marine, Uniden CB

A brand we do not often see in Europe is ‘STRYKER’. They are mainly known for the 10 meter radios they make for the USA market. In the booth CB Distributing showed the new Stryker SR89MCV2. This is a ‘remote’10 meter transceiver, all functions and controls are put in the microphone.
In Europe we have a 40CH CB Transceiver in same casing, the CRT MIKE.

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Under the brand name ‘Stryker’ CBD also showed some antennas. Most of these look like copies of famous USA antennas like WILSON. One model that looked unique was the Stryker SR-A10. The coil is put in a robust oil can. The look is very special, but It is so ugly that it looks great, but the market for these will be very small.

05Stryker SR-A10 antenna

As a President distributor from Europe we were happily surprised to see a President flag and two President boxes in the CBD booth. One box for ‘President Johnny-3 USA’ and one box for ‘President Johnson-2 USA’. At the show the price information was not available yet. The products were expected to be available within 4 weeks.
The flyer from CB Distributing told us that the introduction is made for a Johnny-3 USA with a free of charge New York antenna. The Johnson-3 USA comes with a free IOWA antenna.

06Keith Eschliman proudly shows the new President USA models.

PRESIDENT USA

President USA was not available with a booth at CES 2016. But in a suite of Mandalay Bay the USA distributors could meet Chief Operations Cavi Sharma and Chief Sales Kip Sullivan from President USA. There were also models of the new radios available.

07Kip Sullivan showing the new President USA models

PRESIDENT JOHNNY-3 USA

The smallest model to start in USA is the Johnny-3 USA. (PDF)
It is a 40 channel AM radio. The tooling looks like the European Johnny-3 but internally it must be totally different as there is also a WX function and weather channel function is not present on the European models.
The USA model has a three colour display, better than the European model.
New for USA is that the President models come as a 12V/24V radio.

Most trucks are 12 Volt in USA. But agricultural tractors and some other pullers use 24 Volt systems. The people we spoke during CES find the 12V/24V a great option from the President CB’s.

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10Johnny-3 USA with three colour display

PRESIDENT JOHNSON-2 USA

For Avera one of our main selling radios is the President Johnson-2. This is by far the most popular CB for truckers in The Netherlands. In USA the President Johnson-2 USA (PDF) is the 2nd model that comes on the US market. It is also a 40CH AM CB transceiver.
The looks are the same as the European model, but also for this type counts that the PCB is totally different. It will be more like the PCB of Uniden PRO538W. But this model has also a three colour display and 12V/24V capability.

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13Johnson-2 USA with three colour display

2+3 GUARANTEE

Guarantee in USA is different from Europe. In Europe it is a real legal right you have. Even if the manufacturer tells 1 year, the law might say 2 or 3 years. In USA it is more that you get what the manufacturer is promising you.
President USA decided to give 2 years guarantee. But you get 3 years more if you buy also a President antenna.

The US market is mainly a truckers market. Until now we have not seen President antennas that are a real competition for the famous USA truck antennas. But who knows what President will come up with in the future.

14President showing that looks might be the same but
electronics have changed.

15Kip Sullivan acting with a Johnson-2 USA

PRESIDENT WEBSITE

For more information visit the new President website at:
http://www.president-electronics.us

So far our news from CES 2016 – more CES news next year !

CES 2016 – PART 1 – COBRA BOOTH / UNIDEN

01World famous logo of CES

Early January is always the traditional CES in Las Vegas. Most brands are available with a booth or a suite to receive customers and display products.

UNIDEN

Watching the short video we made from CES you will see that there is no video shot from a Uniden booth. Since several years Uniden is not present with a booth at CES. Often they do have a suite in one of the hotels. There they talk to customers and show new products. But this year Uniden USA is absent. We met a friendly Uniden sales man on the show talking to distributors, but that was all. One of the USA distributors showed some Uniden products at CES, so they were not totally absent for the public.

COBRA BOOTH

Each year COBRA is present with a booth to show the existing and new products. This year Cobra moved from Central hall to a smaller booth in the North hall.
Last year the shares of Cobra were purchased by an investing company.
The market is waiting for the moves they will make. Until now it seems ‘less expenses’ as there were no exiting new products introduced at CES this year.

CB – TWO MODELS SHOWN

02Cobra LX BT, 40 Channel AM, great radio but not new

The first CB shown was the CB29LXBT. This radio looks the same as the European Cobra 29LXEU. But this is the American BT version. BT stands for Bluetooth. A great radio, very popular by USA truckers, but not a new item.
The BT option makes it possible to make and receive hands free cellular calls through the CB radio.

03Cobra C75WXST, 40 CH AM, remote CB

The C75WXST is a remote CB. In Europe we supply a similar model from Cobra the Cobra 75STEU. It is a great concept, but not very popular in the truck market.

Other Cobra CB Models for USA market like C19DXIV, C18WXSTII,
C25 models, several C29 Models and HH portable models are still available but not shown at CES.

COBRA MARINE

At CES Cobra showed two mobile and two portable models for marine applications. The total range is four mobiles and four portable models. The models shown are for the USA market only and not for the European market. Here we use different channels and different functions.

04Mobile Marine Transceivers

05Portable Marine Transceivers

CONSUMER PRODUCTS –DSP9200BT

06Cobra DSP9200BT

For DSP9200BT Cobra received a 2016 CES innovation award. Cobra tells us:

“The DSP 9200 BT is the most advanced system in its class and the company’s first digital detector, improving on detector range and performance. It embeds advanced technology for precise notifications through Digital Signal Processing (DSP), which identifies alerts from unwanted noise for greater reliability and frequency. The unit scored highly across all judging criteria, and it joins a small percentage of other products that are given this honor each year. Products are judged based upon several criteria including, but not limited to: engineering qualities, aesthetic and design qualities, intended use or function and user value, unique or novel features consumers would find attractive and how it directly compares to other products in the marketplace.

The DSP 9200 BT is the first detection system developed by the company that leverages the advanced precision and power of DSP technology, and we couldn’t be more pleased to be recognized by the most prominent awards committee in the CE industry for our constant improvements to our new and existing product lines.”

CONSUMER ITEMS

Cobra clearly choose to show products for the larger markets like dash cams, radar detectors, power inverters etc. The radar detectors are totally illegal in most European countries. In The Netherlands, where Avera-Distributing is based, a dealer will be fined Euro 500 for each radar detector the Dutch FCC finds in the warehouse. So no need to explain that there is no trade for radar detectors in European countries that have similar regulations.

07Cobra inverters for truckers

In CES Part 2 more news from this show.

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW IN LAS VEGAS

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Every year the first important show for consumer electronics is the CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is one of the few cities in the world that has so many hotel rooms that it is no problem to house a show with 200.000 visitors plus thousands of exhibitors and regular tourists.

At the Hong Kong version of CES you will find much more suppliers for communication equipment than in Las Vegas. But at CES some of the brands have a more impressive booth than in Hong Kong.

COBRA

02Cobra active on CB, Marine, PMR, Radar Detectors, Dash Camera
and Power products.

Each year at CES, Cobra has an impressive booth. End of last year Cobra was sold to an investment company. That companies also purchased BELL, a big name in radar detectors. Within the industry there is a lot of speculation how long it will take before they will make it one brand and most of all: which brand will win the battle?

03At the Cobra booth an impressive car with Cobra equipment

04Radar Detector, Dash Cam and Smart Phone for easy driving


COBRA CB: HARLEY- DAVIDSON

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For the American CB market Cobra took the Cobra 29LX and turned this model in the 29LX HD version. For Harley-Davidson freaks a must have in the car or on the motorbike.
Cobra is leading on the CB market in USA, but at CES they did not show many models. Let us hope they will have real news on CB next year.

COBRA MARINE: FLOATING MODEL

New for USA marine market is the HH500 FLT BT. Expected is that a similar model for European market will be introduced soon.

06Floating VHF Marine Radio

MIDLAND USA

07Midland Booth at CES, displaying CB, Action and Dash Cameras, GMRS/FRS and Blue Tooth applications.

Midland USA is the number 3 for CB in USA. But they are leading for action cameras and GMRS/FRS, this is a quite similar standard as the European PMR446 regulation. Also the Blue Tooth applications for motor bike drivers are very popular in the USA and Europe.

08Blue Tooth applications from Midland, quite similar to European series. On bottom a few types of CB Radio.

At CES Midland did not show many CB radios, they gave more attention to Blue Tooth products and Action and Dashboard Cameras.

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10Midland has a wide range of portable radios


MOBILE GMRS/FRS

In Europe we have PMR446 portable radios. For us it is not allowed to have mobile versions of PMR446. In USA Midland introduced at CES a new mobile GMRS radio. It is a very compact radio and we can only dream about changing the European standard for PMR446.

11Mobile version of USA PMR446 version

UNIDEN HAS NO BOOTH AT CES

Uniden is the number 1 in USA for scanners and number 2 for CB. But since some years they have no booth at CES. The sales persons are available at CES to talk to customers but not on their own booth. For the industry it would be great if they decide to have booth at CES again.

But you can find Uniden products at the booth of CB Distributing. These people are always present with a booth to meet their customers from the West coast of USA.

12CB Distributing showing CB and scanners from all USA brands

CBD showed from Uniden two new radar detectors. These were brand new on the market. But also the new Cobra 29LX HD could be seen at the CBD booth.

13Rene from CBD proudly shows the Harley Davidson Cobra CB

GRE / WHISTLER

GRE used to be the number 2 for scanners in USA. Over 1 year ago they went bankrupt and were purchased by Whistler.

14Whistler showing their GRE scanner models. One of the models is linked
to a laptop. On the laptop a file from “Radioreferences” to transfer data
to the scanner.

Whistler is still using the brand name GRE and they still are 2nd on USA scanner market. Some models are also available on the European market. But on European market Uniden is by far the most popular brand for scanners.

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW

At CES you find a large variety of all kind of consumer electronics. Consumer communication products are hard to find at this show nowadays.
But for those interested in electronics it is a unique show in a unique city.