Radar Detector---------------

Which ones are you guys using , pls? I need to buy one but am confused by choice and which has best features.
Tony

 

Tony,
I use a Valentine One.
Which catches radar, laser and Xrays and hand helds, and is rear and front facing.
According to all the reports i've read from the US it's about the best on the market.
The only problem with it for the UK is that is doesn't have GPS.
There is a type of camera around, and getting more popular, that doesn't use radar or lasers and you only trigger them when you go over 2 sensors in the road over the designated speed.
I can't find a picture of it right now but you probably know the one I mean.

Anyway since this new type of camera has been introduced it's become imperative to have GPS and a type Of Valentine detector in one box.
The only problem now is to find if this "catch all" type exsists on the market???

And I don't know .

Wazza

 

Afternoon

I have a road angel (www.blackspot.com) in the TVR, uses GPS to warn you of all types of camera's + mobile sites. You up load the new locations ~ every two weeks via the internet straight into your road angel. I find it very good. The radar detector ball affair that comes with it is a bit big to mount on the windscreen as it causes abit of an obstruction to your view. About £400 for the unit, radar ball and a year's subscription to the up load website.

Hope that helps.

MOD.

 

Tony,

Just spoke to Jason at Wentworth Car Radio (They do all maranello's audio fittings etc).

He tells me that Snooper are coming out with a new S6 Neo GPS/RLD (radar & laser detecton) in one unit in the next few weeks.
At the moment they are sold as seperate units as you see from thier web site

www.performanceproducts.co.uk

He is going to phone me when they get the new ones in.

Jason's web site is

www.wentworthcr.co.uk

They have done work for me on several occasions in the past
and am happy to recommend them.
(I have no affiliation) Just happy to pass them on.

Wazza

 

Thnks Waz, i'll have a look.

 

Snooper S4 - All in One !!!

 

Wazza,

The type of camera you are referring to is called Truvelo. It's a forward facing camera which uses an infrared flash so the driver isn't blinded as they go through it.

Have a look at: http://www.slowitdown.co.uk/camera_types.asp

Tony,

I think GPS devices are definitely the way to go. I've heard lots of reports about non-gps based detectors going off every time you go past a shop with automatic doors, which sounds pretty frustrating to me. (Quick edit to say don't know if this is true or not).

I haven't bought a device yet but I've been thinking about it and came across a few reviews here:

http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/menu_speedcamera.php

These are all GPS based but I think some have optional detectors available as well.

SPECS is another camera type that can't be detected with non GPS detectors, because it's a camera based average speed system. SPECS has two or more cameras that read your registration and work out an average speed. Many of the GPS based systems can not only tell you it's a camera but tell you it's a SPECS camera too, which I think is invaluable as it'll tell you when you go past the last one.

One last alternative, if you think SatNav would be of use as well, is to buy a PDA based GPS satnav system. TomTom Navigator 2, which everyone seems to indicate is the best system on the market, has a free speed camera database available for it. Have a look at www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk and click the 'PDA Bundles' option. PocketGPSWorld have information on the camera database. I don't think these identify SPECS though.

Richard.

 

Thnks Richard,
I've a lot of reviews to plough thru'!
T

 

Richard,
Athough I agree with your comments on GPS systems and
that the radar/Laser dectors do get set off by all sorts of security cameras.
The one thing that GPS systems don't do is catch the mobile traps
and more and more patrol cars are getting Laser and video eqipment in these days as I know to my cost when i forgot my Valentine one day.

The LRD detectors being set off by garage and securty videos actually helps me keep aware of my speed in built/urban areas.
There are very few false alerts on the open road.

Where the Valentine wins is that it is also rear facing therefore catching thoses buggers that try and sneek up on you.
It also tells you how many signals your getting so if a mobile patrol is hiding behind a bunch of other signals you get alerted to the fact.

But it still doesn't get away from the fact that you need
BOTH GPS and LRD .

So one box to do both jobs has got to be the ideal.

I'm still searching for that sollution.

Lets hope the new Snooper S6 is the answer.

Or does anyone else have another sollution ?

Wazza

 

Origin B2 GPS system with a laser detector. It's reviewed http://www.pistonheads.com/reviews/reviews.asp?c=1&id=255 You should be able to get the optional active radar detector now as well. I still have my Valentine One somewhere if anyone's interested.

If you don't have one, you should. Period. They're a piece of piss to use, and a necessary piece of technology to avoid being milked by the Government. On the way back from Surrey last weekend I was lasered 3 times on the A1M (northbound just after Hatfield tunnel, near Stevenage and just before Letchworth turnoff). I've picked up laser equipment at these locations a couple of times last year as well, but only at weekends. This makes me think they're real, not spurious, hits. The point of this is I never saw any of the traps, and I was looking for the feckers too.

Just think of it as safe sex for the road.



Edited to add: they retail at £420 but you should be able to get one for ca. £350.

 

Anyone ever considered a laser jammer - they were reviewed on 5th gear a while back and looked like they worked.

Ideally you want a GPS system with laser detection and jammer - anyone do one of these in one box ???

 

The Snooper S6 IS the answer. I have been using an S6 Neo for about a month. It cost me about £370 but you just cant fault it. It has lazer and radar detection, so I can use it in europe (not always legally!) where thy sometimes use radar still. The GPS system has not failed to warn me of a camera yet. Even fairly new ones. I update it every week. No need to connect it to my laptop to download even. It just plugs straight into the wall and hey presto! The lazer has found a speed camera van too! I have it set to warn me at 500 metres before any camera, and this seems fine. You can set it to 1km if you like! The great thing with the GPS is that you know it isn't a false alarm. Amazing just how many cameras there are on a stretch of the M25 I use regularly. There are a few wires, unlike the Road Angel, which is neater, but I prefered the display on the Snooper too. The radar detection far makes up for it!

I will try and find the website I got it from......

Ed

 

Ed,
can you remember web link for S6 ?
T

 

I just came across a PDF file of the user manaul for the S6, in case it's of any interest to anyone.

http://www.radardetectors.co.uk/s6rneomanual.pdf

 

Beware abroad - a friend of mine was detected in France having one in his car and the French police had a big sense of humour failure. They found it in the car, placed it on the hard shoulder and brought a boot swiftly down upon it. This spread the components out over a 1m range and yet they didn't seem to point to the offending resistor but merely asked if there were any complaints.

In the UK I use a BEL and have so far evaded 6 points successfully. Both times it was temporary cameras set up on motorways. Yes it does go off when you pass automatic doors but its warnings give signal strength signal readings as so not too annoying. Overall, with false alarms, cameras I know and other bleeps I end up driving slower on main roads but come tbe country lanes............

 

Hi folks,
I'm new on this site but I would also like to add a good report about the snooper R6 Neo withe Radar/Laser detector. I bought it a a local Costco warehouse for £199 +vat (£234 inc) on a special offer week last November. It turns out I should have bought a few as some of the people who have seen it have bought one and have had to pay at least £300 + for the same unit. The only downside is all the wires but it has save my ass a couple of times when I have been travelling. It is also easy to move across to other cars and to update/download. Well pleased.

Cheers
G.

 

Having 'invested' in many of these systems which include

Road Angel, Snooper, origin ect. I hereby submit my report!!!


Firstly you need a gps system simply because however good any 'detection 'device is you get false alarms.

In the case of the road angel its a good unit but ANY unit that talks about laser detection is being somewhat economical with the truth.

Fact is that the laser emitted from a gun acts and gets a reading before your detector can issue its first bleep!! So if youve been targeted- NO chance at all.

Some use the debate that they have been 'warned' because if the gun is fired at lets say the car in front, you might get laser 'scatter' which the detector will pick up. It might save you but lets face it the odds are pretty remote.

The other issues is that many camera partnerships are using DS2 sites which are wires embeded in the road that they connect their scamera vans to. So no use there for a detector!!

There is no such thing as a detector that does everything. But one can safely say that laser is getting very popular and that normal radar is less and less so.

I use the origin b2 for the following reasons.

NO false alarms, its GPS and has a DS2 database as well. Also it will only alert you if you are travelling over the posted limit, Unlike the road angel that sqeeks all the time (unless you keep muting it)

And you can connect the LRC100 jammer directly to the B2 and I have had it tested with a gun and it works VERY well.

Effectively, when the gun is fired the jammer works for 30 sec giving you an audible warning after which it turns itself off, when the officer can get a reading.

All in all its the best system in my opinion

 

i have heard the road angel is a great product. Anyone have any experience

 

Wazza,

it's funny how similar threads appear on different car sites as this topic appears every couple of weeks or so on an Integrale site I go on sometimes. Basically all these wierd and wonderful devices that people spend hundreds of pounds on fitting into their cars do not mean the end of NIP's through the post! Granted they work on fixed camera sites but if you don't see them now with all their reflective panels on them then you've only got yourself to blame (not you personally, you understand).
I have lost count of the number of people I have stopped speeding and the look of amazement on their faces when they are told they are being booked for speeding tells you everything. They rely on these things too much and they are simply not up to the job! It takes less than 1/3rd of a second to "ping" a car with a handheld laser gun so unless you are able to slow down from whatever speed you are doing to something more reasonable within that time you are f###ed!

Mike

PS. I am totally against the increase of the so called safety camera vans as in my opinion and that of my colleagues, they do not reduce casualties, they merely further alienate the bobby on the street from the public!

 

Wazza actually refers to a type of camera known as SPECs - now on the M6 north of Brum, A43 in Northampton, Nottm ring road, Tower Bridge etc - they take a shot of your number plate at point A, another at point B a couple of miles down the road, and if your average speed exceds the limit, you get a bill.

No 'detector' is worth the money in my view, as you never get enough warning to do slow down and you do need a GPS device - those that combine the two are a) promising more use than they can deliver and b) going to provide so many false alarms that you ignore it eventually. Plus, check if they are portable between your cars....

My advice is to buy the best GPS unit on the market, which is Morpheous Roadpilot or its microPilot brother ( so say Tiff N., GT Purely Porsche). You will never have to worry about fixed cameras again and can concentarte on looking out for the white vans.

My qualifications in offering this view - I set up a website 2 months ago to sell these to the Ferrari/Porsche community and chose to market the Roadpilot as it was simply the market leader and best around. I haven't seen it yet, but I believe it has been reviewed in the new issue of Ferrari News ( FOC/PHR members). Anotehr Club member also tested one for me on a long trip from Kent to Scotland and gace it a glowing report.

I won't put up the link to my website - contact me direct if you want to.

 

Very interesting. Do you guys know if the Road Angel or the Snoops works in the States?

Thx, DrTax

 

Hi Dr Tax.

Most of these detectors use a database of fixed cameras.
You downlaod the database onto you detector which then compares your
position useing a GPS finder agianst the position of the known cameras in the database.

As far as i'm aware you don't have fixed cameras in the States.
But even I you did I don't think the UK companies would have a US database.

And as for pure Radar and Laser detectors the US still builds one of the best in the Valentine One.

Good luck

Wazza

 

Some of the UK based companies are now providing optional coverage of Europe - principally the countries people may blast through on teh way to their holidays - Belgium, Holland, France (I think).
I do know that these devices are illegal in Australia and the French take a dim view of them too (opportunity to make nationalist generalisation here).