[doughboy]

I'm a bit out of touch with whats about these days, so need some advice please...

My ageing Road Angel Pro has expired (caput), so I'm looking for a neat modern GPS based speed camera warning device.

No sat nav or mobile phone based ones please, just small bespoke units.

Something I can fix and forget in the car and that displays GPS speed and warns of execeeding speed limits would be nice.

Need one before my new E63 AMG arrives for, ahem, obvious reasons

[AlanYoro35i]

Valentine v1 , dont even bother with others...

But you need to fine tune the system or else ot goes offwith any kind of laser.

[doughboy]

Isn't that a US Radar detector?

They used to be pretty useles IIRC, I use to have one and they just go off for zebra crossings and shop doors? as in the UK we use the same frequency for all sorts of sensors.

Fixed GATSO cameras here use radar, but you need to know before you get to the camera, not when you've driven past it and into the rear facing radar beam!!

GPS based fixed cameras and laser detection is best for UK I would have thought?

[xenon]

Laser / radar detection is a waste of time. Radar is hardly used at all (fixed cameras are SPECS or Truvelo and many traditional Gatso use inductive loops). Mobile sites (vans) use Lidar (laser) but if you can detect it then it's already detected you. GPS is all you can ask for.

[AlanYoro35i]

My friends has this on their car and it works fine in the uk. They had the older versions, new version are said to be better. It does work in the uk and you do need to fine tune it as i said..

[regy53]

a car I took in PX had some funny switch on it. Anyhow It turns out its some sort of laser bouncer thingy all the rage in 2005 I am told. not sure if it works

[225_AB]

Why are you discounting mobile phone based apps?

[doughboy]

Why are you discounting mobile phone based apps?

Because they're all shit? slow, clunky as hell like all phone GPS / mapping apps.

IMO Phones do lots of things but none of them very well (not even good at phone calls these days), but i want something that does the GPS camera warnings well, and is small, made for the job and fixed in the car ready to go.

I quite often go out without my phone, and messing around starting apps, putting GPS mode on etc and mounting in cradles and rummaging for charging leads every trip is no good.

And I don't want my phone stuck on the windscreen on some great bendy sucker thing and then to get where I'm going and the phone be flat or suffer wires trailing all over the dash.

Other than that, no reason.....

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by xenon

Laser / radar detection is a waste of time. Radar is hardly used at all (fixed cameras are SPECS or Truvelo and many traditional Gatso use inductive loops). Mobile sites (vans) use Lidar (laser) but if you can detect it then it's already detected you. GPS is all you can ask for.

Yes you're right, radar is no use IMO.

You might be lucky with laser in that it will pick up scatter from other cars or your bonnet lip etc, but pretty much they've got you by then.

[SO8]

If you take a Pro Laser 3 as used by many forces as an example you will indeed find it has locked onto you and got your speed before you have time to do anything.

[stevens]

Ive got the Pogo Alert and its awesome, lots of people on M3 cutters have this as well, small does what its meant to do, easy to update and has a laser attachment, but tbh ive never used it as it warns about the laser sites before you get close.

[225_AB]

Your car your choice but I use camera alert from pocket GPS. I don't mount it anywhere just let it inform me over Bluetooth. There is a free trial but understand why you might want a dedicated device.

[Nick the Greek]

Please note that these are not 'speed' cameras but safety cameras. Home office guidance to Police forces nationwide advises that they should only be deployed at 'accident black spots'.

This always happens, otherwise cameras would clearly be a means only of raising revenue. As we all understand it is your safety that is foremost in mind, not your wallet.

Therefore, I would recommend a Belltronics device as being best of breed. This keeps me and my family safe and allows me to keep my eyes on the road rather than looking at the speedometer all the time, which strikes me as most dangerous.

[RCUK]

Might be easier just to get an app for your phone - prob updates faster too.

I have Waze - and its pretty good.

[Billyray911]

These units (detectors) are truly a waste of money.All they do is warn you of sites that are already published on your areas Road Safety Partnerships website and is freely available to all.
Nowadays however,a lot of the fixed cameras have been switched off in certain areas.This means that there is now a massive increase in mobile sites ie vans and the occasional PCSO and BiB.They can be anywhere and at any time.There is no way that a box can detect flash sites.
As has been mentioned,if one of these detectors is alerting you that your vehicle is in the process of being 'detected',then you are already facked and it's too late.
They won't alert you of a 'laser site'-that doesn't even make sense...
The only limited benefit of one of these units,is that they alert you if you're over the speed limit(hopefully!) and may alert you of a fixed camera site-exactly the same as any phone app or gps will do.
It will give you a false sense of security and may cause more problems than it solves in that a driver can be over reliant on these things.

[Alex.J]

Surely, looking at the speed signs in the area, then using the speedo in the car and keep it below the advertised speed is the cheapest, easiest and most effective way of avoiding a fine?

Maybe im old fashioned but has always served me well (0 Points on my license and never had any either)

[misterS3]

If money is no object http://www.stinger.com/

[xPETEZx]

Originally Posted by RCUK

Might be easier just to get an app for your phone - prob updates faster too.

I have Waze - and its pretty good.

+1 for Waze

I use it for GPS/SatNav and love the fact other users can alert to the likes of Accidents / Heavy Traffic and even police.

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by Billyray911

These units (detectors) are truly a waste of money.All they do is warn you of sites that are already published on your areas Road Safety Partnerships website and is freely available to all.
Nowadays however,a lot of the fixed cameras have been switched off in certain areas.This means that there is now a massive increase in mobile sites ie vans and the occasional PCSO and BiB.They can be anywhere and at any time.There is no way that a box can detect flash sites.
As has been mentioned,if one of these detectors is alerting you that your vehicle is in the process of being 'detected',then you are already facked and it's too late.
They won't alert you of a 'laser site'-that doesn't even make sense...
The only limited benefit of one of these units,is that they alert you if you're over the speed limit(hopefully!) and may alert you of a fixed camera site-exactly the same as any phone app or gps will do.
It will give you a false sense of security and may cause more problems than it solves in that a driver can be over reliant on these things.

Eh?? So, do you review & memorise every published location in the UK on a daily basis?

But off course thats "all they do"! These devices just tell of you of known locations, for fixed cameras, and "approved" locations for mobile cameras, that's their whole point, a kind of portable 'reminder' device, nothing more, just a addtional tool to keep you safe, not some wonder cloak of invisibility.

As well as accurate GPS speed (which will get you 5mph on most limits) and speed limit warnings which is useful too, they also tell you which variable limit gantries on the M way have cameras on, which is useful again if you're not familiar with the stretch of road.

Using your phone is crap, GPS flattens the battery in about 4 hours and most won't even receive GPS in a car, unless it's by the screen on some naff holder, then it's only accurate to about 300 meters, garbage.

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by Alex.J

Surely, looking at the speed signs in the area, then using the speedo in the car and keep it below the advertised speed is the cheapest, easiest and most effective way of avoiding a fine?

Maybe im old fashioned but has always served me well (0 Points on my license and never had any either)

Ha LOL , that's the best way to avoid a fine for sure, and quite often speed limits are appropriate and you end up obeying them, not because they are law, but because they are set at a safe & appropriate level therefore you don't exceed them.

Sometimes they are too high (quite often actually) and of course they are a maximum limit, not the "recommended" speed.

But all the other times where clear roads, good conditions etc allow for higher speeds you take your chances with the law of course.

And that's when these little GPS boxes come it useful, as a gentle beeping reminder


Personally the fine is immaterial, it's the points, I mean £60? (or is it £100 now - about time?) how that can be seen as a fine? It's barely much more than a tank of fuel.

£1,000 would be different, that might have some effect, too much probably, and speeding income would drop too much..

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by stevens

Ive got the Pogo Alert and its awesome, lots of people on M3 cutters have this as well, small does what its meant to do, easy to update and has a laser attachment, but tbh ive never used it as it warns about the laser sites before you get close.

Pogo, that's the one, I recall that from previous reviews.

That looks the best so far, out of stock though.

Road Angel Gem is OK too, a bit big to stick on the dash though..

[IanS100]

I have CamerAlert installed on a Nexus 7 which I have permanently shoved between the pass seat and centre console, and it's plugged in so charges whenever I start the car - I don't get visual warning on 'Saferty Cameras' but now I'm used to it I'm not fussed about them as it announces everything I need. It's simple to update, probably works out as cheap as a dedicated unit & I can use it for maps & emails etc if I want - no contest IMHO