Speed Camera Detectors....
 

Oh lordy what a minefield this is....

you'd think you could just rock up with a wad of dosh and 'buy the best there is' and get everything. But it seems not... Or am I missing something ?

I want maximum protection - Laser / Radar + GPS.

But Ideally I'd like the GPS data to update over wifi or worst case 3G ?

Ideally I don't want it so big I feel it cant live as a permanent feature on the dashboard without looking out of place.

Permanent installation is an option. Using my phone as a screen or receiver is not.

Maybe I need 2 separate products ?

Ideas.. Experience.. Comments ?

I'm awaiting the replies eagerly as I've been wanting something similar and given up the endless search!

I have tried a few over the years, Pogo, road angel and one I can't recall. Some of which are sat in a drawer at home :ROFL: must ebay them, and none of the "detectors" worked in a way which was of any use. By the time they had detected something other than false alarms it was too late.
I now have a cheap GPS based device which sits in the 8 and bleeps when there are fixed cameras or known hotspots for the vans etc. Updates are free for life and it cost less than £20 +++. Plugs into the USB socket for charging last about four hours without a charge, or just leave it charging, so totally portable between cars as I have a few :rolleyes:

http://www.gpsinforad.co.uk/
I think I have a K2 they now have the 3 but they do offers now and again and they go for £20 saved me a few times ...so far clean licence for the last 5 years +++
It's the size of a USB memory stick too very neat. You can stick it in the laptop and it will download the journey stats and update the camera database foc
Might not be what your after but a cracking device for pennies
Cheers Glyn

ps the other one was origen or something similar, sold that on ebay.

I just keep to the speed limit instead…honest, Ossifer….;)

I used road angel for 4 years...then progressed onto the American products that have an active jammer built in to them you mount in your front grill, temporarily disabling the radar the kind officer is pointing towards you by preventing the guns laser from returning to the gun to provide a reading..

reports are great I think its handy indeed however ... be aware it will not work on fixed flashing box style for this simply visit ebay and buy a spray to coat you plate with.. but do not buy the cheap stuff as this can clearly be seen with any flashing lights you need the discreet formula that works for flash photography but not constant strobing .. otherwise an officer behind you will be able to tell you are using it if he had his strobe lights on +++

PS I take no responsibility for how you use this information and by no way condone its use on the public highway +++ Ahem

I wouldn't advocate using laser jammers - you won't get done for speeding but they'll pull you and throw the book at you for perverting the course of justice, or similar. Plenty of caselaw and if it goes in front of a typical magistrate who is anti speed they tend to take a very dim view. Active jammers were specifically banned some years ago now

The gps based devices are good enough - being warned about popular sites for vans to park up is as beneficial as anything. Any that detect a genuine police laser will just be informing you they've already clocked you! Most just report false positives

I have a RoadPilot. Came with the car and all I did was have it properly installed, so its out of the way.
It has detectors (useless) and GPS. They have a database of cameras which is updated by users. This is accessed via subscription, but as I didn't receive the data cable with car, and they want near £50 for one (annoyingly overpriced) I've never subscribed. The detectors data is therefore about 6 years out of date.
Having said that it still is pretty much spot on. One mile before a camera it gives a warning beep, and then as I get nearer, if I'm over the limit it gives multiple beeps. I'm not an invetererate speeder, but it helps where you've lost track of the limit, in areas you don't know. Its quite good and has deffo saved the authorities from havig to hand out some points. Good of me that :rolleyes:

I use TomTom sat Nav mostly on my iPhone and for £26 a year it has smart navigation traffic updates and includes speed camera detector positions and van positions etc and if you are travelling on a route with one beeps several times ahead of both fixed and traffic light cameras etc and tells you the limit and what speed you're doing etc. I've found it invaluable for both the camera alerts bug also the smart traffic navigation has saved me hours of queuing as I is constantly looking for the fastest route and has often diverted my route to a much quicker alternative +++

i gave up the search also a long time back, now when i need it, i use my Galaxy tablet with a few bits installed which gives me a) an extra sat nav for the odd occasion mine decides the dvd is no good, b) overlays of speedo in KMH if i need it for french trips, C) a readout of the roads speed limit, and D) camera speedtraps and known areas etc.

it works fine, looks quite good as i just open the ashtray and lean it against the hvac controls. ive also got a bluetooth device that plugs in the car to give more readouts but dont use it much

I have a TomTom that I carry with me and use in company vehicles instead of the supplied cheap ones that every car has. Mine is the more expensive ones with traffic monitoring and safety camera updates to use the legal terminology (especially for the pedantic French)
Have not used it in the A8 yet 'cos the Audi navigation has worked OK for me. I have found that as I grew up (passed 70) I tended to drive a wee bit slower even when SWMBO is not with me. It seems a long time since I drove an AEC coach at 100mph on the M6 and M1 :D:cool:

Thats what i read. May have even read a case about someone getting done for justifying it was for his garage door or something, memory is hazy..

Yes, Jammers are a no no.

There was an article in the last few weeks about a guy with a jammer who was put away for 2 months for perverting the course of justice.

I'm not looking for a wreckless undetectable white knuckle ride daily, but a gentle prod when nearing accident black spots might be prudent as this beast tends to gather - and keep - speed rather easily... +++

Interesting that most folk are relying on GPS, which I can see would work well for all the gatso's out there, but up here in North Yorkshire there are famously no fixed speed cameras on any road, anywhere. Any and all cameras are mobile units. Their locations are published ahead of time, but that's a lot of effort when I was rather hoping a detector might have given me the prod I need...

So, laser and radar detecting aside, are there any good compact GPS units that will update themselves over either Wifi or 3G ? I really cant be bothered to keep dismounting it to update the dam thing. Its 2015 not 1995 +++

I bet Laird gets his butler to update it daily.:ROFL::ROFL:

Locally I already know all the fixed sites and common mobile camera spots, if I go anywhere further I use Waze navigation on Android but I believe it is also available on iPhone and includes safety cameras and traffic information updated real time from other used data.

Right.

I tried out Smart phone apps for GPS based detection, and it was pants. I detest the cheap feel of a smartphone bolted to a dashboard at the best of times, but given that the apps I tried bleeped about non existent mobile cameras literally every half a mile, it get very tedious.

Now, I'm onto testing this:

http://www.halfords.com/technology/d...n-package#tab3

Its mainly GPS based, but its one of the very few devices that has a SIM card and can update itself in realtime. It also has laser detection, but no radar....

There are some reports about poor reliability (hanging) but apparently Halfords have been good at taking them back for refunds, and it comes with 4 months free subscription too so that's plenty of time to test it.

The thing I like most is that this unit has both a windscreen mount, a dashmount and its quite a small discrete size. It also attaches to its mount via a magnet, so its easy to remove for security.

So far, I've powered it up, registered it (via phoning up for the Halfords deal) and its now downloaded its camera data.... I just need to drive somewhere now.

I'm conscious that it doesn't do radar detection, and I honestly think this is going to end up being a 2 device solution as no 1 device seems to so it all.. I shall report back +++

Don't be silly. :tuttut:

That's the chauffeur's job! :)

The trouble is Ian that most detectors and apps have a database of "possible locations" where a camera van MAY be located and thats why they beeep in multiple non existent positions, to advise you there COULD be a camera van there. This throws up a separate dilemma of do you want to know about those possible positions or not, bearing in mind that one day there may well be a camera there!

Agreed. The Road Angel is a bit different though - As they are all connected in realtime, if you see a camera you push a button and it updates on all Gem +s for a period of 6 hours only, suggesting it should reduce false positives.....

How it works in practise is yet to be seen as yes, it might be nice to know that there *might* be a camera round the corner....

Surely that's the chauffeur's butler's job? ;)

I'll get my coat :D

I'll get my butler to get your coat! :)

As I understand it, the problem with laser detectors is that, by the time the detector warns you of a laser speed trap, it's already too late.

I remember hearing of bit of a jammer loophole: I believe there are some laser 'parking systems' that, while not very good as parking systems, just happen to be damn good at jamming laser speed detecting equipment, if you know what I mean. Still won't stop you getting stopped by plod, but it may make some difference to your defence if you do.


:ROFL:

I'll be watching this with interest as my Pogo Alert is probably reaching end of life. I wouldn't worry too much about lack of laser or radar detection, having had it previously it was a big source of false alarms. I would be interested to see just how "tunable" the alerting is, by default the Pogo tended to beep for lots of things, now I just have it beep for cameras and mobile sites, I ignore everything else. Also keen to know if it is directional, that is if it knows only to beep if the camera is in your direction of travel.

The alternative I have been considering is a dashcam with built in camera alerting, Snooper do one and the Mio MiVue gets good reviews, but non of the reviews are very descriptive as to functionality of the speed alerts which maybe is a story in itself!?

I simply use CamerAlert on an Android smartphone along with Tasker. When I get in the car, the phone connects via Bluetooth rSAP to the car and that triggers Tasker to open CamerAlert. I never bother to take the phone out of my pocket, so I have phone and SMS function over the car-phone and then I get the CamerAlert alerts via the phone's speaker in my pocket. Seems to work really well. It turns the CamerAlert off when the Bluetooth disconnects.

It costs 20 quid for the updates to the CamerAlert App and a couple of quid for Tasker, but what more do you need? Most of these "boxes" and "dash-mount" things use the same database anyway and you have the hassle of connecting/mounting /charging them... +++

Thanks Lee. I've heard great things about Tasker before for bespoke stuff like this..... Makes sense.

First 'test' outing with the Gem didn't go too well. Literally went a for a spin around the block, 4 roads in total. It managed to get the speed limit on one of them wrong. Hmmm..... 25% fail !

Taking it out for a more extensive test tonight...

Hi all, looking for a good all round camera detector. Any new recommendations?
IT how did testing of the Road Angel go? Still use it?

Thanks
zahg

The road angel had far too many false positives, and at the end of the day was no more advanced than the app I could get on a mobile phone, even though the hardware well made and mounted nicely in the car.

Snooper was next on my list to test, with some actual detecting hardware as I think that's probably the safer way to go.... Not had time yet though...

Thanks for the update. Was hoping you were going to give the Road Angel the thumbs up since this unit seems to be the most overall rated one out there. Maybe I will go for a Snooper instead.