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GATSO
Speed Camera detectors - Reviews UK - Updated 10 July 20006.
NEW - There are now two new units from Snooper and Blackspot that have combined sat-nav and speed-trap detector capabilities The Snooper Indago and Road Angel Navigator - see below - the shape of things to come ?
New Road Angel Navigator Sat-nav - speed trap detector
GPS/Gatso detectors are now taking over from radar detectors on uk roads in 2005. Unlike a radar detector, they don't detect anything (apart from the laser alert with the new Road Angel). They store all the locations of fixed speeding devices such as Gatso, Truvelo, Specs and mobile sites, downloaded from an online database, which is constantly updated. They are and will remain completely legal.
Auto-Express GPS Road Tests 2005
Snooper Indago | Road Angel Navigator | Road Angel Navigator 6000
Snooper Evolution | Talex GPS | Road
Angel Classic | New Road Angel | Origin b2 | Snooper
S6-R | Snooper S3 Neo | Snooper S4 Neo | Snooper S2 | Road Angel Compact | Road Angel Plus | Origin Blue i | Geodesy Plus
I'd recommend the Road Angel Compact (without laser) or the Talex if you want a cheaper option. For the sat-nav / speedtrap detector combined units - would go with the Indago - A marginally better system
REVIEWS:
| UKspeedtraps Review of Road Angel May 03 |
Road Angel Review | Origin Vs. Blue i Review |
Geodesy
GPS Detector Review - Sunday Times - June 24th - 2001
"...80%
of all speeding tickets are generated by fixed camera installations, and that
alone makes a GPS-based device a much more sensible proposition than a conventional
radar detector these days".
- ABD (Association
of British Drivers)
   Road Angel Navigator 6000 (June 06) (sat-nav / speedtrap detector combined) (Sept. 2005) - NEW. The Road Angel Navigator has just been upgraded (June 06) - The 6000 now has MP3 player & photo viewer as standard and at anew low price of £249 -Recommended - Visit the Road Angel website.
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| Price is approx. £249. Covers: Gatso,TruVelo, SPECS Watchman, Speedcurb, DS2. Features: - Combining all of the Road Angel Navigator's original features with mp3 player and image viewer - full postcode search satellite navigation in one device - With a new slim line lightweight design and small enough to fit in your pocket. Portable from car to car, has a built in charger which means it can be used on foot and doesn't need to be hard wired or powered from the cars cigar lighter. Now shows speed limit in camera vicinity. Full postcode search facility, Camera-advisory speed limits, Street-level UK mapping, Easy to use colour touch screen, Voice prompts, Interchangeable between driving and walking mode, Customize preferred settings, Windscreen or dash mount, Automatic re-route facility, QWERTY keyboard, Store favourite routes, Built in charger. Optional European maps. Database 12 months subscription only £3.99 per month . - Carries the locations of all fixed speed cameras in the UK - Updateable via modem. Advanced accident Blackspot warning. - Software upgradable. |
 Road Angel Navigator (sat-nav / speedtrap detector combined) (Sept. 2005) - Now there is no need to have expensively installed satnav systems in your car and fiddle about downloading unreliable speed camera databases from elsewhere - it's all here in one fantastic unit. Pretty hard to get gold of at the moment as manufacturing levels at blackspot don't seem to be keeping up with demand. For more info - Visit the Road Angel website.
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| Price is approx. £399. Covers: Gatso,TruVelo, SPECS Watchman, Speedcurb, DS2. Features: - Combining all of the Road Angel's original features with full postcode search satellite navigation in one device - With a new slim line lightweight design and small enough to fit in your pocket. Portable from car to car, has a built in charger which means it can be used on foot and doesn't need to be hard wired or powered from the cars cigar lighter. Now shows speed limit in camera vicinity. Full postcode search facility, Camera-advisory speed limits, Street-level UK mapping, Easy to use colour touch screen, Voice prompts, Interchangeable between driving and walking mode, Customize preferred settings, Windscreen or dash mount, Automatic re-route facility, QWERTY keyboard, Store favourite routes, Built in charger. Optional European maps. Database 12 months subscription only £3.99 per month . - Carries the locations of all fixed speed cameras in the UK - Updateable via modem. Advanced accident Blackspot warning. - Software upgradable. |
 Snooper Indago (sat-nav / speedtrap detector combined) (Sept 2005) - The Snooper Indago combines all that's good with the latest in the Snooper range and adds a sophisticated yet very user friendly satellite navigation system. Forget the hand helds that play at being both, this is the real thing. The unit comes with street level UK mapping pre-programmed on a 256Mb SD card. All you need to do is attach the unit to your vehicles windscreen, switch it on and you are ready to go. Once your route has been planned, Indago will give you accurate turn by turn instructions to your destination with helpful voice prompts and a colourful, moving 3D map For more info - Visit the Snooper UK website.
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| Price is approx. £495. Covers: Updateable via modem. Gatso Cameras, Truvelo Cameras, SPECs Cameras, Average Speed Roadwork Cameras, Watchman, Speedcurb, DS2 Speedmaster, Mobile Gatso & Truvelo Cameras, Accident Hotspots, High Risk Zones, Digital Cameras, Schools (optional), Congestion Charge Cameras. Features: - Database Database 1 month £4.95 - 30 months subscription only £99.95. - Ready to use - genuine plug and play, Portable - easily transferable from car to car, 2D and 3D Screen Views, Anti-reflective full colour 3.5" LCD Colour Display, Touch screen operation, Door to Door Navigation anywhere in the UK, UK Mapping included as standard, Large memory 256Mb SD card included, Route Preview - review calculated route before you start traveling, 5 Digit Postcode search, Built-in rechargeable battery, Turn by Turn Voice instructions, Integrated GPS antenna, Your choice of route type: fastest, shortest or avoiding toll roads and congestion charge areas, Mapping provided by Navteq - the most accurate & up to date available, Extensive Points of Interest lists, Electronic Compass. Carries the locations of all fixed speed cameras in the UK - |
 Road Angel Compact (Sept. 2005) - This is Blackspots' entry level Road Angel product. Alerts you to: accident blackspots and safety cameras (including Gatso,TruVelo, SPECS Watchman, Speedcurb, DS2), with an audible and visual alert
. I would recommenced this unit and would leave out the laser alert as not too many of them about. For more info - Visit the Road Angel website.
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| Price is approx. £200 (£250 with laser alert). Covers: Gatso,TruVelo, SPECS Watchman, Speedcurb, DS2. Features: - Visual, spoken and audible alerts, Fixed safety camera and accident blackspot warnings, Camera advisory speed limits, Accident blackspots, Simple plug & go installation, Accurate speedometer, High visibility speed, time/compass display, Primary schools notification, Congestion charging, USB updates via PC, Store your own personal danger areas Database 12 months subscription only £3.99 per month . - Carries the locations of all fixed speed cameras in the UK - Updateable via modem. Advanced accident Blackspot warning. - Software upgradable. |
Road Angel Plus (Feb. 2006) - Essentially the new road angel with in-built laser but with 8 hour battery and it gives you the speed limit of the camera you are approaching - the new road angel does not. .Road Angel website. |
| Price is approx. £299. Covers: Gatso,TruVelo, SPECS Watchman, Speedcurb, DS2. Features: - Visual, spoken and audible alerts, Fixed safety camera and accident blackspot warnings, Camera advisory speed limits, Accident blackspots, Simple plug & go installation, Accurate speedometer, High visibility speed, time/compass display, Primary schools notification, Congestion charging, USB updates via PC, Store your own personal danger areas Database 12 months subscription only £3.99 per month . - Carries the locations of all fixed speed cameras in the UK - Updateable via modem. Advanced accident Blackspot warning. - Software upgradable. |
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 Origin
b2 - GPS based detector with laser sensor as standard. Has integrated
1.5m multi-plug wiring harness for the b² unit, antenna, radar
and laser units. Warns of all safety cameras (Gatso, Truvelo, SPECS,
DS2 Speedmaster). The titanium-coloured unit is smaller and lighter than
a pack of playing cards.The unit has a large, high resolution 128
x 64 pixel, backlit display screen. The wire goes into a special
harness, (positioned out of sight) which has small plugs to attach
the power lead, remote
GPS antenna, laser detector, and optional radar detector modules.
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| Price
is approx. £274. Covers: All fixed - site speed cameras.
Features: -
Congestion charging camera warning, School proximity warning. Accident
blackspot warning, Mobile radar speed trap warning. Voice. Software
for radar detector module reduces false alerts: no alerts issued under
30mph or under 70mph on motorways, no alerts issued for radar signals
emanating from Gatso cameras on the opposite carriageway. Database is
split into four areas, namely Fixed, Mobile, Average and Blackspot.
The LCD display shows which area you are approaching and you can also
store your own and new locations to any menu
area. - Carries the locations of all fixed speed cameras in the UK - Updateable
via modem. |
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 New Road Angel 2 GPS - (NEW - Winner Auto Express Road Tests 2005). This baby is the top seller in the UK and no surprise there. Using the latest global positioning satellite (GPS) and Laser detection technology, ROAD ANGEL constantly gives you an accurate speed reading and an audible and visible alert as you approach hazardous sections of the road.
Should you breakdown, ROAD ANGEL has a unique RescueLoc function which gives you a pinpoint location reading to help direct rescue services to your position.
With New fully integrated GPS and Laser technology, ROAD ANGEL alerts you to: accident blackspots, safety cameras (including Gatso,TruVelo, SPECS, Watchman, Speedcurb, DS2) and mobile laser guns; with an audible and visual alert.
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| Price is approx. £249. Covers:With New fully integrated GPS and Laser technology, ROAD ANGEL alerts you to: accident blackspots, safety cameras (including Gatso,TruVelo, SPECS, Watchman, Speedcurb, DS2) and mobile laser guns; with an audible and visual alert.
- Carries the locations of all fixed speed cameras in the UK - Updateable via modem. |
Road
Angel with Laser Alert Review - Courtesy UK speed trap Guide - Steve Warren (c) 2003. May 2003.
The Road Angel GPS Warning System is
a UK SpeedTrap Guide Highly Recommended
Product.
REVIEW UPDATED
to include the new
Plug and Play
Laser Alert Module
The new Updated Road Angel is a GPS based Speedtrap
location system and the makers have gone beyond it just being a speedtrap
warning system. Blackspot Interactive have extensively researched the
UK roads using information that's available from the various government
departments and have added a full database on all the high risk Accident
Blackspots on the UK roads.
This makes the Road Angel a must have for the
safety conscious driver. Not only are you going to be warned about all fixed
speedtraps in plenty of time you are going to get a warning that you are
approaching a high risk accident Blackspot area and no other GPS system yet
offers this. The new updated Road Angel also has a
new 360° Laser Alert head, a first for any GPS product.
In the kit the Road Angel comes complete with.360° Laser
Alert, 12v cigar lighter with straight wire, 12v cigar lighter
with coiled wire, PC interface lead, 12 power supply (for PC interface), User
manual and Read Me First Card. Dual Lock and Non Slip Dash-mat. Windscreen
mount. All for the bargain price of £399.00 inc. VAT and next day
delivery. Windows Software for database updates arrives after you register the
units with the warranty card, the unit arrives however fully loaded with the
latest database.
The Road Angel is equally at home on a bike with its Bike
Screen Fitting Kit (Fitting bracket, weather proof cover and hard wire kit
£19.95 inc. VAT) or as it is on the dash of a car. Moving it from car to bike
and back is easy.
The Road Angel is a solid unit well built and looks great.
My first thought was the screen, it looks a little small and could be hard to
read, how wrong I was. Power the unit up by just plugging it in and the crisp
and very clear screen illuminates in green showing you its getting a fix a
few moments later its shows your speed, the speed reading is accurate.
The 360° Laser Alert module
is a simple bit of kit that simply plugs into the back of the Road Angel, this
will give you a laser warning via the Road Angel screen that a laser signal is
about. You can add more modules if you want. Each laser module has a linking
socket on it so if your are in a van for instance and have a bulkhead you can
have one laser alert module on the front windscreen and one in the back
screen.
I must point out, I never read instructions in any way to start
with, the Road Angel is a doddle to use and even a technophobe would not have
a problem with the Road Angel.
The Road Angel has been pre-set with the best set up of default
settings and if you wanted you would never need to play with the additional
settings, its a true plug and go unit.
If however you want to have a play then you have a few options to
play with.
- SPD = Speed display between MPH or Km/h
- VOL =
Volume, from total mute, One beep per bar to Full volume
- DST = Warning
range (Distance) can be adjusted from 250 metres to 1000 metres
- SDS =
Speed Distance Sensing, when on, it increases the advanced warning range
(distance) according to your speed. 2km max.
- SAT = The amount of
satellites you are locked onto, as little as three will do.
- GPS = GPS
output on or off. I tell you more about this later.
- MUTE = Mute an
alert, you do this by pressing the menu button.
On the top of the unit is three buttons, Delete, Store and Menu.
Menu scrolls you through the settings and acts as a mute button. Delete changes
the settings and also removes warnings you don't want or speedtraps that have
gone. Store stores the settings and new speedtraps or warnings.
On the back of the unit are 4 connections, 12v dc in for Power,
Auxiliary Port for the 360° Laser Alert
Module, Computer Serial Port for updates and connecting a laptop to for
navigation and an Ear Piece connector for bikers.
The Auxiliary Port can also be used as a Trigger
circuit for a laser jammer, contact Blackspot for more info. If you
have a Blinder or Snooper SLD 920 you could connect this to that Aux. port and
when the Jammer fires the Road Angel warns you, a good way to have an alarm on a
jammer. When the trigger is set i.e. Jammer fires what happens is the MOBILE
symbol comes up, the red screen mode kicks in and flashes like mad, and you get
full bars and sounds depending on your sound setting.
The Road Angel has a computer serial port and is used for
updates via the Internet, (or through an optional Modem, £20 from Blackspot if
you have no Internet Connection) and also connecting to a laptop to use for
navigation. For navigation you need something like Autoroute or Tom Tom Maps
and a Notebook and then the Road Angel will give the computer a NIME signal that
the software uses to track you. You also use the supplied cable to connect the
two together. Navigation and Warning system in one, life is looking
up...
In use the Road Angel is fantastic, simple to use and easy to
understand. When you approach a stored location the display gives you an
ADVANCED WARNING, the LCD display turns from green to red and the type of danger
is highlighted. The bar counter starts to count up as the danger area gets
closer. An audible alert tone is emitted, the frequency increasing with
proximity. Once the location is passed the unit returns to standby. Road Angel
can store up to 50,000 unique locations and uses complex heading software so it
only alarms in the direction the camera faces, reducing false alerts.
The advanced warnings are identified by type:
- FIXED: For
permanently sited Gatso and Truvelo cameras.
- MOBILE: For temporary mobile
cameras (often motorway roadwork's) Speedmaster DS2 and also user known laser
sites.
- AVERAGE: For SPECS average speed detection cameras.
- BLACKSPOT:
Police and Local Authority designated repeat accident areas.
The Laser Alert module
must be mounted in the centre of the windscreen and low down trying to allow it
to have forward and rearward view, should this not be possible you can purchase
an extra Laser Alert Module. Existing owners of Road Angels will be
pleased to know you can purchase a Laser Alert to add to your existing
Road Angel.
Laser alerts appear in the display as MOBILE,
rapid beeps and screen flashes accompany the display message. Its a tuned module
so devices such as ANPR and Trafficmaster do not give false alerts. Range is
awesome, and it detects the slightest of laser scatter.
The Road Angel and Laser Alert module are both very portable,
allowing easy moment between your cars.
Other new features include selective volume for
cameras and blackspots. This feature allows you to turn off or adjust the sound
on the accident Blackspot database or camera database independently. Rescue loc
gives you your latitude and longitude should you need to know in an
emergency.
One great feature of the database is that the information you
add or delete is never lost, even when you do an update it stays with your
unit.
Updating is done via the Internet and is very fast, you get very
easy to use software to do the updating with. Should you not have an Internet
connection there is an option to buy a modem to do updates but its slower.
The cost of updates from Blackspot Interactive are, first year of
updates is free of charge with an annual subscription thereafter of £49.
Should you wish to stealth install the unit it is easy to us a
Re-Radiating GPS Antenna Blackspot Interactive can supply this you as well at
extra cost.
Can we recommend it, Yes.
With the addition of the new
360° Laser Alert module the
Road Angel
just gets better, is quite simply the "Best in its Class"
For Combined GPS and Laser
Warnings,
this is the unit to have.
The Road Angel
continues to retain its UK SpeedTrap Guide recommended product
award. March 2003
At £399.00 inc. VAT and next day delivery
it is great value
and one unit you must consider if your shopping for a
GPS/Laser alert system
| What do we like. |
What don't we like. |
- It's performance
- The very flexible database
- Accident Blackspot Warning (Industry First)
- Selectable Mute Function
- Rescue Loc
- Zero false alarms
- Very Clear easy to read display
- Good Volume
- Laser Alert Module (Industry First)
- Build Quality and Feel
- GPS output (Industry First)
- Auxiliary port (Industry First)
- Ear Piece (Industry First)
- Warning Delete Button (Industry First)
- Concise Instructions
- Software upgradeable
- Updating for new Speedtraps via Internet is very fast (modem Option
if needed)
- Excellent Customer Support.
- Price
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- Lack of soft case
- Does not support Mac Computers so you will have to use the modem
option £20 from Blackspot
- Not that we don't like it, but you need to be aware that the updates
are done with an internet connection. Should you not have an internet
connection you will need to buy the option of the modem £20 from
Blackspot Interactive and then the Road Angels built in software will do
the updates.
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Visit the Road Angel website
Road
Angel with Laser Alert Review - Courtesy UK speedtrap Guide - Steve Warren (c) 2003. May 2003.
ABD
member Glenn Roberts reviews the Origin Blue i speed camera warning device. (NB: This was written before the Road Angel made it's debut).
Origin
Blue i
There are a few reviews on the net of the Blue i's arch rival, the Morpheous Geodesy,
but none so far (that I have found) of the Origin system. So here is a brief review
of this latest GPS trap detector, comparing it with the Geodesy.
The Blue i is about
the size and weight of two decks of playing cards and works on the same basic
principle as the Geodesy GPS detector, which has been on the market for a while
now. Both give a visual and audible warning of the close proximity of fixed speed
enforcement apparatus (GATSO, SPECS etc), and both are kept updated via a desktop
modem. However, the Blue i goes further than the Geodesy in terms of the amount
of information presented to the driver, and has a more flexible user interface.
Having driven a
few hundred miles around the North of England with mine this week, I'm able to
report that it does exactly what it says on the tin. The warnings given are accurate
and timely, and the database of trap locations seems comprehensive and up-to-date.
I've encountered well over a dozen traps in various locations so far, and the
unit hasn't faltered once. The only minor slip-up so far has been the unit detecting
the trap on the central reservation of the Felling Bypass in Gateshead, but not
reporting it as reversible (such traps are supposed to get a REV indication upon
alert).
All in all, I'm
pretty impressed. I'm confident I made a good decision to swap my BEL Vector Europa
for one of these.
Geodesy v Origin Blue i
The question that
is always going to be asked is, which should I go for, the Geodesy or the Blue
i? Well, basically, the thing to remember is that the Geodesy was designed with
bikers in mind. It's shockproof, weatherproof, and, as I've said, very portable.
The Blue i requires a separate GPS antenna to be installed in the vehicle and
plugged into the unit. Originally, Origin included a very neat custom antenna
that clipped onto the base unit itself. It now ships with an antenna on a long
2m cord which is a royal pain in the arse to deal with. Origin claim that the
longer antenna is now required "because of September 11th", but it seems
more likely that they're saving money shipping a generic GPS antenna, rather than
a bespoke one. On the other hand, it does mean that you can mount the detector
unit remotely (say, near the gearshift) -- if you want to do this with the Morpheous,
you have to buy an additional antenna as an option. The downside of the Geodesy's
form factor is that it doesn't offer as much in the way of information, and doesn't
have anything like a self-conatined user interface. In comparison, the large backlit
dot matrix screen of the Blue i provides good, clear, useful warnings accompanied
by voice alerts and a cacophany of beeping and flashing.
The screen display
also offers a useful advantage over the Morpheous, in that options such as alert
range, brightness, volume etc can be altered by the user on the unit, rather than
requiring a phone call to Morpheus, or Morpheous's PC-based software (which is,
again, an additonal cost item on the Geodesy). It's also possible to download
software updates to the Blue i, as and when new features are developed. Some have
argued that the Geodesy's visible warning is much clearer, which in a limited
way it is, but the ability of the Blue i to inform you of the prevailing speed
limit along with the warnings is a nice feature that takes advantage of having
a proper dot matrix display.
Since the launch
of the Blue i, the a new "Geodesy Plus" has emerged from Morpheous,
which among a few other minor enhancements and bug-fixes, adds a Blue i-style
speed filter. It now generates the build-up warning lights as before if you're
within the speed limit, but only flashes them and gives an audio alert if you're
above the posted limit for that road. One thing they haven't fixed, however, is
the direction sensitivity. Unlike the Blue i, which can be programmed to alert
the driver only to those speed traps which are a threat to his or her direction
of travel, the Geodesy simply assumes that all traps are reversible, which means
a false alert where they clearly can't be - eg. a fixed camera mounting on the
opposite carriageway of a motorway. That is a real shortcoming of the Morpheus
system versus Origin's, and makes the whole idea of the unit being direction sensitive
a bit pointless. One of the main reasons I decided to get rid of my (third) BEL
radar detector for a GPS-based device was that I was attracted to a no-false-alerts
solution. Alerting you to the presence of GATSOs pointed in the opposite direction,
and which are no threat, reduced the appeal of the Geodesy when I was trying to
decide which device to go for.
As an aside, I
should point out that while I have found my Blue i to be a fine product, I have
found Origin's service somewhat lacking. My unit originally arrived faulty (it
was unable to achieve satellite lock, and the database downloading didn't work).
I contacted Origin, who were friendly enough and asked me to return it. Unfortunately,
I had a bit of a carry-on to get it fixed and get it back. Firstly, it wasn't
returned within the week, as promised. When I chased it, it turned out that my
unit had been separated from its covering letter, along with some other returned
units, and they didn't know which unit to return to me. When I called to time,
they'd tried to send it to to a completely wrong address, suggesting that this
was my fault (despite the fact that they had my full, correct address on a printed
letterhead!). So the back office support ain't very impressive, which is a great
shame, because the Blue i itself is a marvellous device, and one which I would
otherwise have no hesitation in recommending.
That said, both
the Blue i and the Geodesy are great devices, and either of these two competing
systems is a must for any enthusiastic driver. Of the people I know who rushed
out to buy the first Geodesy, none have been disappointed, nor are they desperate
to trade in their choice for the new Blue i, which merely takes the technology
a logical step further. I'm sure that Morpheous will be working on a "Geodesy
II" that will match or even exceed what Origin's device offers. What is certain
though, is that 80% of all speeding tickets are generated by fixed camera installations,
and that alone makes a GPS-based device a much more sensible proposition than
a conventional radar detector these days.
Glenn Roberts, February 2002
Road
Angel Review - Courtesy of Stu-Oxfordshire - TT Forum Senior Member - TT
Forum UK - 2002
A
number of you IM'd me last week wanting to know how I got on with this, and after
buying one of these last week and all the driving we did over the weekend it provided
a great opportunity to test it out, so here's the review.
GETTING STARTED
I am a complete idiot and known for my impatience when it comes to fitting or
installing new gadgets.
The
Road Angel you'll be pleased to know is as simple as well.....plugging in yer
mobile phone.
The
pack comes with a windscreen mount and suckers. You fix these on the screen and
then the device itself fits on top and comes readily fitted with some very hard
wearing "click in velcro" which keeps it in place and is easy to remove
again at the end of the day/journey.
It
also come with a sticky dash mat, should you wish not to use the windscreen mount.
As you can see from the pic I'll post, it sits quite nicely on the TT dash and
after initially feeling that the coiled wire would look horrible it doesn't look
too bad. I will get it hard wired eventually though.
SWITCHING ON
Start the car. - Plug the lead into the cigarette lighter. - The unit flashes
red then tells you it's looking for 3 satellites. The instructions say this will
take up to 45 minutes the first time but it only took 2 minutes. - Then you're
ready to drive off
ON THE ROAD
I am really impressed with the Road angel. Approaching a fixed camera (GATSO)
location it starts to beep 500 metres ahead and at the same time the display turns
red and displays "FIXED" (type of device detected). As you get closer
to the fixed location the beeps get closer together and the bars on the display
add up from 1 to 5 (5 meaning your ontop of it).
Noticeably,
it will not warn you of a camera on the other side of the road which will not
measure oncoming traffic but dies tell the difference of front facing cameras
- very clever.
There
are 4 types of warning it gives:
- Fixed: GATSO
etc...
- Mobile Camera's
(eg: motorway roadworks)
- Truvelo: SPECS
type devices which measure avg speed
- Accident BLACKSPOTS:
National Police and Local authority database warning of blackspots where frequent
previous accidents have taken place.
Another good point is that it adjusts itself for the speed you're doing - so if
you're doing 20 mph and are within 500 metres of a GATSO it will not go off until
you're closer. Equally if you're doing 80 as you're approaching a 60mph GATSO
it will warn you 700m in advance.
We drove down to Goodwood on all the back roads and this is where the Road Angel
comes into it's own - you can concentrate on your driving and the road ahead confident
that if you're doing 15mph over the speed limit you're not going to get nicked
by a sneakily positioned GATSO round a corner.
The Angel went off quite a few times on the way down and as soon as you hear it
beep you instinctively slow down and check the display to see what it's detected.
In this instance it was accident blackspots. As we didn't know the road I personally
found this helpful.
Twice when it went off there were fresh tyre marks and a hole in the hedge at
exactly that spot. More importantly, it went off a few times as we approached
blind crests with sharp bends after them where it was clearly a tricky bit of
road, making you curb your speed.
Another good point is that it warned once when we were approaching a poorly signposted
bridge, where the road narrowed so only one car could get through.
Driving back on Sunday on the M25 was interesting - it warned of all the camera's,
but ones I thought were SPECS (near Heathrow turn off) it registered as FIXED??
Interesting points:
The display shows a constant (if slightly delayed by 2 seconds) read out of your
speed. As the GPS system is so precise (to the cm) I guess this reading is more
accurate than your speedo.
At 50 mph on my speedo it read 48mph and when we were doing 75mph it read 58mph.
....and at higher speeds...well, I sure you can guess, the ratio continues. *Theoretically*...and
*if* you were travelling at 97mph....I guess your real speed would be 90 mph
MINOR GRIPES:
- Sitting at the A34 roundabout joining at the M4 it went crazy, registering 4
accident blackspots. Whilst I'm sure there have been many accidents here before
it's annoying when you're stationary sitting at the lights and the thing's beeping
for Britain. You can mute it though, at the touch of a button.
- It often warned of accident blackspots on straight dual carriageways and motorways,
which was annoying.
- As soon as it starts to beep you want to see what the display says (eg: fixed
meaning a camera or Blackspot meaning previous accident area) but this part the
display is too small and difficult to read. Minor gripe though.
All in all an excellent purchase which I would recommend to anyone.
Courtesy
of Stu-Oxfordshire - TT Forum Senior Member - TT
Forum UK - 2002
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