24 from Thatcham, Berkshire, UK. Please take time to read my Riu Negril (Jamaica) review. Catch yo...
24 from Thatcham, Berkshire, UK. Please take time to read my Riu Negril (Jamaica) review. Catch you soon Scott :)
Member since:18.12.2003
Reviews:47
Members who trust:4
THESE UNITS ARE NOT A LICENCE TO SPEED AND I DO NOT ENDORSE SPEEDING. THIS IS MEARLY A REVIEW OF THE PRODUCT. IT IS PROVEN THAT PEOPLE WHO USE THESE UNITS HAVE 24% LESS ACCIDENTS. BY KNOWING WHERE CAMERAS ARE THE OVERALL AVERAGE SPEED MUST DECREASE.
This is not just a speed camera detector it is also a safety device. No really it is. This is a great little device from the people at blackspot. You put the unit on your car's dash, plug it into the cigar lighter and away you go. It'll tell you any speed camera's coming up but (now this is the good bit) it will also tell you of accident blackspots too.
Let me explain.
Ok you have a few different types of speed camera's - Gatso - radar signal coming out Truvelo - infra-red
(i believe) Mobile sites (lasers in the back of the vans) SPECS - the newer ones - two camera's upto 2 miles apart, catches number plate at each and works out average speed between, but no physical signal to pick up.
Now the older style detectors would only tell you a direct hit from a laser or a radar signal from a Gatso. The rest of the cameras? you might as well not even have your detector.
However, with the Road Angel it is worth it. Basically the way the unit works - it knows where you are and it knows where the cameras are (via GPS). This means that as soon as your going towards a camera it will alert you - the screen flashes bright red and you also get a beep to warn you it's been triggered. You can adjust the amount of warning you get. As you get closer to the point in question it will start to flash faster and you will get more bars appear on the screen. You also have your speed displayed on the unit (at all times) so you can be sure of your exact GPS speed rather than what now seems a rough guide from most cars speedo's. The unit will also tell you points that are known for mobile speed traps too.
Now when you buy the unit it will only be as upto date as when it was sent to your supplier, you get a registration card inside which you send off and they send you a cd back for your pc which gets you onto their site. This keeps your unit upto date. Now the price of the unit is £400 (be careful you may see it lower say £350 - but check it has the laser sensor included with it) this price gets you a years worth of updates from the website. After that you need to pay either £50 for the second year (i think), £80 for second and third OR my recommendation is £100 for lifetime updates. Now with this it really is lifetime, because if the manufacturer brings out a new model and you buy that, you don't then have to buy a new subscription it's already done. Now that is cool!!!
Now the next bit When your driving those country roads at night and come up on that dodgy bend and end up slamming your brakes on it's horrible, right? Well normally those places are known accident blackspots so the people at blackspot came up with the idea of letting people know where accidents do occur so they take more care. So as your coming to that corner it will alert you just as if it were a camera there, but with a tag on the screen saying "blackspot".
They work hand in hand with the police to keep the camera sites and blackspots upto date. They are 100% legal. I think the police want people to know there is a camera up the road because they will slow down, and that reduces the overall average speed.
Well the unit sounds great doesn't it? Oh but i'm not finished did i mention it can give you full satellite navigation too? NO? Silly me, get this.
You already have a laptop pc and want Sat Nav but don't want to spend £400 on a camera detector plus another £700 on a GPS for the car too? Well now you don't need to.
The back of the unit has a serial port, for connecting to the pc to get the updates but you can also activate a function on the unit that makes it a gps receiver too. So you can plug it to your laptop, and use the gps output function in conjunction with say autoroute (many other software out there but i'm not too sure what's good and what's not) and you will have full Sat Nav in the car. Ok so you might have to work a way to fit it in easier but with small palm size pc's these days i don't think it'd be too hard to dash mount it even.
Overall value for money i really don't think you will beat the Road Angel. Mainly because it's the only GPS camera detector to my knowledge that you get a lifetime subscription option and not just a yearly/monthly option.
Feel free to leave any questions.
Pictures of Road Angel with laser alert
The Road Angel
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
A great review and I think the product's brilliant too. I think the Classic Road Angel now comes with the laser detector as standard these days regardless of price you pay (if buying new), however.
Also, for reference, Truvello use two discreetly hidden pads beneath the surface of the tarmac just before the camera to detect your speed, not infrared. If you look carefully you can just make them out...
tazmian 25.05.2004 17:33
Great write up, was looking for info on the product and it told me just what I wanted to know.
holdfast 14.04.2004 16:56
I could not have put it better, your evaluation is spot on. I have been useing my Road Angel for over a month now and I feel confident that I will not be getting any more nasty letters inviting me to subscribe to the Police Benevolent Fund by way of a Fine.
Dec 25th, 2003
(Jan 15th, 2004)
exceptional by (6%):
very helpful by (92%):
helpful by (3%):
