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
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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.
WHAT DOES THE UNIT DO (IN SHORT) This unit will basically tell you how fast you are travelling along the road and will also tell you where speed traps are. It just sits on your dash board and gives you a visual and audio warning that you are approaching a speed check zone.
RANGE SETTING The range can be varied so that if you are on a motorway you will have it set to a longer range than in a town where you will be going at a lower speed. This will also eliminate false alarms due to the fact that if you are in a city and have the range too long the unit will tell you there is a camera on a road running parallel if it is too near. For the radar part it will vary upon if there is a car in front of you or not to
pick up the radar signal from a gatso camera because the radar detector part works on radar scatter caused by the car in front breaking the radar signal in the first place. However unless the camera is brand new then it would be on the database for the GPS part and would have already alerted you.
WHAT WILL IT PICK UP The GPS part will tell you the locations of the following; Gatso cameras (the old grey one’s, now with that yellow panel on them, works on radar) Truvelo cameras (the blue one’s that face you, similar size to a gatso, they work on infra red) SPECS (camera at A and B catches your number plate and averages your speed between the two points, undetectable other than by a GPS unit knowing the location) Known Speed Check Points (anywhere that is know that police place speed traps) In addition to that to that the RLD unit will also pick up; Gatso radar camera signals in case a new camera is out that isn’t on the GPS database Laser signals from speed check guns if the police are using a new speed check area.
WHAT IS THIS RLD AND GPS STUFF? The GPS (Global Positioning System) part is basically using satellites in the sky to pin point your position on the road and then comparing your location to a database of hotspots (where the cameras are) and alerting you when your position and the camera position meet. The RLD (Radar and Laser Detector) part is a physical sensor designed to make sure you don’t miss any new things put in place in addition to when the database was compiled.
HOW ACCURATE ARE THEY? The GPS part is extremely accurate and will give you no false alarms. However the RLD section however will give you false alarms. This is due to the fact that supermarket automatic doors emit a radar signal that is on the same frequency as speed cameras and will therefore also be picked up. You can eliminate some of these alarms by setting the range of detection lower. You will however still get some but will, in time, get used to where the unit will and won’t go off.
EASE OF INSTALLATION AND USE Powered directly from the cigar lighter, with hard wiring option included should you want to wire the unit directly under the dash board. There are various different mounting options for the RLD and GPS modules and you have fixing kits for all. The easiest thing to do, depending on space, is to just mount them on the dash board. Once plugged into the power you just follow the instructions and it’s just a few button presses to set the range up and away you go.
WHAT ABOUT FUTURE CAMERAS? Because the unit runs via GPS it is fully future proof. Any cameras that now get put up can just be added to the database and you can be told where they all are. So you won’t need to worry about buying a new unit that has more frequencies or anything like that.
ARE THEY LEGAL? Completely legal for use in the UK, I’m not sure about Ireland but they are illegal in France.
VALUE FOR MONEY There are a couple of options on how to buy the unit. A) Buy the GPS unit on it’s own for around £399.99 and then pay £5.95 a month for updates after the first six months. B) Buy the GPS and the RLD unit for around £449.99 and then pay £5.95 a month after six months Or if you went for option A you can go for C) Buy the RLD unit separately for another £149.99 and add it on to the GPS unit. I don’t recommend this option as it is costing £549.99 overall.
HOW DO THE UPDATES WORK THEN? Once you get the unit home you have to register the unit with Snooper you then use the supplied modem cable to plug the unit directly into your phone line and it updates and sends you the latest camera database available. Easy as that. You can update as many times as you want while you are subscribed. If at the end of the six months you don’t want to subscribe then the unit will just be as up to date as your last update but will not have new cameras on it. Otherwise you have to pay the £5.95 a month to continue to get the updates.
MY OPINION It’s a really great unit, the only one to my knowledge that detects via both GPS and Radar. The only snag is the update cost but it’s a small price to pay to keep your licence clean and avoid the fines too. However having recently given the new Snooper S4 a test it’s a very tight competition between the two, because the S4 doesn’t do radar so you won’t give false alarms, but the Snooper S6 does radar (which is more protection) but will give false alarms. I’m torn between the two right now. However if you go for it I’d recommend going for option B from the above list.
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Would be interested in knowing if there's a separate detector for the laser& RADAR, and where this needs to be placed in order to achieve the best results. Does it with with a heated/treated windscreen or would it need a re-radiating aerial for the GPS? How big is the unit and can it be removed from the car and easily carried (presumably, at £400 its quite a nickable piece of kit).
sue.51 02.05.2004 12:59
I have just taken my S4 back to the store as despite regular updating their database was horribly out of date, and failed to identify two gatso's that have been in existence for several months - I am erring towards this model, although there seems to be an indication that it cannot be updated via the computer.
Sue
Advantages: easy to operate, accurate, good value, free downloads for 6 months, detects both radar and laser as well as providing locations of speed cameras. Disadvantages: subscription for downloads to update database after six months
Dogteeth 28.10.2003 ·
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Review of Snooper S6-R
Advantages: easy to operate, accurate, good value, free downloads for 6 months, detects both radar and laser as well as providing locations of speed cameras. Disadvantages: subscription for downloads to update database after six months
Dogteeth 28.10.2003 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Snooper S6-R
Jan 13th, 2004
(Jan 15th, 2004)
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