Sat-Nav or speed trap detectors

[sawood12]

Rather than hijack the other sat-nav thread I thought i'd start a new one. I want a good way of detecting speed traps, but for the same price as the good speed trap detectors (Road Angel etc) you can get a pretty top-of-the-line sat-nav system. I know that you can provide the GPS locations for sat nav systems but how good are these systems at alerting you to a fast approaching speed trap? Are they as good as the Road Angel for example? I'm from the school that I think Sat-Nav is a bit of a gimmick and find road atlases and a bit of up-front route planning to be perfectly adequate but if i'm going to spend the money I might as well have the added gimmickry of sat-nav as long as the speed trap alet is as good as things like the Road Angel. I realise that with the sat-nav option I would need a second radar/laser detector to catch the non-permament speed traps.

 

[Fen]

With TomTom on the PDA it was OK, but you can't hear the alerts. Go would solve that because it is loud enough to hear, so the only problem left is that the database may not be so comprehensive nor up to date with the TomTom add-in than a dedicated subscription system.

I wouldn't bother with anything for temporary / laser because you may as well find out you've got a ticket when the NIP arrives as have an expensive box to beep and tell you you have just been done in real time in the car.

 

[John Sims]

A good Sat Nav provides much more than how to get from A to B, as noted in the previous thread. If you have TomTom with cameras set as POI's these come up in the perspective view even before a Road Angel alerts you. I haven't got the POI warning shell installed on my TomTom so can't comment on how loud it is, or otherwise, but the visual representation works well for me.

Classic Road Angel does provide a GPS output so that you can connect it to a PDA Sat Nav system subsequently, and the Road Angel has the advantage of providing an accurate speed read out - so you can go that bit faster []. Sat Nav does provide a speed reading but as this is only a secondary function it isn't necessarily as easy to glance at.

Sat Nav is quite expensive, but I find it makes the whole driving experience far more relaxed. It tells you how to get to where you want to be, and when you are going to get there. It will tell you how to get to the nearest Shell petrol station, Car Park, airport, Post Office, beach, etc. etc. If you do a lot of driving in unknown areas I would suggest Sat Nav is invaluable - you can avoid speed cameras by keeping your eyes open or not speeding.

 

[Andy Tims]

I had a Road Angel for years - very good.

Now have Tomtom Navigator on a PDA. With a PDA holder / charger / speeker unit you can easily hear the instructions. Well recommended as far as I'm concerned, especially if you already do, or could make use of a PDA.

The downloadable speed camera database is updated fairly regularly & it also includes traffic light cameras, so if your SURE it's safe go, you can make a better informed choice.

 

[Fen]

What PDA speaker do you have? I have the intention of getting one organised before we go on holiday and that means I need to get my finger out.

 

[danmason]

For PDA I went with the Mitac Mio 168, principally because of its integrated GPS antenna but also because its speaker is unusually LOUD. As for camera notification I use CheckPOInt for TomTom - which I have set up to give an audible warning 10sec before reaching a speedtrap. Can configure a different sound for each type of speedtrap (SPECS/Gatso/Mobile etc.) and the coverage is excellent using the UK Speedtraps Database (sic) - I can only ever remember it missing a couple, both of which were probably just because I needed to update.

 

[John Maddox]

I use TomTom Go. It is well supported on the web and I have downloaded the speed camera database which they update every month. A nice touch is that it warns you and then tells you what the speed limit is which is more useful than you think.

 

[Andy Tims]

ORIGINAL: Fen

What PDA speaker do you have? I have the intention of getting one organised before we go on holiday and that means I need to get my finger out.

I got one of these

http://handtec.com/acatalog/Silver_Powered_Mount_.html#a1_21102

Handtec do next day delivery & their prices are pretty good.

The installation is not the neatest in the world, but the screen sucker works surprisingly well.

 

[Fen]

Thanks Andy, that'll do for me (shame it isn't black though).

 

[John Sims]

Another thing to consider is that, after 12 months, there is a £60 fee for database upgrades on the Road Angel where as the POI solution is free.

I think the fees on Road Angel are a bit of a cheek as, by logging your local speed camera sites, you are also contributing to the data base that they are charging you to use.[]

My Road Angel has been away for fixing once - after about 14 months use, and is not behaving exactly as I would expect currently. Once TomTom Nav'5 arrives I may ditch the Road Angel and just use the Sat Nav.

 

[sawood12]

I'm slowly coming round to the idea of the TomTom/PDA idea even though it wont give me temp speed trap warning. I've seen a bundle pack with a Mio PDA with integrated GPS antenna (which is good for portability between cars and other uses) and TomTom software. Does TomTom support maps for other counties as well?

 

[Diver944]

Tony F was showing me the Mio PDA with TomTom on Wednesday evening after our Prodrive visit. Looked very good and I'm now thinking along the same lines myself.

John S - have you got any nice pics of the Prodrive cars (for a seperate thread) or did you not get too many because of the secrecy etc [:-]

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: Diver944

................................
John S - have you got any nice pics of the Prodrive cars (for a seperate thread) or did you not get too many because of the secrecy etc [:-]

I'll see what I can do []

 

[Fen]

ORIGINAL: sawood12
Does TomTom support maps for other counties as well?

Yes, it does. I have the whole of Europe plus USA and Canada maps for mine.

 

[John Sims]

I thought I would have a look to see what the status of my Tom Tom order was - apparently it has been "Captured". I didn't realize the little blighters were running wild and I now have misgivings that a little Tom Tom will be missing The Planes (or where ever it is that they live) all due to my order. []

 

[Fen]

I got the holder yesterday. Cumbersome (asI expected) but looks to do the job well. Anybody know of a download for French camera sites?

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: Fen

...........Anybody know of a download for French camera sites?

I'd be careful with that one as such things are illegal in France. The last thing you want, if you get pulled because they think your Sat Nav is a detector, is pictures of speed cameras all over the screen.[8|]

 

[Fen]

ORIGINAL: John Sims
My Road Angel has been away for fixing once - after about 14 months use, and is not behaving exactly as I would expect currently. Once TomTom Nav'5 arrives I may ditch the Road Angel and just use the Sat Nav.

What's up with your's? For the first time today on the way to work I hit 590mph, apparently. OK I was going through some trees but it's never done it before and it did it 3 times in total, setting off my opverspeed bleep (at 95) each time. I was probably doing 40-50. I suspect it might be a bit under speed sometimes too and it seems to take ages to pick up satellites compared to the way it used to be.

 

[John Sims]

Fen,

Like you, my Road Angel seems to be taking forever to achieve satellite lock - much longer than my SatNav mounted along side. It is almost as if every time I use it it goes from a cold start. This was what it went back for last time.

Also, on the way back from Prodrive, it had a spate of showing sundry speeds, none of which bore any relation to my actual speed. It was then that I realised how much I use the RA for establishing speed as, looking at the Porsche speedo seemed completely wrong.

As I have a PDA lead for the RA (I used to use the RA for SatNav before it went wrong last time) I may plug it in to interrogate the satellite info - although the odds are it will just demonstrate that it is unable to get a lock.