craigyb Posted June 5, 2008 Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 I've just removed the pogo alert from the A8 and replaced it with the new Road Angel Pro Connected. £299 from my local dealership. This unit does online updates via it's onboard GSM/GPRS section. So it constantly updates with mobile and fixed camera locations. It warned me of a Scamera van on the M61 this morning, I didn't see one, but better safe than sorry. The unit is a bit larger than the pogo, nearly double the size, but the display is clear and concise, you can see the udpates being made etc. and it comes with 2 remote controls so you can mount it at the front of the screen out of the way. Subscription is £4.99 a month, so only £10 a year more than the pogo alert subscription. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techieboy Posted June 5, 2008 Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 How does the data download work, Craig? Do you have to shove your own PAYG SIM in the unit and keep it "topped up" with credit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigyb Posted June 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 It comes with a built in SIM and GSM/GPRS phone section. Once registered it receives an SMS from Orange and updates automatically from the ROad Angel servers over GPRS. Whilst I was out and about this morning it updated about 4 times. So the £4.99 a month covers these updates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techieboy Posted June 5, 2008 Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 Cool. Thanks Craig. I was fearing large data download bills like I get when I've got the TomTom Traffic rubbish enabled and it's dialling up every 10 minutes. Now if only they made it with a small discrete screen and a separate brain to hide away, it would be almost perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigyb Posted June 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2008 Well after a few weeks and now two RA units, I would avoid this product like the plague. Where do you mount the Speed camera detector? On the dash in direct sunlight? of course your do. What happens when you do? The RA overheats even though it's not powered up and dies, the charging circuitry is rubbish and the charging light flashes. You are unable to power up the RA even though it's hardwired as the battery requires some charge, catch 22 when the charging is suspended. The local RA sales manager tells me it was fixed in a new firmware release, but now on my second RA and just charging it in my lounge it has died again with the flashing red light. Even after I updated it from the web as instructed. Listen to RA's answer to this problem..... "My Professional won’t work in my car and it is a hot or very sunny day, what can I do?" The Professional needs at least some charge in the battery for it to work properly. If the charging circuit has been suspended for some time, due to the excessive heat in the car, it is possible that all of the available charge in the battery has been used. To continue charging the unit remove the Professional from the car and charge it in a cooler location. It may take up to ten minutes from removing the unit for the internal temperature to fall enough to allow the battery to start charging properly again. Successful charging is indicated by a constant red LED on the front screen. Excessive heat? what a crock of sh!te, it's June and not exactly hot, my car even has a solar roof to keep it cool and teh unit still breaks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted June 20, 2008 Report Share Posted June 20, 2008 Ouch that doesn't sound good at all. I wondered about getting one of these myself but I'm not going to bother now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golfer Posted June 21, 2008 Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 Ouch that doesn't sound good at all. I wondered about getting one of these myself but I'm not going to bother now. I was also going to get one, not now, sounds a crock of ****e:eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahammackie Posted June 23, 2008 Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 I was searching for something else on Google and came across this thread and I hope you excuse my hi-jacking it. I am the MD of Road Angel Group and sometimes feel the need to jump to the defence of our products. Firstly Craigyb is correct the unit is designed to shut down the charging circuit when the temperature inside the device reaches 40 degrees c, something that it can easily do when on a black dashboard in bright sunlight. When designing the Road Angel Professional Connected we wanted to offer maximum battery life and therefore chose Lithium Ion batteries, as used by other phone, sat-nav and laptop manufacturers. Unfortunately LI batteries come with a warning - charge them when they are too hot and you will permanently reduce their capacity and therefore their useful life. This is not unique - in all TomTom user manuals they also state that charging will not occur in their devices in temperatures above 45 degrees. Since the first devices were shipped wehave released some new firmware that drastically improves the battery life of the Connected Professional device. We are also testing some new firmware for release in July that gives you advance warnings when the battery is getting low. I hope this goes some way to explaining the issues you are having. If you would like to receive advance updates of any new firmware changes please e-mail me at graham dot mackie at roadangelgroup dot com. regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigyb Posted June 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 Graham Your tech support have just emailed me the latest firmware, although they are not 100% certain it will fix this problem, I will test it over the next few days where the weather in my lounge should be fair to middleing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golfer Posted June 23, 2008 Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 I was searching for something else on Google and came across this thread and I hope you excuse my hi-jacking it.I am the MD of Road Angel Group and sometimes feel the need to jump to the defence of our products. Firstly Craigyb is correct the unit is designed to shut down the charging circuit when the temperature inside the device reaches 40 degrees c, something that it can easily do when on a black dashboard in bright sunlight. When designing the Road Angel Professional Connected we wanted to offer maximum battery life and therefore chose Lithium Ion batteries, as used by other phone, sat-nav and laptop manufacturers. Unfortunately LI batteries come with a warning - charge them when they are too hot and you will permanently reduce their capacity and therefore their useful life. This is not unique - in all TomTom user manuals they also state that charging will not occur in their devices in temperatures above 45 degrees. Since the first devices were shipped wehave released some new firmware that drastically improves the battery life of the Connected Professional device. We are also testing some new firmware for release in July that gives you advance warnings when the battery is getting low. I hope this goes some way to explaining the issues you are having. If you would like to receive advance updates of any new firmware changes please e-mail me at graham dot mackie at roadangelgroup dot com. regards Graham, my RA2 does not ref to work on my dashboard whatever the temperature, so why should this "Later Model" be any different?. I will not be upgrading to this model thanks. @ £4.00+ per month I would expect better service from the unit sorry. All dashmounts are subject to highish temps, none I have tried have failed due to this. Changes in Software will not affect the operation of the unit IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahammackie Posted June 23, 2008 Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 CraigyB/Golfer Firstly the new firmware will not raise the charging temperature, this is dictated by the battery and its charging circuitry. What it does do is significantly extend the battery life from the original firmware as we managed to find areas where the Connected device was using more power than it needed to. For instance with the original firmware the battery was being drained (albeit by a small number of milliamps) even when the unit was powered off. The current production firmware is version 1702OTA - this is being installed on all new devices and we are in the process of rolling this out to existing customers. The next version of firmware, which we are beta testing at the moment for release next month, will include better battery low warnings as well as custom red/blue screen for Audi and VW users. Golfer - with regard to your RA2 I am not sure what you mean by 'will not work on the dashboard'. The new Professional Connected has been tested in an oven to temperatures in excess of 60 degrees for pro-longed periods and still works fine. As I said it is the charging circuit that cuts out when in-car temperatures are high not the unit itself. The RA2 is a much older product and doesn't have any temperature related charging issues as it doesn't have a battery - it is 12v only. If you would like us to take a look at it for you let me know and I will sort it out for you. regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigyb Posted June 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 Graham I think Golfer was saying, why don't other products have this issue, and that is basically what I was saying as well. I know of plenty of battery powered units for cars that have charging facilities that don't break down and make themselves inoperable for large periods of time when they need to be in operation. I understand what the circuitry is doing, but the unit is inoperable whilst it is like that, I can travel 20 miles before I can use the, in a congested area this can be 10 or so speed traps etc which makes the unit an bit of a lemon and it could have been potentially a market leader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golfer Posted June 23, 2008 Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 GrahamI think Golfer was saying, why don't other products have this issue, and that is basically what I was saying as well. I know of plenty of battery powered units for cars that have charging facilities that don't break down and make themselves inoperable for large periods of time when they need to be in operation. I understand what the circuitry is doing, but the unit is inoperable whilst it is like that, I can travel 20 miles before I can use the, in a congested area this can be 10 or so speed traps etc which makes the unit an bit of a lemon and it could have been potentially a market leader. This is what I thought I said!!!! My RA2 works fine in any heat or cold, and the only drawback is having to update it at home. I thought this new unit would update on the move without heat issues, but it does not. So it's inferior to other units in summer heat conditions;therefore in summer will be usless for some period of time in which ,if you don't know the area you could well get a ticket; WHICH IS THE OBJECT OF BUYING IT in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahammackie Posted June 24, 2008 Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 Sorry for the delay in responding. Like all electronic devices the Road Angel Professional product is a compromise between size, battery life, longevity and functionality. The product is currently unique in that it is the only safety camera locator in the world that contains a GPRS/GSM sim card and modem with a battery that will power it for 5 or 6 hours of continuous use. There is no other consumer unit that I know of that will provide vehicle tracking for such a low monthly cost. Its closest rival is the Road Angel Navigator 9000 - which doesn't currently have the same level of battery life Golfer - the unit does auto update itself whilst you are driving, even when the interior temperature of the car is excessive, provided there is some charge in the battery. The battery is trickle charging when plugged into the car (subject to interior temperature) and can be charged using the mains adaptor or via a USB connection to a PC. Most users find that a 5-6 hour battery life is sufficient for their normal driving patterns, with the car charger topping up on longer journeys. We have sold many thousands of the products since launch and have received good feedback from customers and the press. If you would like to upgrade your RA2 for a Professional Connected I am sure I can work out a deal for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golfer Posted June 24, 2008 Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 Sorry for the delay in responding. Like all electronic devices the Road Angel Professional product is a compromise between size, battery life, longevity and functionality. The product is currently unique in that it is the only safety camera locator in the world that contains a GPRS/GSM sim card and modem with a battery that will power it for 5 or 6 hours of continuous use. There is no other consumer unit that I know of that will provide vehicle tracking for such a low monthly cost. Its closest rival is the Road Angel Navigator 9000 - which doesn't currently have the same level of battery life Golfer - the unit does auto update itself whilst you are driving, even when the interior temperature of the car is excessive, provided there is some charge in the battery. The battery is trickle charging when plugged into the car (subject to interior temperature) and can be charged using the mains adaptor or via a USB connection to a PC. Most users find that a 5-6 hour battery life is sufficient for their normal driving patterns, with the car charger topping up on longer journeys. We have sold many thousands of the products since launch and have received good feedback from customers and the press. If you would like to upgrade your RA2 for a Professional Connected I am sure I can work out a deal for you. Graham could you confirm please if the unit has the same plug that RA2 has for power?, so it could be hard wired as is the RA2 and therefore be constantly topped up whilst the ignition is ON. Would I be correct in this assumtion?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigyb Posted June 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 I'm now running with the latest firmware, the unit was fully charged overnight and I put it in the car at 12:00 PM, by 2:00 PM after the car being left in the sun the charging light started flashing again when I started the car up. Although the unit did power up and it was useable. I will monitor the operation for the next few days and see if it becomes inoperable again when starting the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazza_g Posted June 24, 2008 Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 am following this with interest as I'm 'detectorless' at present and am in the market for a new one when I'm back from hols Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry carey Posted June 24, 2008 Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 bit of a flaw in the professional connected design - they don't actually tell you in the booklet, but it's range is limited to 500 m for police camera vans!! No use at all if you're on a motorway and the van's on a bridge, they get you before your in range. All other warnings can be 1000m. Guess they don't do much motorway driving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigyb Posted June 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 I'm also finding the RA database very very out of date, it lists a speed camera near my home as 30 mph, when it has been 40 mph for over a year. And then a little further on it shows a fixed camera where one does not exist. And the specs information on the M1 road works is way out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golfer Posted June 25, 2008 Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 I'm also finding the RA database very very out of date, it lists a speed camera near my home as 30 mph, when it has been 40 mph for over a year. And then a little further on it shows a fixed camera where one does not exist. And the specs information on the M1 road works is way out. This confirms it's money for old rope:mad:, all the hype and no results. I have noticed the RA2 updates are wrong in my area too. Some cameras have been moved for some two years and the warning come up for where they "Used to be":ffs:. We need to look around for a better unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigyb Posted June 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 I think I shall be going back to the PogoAlert that I removed in favour of the RA pro. It was pretty much bang on with everything as long as you updated it regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sapphire1616 Posted June 25, 2008 Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 Thanks for this thread guy's. I was seriously thinking about getting one of these units a while back.....guess what I am thinking now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopsta Posted June 25, 2008 Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 Can you not set a correction on the RA2 to show new locations? i appreciate that it's far from ideal but it will help others out in the future and if all users did this it would make the data more accurate. Welcome to TSN Graham, nice to see manufacturers taking on points direct from users, great to see Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigyb Posted June 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2008 I'd really expect a speed camera that has been around for many years to have the correct speed setting, if Pogo can get it right, (it took a month) then RA should be able to after a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahammackie Posted June 26, 2008 Report Share Posted June 26, 2008 Gents, Sorry for the delay but I was out of the office all day yesterday. Let me try to answer your questions one by one. Golfer - the Professional unit can be hard wired in and yes it will then be regularly trickle charged by the 12v supply. Unfortunately the all units from the RA2 onwards use a USB style connector for power, the RA2 used a standard multi adaptor. Usually the hard wire kits go at a female cigar lighter socket anyway so changing shouldn't be too difficult. Henry - since the introduction of mobile van locations with our RA Plus units we have always fixed the distance at 500m. The database was designed to work this way as mobile van locations are often closer together than fixed cameras i.e. sequential motorway bridges, inter connecting dual carriageways etc. With a distance setting of more than 500m the chances for false alerts increases signifcantly i.e. you pick up a location that may not affect the road you r are driving on. However we have had a few customers say that 500m isn't sufficient when travelling 'fast' on the motorway. The next release of the firmware (scheduled for end of July) will address this by allowing you to increase the distance for mobile safety camera vans - with the caveat that it may also increase the number of false alerts. With regard to the quality of the camera database this is something I clearly care about a lot. We are the only company in the UK (that I know of) that uses its own salaried staff to validate every single camera, mobile van, road works or blackspot location. We take our intelligence form a variety of sources (including our customers) and then send our own people out on the road to validate the location. Craig - if you can give me more detail on the cameras you were talking about I will talk to my Cameras Manager and come back to you as to why we appear to have got the speed wrong etc. With regards to the M1 roadworks cameras do you mean the Luton area four laning ? I drove this personally yesterday and the average speed start and finish southbound and the alerts tied in with the SPECS gantries perfectly. If you give me more information I will happily publish it here for all to see. regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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