Road Angel Professional Connected

[SunGod]

I've read this thread with interest as I urgently need to get a speed camera detecter. I might even have ordered the Road Angel or Pogo Alert this weekend if I hadn't read this thread which has stopped me in my tracks..

I've narrowed down the search to:

Snooper S6 R

Road Angel professional Connected

Pogo Alert

It's surprisingly hard to get objective views and I keep reading different opinions.

Would anyone care to comment on these three? Or point me in the direction of some good discussions/reviews.

My current opinion is:

Snooper S6 R - radar is probably useless, gets less publicity than Road Angel and others, Enigma DB sounds good (?), device looks bad, display looks poor

Road Angel Pro Connected - Sounds impressive, GPRS updates would be very good, not sure about remote control concept, DB sounds worse than competitors (?), over heating problem is mentioned in this thread and elsewhere in reviews

Pogo Alert - Appears very impressive, DB sounds very good (?), but cube shape is very off putting

For me the most important criterion is quality of detection, i.e. best DB, best laser, best radar, most comprehensive coverage of all detection scenarios. Everything else is secondary.

Right now the Pogo Alert is probably top of list, but only just.

Any responses much appreciated.

[PetrolDave]

Right now the Pogo Alert is probably top of list, but only just.

The latest updates to the Pogo DB show many more temporary laser sites than it used to - makes what IMHO was an already good product even better.

[RedRobin]

....My PogoAlert review here : - http://www.tyresmoke.net/forum/tyresmoke-reviews/95624-pogoalert-origin.html

HTH

[SunGod]

Great review, thanks, and appreciate the previous posting about the DB.

I'll go for the Pogo Alert I think.

Finally, if anyone can recommend a site where I can buy some industrial grade speed camera demolition equipment, much appreciated!

[RedRobin]

....The PogoAlert now includes known mobile camera sites and by default it simply bleeps once to alert you, but if you are exceeding the set speed limit its voice tells you and it displays red showing you what the limit is. It does so very unobtrusively but still alerts you - Just right imo.

I've wrapped mine in black insulation tape so it attracts less outside attention - It's hardwired and I don't use its laser detection option (no point as it's always too late!) and less risky in Europe.

The only problem I get with the PogoAlert is that sometimes my relatively hard suspension over a bump causes a momentary display disconnection but it automatically re-searches and locks on the satellite again.

[burble]

I went for a Pogo Alert too and am very pleased that I did. Like Red, mine is hard wired but whereas Red has his int he middle of the dash, mine is to the right in the instrument cluster close to the A pillar.

Being alerted to the possible laser sites is a nice touch.

My only slight grumble are that the update software only runs on Windows but I have Vista installed on the Macbook anyway so it isn't a big problem. Also the voice is pretty quiet even though I have it set on maximum. Not a real problem though because I can hear the beep the unit makes to alert me.

[SunGod]

I think I would try hardwiring, would prefer permanently connected to power.

Also would prefer to site the Pogo somewhere lower down off the dash around the steering column or gear stick structure, but have a feeling may not work out (too bulky, not much to attach to?)

I have the BMW M Sport suspension setup which can be VERY jarring so may have display disconnection that Red talks about.

Basically I'm going to order the Pogo tonight either from Pogo GPS - Pogo Alert, Pogoalert, PogoAlert - Pogo Drive - PogoDrive, Pogo GPS - Origin B2 - Origin Technologies, pogogps.com, pogo-gps.co.uk or RADAR DETECTORS, Radar Detectors, radar detectors

[gizze]

I think the best designed unit at the moment is the Cheetah GPS Mirror.

Not sure what the database is like though??

[PetrolDave]

I went for a Pogo Alert too and am very pleased that I did. Like Red, mine is hard wired but whereas Red has his int he middle of the dash, mine is to the right in the instrument cluster close to the A pillar.

Being alerted to the possible laser sites is a nice touch.

Mine is fitted the same as burble - hardwired and fitted between the instruments and the A-pillar.

The beam from a laser gun is very narrow and normal pointed at the numberplate, so the chance of getting good detection from the windscreen mounted Pogo sensor is not good - I wouldn't rely on it. IMHO the sensor needs to be fitted adjacent to the numberplate to be worth having.

[CarMad]

I think the best designed unit at the moment is the Cheetah GPS Mirror.

Not sure what the database is like though??

Saw a review a while ago that said the db and product was dreadful.

[craigyb]

Well continuing my review of the RA pro connected, it's truly an awful product that's gonna end up in the bin pretty soon.

1st issue, when powered up it locks onto satelites fairly quickly from cold, I drive a few miles and get fuel, the RA powers down whilst I'm doing this as expected. I start the car again and it powers up and off I go down the road, then I realise it's still trying to find satelites after a few miles and I have to power cycle the RA from the remote for it to lock and become operational. And by this time I could have travelled past a speed camera, so until I notice it hasn't locked it's a paper weight.

2nd issue and more annoying, It's constantly bleeting at me regarding mobile camera vans, usually about 10 a day and mainly on motorways, yet I still haven't seen a mobile camera van of any type, disguised or not on my travels. That was until yesterday when I came around a sweeping 3 lane bend at around 45ish with all the other traffic and what did I find, a mobile camera setup. What did the RA do? feck all, kept silent, no warning at all.

Edited July 17, 2008 by craigyb

[Golfer]

Well continuing my review of the RA pro connected, it's truly an awful product that gonna end up in the bin pretty soon.

1st issue, when powered up it locks onto satelites fairly quickly from cold, I drive a few miles and get fuel, the RA powers down whilst I'm doing this as expected. I start the car again and it powers up and off I go down the road, then I realise it's still trying to find satelites after a few miles and I have to power cycle the RA from the remote for it to lock and become operational. And by this time I could have travelled past a speed camera, so until I notice it hasn't locked it's a paper weight.

2nd issue and more annoying, It's constantly bleeting at me regarding mobile camera vans, usually about 10 a day and mainly on motorways, yet I still haven't seen a mobile camera van of any type, disguised or not on my travels. That was until yesterday when I came around a sweeping 3 lane bend at around 45ish with all the other traffic and what did I find, a mobile camera setup. What did the RA do? feck all, kept silent, no warning at all.

I am dumping my RA2, and getting one of these ;

Novus GPS Rider | Products | Auto Express

road angels are real crap.:mad: I have odered this unit today and NO update Fees ever.

Edited July 17, 2008 by Golfer

[grahammackie]

Well continuing my review of the RA pro connected, it's truly an awful product that's gonna end up in the bin pretty soon.

1st issue, when powered up it locks onto satelites fairly quickly from cold, I drive a few miles and get fuel, the RA powers down whilst I'm doing this as expected. I start the car again and it powers up and off I go down the road, then I realise it's still trying to find satelites after a few miles and I have to power cycle the RA from the remote for it to lock and become operational. And by this time I could have travelled past a speed camera, so until I notice it hasn't locked it's a paper weight.

2nd issue and more annoying, It's constantly bleeting at me regarding mobile camera vans, usually about 10 a day and mainly on motorways, yet I still haven't seen a mobile camera van of any type, disguised or not on my travels. That was until yesterday when I came around a sweeping 3 lane bend at around 45ish with all the other traffic and what did I find, a mobile camera setup. What did the RA do? feck all, kept silent, no warning at all.

Sorry guys a few personal issues have kept me away from looking at the forum recently.

Firstly I am suprised about your problems with Satellite acquistion. I have driven all of the Road Angel products and most of our competitor products and I found the Pro Connected to be one of the quickest to acquire from a warm start out of all of them. I have my device set at a 5 minute auto standby which means it shuts down if I leave the car overnight or in a car park, but doesn't shut down when fuelling or in a traffic jam. If you want me to swap the unit out for a replacement contact Luke (my technical manager) on 01327 855586 and he'll sort one out for you and we'll test the GPS engine on your old one and report back.

With regard to mobile van sites the Professional Connected holds a database of ‘likely’ mobile van locations as published by the various Safety Camera Partnerships around the UK and then validated by our won staff. We then rely on our ‘Connected Community’ of drivers to alert us to the presence of a van at one of these sites where it’s status will change from amber to red and will warn of a live van in place. With thousands of mobile van locations in the UK we will never get the database 100% correct as some regions are slower to post than others, however we do our best to maintain its accuracy.

regards

[craigyb]

Well Graham

As I said, It's never been accurate yet on a mobile site. Never seen one when I'm warned of one and then came across one and not warned. Also noticed today that it seems to warn me of cameras in the other direction, and I don't mean the ones that can be rotated on a monthly basis. Quite annoying as I noticed it on a route I've done many times with the Pogo and it was always correct as to the direction of the cameras (with the exception of the rotational ones).

I bought this unit for the online updates and to be warned of mobile sites, too many false positives for mobile cameras and a poor database do not make this a good product.

Sorry guys a few personal issues have kept me away from looking at the forum recently.

Firstly I am suprised about your problems with Satellite acquistion. I have driven all of the Road Angel products and most of our competitor products and I found the Pro Connected to be one of the quickest to acquire from a warm start out of all of them. I have my device set at a 5 minute auto standby which means it shuts down if I leave the car overnight or in a car park, but doesn't shut down when fuelling or in a traffic jam. If you want me to swap the unit out for a replacement contact Luke (my technical manager) on 01327 855586 and he'll sort one out for you and we'll test the GPS engine on your old one and report back.

With regard to mobile van sites the Professional Connected holds a database of ‘likely’ mobile van locations as published by the various Safety Camera Partnerships around the UK and then validated by our won staff. We then rely on our ‘Connected Community’ of drivers to alert us to the presence of a van at one of these sites where it’s status will change from amber to red and will warn of a live van in place. With thousands of mobile van locations in the UK we will never get the database 100% correct as some regions are slower to post than others, however we do our best to maintain its accuracy.

regards

[grahammackie]

Hi Craigy

Here is the response to your post from my Camera Team Manager, I hope it helps. As always let me know if you would like more us to help with any other aspect of your Road Angel experience.

Directional Cameras

Some cameras can operate in either direction, however a Gatso camera can only enforce by taking photographs of the rear of a vehicle. If the camera is sited in the middle of the road / central reservation in theory it can be turned around and used to enforce in either direction. In these instances, as a general rule, we provide an alert in either direction, however we do have to take a measured approach. There are many misconceptions regarding how cameras operate and we have to draw the line somewhere.

Examples:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1%2027'51.96%20W+52%2054'28.43%20N+(CoordTrans%20Left%20Position)&spn=0.05,0.05&hl=en&t=0&iwloc=A

We only provide an alert to the camera when traveling North at this location. The lines on both sides of the road, albeit side by side after the camera, can give the impression that the camera can operate in both directions.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=3%2058'31.75%20W+51%2038'23.59%20N+(CoordTrans%20Left%20Position)&spn=0.05,0.05&hl=en&t=0&iwloc=A

This location is in the centre of the road. The secondary check lines are only present on the Southbound carriageway, which means that unless additional lines are painted on the Northbound carriageway the camera can only be used in one direction. In most instances we would expect to see lines on both sides of the road, and to the customer most of the alerts they receive to cameras in this position an alert will be received in both directions. In this instance we provide an alert in both directions, if we didn’t most customers will assume that we are missing a camera.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=0%209'27.68%20E+52%2012'45.49%20N+(CoordTrans%20Left%20Position)&spn=0.05,0.05&hl=en&t=0&iwloc=A

Similar to the first example but the lines are staggered this time. We only provide an alert in the direction of the North West, but the common misconception is that the camera enforces in both directions.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1%2021'42.42%20W+50%2054'56.32%20N+(CoordTrans%20Left%20Position)&spn=0.05,0.05&hl=en&t=0&iwloc=A

In this example the camera is positioned on the central reservation, however it is placed so far away from the Eastbound carriageway that we do not provide an alert in that direction. In this particular instance there is another camera a short distance to the right enforcing the Eastbound traffic, but this is purely an example of a camera in the central reservation where we only provide an alert in one direction as it is very obvious that it is only operational in one direction.

Mobile Locations

When Road Angel introduced mobile van locations back in 2005 we spent more than a year working on the data. Firstly, we took all of the personal customer data stored historically across the entire product range from day one. We then mapped this and looked at each partnership in turn to see what location information was available which ranged from good to non-existent. We then took this information and using the historical data identified key hotspots. We then looked at areas where we could find no reference to any mobile speed enforcement in the public domain but there was evidence that a number of people had flagged a mobile location within a given range of each other. This information is reviewed by the camera team every week; however it is worth noting that there is no mandatory requirement on Safety Camera Partnesrhips to publish mobile enforcement locations so we do have to rely on all of our information sources to maintain this data.

However if you would like us to investigate specific examples then we will need additional information regarding the van location location and your vehicle heading/direction.

regards

[SunGod]

In case anyone is interested I thought I'd provide a quick update on the Pogo Alert which I bought a few days ago partly based on advice in this forum.

The Pogo Alert has certainly lived up to expectations and has been impressive in packaging, presentation, documentation, design, attention to detail, and most important, functionality.

It has identified every speed camera I've driven past with the possible exception of one (and that one worked the second time round for some reason).

My only gripe is the size of the thing - when you include the arm, sucker, cube display and wiring then IMO it's cumbersome, looks messy and takes up too much room.

I would like to find a way to site the device somewhere lower down off the dashboard or windscreen but have yet to find a way (and would the Pogo receive satellite path if off the dash?). The Pogo as a default comes with a base/sticker to stand on dashboard, or a sucker/boom to stick on windscreen. Neither of these would work in the present form below dash level..

Only other minor gripe is the time the Pogo takes to connect to the satellite in some situations (e.g. if switch on when under ground then the Pogo takes ages to connect once up in daylight, but not so long if switch on in daylight) but this may be a necessary evil.

All in all, I 100% recommend this device (so far).

If anyone is interested in seeing pics of the installation then I'll happily post!

[RedRobin]

....Why would you want your PogoAlert positioned anywhere other than in your direct line of sight while driving? Surely anything at low level is potentially more dangerous as it takes your eyes off the road. Also a GPS is far more accurate in its display of your speed.

My PogoAlert is far quicker than my RoadAngel was at finding and locking onto the satellite - I experienced over 50 miles at night on more than one occasion!

[Chav]

....Why would you want your PogoAlert positioned anywhere other than in your direct line of sight while driving?

because any device mounted on the dashboard looks crap, cheap and chavvy and spoils the clean look of the car (imo)

so wish they'd integrate camera detectors into in-dash satnavs. :-(

[RedRobin]

because any device mounted on the dashboard looks crap, cheap and chavvy and spoils the clean look of the car (imo)

so wish they'd integrate camera detectors into in-dash satnavs. :-(

.... Sometimes I think you are just taking the p!ss but you haven't added a ":grin:" so I guess not.

So, you would rather not "spoil the clean look of your car" (interior) than locate such a device in a position which is a safer aid to driving. I give up, mate. But you are of course entitled to such an opinion.

[Chav]

of course i'm not taking the piss.

whenever i see a car with loads of bits and bobs on the dash i think "yuk".

you're kinda weird robin - you have 1000's of pounds worth of mods which make your car look better but hamper performance (more drag by lower front valence etc) and yet you dont understand why some people want the inside of a car to look clean?

at the end of the day, monitoring your speed regularly via any driving aid is increasing your chance of an accident happening IMO.

p.s. if you give up, this forum will be completely empty. so dont - just yet.

[RedRobin]

....

I think "yuk" when I see a car with loads of stuffed toys on the front dashboard like a neighbour has! I've only got a PogoAlert (and its small 'aerial' lump) on my dash.

More drag by lower front valence? - Possibly, but apparently tested at 200 km/hr and possibly counter balanced by improved air flow to the brakes - Who knows? I don't drive down the German autobahns at over 130 mph every day (unfortunately I sometimes think). Hey, as the GTI is the fastest car in the world I have to do something to slow it down!

I do understand a preference for a very clean looking interior but differ inasmuch that I think safety comes before that ultra-clean aesthetic.

With my PogoAlert's speed display where it is in both my line of sight and peripheral vision, I don't have to look at a lower level and consequently imo increase the chance of an accident happening. Agreed that the most common words said at the scene of an accident/incident are "But I didn't see you".

[PetrolDave]

so wish they'd integrate camera detectors into in-dash satnavs. :-(

Second that - it's stupid that we NEED an add-on device when we've got a sophisticated GPS device integrated into our car.

Car makers need to get their arses into gear and include the ability to read a user updated speed camera database into ALL OE sat navs.

The Audi RNS-E has 2 SD card slots - I'd be MUCH happier with using one for a speed camera database and one for music, than 2 for music and needing to fix a Pogo Alert on my dashboard.

P.S. IMHO the Pogo Alert is the best speed camera detector I've owned (I've also had a Road Angel and a Cyclops).

[burble]

Whilst I'd love an all in one integrated GPS and scamera detector I can't see a manufacturer releasing one as GPS speec camera detectors aren't legal everwhere so they won't create a product that can't be sole throughout the whole territory.

From what I remember they're not allowed in Switzerland and Austria but I could of course be mistake.

[PetrolDave]

Whilst I'd love an all in one integrated GPS and scamera detector I can't see a manufacturer releasing one as GPS speec camera detectors aren't legal everwhere so they won't create a product that can't be sole throughout the whole territory.

From what I remember they're not allowed in Switzerland and Austria but I could of course be mistake.

It would be a simple matter to disable the camera detector function in software based on the country that the car is sold in and/or being driven in.

And why should it not being legal in 2 countries mean those of us in the remaining 25 (or so) EU countries have to be deprived of something that is legal for us?

[RedRobin]

....There are some hacks that can load camera info onto the Mk5 GTI's stock SatNav - I've seen pics and it looks good and effective.

However, personally I don't like the low level location of most oem SatNav screens and prefer them more in the driver's natural sight line and peripheral vision.