Stand alone speed camera gizMO type thingies if you know what I mean like.

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by MO!, Mar 27, 2007.

  1. MO!

    MO! MOnkey`ead!

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    So, the tomtom is now sold (replaced by a built in thing on his new car), so what's the options for a stand alone speed camera detector thing?

    What's hot and what's not?

    First to reply along the lines of "stick to the limit" wins a prize!
     
    MO!, Mar 27, 2007
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  2. MO!

    Bob McC living the life of Riley

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    Aren't they being outlawed like in France?
     
    Bob McC, Mar 27, 2007
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  3. MO!

    MO! MOnkey`ead!

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    Not as far as I can gather from the bit of searching I've done into them.
     
    MO!, Mar 27, 2007
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  4. MO!

    greg Its a G thing

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    Can they prosecute Brits though? They couldn't seem to do me for speeding.
     
    greg, Mar 27, 2007
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  5. MO!

    Bob McC living the life of Riley

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    They do hundreds of Brits for it every year in Calais. On the spot fines or car impounded. They just confiscate and destroy speed camera detectors.
     
    Bob McC, Mar 27, 2007
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  6. MO!

    MO! MOnkey`ead!

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    So, no one any recommendations?
     
    MO!, Mar 27, 2007
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  7. MO!

    technobear Ursine Audiophile

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    Yep! Obey the speed limits :Lplates:

    What's my prize? :)
     
    technobear, Mar 27, 2007
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  8. MO!

    kmac

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    There are two kinds I know of - could be more - one which detects the beam from speed cameras and warns you of their presence and the other that just holds a database of speed cameras and beeps when you get near one.

    To have the former you may need to prove you have it for a legitimate purpose such as automatic opening of garage door (to be effective they need to be properly installed on the car)

    The latter kind requires regular updates of the speed camera database form the web ( similar to how Tom TOm does it).

    I have not really looked into this as I have speed camera database on my TomTom (Go 500) which is available free from certain legitimate websites

    I have heard of one called Road Angel but I have no idea if it is any good or not (think its the database variety)
     
    kmac, Mar 27, 2007
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  9. MO!

    MO! MOnkey`ead!

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    Thanks for the reply kmac.

    Road Angel do seem to be getting mentioned a fair bit from what I've read. They seem to have both the laser detector, and the database, with the database needing updated via subscription.
     
    MO!, Mar 27, 2007
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  10. MO!

    MO! MOnkey`ead!

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    erm....

    I shall perform a merry jig for ye!

    :mo: :MO!:
     
    MO!, Mar 27, 2007
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  11. MO!

    Will The Lucky One

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    There are two types, as mentioned, both completely legal for the time being:

    Sensor based solutions - detect emissions from the radar/laser guns used to measure speed. Can give false alerts, especially when driving in towns (sensors for automatic doors at supermarkets and the like can trigger them). Laser detection is generally useless - due to the nature of laser light, scatter is minimal and the device will only tend to pick up the laser beam when its too late (as in, already pointing at your car and measuring your excessive speed...).

    Pros:
    1. Won't be triggered by non-active cameras
    2. Can detect mobile radar sites, and police cars equipped with ANPR/radar

    Cons:
    1. Laser detection bloody useless, despite what anyone may say, for the reasons mentioned above - laser doesn't scatter well enough for the scatter to be detectable until the beam is pointed in your direction anyway, by which time it may be too late to avoid being caught....
    2. False alarms
    3. Doesn't tell you your actual speed or limit for the road in question
    4. Won't detect SPECS cameras (or any others which don't use radar/laser and thus have no emissions to be detected)
    5. Can give very late notice of cameras - radar scatter is effected by environment/objects and thus may not be detected until quite late
    6. Potentially will become illegal at some point in the future

    GPS based solutions - utilises a database of speed camera locations and roads to tell you the location of fixed cameras, including those types such as SPECS which don't give out any emissions.

    Pros:
    1. Will detect and alert you to all types of fixed site (Gatso, DS2, Watchman, SPECS etc) and some mobile sites (when updated frequently and used on roads where the police publicise the location of their mobile sites, as per ACPO guidlines)
    2. No false alerts
    3. Most units give you an accurate, GPS calibrated real time speed readout, and some tell you the speed limit of the road that you're on too
    4. Likely to remain legal - IIRC Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman admitted using a GPS 'blackspot locator' in his own car, and has made comments suggested that whilst systems that passively detect cameras may eventually be outlawed, those that merely mark their location will probably remain legal

    Cons:
    1. Requires subscription fee and regular updates to remain accurate/useful
    2. Limited/No capability against mobile sites

    Somebody mentioned a 'garage door opener' earlier as being related to the sensor based units - not strictly true. What this relates too though is a laser jammer unit, which are commercially available (though not down your local halfords or similar, being rather shadier and legally dubious when used to confuse police measuring equipment).

    These are bloody good against laser gun sites in terms of preventing your speed being measured, the problem is the likelihood of being caught is quite high, and you'll be the test case for perverting the course of justice as the police have said they'd view it as tampering with their equipment - this carries a pretty bad sentence so one to avoid being! People that use them tend to have the excuse of the emissions being from a garage door opener - fine, but if the police asked you to prove that it does open your door then you'd be buggered and generally they'd see right through it!

    Each method of operation has its own unique pro's and cons, nobody yet seems to have done a decent hybrid unit yet sadly :(.

    Myself, if I was buying one I'd probably buy the Road Angel Compact (ignoring the optional extra cost laser module) out of the currently available units - best price/performance for a GPS unit IMHO (one can go cheaper but the displays aren't as good). More expensive units like the 'New' Road Angel or Road Angel Plus are no more capable in the real world, using the same database and as mentioned, any laser detection capability is useless.

    Avoid the Road Angel Navigator 6000/7000 like the plague - though a combined satnav and camera locator may appeal, its amazingly slow, has poor software, and is thoroughly beaten by the latest model Navmans, Garmins and TomToms which offer better navigation and can still tell you the location of the cameras.

    Hope this is useful and helps clarify a few things! :)
     
    Will, Mar 27, 2007
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  12. MO!

    kmac

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    Very comprehensive - you clearly know about this stuff.
     
    kmac, Mar 27, 2007
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  13. MO!

    MO! MOnkey`ead!

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    Thanks a lot Will!

    I've had to put the research on hold while I prepare the tomtom one for posting.

    I want to delete all traces of my use from it.
    I can't figure out how to delete my home location, only to set it to another location rather than leave it blank. And there are signs of recently visited and such on there too.

    I'm tempted to just restore to factory settings, but I'm unsure if this will delete the Speed camera info I added?

    I could attempt to reinstall the camera info again if that's the case (I still have the files on the computer somewhere), but I'm really not sure how I managed it last time. Looks rather complicated.

    Any idea of how to delete my personal info? And, will restoring to factory settings also delete the camera info?

    Thanks a lot for all the help.
     
    MO!, Mar 27, 2007
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  14. MO!

    Will The Lucky One

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    Restoring it to factory settings will put it back into how it was 'outta the box', with the tutorial on startup, asking you to set your home address, choose between left and right handed operation and all that jazz.

    No idea on the camera info I'm afraid - suspect that it will be erased by a factory reset, but you should be able to load them again if you have the files on your computer still, and then configure/activate them (its part of the 'TomTom Plus' services I think, though it may depend on what version of the TT1 yours is). Could always ring TomTom to ask though :)
     
    Will, Mar 28, 2007
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  15. MO!

    MO! MOnkey`ead!

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    hmmm.

    Not really sure what to do now. I sold it as having the camera info installed. I'll email the buyer toMOrrow to see how they'd like it.

    Thanks again for the help.
     
    MO!, Mar 28, 2007
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  16. MO!

    MO! MOnkey`ead!

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    Well after making sure I was confident in how to reinstall the camera info I went ahead and did the factory reset.

    The cameras are still listed as POI's and I just needed to check them to enable them.

    Thanks for the help.

    Shall post this off then read a bit MOre into the Road Angels and such.
     
    MO!, Mar 28, 2007
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  17. MO!

    kmac

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    Ask your question here:

    HTML:
    http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/
    Excelent forum and will also tell you how what are good devices for camera detection etc.

    Their camera database used to be free - now there is a small charge, anyway a lot less than the TomTom official charge. And they work very well with Tom TOm as I am using their free version with a TTG500.

    Here is the link to adding camera databases etc for Go and rider

    HTML:
    http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=18701
     
    kmac, Mar 28, 2007
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  18. MO!

    MO! MOnkey`ead!

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    Thanks kmac. That's where I'd originally got the camera database from.

    I'll have a browse through the forums for info on stand along detectors.
     
    MO!, Mar 28, 2007
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