Anyone using a detector??

[woosh]

Hi All,

Does anyone have any experience with either a Passport Escort Max 2, or a Snooper 3Zero....just trying to work out if they are the dogs....or whether the Valentine 1 is still top dog?

Thanks,
woosh.

[woosh]

Actually, if anyone is using a detector of any kind I'd be interested in their experience.

Thanks,

Woosh.

[anonymous-user]

From what I've heard, purely anecdotal of course, is that they're great for telling you that you have just been knabbed.

[MattS3]

Snooper 3Zero here.
Had it around a year, great bit of kit, sits on the dash out of the way.

I use it for fixed cameras and SPECS when travelling in places I'm not familiar.

It did pick up a mobile laser trap a couple of months ago, frightened the life out of me as its a different alert to normal. I doubt it would be any good in time to brake and slow down, but fortunately I was following another car doing the correct speed.

I've got a built in sat Nav unit in my Audi, which is why I bought this unit. Subscription is around £8 a quarter from memory.

Edited by MattS3 on Tuesday 30th December 22:30

[Sump]

Had a valentine, utter crap.

I like my Pogo, much better way of doing things.

[MattS3]

My snooper replaced my Pogo, in fact I had 2 of them.
Both went faulty out of warranty and Road Angel, who now own the Pogo brand, did nothing to help me get them fixed.
They just wanted me to buy a new road angel model. Which I didn't want.

Shame, because I liked the pogo unit.

The snooper is more compact and discreet though, so all worked out well.

[Sump]

Whats the model Snooper? I'm not very fond of them as a business so happy to move away if there is a decent alternative.

[cheddar]

Had lots of them, tried the cheapies now running an Escort Redline, absolutely astonishing range and even 'blips' round corners and over crests, not sure how relevant they are in the UK though.

[Matt Harper]

Likewise, not sure how relevant they are in UK.

I have a Passport 8500 hard-wired to my car and it has been a license-saver for me. I also have a V1, but don't feel it is quite as good at longer range Ka sensitivity, which is the frequency most US scanning radar speed enforcement devices emit.

Neither device will save you from a line-of-sight laser hit or a Ka "instant-on" - but do react to scattered laser (targeted at another vehicle close by).
My view is that it is an aid, rather than a sole line of defense.

Getting pinched for speeding when in possession of a working detector usually has implications too.

[MattS3]

Sump said:

Whats the model Snooper? I'm not very fond of them as a business so happy to move away if there is a decent alternative.

Mine is the 3 Zero

It doesn't have a colour display like the Pogo Alert+ does, but just a small display of LED text, combined with voice commands.
I really wasn't sure if I'd like not having the colour LCD display, but the fact the unit isn't so tall on the dash, nor as bright, makes up for it.
It does everything the Pogo did too.

It might now be replaced by the 4 Zero, although they look pretty similar to me.

[woosh]

Hi All,

Thanks for everyone's feedback. I had wanted to buy a combined GPS and active radar/laser detector, but it seems as though the US models just don't have the camera database available for UK driving.
So I'm now down to a shortlist of:

The Valentine 1 - although there seems to be a lot of negative comment about it giving too many false alerts . So I'd be real interested in any UK drivers experience.

The Escort Redline.

The Beltronics RX65.

Does it just come down to personal preference or are there any key differences between the above?

I'll be using mine primarily in the UK (70%) to 30% in the US, and probably spend about 65% driving around town and 35% on long freeway/motorway driving.

Thanks,
Woosh

[vikingaero]

I used to own a V1. It was a little on the bulky side and the design of it meant it was more suited for LHD drive cars. I used mine with the concealed display unit although now you can use one with an iPhone/Android app. It was handy knowing which gantry over the motorway actually housed live cameras. Other than that it wasn't brilliant - too many falsies from automatic door sensors on shops even with the K band turned down.

I sold it and bought a Road Angel Professional Connected - which beeps every 5 seconds because every road is a Mobile Camera Safety Partnership site. There are so many bleeps now that it's near useless so I haven't renewed the subscription.

[Geekman]

I used to have a Valentine 1, and was mostly very impressed with it. It was great for picking up those new gantree cameras on the motorways, and obviously worked well at detecting Gatsos too. I never really had the chance to test the laser capabilities but I've heard good things from other users where the device has picked up scatter from the cars in front and warned of the laser trap.

Mine did pick up the occasional false alert, but not enough to he annoying.

[r11co]

Had a few, and my advice would that while BEL detectors work very well, they all seem to have a built in self-destruct feature whereby they will fail to calibrate after a certain length of time - even if they are left unused in a box somewhere! Despite it being something that can be fixed quite easily with the right equipment, BEL and their suppliers flatly refuse to acknowledge this as it is a great way for them to continue selling new models that differ from the previous ones in very few ways beyond styling.

[woosh]

Thanks for the feedback....so at the moment I am leaning towards an Escort Redline and combining that with RoadPilot mobile via my iphone to capture the fixed cameras. Hopefully this should give me optimum coverage.

Woosh

[VWAUDI]

I used to use a V1 which was a good bit of kit. You can select which frequencies you want to detect as each region tends to use certain guns or bands to catch motorists.

I didn't find too many false positives. I now use a Beltronics STI Driver (lol), in highway mode I get a few false positives from automatic doors and the odd radar cruise control I think.

Detectors are good but radar is seldom used in the UK if at all anymore and by the time you get a laser warning they already have you most of the time. They are best in conjunction with a garage door opener aka laser jamming system. Off road use only of course for when you're on track etc.

[woosh]

of course...off-road only

I also found this recent link earlier:

http://www.radardetector.org/reviews/veil-stealth-...

it seems to be quite effective against lasers and would give more time to address your speed before they can get a firm lock on you.

Woosh

[VWAUDI]

I think that if you're actively wanting to stop getting caught then up to 70pc less laser lock ons isn't enough. You really need the full jammer thing IMO

[woosh]

Yeah, it's small margins...but the fact it can delay their lock-on thereby giving you more time to slow down in (hopefully) response to your laser detector could be critical.

Woosh