Discussion
Apologies to (kind of) hijack your thread, but I have a road angel 2 that I used up utill 2 years ago but havn't used since (subscription ran out and didnt need it at that point).
If i resubscribe, will my Road Angel 2 from about 3 years ago still be upto the job?
To the OP, when I was using mine back then it was faultless, picked up on all types (plus temporary, as long as you continually updated it) aswell as mobile scamera vans
If i resubscribe, will my Road Angel 2 from about 3 years ago still be upto the job?
To the OP, when I was using mine back then it was faultless, picked up on all types (plus temporary, as long as you continually updated it) aswell as mobile scamera vans
Sorry Jakestar, but I think that's a little misleading. Your Road Angel will pick up known sites where cameras are placed but it will not pick up a live camera van if its not one of those sites stored in your memory 
Yes you can store that position into your memory once you have spotted it, but as I said it will not tell you its there beforehand!
Yes if you re-subscribe your unit should be fine, but it will not pick up the sites I mentioned above.
As for the question from the original poster, I have the New Road Angel AND the Road Angel Professional connected. The Professional unit is good but there are some things I really don't like about it.
1/ There is no sun visor fitted to the unit, this really does make it hard to see.
2/ Its very hard to store a safety camera van site while driving, if you pull over and stop the GPS seems to shut down and it will not let you store a mobile site as it cant remember what way you were traveling! I have driven past many mobile sites where camera vans have been operating but I have really struggled to input the information to update the unit. Far worse than using a mobile phone I reckon because you also need to take your eyes off the road to read the input list! If it was just a case of pushing one STORE button it would be easy but its more tricky than that
3/ I also find the battery life poor (but they do give you a backup power lead).
I guess the thing is would I buy one again, to be honest I don't think I would. There is one feature I do like about it though, when you come across a camera site it tells you verbally and on screen what the speed limit is for that stretch of road.
If I was to chose a device like this again I think I would look at going down the Sat Nav route With live updates of known positions.
Yes you can store that position into your memory once you have spotted it, but as I said it will not tell you its there beforehand!Yes if you re-subscribe your unit should be fine, but it will not pick up the sites I mentioned above.
As for the question from the original poster, I have the New Road Angel AND the Road Angel Professional connected. The Professional unit is good but there are some things I really don't like about it.
1/ There is no sun visor fitted to the unit, this really does make it hard to see.
2/ Its very hard to store a safety camera van site while driving, if you pull over and stop the GPS seems to shut down and it will not let you store a mobile site as it cant remember what way you were traveling! I have driven past many mobile sites where camera vans have been operating but I have really struggled to input the information to update the unit. Far worse than using a mobile phone I reckon because you also need to take your eyes off the road to read the input list! If it was just a case of pushing one STORE button it would be easy but its more tricky than that
3/ I also find the battery life poor (but they do give you a backup power lead).
I guess the thing is would I buy one again, to be honest I don't think I would. There is one feature I do like about it though, when you come across a camera site it tells you verbally and on screen what the speed limit is for that stretch of road.
If I was to chose a device like this again I think I would look at going down the Sat Nav route With live updates of known positions.
Edited by fatboy18 on Thursday 31st December 14:26
fatboy18 said:
Sorry Jakestar, but I think that's a little misleading. Your Road Angel will pick up known sites where cameras are placed but it will not pick up a live camera van if its not one of those sites stored in your memory Yes you can store that position into your memory once you have spotted it, but as I said it will not tell you its there beforehand!
Hmm I was under the impression that the road angel has a radar detector built in (looking at the device it has what looks like detection points on the rear of the unit (facing towards windscreen) and a circular area on the front (facing towards the driver ie rear windscreen)) so will pick up lasers when they refract off other cars and alert you that way. Yes you can store that position into your memory once you have spotted it, but as I said it will not tell you its there beforehand!If I'm correct then this isnt using GPS, so would not store a location, but simply alert you to the presence of mobile laser guns being used. (I'm also aware that if there are no cars on the road it will not help as the first instance the RA will know of the signal is when you are "zapped" and therefore not give you time to slow down)
Am i talking a load of rubish? That was certainly how the unit was sold to me when I bought it..
You re right in the last paragraph that it will detect a _Laser_ radar detector providing its directed at the unit or very very close, but the truth is the laser operators only fire the gun for a short time and directly at the front numberplate. If you look on the front of the unit there is an ancillary port where you can also purchase a frame that fits around your front plate to help detect the laser beam (you can find these for sale on eBay), this is usually needed in french cars as they have a UV anti glare windscreen its also hard for some of these cars / vans to pick up the GPS so you can also purchase an additional antenna In all honestly my New Road Angel has never picked up the laser signals and Ive been through a laser traps. Trouble is now, technology has moved on and the speed cameras now do not always use the laser system.
The bottom line with these units is that they are a help but are not foolproof. Something like the snoopers would be better as they detect X K KA Laser etc but the Road Angels mainly use GPS. The Road Angel Pro Connected is also relying on other operators to input live information on the go, but as I said its bloody hard to do it while driving At least with the pro connected you don't have to keep plugging the unit into the computer as it updates its self automatically.
Here's an instance of what happened recently. I drove down the road and the Pro connected tells me 'Warning Safety Camera van' Well there was no camera van there that day, so delete the location. Next day I drive down the same bit of road and there is the camera van all set up using ANPR Etc.... The Road Angel dose not register anything because I deleted that location the day before! So there you have it, its basically a GPS unit!
In all honestly my New Road Angel has never picked up the laser signals and Ive been through a laser traps. Trouble is now, technology has moved on and the speed cameras now do not always use the laser system.The bottom line with these units is that they are a help but are not foolproof. Something like the snoopers would be better as they detect X K KA Laser etc but the Road Angels mainly use GPS. The Road Angel Pro Connected is also relying on other operators to input live information on the go, but as I said its bloody hard to do it while driving
At least with the pro connected you don't have to keep plugging the unit into the computer as it updates its self automatically.Here's an instance of what happened recently. I drove down the road and the Pro connected tells me 'Warning Safety Camera van' Well there was no camera van there that day, so delete the location. Next day I drive down the same bit of road and there is the camera van all set up using ANPR Etc.... The Road Angel dose not register anything because I deleted that location the day before! So there you have it, its basically a GPS unit!
astonman said:
As a pure camera detection device,is there anything better than a road angel professional? If so what and why?
Yes a pogo alert. I tried a roadangel and imho compared to the pogo it was utter rubbish. Slow to pick up a satellite signal not very accurate with locations of cameras and not very informative all round. Also had a tendency to miss cameras or claim there were cameras where there werent any.The pogo however is a totally different kettle of fish and is hugely adjustable. It tells you when you are entering a specs zone the speed limit how many cameras in the specs zone and how many cameras are left (ie 1of6 2of6 3of6 and so on). Oh yeah it also tells you your average speed through the specs zone.
It also never misses a camera and is always spot on accurate within seemingly a metre or two of the camera site. It warns you on screen and vocally or one or the other depending how you set it up. Also tells you what camera type you are approaching and the limit. It has a laser that can be detached (very important as there is potential legislation coming through to ban laser and radar detectors).
It's just a very adjustable and effective piece of kit.
This website explains the various types of cameras used to attempt to catch motorists
http://www.speedcamerasuk.com/mobile-speed-camera....
HAPPY NEW YEAR and Safe Driving
http://www.speedcamerasuk.com/mobile-speed-camera....
HAPPY NEW YEAR and Safe Driving
Smoker said:
I wouldn't bother with a Road Angel Professional Con(nected) tbh. It is supposed to be live updates but this only applies to the live camera van warnings that are done by users flagging a site as live. the static camera updates are only done once a day.
Smoker that is kind of the point isnt it? To warn people about mobile scamera vans which can and do move around a lot unlike Static cameras which take a few days to put up and then they never move hence its not necessary to do a live static camera update.Smoker said:
Could be better. How?
The idea was to give people a heads up about mobile scameras by doing live updates. However they did to a small degree miss a trick in that the unit doesnt update fixed camera sites "live" however doing so would possibly be an issue from a software point of view.So as i say on one hand a pita that it deosnt do fixed but not the end of the world as it were as the original concept works.
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