Time to buy another Radar Detector.....

[S11EPS]

......Hey guys,

Some time ago I ordered a Snooper GPS Rader/Lasar detector combo unit which has sat in a box on the floor next to my desk for the past 6 months.

Due to a combination of it being pretty ugly and changing cars being on the horizon, I never bothered to install it, and gave it to another one of the guys in the office.

So its time to order a new one and get it in.

The question is, what do I go for?

I have it down to a shortlist of three:

Roadangel 2
Origin B2
Snooper S4 Neo (I think Ads has one of these)

I really don't know if there is a noticeable performance difference between the three. Obviously this is the primary reason for picking one, so if someone knows of a definite performance advantage, I'd like to know, as this would be the one to go for.

However, if it comes down to styling, I'm leaning toeards the Origin.

They are all within ?50 of one another, so there's no issue there to seperate them.

What do you think???

[davidhawkins_78]

I've got an S4 neo and can give it a gr8 review !!

It's a GPS unit with Laser detection, so pretty god dam acurate. It's a nice small classy looking unit, easily updated online and expandable with other units too.

Shop about as I got mine off an official reseller for ?260 with 6 month subscription - not the ?370 you often see.

I can go into more detail if you're interested, but I'd highly recommend 

[G6dub]

I have a road angel and love it the new one looks a lot nicer.
My road angle is great has warned me of a few hand help lazers on my car as well as all the standard fixed camera's.

I like the way that you can just press delete on the black spots around your local driving area so that it isn't annoying or just turn the blackspots off all together

[S11EPS]

Just to say, got my new speed camera detector earlier in the week - Obviously, I immediately stopped work and spent 45 mins in the car park installing it!!!

Anyone that is looking at getting one, have a look at the Origin B2 (thats what I went for), as its well worth a look.

Ignoring the fact that its detection is pretty awesome (as you would expect all of the GPS- based systems to be) it looks great (has green illumination to tie in with the dash), is a very small unit and has the best fitting kit of any in-car product I have ever seen.

I had a go with a Road Angel for a couple of days before it turned up, and whilst there is nothing to choose between the two in terms of detection, I found the B2 has a lot more functions at your fingertips (that said, I didn't really fiddle with the RA2 too much, was too busy breaking the speed limit driving carefully).

Check it out if you're in the market for one http://www.originb2.com/

I also got a healthy discount from this guy too http://www.snooper.co.uk/

I bought 4 road angels and a B2 and got several hundred quid off the whole order - might be worth getting a group buy together if a few of you are interested in any of their products, as I doubt you'll buy a single unit cheaper.

[AdamB]

Glad you're getting on with Origin. TBH I dont think there really is much to choose between them and it probably all comes down to aesthetics. My S4 is a nice green colour and fits in with the 80s/90s style of the dash. I think the Road angel would look good in a mk4 though. Is the Origin easily transferable between your cars? I have an ignition wired supply for mine, and just pull the power lead out when I want to remove it or change cars.

[Fielder5757]

Dont blame for for getting one mate, Cops probally see the Farrari and cover there donuts in frosted icing!

[vwsystems]

obviously i hail mike valentine and his v1 radar detector!

i'm getting one of theses soon as where i live there are no non radar traps ie specs trvelo ds2 etc...... just gatsos and laser camera vans......

on the research ive been doing the v1 is the only detector to give a laser alert at a distance from the trap!
so as he fires at cars up the road you know about it!
this is the only legal way to combat laser!
there are jammers but if you do jam laser then they will investigate it...... come round your house search over the car...... and if you dont remove the jammer and they find it then they will do you for perverting the course of justice and failing to let an officer do his job ie catch you speeding!

i would get a gps but i dont like paying for the subscription when i can have a radar detector which works as good, and plus you know if there live or not and tells you where and how many radar there is hitting you! plus most of the traps specs truvelo you can normaly see! its only rear photographing cameras which they can hide! like the mini gatso... other than that its back to the handheld radar and laser guns!

like the salesman from valentine said if your on your own against a laser youve had it! but how many times have you been on your own and encountered a laser van!!! there has always been traffic in front of me doing well over the speed limit! so if there is a chance that i'll get an advanced alert by having a v1 and traffic being infront of me then this is worth having!

what i really like about the v1 is that it can monitor upto 9 radar threats using its bogey counter also it has front side and rear arrows ! i'll tell you a good example of how this works!!

say you drive down a road and you have? a gatso as you go passed it the arrow will go from the front to the side and then the rear and it will display 1 bogey!
it will also tell you what band its on and give you the signal strengh.......

but what happens if there is another gatso hidden futher up the road!

as above but as your going through the first gatso the front arrow will stop on and there will be 2 bogeys ie 2 radar threats! but the clever thing is the v1 will work out which radar is the most of a threat and it will flash the arrow towards where the most dangerous threat is coming from ie it would be at the front!



this is also good for finding gatsos near crossings where they try to hide the gatso signal in with the crossing.........

the v1 picks both up so you know how many radars there are.......

see a demo of how this works visit
http://www.valentine1.com/demo/story3.asp

i find this amasing concidering it works out all of this from radar only! no gps involved!

and? once ive finnished with it......once speed traps in the uk have been taken down i can easly sell it... they sell very well on the net on e bay they go for ?300 new from usa over here 2nd hand they? go for ?200!
 and uk internet radar detector companys like networxsautomotive sell them for ?599!! they only cost $399 thats ?217 from v1 but they only post usa only!

if i lived in the usa valentine offers an upgrade when newer bands come out! because he said all the v1's are upgradeable...... he doesnt believe in obsoletion!

[richy]

With these sort of things, do you have to buy a subscription aswell?  After shelling out a couple of hundred quid, I'd be loathe to pay for a subscription too!

S11EPS, did you go for the standard B2 or the B2 Solo, and why?

Richy

[vwsystems]

radar detectors have no subscription! where as gps have.......

reason is you pay for the updates..... because gps works only off the satalites! some also have a radar and laser detector but what you pay for is the subscription!

snooper are ?4.95 a month or ?99 for i think 24 months!

basicly the hassle of handing over card details as soon as you buy it you have to ring them up to register it and tell them your details otherwise you wont be able to get the downloaded data base and the thing wont work!

also each time you update this data base as new cameras are put up you then plug the snooper into your phone socket then it dials a number and you download the data base once every few week or months depending on how far you drive! this also costs you it takes a few miniutes at local call costs!

the only advantage the gps has over the valentine 1 is that its able to detect stationary non radar traps......

the ones which are a pain are the mobile radar and laser traps which can be set up anywhere and the road angel wont detect theses! only the laser!

ive only ever come across the mobile gatso once on the A53 30mph road.... it was on a tripod placed infront of a escort van parks on the pavement! and people were belting passed it it was flashing like mad!

wether you have a gps or a valentine 1... its down to personal choice! they both have downsides......

but i think the gps are a rip off because once youve paid ?450 for a snooper you have to pay either ?99 or ?5 a month!

but for lasers and radar speed traps you cant beat the valentine 1!!

where as non radar traps like truvelo, ds2, specs, red light cameras, congestion charging, the gps does the trick!

most people have a road angel and a v1!
best of both worlds!

like i say the traps which are a threat are the ones which get you before you get to them or you see them ie laser vans or the gatsos which get you once your passed them!

they are trying to ban radar detectors...... reason is that they are now moving to mobile traps bacause too many people have got the gps systems..... so theses arnt paying anymore!  when people had radar detectors they made non radar traps to get round them well now there trying to go back to theses olds ways and get the radar detectors banned!

even if they do ban them it wont stop me from using it!
but as ive said it all depends on what traps you encounter!

[S11EPS]

Is the Origin easily transferable between your cars? I have an ignition wired supply for mine, and just pull the power lead out when I want to remove it or change cars.

Well, the Origin sits in a little cradle (very similar to that of a mobile phone car-kit), so I will actually need to buy another one of these in order to allow me to swap it between cars. Its only about ?39, so I'm more than happy to spend that to get the same looking result - it looks great in the scoob, and with all of wires terminating at this cradle, it made hard-wring a very easy, and tremendously neat job.

Dont blame for for getting one mate, Cops probally see the Farrari and cover there donuts in frosted icing!

  Wish I had it back from the garage mate - its still there!!! The clutch job that was meant to be simple (replace the friction plate) has turned into a nightmare (friction plate, pressure plate, release bearing, seals, release bearing mounting flange and re-finish flywheel). But no doubt when it comes back (and its nice enough weather to drive it) the cops will be giving me hassle?

S11EPS, did you go for the standard B2 or the B2 Solo, and why?

Richy

I ended up with the B2 - I had no idea what the B2 solo was until the booklets and fitting kit arrived!

VWSystems, I certainly won't challenge you on the radar stuff, as I know that you know your apples there, but there are a couple of things I just want to point out - Firstly, the subscription charges aren't that steep (certainly on the road angel and B2) - When you first get the unit, you do need to register it, but that is so that RA and Origin can determine when your subscrition starts. With both products you get six months subscrition included free, which means that you do not need to hand over credit card details straight away.

As for subscription charges, ?99 will actually buy you 3 years of as many updates as you want (daily if you really want to), which equates to ?2.75 a month - which doesn't even buy you a pint anymore. As for the cost of actually receiving those downloads, both the roadangel and Origin plug into a PC and download via the internet, so there are no additional phone charges there - update whilst you're posting on GolfGTi.co.uk!!!

I don't doubt for one second that the V1 is significantly better at picking up radar/laser traps than the GPS systems (you've convinced me!!!) but for me, I think I'm happy with my choice. For many, I think the V1 will be great, but tbh, I don't want to be told about Bogey installations and false radar readings - I want to know about the ones that will earn me points - besides those ones, the thing should STFU

That is the reason that people fell out with Radar detectors years ago - drive through town and things went schizo at a set of automatic doors! I have no doubt that the V1 is leagues ahead of the old school efforts, but I want the minimum amount of beeping!!

From common trend, you can see that Police don't really want to be on the roads (that's why we've seen the police disappear to be 'replaced' by fixed poistion speed cameras) so as the network of fixed position Gatso's/Truvelo's increases, as does the use of average speed 'SPECS' units, the requirement for random laser traps will decrease.

My next purchase is a laser difuser, as I think that with my GPS system, with radar and laser modules, and a laser difuser I should be adequately covered. If I see a valentine come up at a reasonable price on ebay though, I may be tempted to add that too ?