Hi gang - What detector am i buying?

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SportsCoupeRich

MB Enthusiast
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Going to invest in the licence saver.

I think i want to spend no more than £400 or thereabouts which seems to cover most of the products out there. REqs

Detect all horrible 3 point givers, accident blackspots and i want ti hard wired so i dont have to mess around with any curly leads. :D

you all normally help me lots so please earn a rep point :rock:

ta,

Richard
 
Personally I have had both a Road Angel and Snooper S4, at the time the Road Angel was very good, purely because it was the first of it's kind but the Snooper was better because it was smaller and neater and gave verbal warnings and advised of the actual speed limit.

I now have a TomTom and regularly download the FREE camera database and have found it faultless in both navigation and camera warnings. OK it does not have radar or laser detectors but the camera database also includes regular mobile sites. I have the power cable hardwired but the unit is easily swappable between our cars and I have ordered another power cable to fit in the Golf.

The problem with most of the standalone detectors is that you have to pay a subscription ontop of an already expensive purchase price.

Other people swear by the Origin or MicroPilot, the new Road Angel is supposed to be good, they have just released the Road Angel Navigator similar to the TomTom in operation but you still have to pay for updates.
 
Origin B2 is meant to be the daddy but I have the new updated Road Angel and I'm very pleased with it. The unit has GPS based camera locations and integral front & rear laser detection.

S.
 
We have Tom Tom and it is useful but not foolproof by any means. We've joked how the lovely Jane has been confused at times - warning when cameras don't exist and not where they do - and some are long standing ones. I don;t think any of them are foolproof though and you still need to keep your wits about you.

But the beauty of something like TTG is the portability of it and availability of free camera database updates. And it gives you navigation etc to boot :bannana:

The only true way to protect your licence is to stay within the speed limit :( :rolleyes: ;)
 
I have an original RA, but would recommend the Origin B2 for it's reported performance and stealth.
 
I have two Origin b2's hard wired in the C43 and the Sclass. I have had them since Origin started and found them brilliant, very compact easy to download new sights a very good piece of equiptment i highly reccomend the b2.
 
useful pointers - except yours Pammy!I want to have fun when the road allows ;)

so what would be the advice. i dont really need the nav unit RA - i have an atlas. Will save nav till i get comand.

so is the b2 the way to go.....where can i get it cheapest and how much/easy is to hardwire?

cheers
 
for the price of an Origin B2 you could probably pick up a PDA based sat nav system with free speed camera database and updates as opposed to pays subs for a standalone detector.
 
mickl said:
for the price of an Origin B2 you could probably pick up a PDA based sat nav system with free speed camera database and updates as opposed to pays subs for a standalone detector.

Thats what I was trying to get at above with the TomTom, I think you can get a TomTom for similar price but not as messy as PDA and like you say the updates are free.

I cannot say that I have found the database unreliable as Pammy mentions, if it is then I am in trouble. :crazy:
 
SportsCoupeRich said:
ok, lots to think about there, Am i correct in thinking that b2 wont detect the mobiile camera sites/handheld jobs?


B2 makes tea.

The b2 detects everything. With the b2 you get a laser detector. Optional modules include a radar head and connection to an LRC100 garage door opener ;)

Personally ive got 2 b2's , 1 bel 990 international and a Valantine 1.

B2 and valantine 1 make a good combo , but your looking at the best part of a grand for the pair.

Its up to you , feel free to ask away if youve got any questions.
 
I have both a RoadAngel 2 and TomTom Navigator (with the speed camera database). I think its well worth having both as I don't always want to use TomTom, where as I don't drive anywhere without the RoadAngel on.

Also from what I have seen the TomTom only gives you camera warnings if you have sound on. I often like to drive with the sound off and just follow the map and it doesn't audible warning of camera's.
 
B2 for me on both cars with the laser diffusers ... well not on the mustang yet but it will be soon. had b2's for a couple years now . very reliable, easy to update and easy to hardwire and locate discretely/ covertly. on my SL & C203 it lived in the ashtray
 
steve_bcs said:
B2 for me on both cars with the laser diffusers ... well not on the mustang yet but it will be soon. had b2's for a couple years now . very reliable, easy to update and easy to hardwire and locate discretely/ covertly. on my SL & C203 it lived in the ashtray

SteveBCS - can you just confirm - did you hard wire the B2 in to your 129 and did it fit into the storage area in the centre console (the one just ahead of the gear lever with the flip top lid)?
Did you have the GPS antenna fixed discreetly to the dashboard?

thanks
Nick
 
Whatever happened to the threatened change to make radar (& laser?) detectors illegal? Earlier in the year they were saying this could be law by summer!

PS do detectors give you enough advance warning to slow down in time (if you have accidentally gone over the limit ;))? Surely once a laser detector goes off it's too late?
 
BTB you are right there was a lot of talk about making them illegal but the latest news is that GPS "detectors" are and will continue to be legal as they act on the same basis as the policy of making the cameras more visible by painting them yellow.

As for the laser detectors - there is an outside chance of them becoming illegal but the New Road Angel laser detector can be permanently disabled via software and thus if in the future the laser bit becomes illegal you can still use the GPS alerts.

I borrowed a New Road Angel from a friend to test it and the first alert I got was around the Earls Court /A40 area in London from a laser!.

I was about 4 cars behind the leader coming off the lights and the detector picked up the "splash" of the laser which was obviously trained on the cars in front.

It was some time before I spotted the copper who was wearing his bright yellow safety jacket...and hiding behind a big white van!

I was a bit sceptical before but I am definitely going to buy one with laser detection - it was awesome!
 
I've been using the free downloadable stuff from www.pocketgps.co.uk; they seem to be fairly accurate, and usually err on the paranoid side (i.e. warning for a camera when there isn't one) rather than the other way around. That said, it isn't TOO usefull for mobile units...

Now the question is; do you want :
a- a database run system
b- a detector
c- a jammer
? It all depends just how much you wish to save your licence really...
 

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