Snooper S6 Review

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VikJ

Active Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2003
Messages
223
Location
Peterborough, Cambs.
Car
2014 W246 B180CDi AMG Line Premium
Installed my new Snooper S6 this evening which was a fairly painless experience.

Biggest pain in the backside was hooking the permanent power lead to the cigarette lighter power supply. Having never taken any part of the car apart before, it took me a good 30 mins to take the cubbyhole/ashtray section out.

Once that was done, it was fairly easy. I've decided to mount the RLD at the top centre of the windscreen as I couldn't find suitable place within the engine bay. This is attached to the windscreen with suction pads just behind the rear view mirror and is pretty discreet. Certainly more than I thought it would be. Total installation time was between 2 - 2.5 hours.

The main display unit is attached to the windscreen in the corner to the right of the steering wheel and the GPS arial is on the middle of the dash next to the SatNav arial. I'd registered the unit through the S6 website last night as you cannot download the database until you have done that.

I then went out for a quick spin to test it out, heading up the A1 from Peterborough towards Stamford. I was pretty impressed as the first Truvelo it picked up was in a 40mph roadworks zone followed by one in a 70mph zone shortly after. I then turned round came back through the roadworks and noticed that it didn't pick one camera but wasn't unduly concerned as it is only been installed for the roadworks and is not a permanent fixed unit.

I then took the A605 towards Oundle to test the 2 camera's between the A1 and Oundle (for those who know the area, Simon and Jimmy). I was pretty annoyed as it failed to pick them up but then remembered that I'd set the unit to not advise me of camera's facing in the opposite direction (Duh). I'm thinking of changing this setting as its possible for camera's on A Roads to be turned around so better to be safe than sorry.

So, out of a total of 6 camera's passed, it only failed on one which was in a 40mph roadworks zone. As a result, I'm happy with it but will obviously have to see what happens on a longer run and will be interested to see how it works on minor roads and in London where there are camera's galore.

The only thing that annoyed me was that it kept picking up K band signals but I understand that this can be turned off somehow.

I also aimed to keep the installation as portable as possible so that I can move it from car to car. In a few months time, I may buy another GPS arial for the A-Class so that I can move the unit and use the supplied separate cigarette lighter power lead.

Apologies for the long post, but as it seems to be the hot topic at the moment, I thought I'd post my experience with the product. Let me know if any questions and I'll try my best to answer them.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the feedback. Keep us posted.


Pics??
 
Originally posted by GrahamC230K
Thanks for the feedback. Keep us posted.


Pics??

It was getting a little dark Graham. I'll take some tomorrow and post them.
 
I have just installed one this evening aswell, a big thanks to Billy for lending me his, nice to see you again.:bannana: So that I can try before I/we buy.

I installed it the same as you VikJ, the radar/laser unit in front of the rear view mirror is very discreet. There is not anywhere suitable to put the main unit other than stick it on the scree. It is too big to fit in the ashtray or in the cubby hole.

I was wondering if there would be a way of T-ing into the GPS antennae for the sat nav for a more permanent install, I have only got this one for a week so am not going to worry too much.

On the first test drive I was rather concerned that it did not warn of two fairly new fixed cameras near to home. I came home, plugged it into the phoneline and did an update. When I went back out it knew they were there.

Overall it gives good accurate warnings on fixed cameras, everywhere I went where I knew there was a camera it warned me of them. I set it to pre-warn at 500 metres.

Like VikJ found I got several warnings of K Band radar, I am guessing this was because of automatic doors at the BP garage and at tescos?? and perhaps traffic lights???

I am driving to Birmingham tomorrow so I shall see how it performs. But so far I am impressed.:cool:
 
Jimmy,

I've been doing some digging and one website mentioned that the GPS arial needs to be at least 0.5m away from the RLD.

I assume that I'm getting the problem because the RLD is at the top centre of the windscreen and the GPS arial for the Snooper and the SatNav are both at the bottom centre. I'm going to try moving the RLD unit tonight to see if it makes any difference.

Will post findings and pics tonight.
 
Today I gave the S6 a good test by driving to Birmingham and back. I have had quite a few problems with the unit picking up satellites, it also affects my sat nav travel pilot!!

Once it locks onto the sats it is OK but this can take 10 minutes or so and it sometimes loses them for a minute or two. I find the screen gives almost too much info and some of it is hard to read as it is quite small. The actual speed reading is always displayed with a delay of a few seconds as it calculates your speed, not a problem but you notice it when you are accelerating hard and the speedo could be reading 60 and the S6 is saying 35.

Warnings are given in plenty of time for fixed cameras, although one was missed on the M6 at the new toll road, roadworks today. Warnings are given for all fixed cameras, on your side of the road or not.

I found the radar/laser alert to be rather annoying, there seems to be alot of Band K radars around, the unit beeps and warns of these every few miles, in the end I disconnected the radar/laser unit for a quieter drive home.

Incidentally I met the manufacturers/distributors of Snooper at the trade show and whilst friendly enough they were not very keen to talk prices or negotiate discounts, they will send a rep out to me in couple of weeks.

Road Angel were at the show and they impressed me so much that I did a deal with them, I came home with both the Snooper and a Road Angel on the dashboard!!!

On first impressions I would say that the Road Angel has the edge over the Snooper. The Road Angel is more compact, feels better made, has less buttons, only gives the neccessary information that you need and the support and database would appear to be better.

Saying that, both units do what they say they do and it is down to personal preference and price.
 

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