MR2 Roadster Owners Club

The Workshop => General => Topic started by: Hope4Sun on February 17, 2004, 20:25

Title: RoadAngel hard at work >;)
Post by: Hope4Sun on February 17, 2004, 20:25
Here's a little vid showing my Road Angel kindly alerting me to the nice police officer standing a few hundered meters up the road  s:) :) s:) , don't ask how we had someone with a digital camera in the car, who just happened to be filming ( so sorry for the quality and lack of sound  s:( :( s:(  )

Of course i was sticking to the speed limit any way, and the nice office even smiled and gave us a nod to show how happy he was that we were driving so carefully, poor guy, i know he was only doing his job an all  s:) :) s:)

Better to right click and save then to stream direct:

 m http://www.euroroadster.com/Images/Misc/RoadAngel.AVI (http://www.euroroadster.com/Images/Misc/RoadAngel.AVI) m

Andy
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Post by: Anonymous on February 17, 2004, 20:37
Class!
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Post by: Liz on February 17, 2004, 20:38
What model is that Andy, I didn't think that they all picked up the handheld cameras??  I WANT ONE!!
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Post by: Hope4Sun on February 17, 2004, 20:42
Its the lastest one available , just be sure it has the added laser detector in the box (and on the side of) and "bobs ya uncle" and "shiny and clean's ya licence" (well mine will be in about 1000000000000000000000000 years   s:oops: :oops: s:oops:  )

Andy
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Post by: Liz on February 17, 2004, 20:44
Going to surf for one now! Cheers Andy
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Post by: Anonymous on February 17, 2004, 20:50
forget the road angel, the coolest thing about that is your super cool display in the middle of your dash... I still want a spin in your beast!   s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:    s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:
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Post by: Liz on February 17, 2004, 21:01
is this the one and is this a good price for buy it now, and could I fit it???
Just checked with VAT is £321.75 - still good price??

 m http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... gory=14946 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3078189325&category=14946) m
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Post by: Hope4Sun on February 17, 2004, 22:39
Thats the one and the price is very good  s:) :) s:) , fitting, involves pluging the thing into your PC, download the lastest data and then pop it on your dash along with the power to the cigarate lighter, job done  s:) :) s:)

Though i thought carrying a warrant card is as good as having one isn't it Liz   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  


Don't worry kris (and others  s;) ;) s;)  ) your ride still stands, next time theres a big meet not to far i'll pop along, or theres always the JAE. The MFD is very cool, it has so many settings, the basic one there showing my torque split and my boost  s:) :) s:)

Andy
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Post by: markiii on February 17, 2004, 23:12
worth considering the origin b2 Liz as well. I got mine for £335
inc vat
Title: Re: RoadAngel hard at work >;)
Post by: Peter Laborne on February 17, 2004, 23:39
Quote from: "Hope4Sun"Here's a little vid showing my Road Angel kindly alerting me to the nice police officer standing a few hundered meters up the road  s:) :) s:)

I love the little group "yeah" as it goes off   s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:
Title: Re: RoadAngel hard at work >;)
Post by: Hope4Sun on February 17, 2004, 23:54
Quote from: "Peter Laborne"I love the little group "yeah" as it goes off   s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:

  s:D :D s:D  , shame theres no sound   s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:  

Andy
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Post by: MRMike on February 18, 2004, 00:01
Quote from: "andy"Don't worry kris (and others  s;) ;) s;)  ) your ride still stands, next time theres a big meet not to far i'll pop along, or theres always the JAE. The MFD is very cool, it has so many settings, the basic one there showing my torque split and my boost  s:) :) s:)

Andy

Not sure if I saw right but your boost red zone is set pretty low! whats going on!  Have you had any mods to yours by the way andy?

Need to get one of those my Snooper is distictly old hat now and wouldn't have picked that up.. though if ever you need to pick up a traffic light..
Title: TOPIC SPLIT
Post by: Anonymous on February 19, 2004, 00:08
[mod: Due to excessive drift, this topic has been split. The rest of the off topc thread can be found in chit chat under "red zones" /MOD]
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Post by: dancarbon on February 19, 2004, 10:40
 s:D :D s:D  Pretty cool.

Did you spot the copper, go home and get the camera and then go back??  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
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Post by: Liz on February 21, 2004, 21:18
Well I was impressed with what I saw with the "Lasar" (Austin Powers fans will know what I mean with the " "!!) that I have bought one of these off of e-bay for £315.00 inc p & p, as they retail at £399.00 I didn't think that was bad, and you get the first years subscription for free.

As one of my main roads to work is a lovely wide dual carriageway (those on the Chelmsford meet - it was the one where we boxed in the MGF  s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:  !) The police have started lying in wait with the Lasar guns in the laybys, so I would rather be safe than sorry, not that I go mad, but I do like to gun along a bit sometimes.   s:roll: :roll: s:roll:
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Post by: Anonymous on February 22, 2004, 11:25
Hmmm, I've been thinking about getting a Road Angel, but worry about leaving it plugged into the car, (in case some tea-leaf decides to help himself   s:evil: :evil: s:evil:  ).

Is it easy to take in and out of the car?  Or is the unit mounted to the dash using screws?

(I'm hoping its just sucky pads!!!   s:D :D s:D  )


Sundance   s8) 8) s8)
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Post by: Liz on February 22, 2004, 12:05
On the e-bay link above it shows a dash mat, so I presume that you can take it in and out of the car easily, I am going to have to hide mine when at work just in case some traffic officer sees it and I get in trouble!!
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Post by: Anonymous on February 22, 2004, 13:04
I wonder if there are any issues with buying a used one from eBay?  Do you have to pay the 50 quid subscription charge all over again?  If so you might want to factor that into your bid....

Sundance   s8) 8) s8)
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Post by: Liz on February 22, 2004, 14:23
The one I have purchased is brand new and sealed so you get the year when you register it, once that year is up and if I am happy with it I will go for the £99 for life option, will let you know about the mountings when I get it.  I was hoping to be able to mount it on the little area to the right of the dashboard if the lead is long enough to go to the lasar detector in the middle of the screen. I also want to get it wired into the ignition to save the wire going to the ciggie lighter.
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Post by: Hope4Sun on February 22, 2004, 22:30
The unit comes with a rubber mat that you can sit it on, it also comes with a bracket that has suckers on it, like in the vid, you just pull the power and pop it in the glove box, job done.

As for your works pals seeing it Liz, as far as i know GPS Blackspot devices are not against the law  s;) ;) s;)

Andy
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Post by: Liz on February 22, 2004, 23:22
Quote from: "Hope4Sun"As for your works pals seeing it Liz, as far as i know GPS Blackspot devices are not against the law  s;) ;) s;)

Andy

Yeah!! To be honest my car would not be the only one in the car park with one..I was talking about this at work today and lots of people can't wait to see mine when I get it, you should be on commission Andy!   s:) :) s:)
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Post by: Hope4Sun on February 22, 2004, 23:36
Quote from: "Liz"Yeah!! To be honest my car would not be the only one in the car park with one..I was talking about this at work today and lots of people can't wait to see mine when I get it, you should be on commission Andy!   s:) :) s:)

Commission!, mmm that would be nice, that might help cover my ever increasing bills for car mods  s:) :) s:) , maybe i should have a word with the place we GB'd our Angels from  s:D :D s:D

Andy
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Post by: Humble Jim on February 23, 2004, 15:04
Interesting kit. We have two cars, only one of which is in use at a time normally. Sounds like it could comfortably be walked between them?
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Post by: Anonymous on February 23, 2004, 18:03
Quote from: "Humble Jim"Interesting kit. We have two cars, only one of which is in use at a time normally. Sounds like it could comfortably be walked between them?
Yeah, apparently you just plug it into the cigarette lighter of the other car and off you go...!   s:D :D s:D  

Sundance   s8) 8) s8)
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Post by: Liz on February 26, 2004, 15:38
Well got the Road Angel this morning, installed it, says on the instructions can take up to 45 mins to find the satellites, make that 45 seconds if that!! Been out and about playing with the buttons, went to my nearest speed camera and it bleated at me until I was past it.  I also managed to put it onto the dash board on the right hand side in the little space there and it still picks up a good signal, so far, well impressed and I  tucked away the wiring neatly as well!  

What I found really amazing though is the discrepancy between what the speedo reads and what the display on the Road Angel says, RA said I was doing 30 mph, my speedo says I am doing 34, so which do I believe, I am leaning towards RA as you are being tracked so surely that is the more accurate figure??
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Post by: Anonymous on February 26, 2004, 15:43
Quote from: "Liz"RA said I was doing 30 mph, my speedo says I am doing 34, so which do I believe, I am leaning towards RA as you are being tracked so surely that is the more accurate figure??

My Satnav system says the same, reckons the speedo is overreading by 4-5mph.

I reckon it's all a big conspiracy to make us drive more slowly and make cars feel faster  s:) :) s:)
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Post by: Hope4Sun on February 26, 2004, 15:51
Thats about right Liz, it was about 4 miles out on the Porker and is up to 5 miles out in the Sklyline, i found it gets slightly more accurate when your going at a constant 60+, taking into account it takes a second to update.

No camera has gone off with me using the RA as my speedo yet, infact i tend to use it all the time as my speedo now   s:oops: :oops: s:oops:  

Andy
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Post by: Liz on February 26, 2004, 15:53
I can see that I will using it as my speedo!! Get a few extra mph going. Thanks for the original post on this Andy, and for making me spend £315.00!!!  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
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Post by: Humble Jim on February 26, 2004, 16:06
Liz

How do you find it affects how much you can see out of the windscreen. Not the pod thing so much but the laser detector. Some/not at all?
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Post by: Liz on February 26, 2004, 16:16
I will take a piccy later, managed to get the pod on the right on the dashboard and it is out of the way and neat, didn't like the thing that sticks on the windscreen, bit messy looking, pod is ok as well, think I have got it positioned ok. Will take pictures and see what you think.
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Post by: Liz on February 26, 2004, 16:57
Piccies, maybe someone can let me know if the laser thingy is in the right position!!?

 m http://uk.msnusers.com/LizMyers/shoebox.msnw?Page=2 (http://uk.msnusers.com/LizMyers/shoebox.msnw?Page=2) m
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Post by: Hope4Sun on February 26, 2004, 21:51
Hi Liz, looks great, i would recommend the laser senso be hanging completly striaght down and maybe a little higher if you want it to pick up lasers from behind as well? you can get another sensor for about £30 which plugs into the main one though  s:) :) s:)

I did try mine up in front of my rear view mirror, but think this may be too high for the a laser being pointed at the car?

Andy
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Post by: Anonymous on February 27, 2004, 06:12
If you make the RA sit on the non-slip mat and you have the hood down on the car does it fly off or is it stable (if you get what I mean?)

Or has no-one tried this yet as its too frigging cold...   s:) :) s:)  

Sundance   s8) 8) s8)
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Post by: Liz on February 27, 2004, 09:45
I am going to mount mine with the dual lock grips that are supplied with it, its like posh velcro and nothing is going to move that!
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Post by: Anonymous on February 27, 2004, 23:17
Yaaaay posh velcro rules...   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

Sundance   s8) 8) s8)
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Post by: Humble Jim on February 28, 2004, 15:14
Looks good Liz, and pictures are done well. Very neat, I like the main pod being sited to the right like that in a natural slightly lower section of the dash.
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Post by: Anonymous on February 28, 2004, 18:04
Liz

I recently re-wired my Bluei set and discovered that there is a gap at the front of the dash through which you can feed cables. You need to get on your back and slide under the steering wheel and look up to the left and you should glimse daylight.

The following link should give an idea of where it is. It is reasonaly long but narrow. I was able to run three cables through and it would probably help if someone is there to grab the cable as you feed it through from below but I did manage by myself. I then routed the power cable across to the head unit and down to the ciggy lighter.

http://www.apbw47.dsl.pipex.com/cables.jpg
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Post by: Liz on February 28, 2004, 19:37
Thanks for that, in fact where the pillar comes down and meets the dash on mine is loose, so should be even more daylight coming through!    Ideally I would like it wired into the ignition circuit, but I am not allowed near wire cutters  s:roll: :roll: s:roll:  , Definiately going to have a go at that tomorrow as it is alot neater looking, thank you again.
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Post by: Liz on March 9, 2004, 12:43
Weird thing happened with the RA yesterday, I was coming out of a petrol station and had to be at a bit of a strange angle due to an incoming lorry, I knew that there was a large kerb at the exit so I thought I would adjust the nearside mirror down so I could see that I was going to miss it (yes a woman did think of doing this  s:!: :!: s:!:  )...anyway, must emit some sort of signal cos the RA starts flashing like a mad thing saying that there was a mobile camera nearby..I tried this as I went along the road and it did the same. Anyone else had this?

My car is at Mr T at the moment - have asked them to wire it into the ignition, we shall see what happens!
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Post by: Humble Jim on March 9, 2004, 13:42
If the main pod is sited on the dash very near to the mirror being adjusted, perhaps it is picking up some sort of RF interference off the motor moving the mirror? I'd expect the thing to be shielded against such but close proximity might mean spurious signals are getting in that way? This is only speculation, Liz, as I don't own one. Does it do it for the passenger side mirror too?
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Post by: Anonymous on March 9, 2004, 14:12
Quote from: "Liz"Weird thing happened with the RA yesterday, I was coming out of a petrol station and had to be at a bit of a strange angle due to an incoming lorry, I knew that there was a large kerb at the exit so I thought I would adjust the nearside mirror down so I could see that I was going to miss it (yes a woman did think of doing this  s:!: :!: s:!:  )...anyway, must emit some sort of signal cos the RA starts flashing like a mad thing saying that there was a mobile camera nearby..I tried this as I went along the road and it did the same. Anyone else had this?

My car is at Mr T at the moment - have asked them to wire it into the ignition, we shall see what happens!

OB2 does this too - flashes "laser" on screen.  You get used to it.
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Post by: Liz on March 9, 2004, 14:13
It was the nearside that I was adjusting, no problem, just made me jump thats all!
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Post by: Anonymous on March 12, 2004, 10:09
Folks

I've just bought a RoadAngel from PCmediastore for £319.99

 m http://www.stores.ebay.co.uk/id=69080946&ssPageName=L2 (http://www.stores.ebay.co.uk/id=69080946&ssPageName=L2) m

  s:D :D s:D    s:D :D s:D    s:D :D s:D
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Post by: Anonymous on March 25, 2004, 18:30
Liz

I have been advised that as the cigar lighter plug has an LED light on this means it has an in-built transformer knocking the power down to 3.5 volts. I presume that if your dealer cuts off the plug and wires it into a fused connection this could knacker the Road Angel by using 12 volts.

Have you had it done yet? If so, what did they do?

Regards
  s:D :D s:D    s:D :D s:D
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Post by: Liz on March 25, 2004, 19:15
No they ignored me when I asked, so I am leaving it as it is, I have tucked all the wires away so it looks neat enough now.

 Haven't come across a mobile or average yet which is disappointing!
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Post by: Anonymous on March 25, 2004, 23:12
Quote from: "phil4"
Quote from: "Liz"RA said I was doing 30 mph, my speedo says I am doing 34, so which do I believe, I am leaning towards RA as you are being tracked so surely that is the more accurate figure??

My Satnav system says the same, reckons the speedo is overreading by 4-5mph.

I reckon it's all a big conspiracy to make us drive more slowly and make cars feel faster  s:) :) s:)

By design speedos read fast. You can check this Liz (!) The (eu?) law states that they must not display a speed slower than the actual speed but can read upto 10% fast. This following is from my Santa Fe, (sorry the formatting isnt so good)

Velocity     Tolerance (Km/ h)
20             20.8-25.4
40             40-44
60             60.8-65.4
80             81.4-86.8
100           102.6-108.2
120           123.5-129.6
140           144.4-151
160           165.4-172.4
180           186.3-193.8
200           207.2-215.2



Velocity Tolerance (MPH)
10             10-12.5
20             20-22
40             40-42.6
60             60-63.4
80             80.3-84.1
100            100.3-104.7
120            120.3-125.3
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Post by: SteveJ on March 25, 2004, 23:31
Quote from: "Roger H"Liz

I have been advised that as the cigar lighter plug has an LED light on this means it has an in-built transformer knocking the power down to 3.5 volts. I presume that if your dealer cuts off the plug and wires it into a fused connection this could knacker the Road Angel by using 12 volts.

Have you had it done yet? If so, what did they do?

Regards
  s:D :D s:D    s:D :D s:D

Not sure who told you that, but I can assure you the LED does NOT indicate the adaptor has a transformer (for the non-technical members, a transformer requires AC [Alternating Current NOT Air Conditioning!] wheras the power in the car is 12V DC, so it would contain a voltage regulator) or that the output is 3.5V

The only way to ascertain the output voltage of the adaptor is using a multimeter, but given that a hard-wiring kit is available for the the Road Angel, I would suspect that it feeds on raw 12V and has a regulator to reduce the voltage internally.
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Post by: Anonymous on March 26, 2004, 08:24
Quote from: "Liz"No they ignored me when I asked, so I am leaving it as it is, I have tucked all the wires away so it looks neat enough now.

 Haven't come across a mobile or average yet which is disappointing!

Went into central london the other week and found my first specs - through a tunnel!  The B2 worked quite well, it told me about the specs, then it must have known it was going into a tunnel (no signal) as it stayed on showing specs until I got out of the tunnel.  

Had to laugh as I did a nice 30 all the way through and watched people over and undertaking me and braking at the lines...oh how silly.

I presume yours will operate the same as the B2 for specs - very clever aint it.
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Post by: Anonymous on March 26, 2004, 09:02
Quote from: "cstevens"
Quote from: "Liz"No they ignored me when I asked, so I am leaving it as it is, I have tucked all the wires away so it looks neat enough now.

 Haven't come across a mobile or average yet which is disappointing!

Went into central london the other week and found my first specs - through a tunnel!  The B2 worked quite well, it told me about the specs, then it must have known it was going into a tunnel (no signal) as it stayed on showing specs until I got out of the tunnel.  

Had to laugh as I did a nice 30 all the way through and watched people over and undertaking me and braking at the lines...oh how silly.

I presume yours will operate the same as the B2 for specs - very clever aint it.

I hit some specs last Thursday on the M6 north bound in Manchester during the temp 40mph limit. The B2 saved me as there is no way I would have spotted them  s:D :D s:D
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Post by: Anonymous on March 26, 2004, 10:12
SteveJ

Thanks for the response. According to the AC power adapter the DC regulator in the cigar lighter plug will reduce the 12v to 9v.

Cheers
  s:D :D s:D    s:D :D s:D
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Post by: Anonymous on April 6, 2004, 17:25
Just to dig up an old thread...   s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:  

After seeing Liz's Road Angel at the treasure hunt, I decided to take the (huge monetary) plunge and get one for meself. It arrived yesterday, and (after registration and d/l'ing the updates) today is the first day I've been able to give it a try. Just got back indoors after a brief 10-min spin to the nearest Gatso (just to check it works!), and have discovered something very interesting...

It turns out that the only blackspot in Braintree that I've discovered so far is RIGHT OUTSIDE MY HOUSE! Yes, that's right, I actually live in an accident blackspot!   s:shock: :shock: s:shock:   I know it's a bit dodgy reversing out of my drive onto the road, but that's mainly my fault because of where I park my truck, but it still came as a bit of a shock!

Still, was cool to see it flash as soon as I started to move the car...!
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Post by: Anonymous on April 6, 2004, 17:47
ekona

Just be VERY careful that you don't become a statistic in your own accident black spot!! I haven't had time to register mine yet nor set it up in the car.

  s:D :D s:D    s:D :D s:D    s:D :D s:D
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Post by: Anonymous on April 16, 2004, 16:11
After trying a Snooper for a day I decided that it was time to buy a suitable camera detection unit. Having read up various reports I decided to go with the Road Angel.
I thought the Snooper (don't no exactly which model) was very good as it indicated which cameras etc. were primed. The constant bleeping disturbed me as it also seems to pick up petrol station security cameras and other devices that omit a signal. For some reason it also bleeped continuosly within half a mile of my house in all directions even on my drive. I put it down to the main TV transmitter close by.   s:? :? s:?  
The Road Angel seems a more mature device as it alerts you to all known cameras. Thereby encouraging you to reduce speed. As yet I've not encountered a hand held laser gun to test the laser device, so I'm not entirely sure if this item works sufficiently well enough. As I fear once a laser has detected you the Road Angel bleep will be too late, assuming your speeding of course.
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Post by: Anonymous on April 16, 2004, 22:12
Just a thought: would a simple 'laser pointer' (like the ones used for presentations / annoying people) be enought to set the RA off? Obviously police speed guns use a different type of laser, but it would be nice to know if I've set the RA up at the right angle to detect them...
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Post by: Hope4Sun on April 18, 2004, 10:14
Quote from: "ekona"Just a thought: would a simple 'laser pointer' (like the ones used for presentations / annoying people) be enought to set the RA off? Obviously police speed guns use a different type of laser, but it would be nice to know if I've set the RA up at the right angle to detect them...

You can test the RA laser sensor with TV remote controls as it states in the Manul, i tried this and found a SKY remote seems pretty good for it, i guess laser pointers would work though  s:) :) s:)

Andy