Now we all know that a Cyclops is a one eyed monster. The Cyclops GPS system is however no one eyed monster, its a real friend on your dash.

In the box comes all you need to get the Cyclops up and running, the main unit, power lead, cleaning cloth, velcro pads to hold it to the dash, serial cable for updates and a power supply. The instruction book is clearly laid out and well presented, explaining everything in simple terms, no rocket scientist needed here. You also get the database booklet and warranty card, its worth looking at the booklet and taking up their offer of lower priced updates if you buy your updates by standing order or pay for two years in one go.

Finished in satin black with a large funky display in the middle and two buttons either side on the top the unit feels good and looks great. The power socket is on the back left and the optional remote antenna fits into the socket on the right.. On the side is the computer interface socket. The unit looks very pleasing and blends in well on a modern dash.

The first thing to do is load a fresh database into the unit, it comes pre-loaded but it can change daily, so get this bit out of the way. You have to connect the unit to the serial port of your PC and then power the Cyclops up on the mains adapter. Once its powered up go to the site as directed in the instruction guide and follow the website's instructions. Its very easy and takes about 8 minutes to do the upload.

Once you have updated the unit its time to get it setup in your car. Its worth noting that if you have a heat reflective or heated front screen you may have to get the remote antenna. There is an antenna socket on the unit to allow for this problem, it also lets you hide the unit if you prefer.

Find a suitable position in your car where you can see it clearly and operate the buttons easily. Once you have done this, power up the Cyclops. To start with you will get a big red cross on the screen, anything up to 35 minutes later you will get a satellite lock, mine took only a few minutes to lock on. Lock on is confirmed by 4 green LED's in the top corner.

Its time to decide on the settings you want to use. I went for Overspeed mode and Limiter mode. Overspeed mode will give a continuous tone alert if you are over the speed limit within 200 yards of a speedtrap zone, rather than just the normal beep alerts. Limiter mode is to warn you that your speed has crept up over the predefined setting. The default setting is 70mph. The Limiter feature is very good, it serves as a great reminder that your speed has crept up but it is a little distracting to adjust this feature as you are driving for different speed limits. Yes I know you should not play with gadgets when you are driving, but it would have been nice to have a single button to press that logs the speed you are doing and if you go over it you then get the alert.

You can also have the Heading mode, this gives you the 8 points of a compass, ie N NE E SE S SW W NW. When Heading mode is selected, the settings that you have personally set within the Limiter and Overspeed modes still inform you should your speed creep-up or if you are exceeding the speed limit within a speed trap area. Visible satellite mode will allow you to see if the unit can see a good range of satellites.

In use the unit is very good and unlike the other GPS based systems out there the Cyclops is much less prone to alerting you to speedtraps that are not relevant to you, they have used much better filtering software. It takes into account the road you are on and the heading you are taking. Placed alongside a few of the Cyclops competitors it only alerted me to the cameras that concerned me. Other units alerted me to cameras close by but not relevant to me.

Above: The alert Sequence

Its fixed 800 yard warning range sounds as though it could be a bit short, in practice however its more than enough warning. It starts by giving you a triple beep at 800 yards and a green speed limit warning i.e., if the camera is in a 30mph then you get 30 on the display. At 600 yards it gives a single beep and the display turns red. At 400 yards it goes into a low frequency beep and the display starts to flash. At 200 yards you either get a higher frequency beep and a fast display flash or a continuous tone beep with a flashing display, only if you have turned on the Overspeed mode though. This is telling you that you are over the speed limit for that trap zone. Go below the speed limit in Overspeed mode and it reverts back to the normal warning alerts.

Overspeed mode is also automatically turned on when you are in a SPECS zone and turned off when you leave the SPECS zone. After clearing the speed zone the unit reverts back to your preferred setting.

The Cyclops will identify what type of trap you are approaching, Fixed, Variable and Temporary/Part Time.

It's easy to see where the name Cyclops came from, a single eye shaped display. LED dots make up the information displayed. The audio is easy to hear and there is plenty of volume to play with. The display is large and very clear however direct sunlight can make it a little hard to read so watch where you place it.

Above: Cyclops Layout.