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"The UK SpeedTrap Guide"2008 - All you want to know..... |
| Defensive Equipment Tests. This Page covers equipment that I have been sent and with the help of a few friends (inc. Police) we put under test, and we will give you our views on the products, not the salesman's views. Not all manufactures of equipment want us to test their equipment, wonder why...? So all not all the equipment on the market may be tested. If you have any equipment you have bought and you want to send us your views on how well it works or doesn't for that, let us know. Send your review or comments  All Contents are ©Copyright 2005 Steve Warren. Tests may not be republished without permission. All rights reserved |
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NOVUS Alpha
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Video Review |
My first thoughts on the IR remote control was it was a bit of a gimmick, but as soon as you start to use it you realise that changing settings could not be any easier. Selecting settings are just a few presses of the relevant buttons, for example turning on/off a warning such as sharp bends is only three presses of the IR remote. There are dedicated buttons for most of the features. The menu is dead easy to understand. Overall for the IR remote control I would give 10 out of 10 for functionality.
There are some industry firsts in this unit and some of these features I know people have been asking for.
The NOVUS Alpha offers road profiling and because of this you can select the type of vehicle you are in, Car/Motorbike, Towing Car, Bus/Coach, Good vehicle below 7.5 tons, Articulated or towing and Goods vehicle exceeding 7.5 tons this then will reconfigure the warnings to that type of vehicle. This has never been done before and is a truly great feature as it warns you of the speed limit for your type of vehicle.
As I have said the NOVUS Alpha offers road profiling this removes false alerts by using a two position activation method, using an initial activation point and camera location. Novus Alpha will only generate a warning when a vehicle passes an activation point and is driving towards the camera. Should a vehicle be driving from the opposite direction, the vehicle will not pass the activation point and no false alarm will be raised. If the driver joins from a side road after the activation point, then Novus Alpha senses the direction of travel and compares it with the direction of the speed camera and activation point and warns the driver of a speed camera ahead if driving in the direction of the camera.
Two examples of a camera warning.
On the left as you approach a camera below the speed limit (Green)
On the right
as you approach a camera exceeding the speed limit (Red)
In use the Novus Alpha displays your current speed and database warns the driver of an approaching speed camera by a clear voice alert at 500 yards. It then announces and displays the speed limit of the road for your type of vehicle you have selected in the settings. If at 200 yards your vehicle is still exceeding the speed limit the Novus Alpha will advise the driver to reduce speed. The voice warnings are great, simple to understand, clear and accurate. The screen gives you all the information you need.
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Warnings of fixed cameras including Gatso,
Truvelo, SPECS, Speedmaster and DS2 -
Warning of red light cameras
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Warning of possible mobile sites
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Warnings of accident black spots
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Unique vehicle based road profiling feature
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Timed warning of congestion charging zone
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Additional journey information including
compass, average speed, maximum speed,
elapsed time and odometer -
SOS positioning feature providing precise
GPS location in the event of breakdown or
emergency
Updating the unit is simple using the provided USB cable. First time users need to download the update installer then once that has been installed on your PC, return to their website and download the updates. They offer free lifetime updates.
Can we recommend it, YES, we can.
This is a fantastic unit for £149
Using the Novus Alpha is simple and
it is easily one of the best units I have used for a long time.
| What do we like. | What don't we like. |
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