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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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Road Angel Navigator 6000
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Features |
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The new unit is a fantastic improvement over the old navigation unit when it comes to looks and performance it is much smaller and better built. The new screen they use is very much better as well. The units case is very slim and feels much better built. The antenna no longer sticks out as the unit as it now uses Surf-3 with an inbuilt antenna, Surf-3 is a much improved GPS receiver, it is so good I can get a signal in the house. We also tested behind a thermal windscreen and also had no loss in signal. There is a remote antenna connector if needed.
Battery life is up to 8 hours, we are getting around 6 hours with the screen illumination set on max, drop the screen brightness down three stops and we get almost 10 hours. The screen on max is very bright, crisp and clear. Its easy to see in a car.
The small speaker built in to the unit is okay and has no problem in projecting the sound to the driver in a clear manor. There is now also a stylus built into the unit on the back for those that have big fingers, however most screen options can be worked with your finger tip as the screen buttons are big enough. Its a simple unit to use.
It can also do Mp3 music and playback images, but they are only simple programs so don't expect much.
In use.
The unit has two modes. Full screen Road Angel and Road Angel with Navigation.
Full screen Road Angel is very simple, it just acts as a speedometer and gives you large easy to see warnings for the hazards out there. A big red screen for a camera if you are over the speed limit and a big green screen if you are below the speed limit when approaching a camera. Speech and beeps announce the hazard.
In navigation the warning screens for the hazards are placed round the edge of the screen so as not to cover up the navigation information Again red or Green depending on your speed. You still get Speech and beeps announcing the hazards. Fixed Cameras, Mobile Cameras, Average Speed, Blackspots, Congestion and Schools are all covered.
Navigation is simple, you can enter the full postcode and go. You can also enter the full address, (Town, street, and number) but this takes a little longer or enter a POI. There is the facility to save bookmarks, your home, work or navigate to a recent destination. You get speech warnings well in advance of the turning, 2 miles in some cases. The screen shows your position on the map or you can just opt for a large arrow and countdown screen, less distracting they say. You can set preferences such as no motorways, toll roads etc. Type of car and type of route.
We found the directions easy to understand but strange at times. The unit has a habit of taking you in odd directions. We arrived at all the destinations we put in with no problem.
The navigation on the old unit was better, They used to use Navtec with Co-pilot, they now use Teleatlas and Gate 5 and in my opinion this combination is not as good.
Can we recommend it, no .
There are better options.