Snooper Syrius

[GJF]

If i was looking for a dedicated camera detector first and the Sat Nav second i would defiantly go for the Snooper Syrius, and without Sat Nav the Snooper Saphire, both of which i have looked at, but i also need the Nuvi660 with blue tooth and the extra frills.

I am also interested as to what the N660 can do on the speed camera detection side - without a college course to update it, and am looking forward to others helping me here, i have left a post elsewhere on this forum.

I don't expect the camera detection to be as good as the DS, or the even better Snooper, but as long as it works the DS can run alongside the Sat Nav, especially as it can calculate Specs cameras which are breeding in West Kent as we speak - two must be better than one.

The Sat Nav must be the best available as its got to last for at least a year, so the difference in cost of around £70 (between bottom and top range) is irrelevant.

[rushkins]

Nuttynurse and GF

Glad you came along GF.

Like I have said previous I downloaded the simple speed camera database from pocketgps, but will be next week going to download the more in depth database, where you can play about with each type of camera as each one has its own POI. Therefore you can alter distance of warning and sound.
Next week I am on holiday so will not be doing many miles, normally around 800 a week. So will report back in about 2 weeks.

Lets hope the rest of the drivesmart members appear.

Also isn't it great to have a forum where you dont get censored.

All the Best

Tim

[GJF]

Hi Tim,

Looking forward to your comments, enjoy your week off 800 miles a week you need it.

[nuttynurse]

Hi Tim (aka ruskin)

I will await you holidays end to hear your comments. Have a good un.
I wonder if professor jaskel will find us and maybe RedSquirrel will. They to may have different names here! Pity we had'nt planned for this occasion

Hi GF

If the Nuvi didn't look so appealing I wouldn't be having such a dilemma, I can see the benefits of the "bluetooth" and of course there is the POI (the places of interest and hotels filling stations etc) but when Tim returns from his holiday maybe I will be able to cut down on the paracetomol. If I do end up with the Snooper at least all three of us will have different satnav unit to compare here. I think you right also, having the DS along side the Nuvi may be the better solution. 8)

[nuttynurse]

And as for censorship, I try and stay out of trouble GF, promise.. :D 8)

[rantipole]

I too am a refugee from the drivesmart forum, but my name there was sealiedog. I used the PocketGPSworld database in a GO, until they started charging for it. I found it better than Drivesmart, but not as good as Road Pilot, Road Angel, or Snooper. I think its good value, and if my primary need was for navigation, I would choose something that navigates well and can take the database. If my primary need was for speed cameras, I would get a combined unit like the Snooper. With my Road Pilot, and so far with the Snooper, I have confidence that they will pick up any cameras, unless I am very unlucky. In 3 years with the Road Pilot, I can only recall 3 or 4 times it didnt know a camera was there. I never had quite that level of confidence in the PocketGPS database, although it has probably developed since then. Dedicated systems have the ability to warn you when you are speeding, but not when you are under the limit, and there are more configuration options as a general rule.

[dav_dump]

Hi.

Ive got the same decision to make as you nuttynurse!

So to clarify... Is the Garmin better at actual navigation than the snooper Syrius or is it just that it has bluetooth etc??

If they are both as good then I might as well go for the Snooper as I like the sound of its Camera warnings and database!


Another thing to note is Garmin direct you to download their official database which is the cyclops Database, which sounds spot on. however this is £40 pa.

David.

[nuttynurse]

Hello again rantipole. Yes, I remember you as sealiedog, I wonder who else will pop up. Thanks for your contribution to this discussion, you have added a lot of personal experience to the questions raised. I guess that maybe I became to blinkered along the DS route, though to be fair I did alway find it reliable and their support very encouraging, until last September that is when for whatever reason their support was withdrawn and their customer service became non-existent. Several of us persevered through months of censorship, by the DS team, to ensure others were not hoodwinked into buying goods that were no longer living up to their hype. Yesterday they eventually decided to pull the plug on us and closed the forum. The ultimate sanction, I guess. Whilst they still have a website as before, I would advise anyone visiting to be vary of buying at this time. The site still promotes the Drive-smart and the DEF2. The DEF2 is really behind a lot of the complaints that began to emerge on the DS forum and around the time the support and customer service began to be withdrawn. Its anyone's guess as to whether they reappear to promote a new range of hardware. A cheaper cut down version of the failed DEF2, the "Laser Star" was being promised for mid January in December, with claims by DS that it would be fully reviewed and validated by then, but this never arrived. Many devoted DS members, having forked out £400 for the DEF2 were rightly peeved by this having ongoing issues with EMI, software support and failed promises of the gate opening sensors availability, yet all of these issues were apparently resolved and to be available in the soon to be released "Laser Star" and at a cheaper price to boot. We also don't know whether their database updates will continue so an alternative must be found. Certainly camera detection is top of my list of essential feature and to be able to combine this with a quality navigation unit makes good sense. I will wait to see how Tim does on his hols with the pocketgps database as this will be very useful feedback also but I would welcome any feedback from other experience users also.

I have tried briefly to cover the issues that damaged the confidence of the DS forum members and purchasers in hope that others may be warned.
8)

[rushkins]

By the way I am still running my Drivesmart along side my TT so a good comparison should be had between the two databases.

Keep smiling

Tim AKA Rushkins

PS dont forget the actual Drive smart unit is a good unit as the former DS forum members know. Possibly due to the free upgrades of the databases.

[nuttynurse]

dav_dump,

As far as I am aware both the Nuvi and Snooper use the NavTec maps, regarded to be the best. Whether there are variations on these in terms of their visual 2d, 3d imagery I don't know, but I guess we can take it both models will have the lastest available versions. I did read somewhere that the Nuvi's own camera database was "Cyclops" but they don't really tell you anymore than this so I am guessing that this maybe related to the Cyclops speed camera warning system. Does any one know the answer to this and how good is this system? A comparison between Snooper's database, Pocketgps and Cyclops would help clarify there strengths and weaknesses. I have no experience other than my DS to go on but as pointed out by others, the DS has the advantages of spec, in and out, it can identify the direction camera are facing, you can add you own poi, and you used to be able to contact the DS team with any new cameras you came across and they would almost instantly add them to updates etc. I don't know whether pocketgps has these features though Tim has commented on being able to add speed limits and varying distance warning to cameras in this database. How time consuming this is again I don't know. I know from the feature list of Snooper that it detects specs cameras but whether this is works by telling you specs in and out and gauges you speed between as the DS I don't know either.

Tim is going to run the Pocketgps database on his TT510 whilst on holiday and will give us his views when he gets back. With his knowledge of DS this will be invaluable review no doubt.

[redsquirrel]

I wondered where everyone had gone from the Drive-Smart forum and it appears I am not alone in thinking it has been purposely sabotaged

[nuttynurse]

Nice to see you RedSquirrel, I wondered if you would track us down. Well done you. 8) 8)

[rushkins]

Hi Red Squirrel

Welcome along :D


Regards

AKA Tim

[GJF]

Hi Redsquirrel, We were only having a friendly discussion re: Sat Navs as DS hadn't come up with the Mercury.

There was a thread where somebody was talking to Jaskel about not being able to communicate with DS and he replied that he couldn't either, even through MSN, the other member said well that's it then, shortly after the forum closed.

I'm here as you stopped me buying the TT910, I'm now going for the N660, so have been checking here whether that is the right move.
_________________
TomTom Go 60
Garmin Nüvi 660, Firmware v4.90
Drive-Smart GPS with Loader v1.4.16
HTC Advantage X7500 MS 6.1 Tchart Speed Sentry
Satmap Active 10, Software v1.16
Fuzion 32 HUD Bluetooth GPS receiver

[nuttynurse]

GJF,

Have you been to "youNav" website? If not have a look it reviews the Nuvi 660 and others and has a forum with some useful posts on it.

Regards 8)

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