Robertio

iTrader: (1)

Adam, personal guestimations, of course all these are based on the braking distances I found for the car at Bruntingthorpe.

990 warning on Gatsos -
1). Out in the Clear: could slow down from 130+mph to 70 (should have no probs seeing one of these anyway)
2). Semi Hidden, ie behind tree: could slow down from 110mph to 70
3). Completely Hidden ie behind large road sign: could slow down from 95mph to 70

All approximations, but would require you to weld your braking foot to the floor after the warning has progressed from the could be anything scenario, to uh oh 99% certain that's a camera senario.

IntegraR

All these new fangle style traps are still being tried out, that average speed one has been pretty much retired already due to costs, and so may Piezo ones, who knows, so realistically, in most driving, the Gatso is enemy no.1 (and radar).
It detects the Gatso's with enough warning for you to slow down from say 50/60 in a 30 easily, but if you are really pushing, you may find it is unsafe to hit the skids, but at least you could get your fine/points down by passing it as slow as poss.
I have had my bacon saved plenty, entering Tunbridge Wells from the A21 yesterday, I would have been doing around 55MPh in a 40 if my detector hadnt warned me.
Warning: you do end up driving slower everywhere, I have become a lot more aware of my speed, which may be a good thing for the lives of other road users, but can decrease your speeding enjoyment, still deciding which is more important

[This message has been edited by IntegraR (edited 25 April 2001).]

boomer

One thing about radar detectors is that you know which Gatsos are "live" - the Goedesy will simply warn of every unit.

For instance, coming back from the Wales Reccy last weekend, it was rather upsetting to see live Gatsos positioned in de-restricted (60mph) zones, yet built-up areas and other potential black-spots were camera-free!

It you are paranoid, get both - i might!!!

mb

Neil Smalley

The geodesy unit is the only device(other than your eyes) that can warn you of the piezo electric and SPECS traps.

Temporary camera's are updated, but until recently their removal from the database took a while.

I'm still undecided about how effective a detector is against laser. A sharp operator will have your speed before you can react to it. It's naughty, but the best option would be Geodesy and a laser diffuser. The diffuser being cheaper(280 quid) than a top range detector of limited use.

One of the reasons why I got my Geodesy(it's about as big a *** packet BTW) is because I do a lot of in town driving, and it's easy to do 35 when you are observing the hazzard rich environment of a town. The ability to add on a SATNAV function was the other main reason.

As long as you don't regard these devices as a license to flout the law and drive dangerously then IMHO there's nothing wrong in them. They are there to free up some of your attention on the road ahead, and to protect you from the camera or laser gun on the only bit of straight road for 10 miles that is in the prime spot to get you when you safely overtake.

kryten

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Adam M:
<B>1. Is the geodesy a compact unit, or a remote display with a fixed gps receiver somewhere?
[/quote]

Adam, its a compact unit 11cm by 6cm by 2cm AND it works OK from within that useless storage box in the middle of the dash. It fits into a power clip that is slightly larger which means the lid of the storage box won't quite close. I think I'll have to make a custom lid....

You can get an extra aerial, which I might do to increase coverage for when the satellites are located in the sky behind you.

Overall, its been pretty impressive so far.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR><B>
2. Is the geodesy updated for the semi permanent roadworks cameras and then reupdated when they are removed?
[/quote]

AFAIK yes it is, though it isn't updated for the 'safety vans' that sit on motorway bridges as they appear/disappear within a matter of hours and Morpheous insist on verifying each location before adding it to the live database.

Adam M

So essentially, if you know where all these things are on your day to day journeys, then the geodesy is never going to help you, whereas the detector can pick up mobile vans and lasers which ted to be the ones which catch you out.

Only specs, truvelo and piezo seem to get past detectors and some of these are in testing and others are so rare that everyone can learn where they are for the whole country.

This seems to swing it for me for the bel.

I am thinking though that with the guages in place, there might be just enough room to stick the geodesy in there as well.