Snooper resurrected
 

Having been nabbed doing 39 in a 30, I've fished my Snooper S4 Neo out of the drawer for the first time in ages.

I've goofed about with it and now I remember now why I stopped using it. They must be one of the only companies left on the planet who don't offer Mac as well as Windows support. I recall writing to them several years back about this and got a very terse email back saying they would never be supporting Macs. From what I can see, they've stuck to that bizarre mantra.

The other problem is that the Snooper connects via a serial cable (nine pins, I think) rather than USB. This means I can't even update the unit by using my daughter's Windows laptop.

Can anyone suggest a work-around for either of these problems?

I think you can get usb/serial converter cables?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-RS...#ht_1373wt_952

Yes you can!

Definitely Serial to USB converter. Use them alot of programming bits and bobs. Someone told me once that if I was having problems with one, make sure it had the prolific chipset, and if not to get one. But, I've never had any probs...

Feel for you mate, unlucky.
I have never used a snooper, are they really worth the money?
do they work?:thumb:

Thanks for the response on this, folks. I've just dug through my boxes of cables and found a serial to USB converter by Keyspan that should do the trick.

They do help, Steve. I just thought it'd act as a reminder when I'm half asleep or loosing concentration but it took about 40 minutes to lock onto the satellite this morning so the unit's clearly desperately in need of an update.

I find it hard to believe that a company that is technology based refuses point blank to embrace an operating system that is currently an expanding part of the market.

Snoopers are a bit of a waste of time as far as preventing a laser attack. They literally tell you (if at all) you've been lasered, by which time you're nabbed

You could just try sticking to 30 in a 30. We all creep over but a 30 is usually that for a reason :thumb: 9mph could be difference between life or death, just a thought.

31-39 in a 30... I think you'll be offered the workshop thing - £90 and 3 (or 4?) hours of your life. Much better than £60 and 3pts! :)

...Assuming, of course, you've not already attended one in the last 3 years (as backdated from the date of this offence)?

Had my snooper 2 five years roughly. Wouldnt drive without one Saved me loads of time with Gatso's and a few mobile ones. Mines a USB connection by the way.

I did the course a couple of weeks back. It was excellent and I'm driving better as a result of it. I'd just got complacent so a kick in the butt has done me good.

I just thought putting the Snooper back in the car would remind where the hot spots are during those moments when you're thinking of other stuff.

Regarding ScoobySteve's comment, I find it hard to believe that most of us don't drift over the limit on occasions. This was the first time I've been done in 35 years of driving. If you stick to the limit 100% of the time, Steve, good for you.

You can just run windows in a VM on your mac, vmware or paralells, they will run a bootcamp partition as a VM too, which is good as you can boot to windows native or run the same in a VM.

Lots of serial to usb converters around, ebay china special probably cheapest.

Daughter and I attempted to update it on a couple of her laptops last night but with no success.

The newer one uses Windows 7 but, even by downloading the latest Snooper software, it was refusing to recognise the devise. We then used her old laptop, updated the software again but with the same result.

I'm about to email the Snooper manufacturer to see what they recommend. I paid for the 'lifetime' updates a few years back so I'd hope they offer some form of support. I'll report back in case this is of interest to anyone else with similar issues.

The Keyspan serial adaptor I've got should be ok. I may try one of the Windows emulators, Jimbo. :-)

Just to say, not windows emulators, there are windows emulators but there a bit useless, and very slow. you really want to use a virtual machine, it creates virtual hardware which you install windows on(or any other operating system you like) then it runs windows on that hardware, so you have an actual windows machine running in a window inside your OSX. It's in no way installing windows on you machine, the whole virtual machine is just a few files in a folder.

You can then try a few different versions of windows maybe find one which works, and if it doesnt just delete the VM and start again.

good luck.

icebreaker, yeah I attended one in December and was 'pleasantly' surprised by it. Thought it'd be boring and condescending; but quite the opposite (...well, maybe just a bit condescending :D).

And the reason for it?... I too got done drifting over the limit in a 30 (37) by not concentrating (was looking for a shop lol) -- zapped by a Gatso. From that moment I now always have my Snooper Sapphire S270 in position and swtiched on! (After the horse has bolted, huh?) :wall: