Review: Road Angel Professional Connected

[psyweb]

Right, I have just got a new Road Angel Professional Connected with Laser sensor. And this is my review – running in my 53 Blobeye WRX SL. For each section I’ll give an “Out of 10 rating” with 10 being excellent and 1 being pants. Don’t read too much into it - it's just my thoughts.

Price & bits – 9/10

I purchased the device from www.road-angel.co.uk for £289.99 inc VAT (@ 17.5%) on Wednesday this week. Turned up today. Free delivery, they quoted 1 - 2 days. They also included a free dual port cigar lighter adapter.

In the box:

Road Angel Professional Connected

Window mount

Dash mount

2 x remote controls with batteries (2 x CR 2032)

Suckers and padding rubbers for mount

Data cable for PC connection (usb ~1m)

Power charger for car

Power charger for mains

Manual

Ordering 7/10

The ordering process was ok. A little bit odd inasmuch as there was the registration for the site then a “click here” to pay via world pay. Pretty much every site I purchased from has an integrated e-comm system. Still, all the various confirmation emails arrived quickly and were accurate.

The Laser sensor, dual port adapter and Road Angel Professional Connected all had their own packaging and came in a single brown box. The laser sensor was just in a plastic bag. Would expect a little more given it sells for £50 when purchased stand alone!

Usability 9/10

Ok, so I’ve plugged it all in – for now the cables are pretty free and untidy – more later on this.

Operationally, it’s pretty good. The screen is clear, a little hard to see in bright sunlight, but not too bad. By default it’s white on black, but you can pick black on white, red or blue. I went with black one white but since have changed back to default. The screen is dominated by the speedo and compass in the centre, with GPS signal strength and GPRS signal strength on the left and battery power remaining on the right.

The remote is the only way to config it (no PC app or on device controls) - just a single power button on the top. The menus are easy to figure out and there's settings for pretty much everything. Not issues here.

Battery 9/10

On the battery life front, it can be run from the car cigar lighter or on batteries. Some quote 8 hours, some 6 hours and some 4 hours use. I’ve had it on battery for 2 days and it’s at 80%. There are some reports of battery charging issues in hot cars; today it was 31 degrees outside and when powered up the power LED was flashing meaning it was too hot to charge - this is after being left in the hot car for 2 hours while i was shopping. Air con on for 30 mins and it was fine. LED back to solid, and charging fine (USB & car is trickle charge, mains is normal).

One tiny tiny gripe - when its charging it goes from 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% Full and back down again until full. IF it went from current charge level to 100% it would show you how much battery life it had while on charge. Pretty standard way of displaying these things. But it's clear and not really an issue as it'll always be plugged in.

Updates 7/10

The killer feature of this unit is the “over the air” updates for mobile speed traps. It can be updated over GPRS (GSM) – the built in SIM is on Orange and costs £4.99 per month. According to the manual it should be active within 24 hours, however mine still isn’t “on” some 48 hours later – getting SIM: Not Active under the diagnostics. I’ve emailed tech support and expect a quick fix.

The device can also be updated via a PC link. So.... on my Windows 7 netbook, plugged in the device via USB, powered it up and Windows installed some drivers. Went to the website, downloaded and installed the management app (there’s no CD in the box). First few runs of the app it did some updates but crashed out with an “Unable to connect to device”. Did nothing more than a couple of reboots of the laptop and it came good! Easy. The firmware updated as did all its databases.

Ability! 8/10

Right then. Why do you buy one of these devices? So you know when you’re approaching a blackspot, a primary school, a static camera, so you know the speed in an average speed area and so you know where the mobile speed camera vans are. Yup. This can tell you call that. The end-user updates make it special. The ability for me, Joe Public, to add a new camera locations or add a new mobile speed camera van location is the killer app. Using the Store button on the remote and then making the necessary selection of type of trap and speed. This is stored locally on your device for future reference AND sent to RA over the GSM/GPRS link. Once acknowledged and verified by RA the location will be beamed out to all other RA Pro Connected users. The device updates every 2 mins using the built in SIM over GSM/GPRS. And once my SIM Not Active problem is sorted I’ll get those updates too. Until then, it’s updates from the PC.

I know of two mobile van locations that aren’t in the database, I’ll be adding them next week.

It’s been accurate on all the fixed camera I’ve passed and on the average speed section of the A14. I did get a false average trap alert – where some road works were a few weeks ago. Using the reverse of the above, I can delete inaccurate data. I also had a false alarm, of sorts, in a built up area, there’s a camera on a road parallel to the one I was driving on and I got an alert; it's about 100m away. There is an option to set alert distances of 250m, 500m, 750m & 1km. I had it on 1km and I did get a pop up saying it may result in false alerts. So i dropped it back to 500m.

Not getting much GSM/GPRS signal in the car - a know issue with UV and heated windows. Scoobs don’t have these. Called Tech Support, they’re sending me a freen external antenna worth £22. Can anyone say “Known issue”? In the garden next to my mobile, still getting poor signal while the phone is ok. Kinda important this is fixed so I can get the updates.

GPS performance 8/10

I also have a Navigon 2100 SatNav to compare. The speedo on the RA is accurate and quicker to update than the Navigon, however the RA does take much longer to find the GPS signal. The navigon is pretty much always connected and only takes 5 mins if rebooted. The RA takes between 1 & 3 mins each time it’s powered up. Pants for short journeys, but hasn’t been a problem for me thus far.

Audio 10/10

The sounds are clear and loud and there are loads of config options for volume, on/off etc... I have the female voice selected. There’s a mute on the remote but not used it yet.

Laser sensor 9/10

Plugs into the back of the unit and lives on the wind screen. Since I have had it (less than a week) it’s gone off once. And I was parked up at the time. But the “LASER LASER CHECK SPEED” that was shouted at me was very reassuring! Wonder if they’ll release a firmware version that says “MISSLE LOCK MISSLE LOCK”. Probably not. But it would be cool!

But how do you test it’s working? The other bits are easy – drive passed a fixed camera. Just need to keep my eyes out for a while. The device does give you a “this is where camera vans could live” orange alert and it’s red if there’s a van there. I guess if no other RA users had passed that location or you weren’t getting updates it would be orange with van present.

Fitting & Physical 6/10

Now, the fitting of the cables wasn’t too bad. The dual lighter adapter plugs in fine (obviously) and I’ve hidden it under the steering column using zip ties. The power cables are hidden round the top of the dash and the cable to the laser is hidden too. The mount for the device sticks to window and hasn’t come off yet despite the heat.

The reason for the low score is this: I have a wallet, phone, SatNav, briefcase and now a RA. All to be taken in and out of the car. The satnav has power. Fine. The RA has power, Antenna (when it arrives) and laser cables. Three things to plug in. My window is covered in finger prints and smudges. There is the option of leaving it in the glove box with the satnav, but now there’s the thick end of £500 of kit in there! It’s a fiddle to plug in each time. This, for me, is one of the biggest downers.

It’s also pretty big. Given it’s a 2.5” screen and non-touch screen and a 4 – 6 hour battery it’s big and heavy. My Navigon is very thin. The battery life is the same and both units have GPS. Why is the RA so big?

This does call into question “Value for Money”. Why does it cost ~£300 for a device that’s got a 2.5” screen that’s not touch screen and it using older GPS technology (that's my guess and is based on the depth of the unit)? Devices of similar ability, like my Navigon, are a third the price. Yes it’s specialist, but come on.... it’s all down the firmware and it’s also less feature rich than my Navigon!

Online 4 /10

Odd one this. It’s all a little disjointed. The RA site I got it from (http://www.road-angel.co.uk) is not linked to the “main” site where I needed to register (http://www.roadangelgroup.com). The registration process for the main site was good. Username, password, device serial number etc.... then you’re logged in.

You also get 1 months free Tracker evaluation – slight aside, this allows you to track the device and thus the car, on a tracker site (http://www.navnb.alphamicrosystems.net), if you want longer than a monht it's £5.99 per month - However I didn’t have a username and password. Tried various different combinations and permutations of email address, name etc.... nothing. Called tech support and randomly they had to create the username AND password for me! With no option for me to change my password once logged in. Odd.

Oh, and then there’s the support site (http://support.blackspot.com) and ANOTHER set of different details!

The lack of integration of all these various sites and credentials is poor. It should be a single integrated site with a single backend user database. All these different sites and options AND the need to contact them to set up the details is poor. Their staff shouldn’t be part of the process, just there to support it. But it’s sorted now.

Can’t test the tracker, it’s saying my device hasn’t logged in yet. Probably due to the SIM: Not Active issue; but I know it uses Microsoft Virtual Earth. Microsoft know where I am. All the time. Not toooooo sure about that one! Still, Google, being the other they could have gone with isn't much better.

The emails from all the various sites and services have come in nice and quick and have all been accurate.

Post Sales support & tech support 8/10

I’ve emailed them from my office email account about the Tracker site credentials (see above) and they called the office back within a few hours! I asked her where she got my office number. Its on my email footer, she said. D’oh, but good use of initiative I guess! She sorted my Tracker site details quickly, but had to ask a colleague if I could change my own password. Shouldn’t you already know that? I also mentioned the poor GSM signal in the car. They’re sending me a free antenna to sort it. As mentioned, something else to plug in, but if it solves the problem...

For the GSM Signal issue, I've raised a ticket on the support site. We'll see how this pans out.

Conclusions 7.8/10

Once I can get real-time updates it’ll be very useful indeed. It’s a pain to have to plug in 3 cables on each use, but it’s not the end of the world. The price is ok, they’ve given me a free dual adapter, free antenna and the laser was only an extra £30, down from £50. But I can’t help feeling it should be cheaper given the hardware used. But if you have 6 points already it’ll only need to save you once and it’ll pay for itself! I think 7.8/10 is fair. It's very good, but could be better and a slightly lumpy first few days of ownership.

Comments welcome. Additional questions answered if possible.

PsyWeb

Edited July 14, 2010 by psyweb

[fmj]

All good But my advice is don't rely on it for laser detection. Yes it has the fixed cameras covered, yes it knows most of the mobile van locations but when it comes to a Police Officer in a random location by the time it warns you its probably too late. The speed guns work very quickly.

[psyweb]

Agreed.

It should also be said that this device is not a license to drive badly because if their's a cop around you'll spot them first. Sometime this device will give you a heads up, but don't rely on it.

In fact, since fitting it, I think I'm driving "better".

Update - the Customer Support Team sorted my SIM today and it's started taking mobile updates without issue. They have also dispatched the external antenna, first class, all for free.

[GrahamMackie]

Thank you for your frank and honest review - I'll take your comments on board and have passed the link of your review to my Technical Director and his team.

The site www.road-angel.co.uk is operated by one of our authorised resellers and as such we have no control over the payment process - however I am glad to see that they despatched the unit out promptly to you.

If you have any further questions regarding your Road Angel device then feel free to contact me on "graham dot mackie at roadangelgroup dot com" anytime

regards

Graham Mackie

Managing Director

Road Angel Group Limited

Edited July 13, 2010 by GrahamMackie

[psyweb]

Graham,

Thank you for your reply. Its nice to know the communities thoughts are monitored and taken onboard by you and your senior staff. Feel free to PM if you'd like further information.

In the coming week/months I'll do a longer term review. So watch this space!

PsyWeb

[psyweb]

Right then, we're approaching 12 months with the unit.

Here's some thoughts:

Payments:

The bill paying process (the DD's for the updates) has been flawless. As you'd expect.

Tech Support:

A couple of times I've needed to contact tech support. Nothing bad, info and a few other bits. Each time, the comms have been clear and my questions answered quickly.

Day-to-day use:

At night, the unit along with my satnav don't live in the car. So each morning I have to plug it in. 3 points in the back - power, laser pod and antenna booster. It's a bit of a fiddle, but is now pretty quick and part of my morning routine.

The battery, I'm saddened to say is rubbish. Turn the car off and it goes onto battery, then shuts off due to no charge within seconds. After 12 months, the battery should still be good. It's not. Not a massive issue, just put it in standby using the remote before turning off the car. But the unit clearly can't handle an ungraceful power down. You then need to unplug the power and plug it back in, then power it up again. A pain if you’re at say a petrol station.

Features:

The unit works well. I’ve added various mobile traps and get good warning on up and coming events (traps, gatsos etc...). The average speed zones are pretty much always up to date, even the temporary ones at road works. The antenna booster doesn’t do much. The GPS signal is always at full strength and the GPRS signal is always at zero. However I get updates all the time, so it doesn’t seem to matter that much – and yes, the booster is in the correct position in the window.

One thing that is a little odd, is the GPS lock on time. The Navigon satnav I have picks up a signal very quickly after coming out of standby. The RA takes several minutes.

The laser detector has only gone of once. In a year. And that was when I plugged it in sat in a car park. I have been past 2 mobile speed traps in 12 months and got nothing either time. I suspect this is because I wasn't scanned. At least I hope that's the case; it's a hard thing to test!

Results:

I'm happy. It's still working, it still does what it says on the tin. The battery is a little rubbish, but who cares. It's a bit of a fiddle to get into the car each day, but it only adding minutes to my week and tbh, while I wait for the windows to de-mist it gives me something to do!