Road Angel Vantage Safety Camera Locator

I previously owned a Pogo Alert, a GPS (and optional laser detection) speed camera detector. Just recently my subscription was up for renewal, together with a new Pogo being announced (discount for existing subscribers). My thoughts were to look around and see what else was available. One of the bug bears with these devices is having to update them at a PC before a journey. Invariably you end up with the device i) in the car and not updated, ii) in the house just as you leave in the car. So, one of the features I looked for was over-the-air updating. Secondly, I wanted a rechargeable unit so that you don't have to have the unsightly/clumsy wires to the cigarette lighter. My limited research identified the Vantage. After a month of use my thoughts are;

Too many false alerts. On a trip from Reading to Wales on the M4, it alerted me at every (road/pedestrian) bridge/overpass of a 'possible' camera. Have now turned off that alert.
Too slow to start up in terms of satellite acquisition. I can travel several miles before it becomes functional, so need to 'warm it up' by switching it on before setting off.
Battery can take possibly 9hours to turn the charging light from red to green, although it's only possibly 2-3 hours until the battery indicator 'appears' charged. The running time is about 2hrs so is ok for short trips, eliminating the need for the charging cable to come out on those journeys.
The screen is too big and takes up too much windscreen real estate severely limiting your options on where you can place it without impeding visibility. The Pogo is about an inch deep/wide/tall and plenty adequate. I could understand if there was additional information on the screen apart from current speed (can look at the speedo), and the speed limit.
Doesn't compute average speed with average speed cameras, or, indicate progress through a series of average speed cameras (eg, 4th camera out of 8)
Distance warning - would like to have seen a timer based setting (eg 15secs), which would be calculated based on your current speed, whereas it is distance (metres) related
The over-the-air function is great and I really like that.
Updating firmware is easy

My conclusions are, yes it's functional, and I really like the over the air updating, however, there's too many minus points for me. The false alerts on 'suspected' sites, the (large) size of the screen, the limited charge capacity.

I bought this product direct from Road Angel having already owned a Road Angel Plus and been pleased with it as it was small and functional. The motivation for having one of these items in the first place was that I do over 30k miles per year and just by the law of averages, I will get caught speeding!

Sadly I have to report that I am very disappointed with the Vantage though. On the face of it, the design is tasteful and it has a quality feel about it. I like the touch screen and the accessories are good quality too.
But, the battery life is pathetic and it is very unreliable. I regularly have to reset it as it freezes for all sorts of reasons.

Now I may just be unlucky and have a bad one, but bearing in mind how expensive it is , this is unacceptable.
I don't think that their web site is particularly supportive either unless you are buying one.

As a foot note I also spent £49 on the laser detector. This is a waste of money! It looks cheap and it's very badly designed and badly thought through. Because it's completely separate you have another cable draped across the dashboard and it has to be permanently stuck on or it slides off!! It also means that the charger looks a mess too with two cables coming out of it.

In summary it looks good but as a package it flatters to deceive!

With what I know now, although the Vantage looks good, I wish that I'd chosen the Professional :-(

I have had three different Road Angels over about seven years: the original small oval `classic' model, the 6000 incorporating GPS navigation, and now this `Vantage'.

If you're thinking of buying a RA `Vantage' there are some things to consider prior to making a decision.

Plus points:

* Big simple screen with large digital read-out - perhaps not to everyone's taste, but I like it - and the graphic interface is kind of cool with its clear, uncluttered multi-tone grey design

* Easy to change speed units from mph to kph and back again if you are a frequent traveller

* Always shows speed limit for the section of road you're on, very useful in that the limit is not always obvious from the road signing - though the Vantage's notification of change to a new limit is not instantaneous but can take a few seconds

* On-the-dashboard updates so it doesn't need to be connected to a computer every couple of weeks to update the camera database, like the previous models. This is a big plus, as far as I'm concerned

* There is a facility for the driver to enter new speed camera sites currently not in the database, which may then be incorporated into the universal RA database to help other drivers

Minus points:

* No GPS navigation is available with this unit - why not? It's certainly big and chunky enough to incorporate a lot of software

* Its internal battery power is not good enough: takes hours to charge from the mains, then the charge lasts only two hours before it packs up. This makes a cigar-lighter socket charging cable essential for longer trips, and unfortunately two of these have broken in the past year by falling to pieces inside the lighter socket, blowing a fuse in the car in each case

* Initially it takes a few minutes to acquire a satellite and even longer if you're moving (but the original RA model with externally cabled satellite receiver was even worse). This is difficult to explain, as the car's built-in Sat-Nav system acquires a satellite immediately the ignition is switched on - always

* There is no facility to calculate average speed for sections of motorway infested with SPECS cameras. As it seems these irritants now infest hundreds of miles of the UK motorway network (motorways in France, Germany and Italy are completely free of them) this is inconvenient

* It warns of `Safety Camera Van' sites constantly, when 99% of the time, no van is present. Difficult to see how this might be improved, as the database simply contains sites where the scammers have permission to site one, not where and when they actually exercise the right to do so

* RA charges a fee of £60/annum for the updates, and you're condemned to pay them this or the device quickly becomes useless. Now I recognise that RA needs to make money by generating a repeat-revenue stream, but this is too much, IMO

So: if you want a speed camera detection device then the Vantage does the job and is infinitely better than having nothing. But it could benefit from some design improvements, IMO.