The Roadpilot Micro is a slim line version of the full blown Roadpilot, it features GPS based detection for all types of UK fixed speed traps including Gatso, Truvelo, Specs and Traffipax and measures just 47 x 49 x 12mm. It works by comparing a database of UK speed camera locations with your cars current GPS location and providing a series of tailored warnings depending on your speed and direction.

We installed the Roadpilot Micro into LP's car and positioned the 1.8" screen within easy reach, apart from the main screen there is also a cradle in which the micro sits and an outboard GPS antenna, the whole thing cables together well if not entirely neatly.

Once set-up we headed out onto the mean streets of London to try and find a speed camera, of course this is one of the easiest task since the government and the "local safety camera partnership" set-up quite a few of these yellow roadside cash registers. The Roadpilot Micro sits there with a gentle green backlight (can also be yellow) with our current speed an direction displayed very clearly, as we approached our first yellow device the screen layout changed to a countdown to the unit and a beeping starts to emanate from the micro. As we approach the site of the offending trap the beep gets more insistant and its certainly lound enough, the distance to the trap is shown on the screen until you are right on top of it and then the beeping stops and the screen returns to normal.

A nice touch which the micro has and many other systems don't is a sensitivity to direction, so you don't get an alert when you are travelling in the opposite direction to the way the camera is facing, plus each camera location is marked with the prevailing speed limit so you only get a warning if you are exceeding that limit.

North London is packed with Gatso's and even a specs system so it was easy for us to give the roadpilot a good workout, it only failed to know about one camera which was also a new one for us, on checking it seems to have appeared in the last 4 weeks. We used the ability of the micro to mark the position of this new site and it will be uploaded to roadpilot on our next sync. Roadpilot offer a £20 bounty to the first person to report a camera which can be used against next years license fee.

The roadpilot database relies on a home PC to make a connection back the main database, the device is connected via USB to update its own internal records which can hold up to 50,000 locations, it needs to be updated at least every 3 months to keep the unit alive and it ships with a 6 month license which can be renewed for 12 months for £50.

Various parameters can be adjusted including the backlight colour and warning beep level, plus more importantly the distance from the camera at which you are warned, this is configurable from 0.2 to 2.0 miles for us somewhere around the 1 mile mark seemed about right.

The warning beep is more than adequate to alert you to an upcoming speed trap plus the on screen display is very clear and easy to read even in direct sunlight, this is great as you can see the distance to the camera and the speed limit on that road.

Other extras on the Roadpilot Micro include a "rescue me" feature where you can quickly get the co ordinates of your current location so that you can pass these to roadside recovery agencies or the emergency services. There is also support for the London congestion charge with a warning for when you are nearing the charging zone.

If you want to pay a bit more you can add Laser Pilot which gives protection against mobile laser traps and even a radar detector module, both of these bump up the price and are going to be in dubious legal territory under the new road traffic act. The main Roadpilot unit being a GPS system is 100% legal under the governments plans to ban radar and laser detectors so your investment in a Micro is safe money.

Over our few hours with the unit we found it to be highly reliable and accurate with a very up to date knowledge of camera locations, possible downsides are the lack of mobile locations (some system have a category for frequent mobile traps) and the fact that if you stop subscribing the unit will be of no use even with the old database.

Priced at around £399 and then £50 per year for subscription the system is not cheap, it is very reliable and has some extras which make it a worthwhile investment, if you have a SatNav system already like the TomTom go you may do better to load a free speed trap POI database. However if you don't have on board SatNav the roadpilot micro makes a worthy competitor the road angel and Origin systems.

Published - 20/03/2005

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