Saphe Drive Mini Speed Camera Detector with Colour Display, Detects Upcoming Speed Cameras and Hazards, No Subscription Necessary

Brilliant little item. Had it since end of January. It is now May and I haven’t needed to charge it up again.

This is an update to my previous review (which is below for reference).I had a persistent problem where, driving along the same stretch of road it would pick up a camera on a parallel road that has a lower speed limit than the road I was on, warn me about it and then crash showing two overlaid speed camera images (see photo). From that point on it was locked up and would do nothing. Only disconnecting and reconnecting the Bluetooth on my phone would make it work again.After putting up with it for a while I eventually got round to contacting support, who were responsive but not much actual use. They told me to do all the usual basic stuff like making sure I was using the latest version of the app, reinstall, etc. I had already done all that but I did it again to keep them happy and nothing made any difference.After a while they told me to send it back to them (in Denmark) and they sent me a replacement. Well the replacement turned out to be even worse. It still had the exact same problem on the same stretch of road but it also disconnected from and reconnected to my phone several times per hour so it would randomly set off the siren sound as a warning that it's not connected and it was constantly beeping as I drove along. I could never be sure it was actually working so it was essentially useless. I was using the same phone and same app, nothing else changed.They told me to send it back them again and they would refund me. I did and after a couple of weeks I chased it up. They said they hadn't received it. Now to be fair I should have used a tracked postal service with proof of delivery, but it's expensive enough sending things to Denmark and I was really hoping they could be trusted.So now I have nothing and I haven't received a refund.I have since switched to using CamSam PLUS (an Android app), which works flawlessly and costs very little. In fact I think Saphe bought their UK speed camera database from CamSam so you get the exact same speed cameras! Interestingly I still get warned about the same camera on the parallel road, but CamSam handles it correctly and doesn't crash. I'm finding CamSam (on the phone screen) plus Waze (on the car screen via Android Auto) to be a good combination. They don't conflict with each other and I get warned about all fixed cameras (through CamSam and optionally Waze) and mobile cameras (through Waze). The reason for not using Waze alone is that it only warns about cameras if you're actively speeding, so it's theoretically possible to accidentally speed up and go through one without having been warned.My advice to anyone reading this is don't buy from Saphe and look into CamSam instead.--------------------------------My original review:A good complement to Waze (but not a replacement)I like using Waze, but one thing that bothers me is the way it doesn't warn you about speed cameras unless you're already over the speed limit. I'd rather be warned anyway so that I can make sure I don't accidentally drift over the speed limit by the time I go through it. To be honest that's never actually happened to me, but I'd still like to be warned so I can make sure.This thing fills that gap nicely since you can set it to warn about fixed cameras whether you're speeding or not. It works really well for that and it's now a permanent fixture in my car. I ended up not using the supplied mount and just used Blu Tack to stick it to the dash, which so far is working perfectly. It connects to my phone every time and works well almost all of the time (see caveat below).What it can't do well at all however, as least in the UK, is mobile speed traps. It relies on other users pressing a button to record the location of a speed trap in much the same way that Waze relies on other Waze users to report them. The difference is that Waze has absolutely loads of users and Saphe seemingly has very few. So in reality Waze almost always knows about a mobile speed trap and Saphe almost never does. If only Saphe could tap in to Waze's data.The one bug I've seen with it is that on a stretch of road I frequently drive along with a 60mph limit there's an almost parallel road with a 30mph limit and a speed camera on it. The Saphe doesn't know which road you're on so it detects the 30mph camera and then sometimes (about half of the time) it crashes, showing two overlapping speed camera icons on the screen, after which it won't do anything until I forcibly disconnect and reconnect it by turning my phone's Bluetooth off and back on. Hardly ideal. When I get a chance I'll report it to the manufacturer in the hope they can fix it. Other than that it's been reliable and I like it.

I have thoroughly tested this device in the UK and on two European road trips.I drive with a car club, and we use Google mapping with waypoints to get us where we need to be. This makes it rather cumbersome to try and run Waze at the same time for speed cameras. What this box does is more or less the same as Waze, but allows me to continue using/viewing Google maps.In action it spots just about everything fixed. On the odd occasion, it gets the average speed camera zones slightly off, but it’s rare and you know when it’s doing it. If you are not speeding, it’s pretty unobtrusive, but if it thinks you are and in danger, then it will alert you loudly and flash.For what it costs, this device might just save your licence. In Europe, it alerted us to at least 50% more cameras than we actually saw, including a covert mobile set up in a German lay-by.It does like you to leave your phone location on all the time which is a bit of a draw-back but not a deal breaker. It also lasts weeks on a single charge.Summing up, if you do a lot of driving, and use mapping other than Waze, this is brilliant for what it costs. The more people in the UK that get one, the better the coverage will be, and for Europe, where we are perhaps not as good at spotting them, it’s worth every penny.

A strange machine, has to be used with the app open and phone notifications set to always on, finds speed cameras well enough, alarm is adequate, although a little quiet and near to the cameras, but there’s no GPS speedometer which I think is a little disappointing, I bought it to replace a Snooper neo which has run its course and wouldn’t update ( several years old so no complaints) and I was expecting an almost direct replacement, but not quite. It it was about a third of the price of the snooper. I’ll keep using it with Waze and see how I get on

I hope this lasts longer than the one I brought a year ago as I like this little unit the last one just went completely dead I got in touch with seller they didn't at the time say it had a bug that needed fixing so I returned the unit to Amazon in the meantime Saphe where telling me to do this and that and sure they could start it up again that never happened I told Saphe I had returned the unit back to Amazon Saphe said they'd sent out another to me then I have a message saying the unit had a bug and that it had now been fixedThe new unit arrived I fully charged it used it once and straight away could see the battery was dropping not good in the meantime Saphe asked me to return the dead one send postage paid I had already told them that I had returned that to Amazon so I told Saphe I'd return the item they sent me which I did and I reordered from Amazon so far so good battery not moved still fully charged and working well so happy about that and hope don't have any problems or it's going back to Saphe directly and not via Amazon like before.