Road Angel Pure

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Discussion

bad company

Original Poster:

19,493 posts

273 months

Sunday 29th April 2018
quotequote all
I’m using a Road Angel Gem at the moment but it’s a bit bulky and fiddly to connect the wire when returning to the car.

I was thinking of upgrading to the new Pure but some of the reviews on Amazon are not great. Has anybody here tried a Pure?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Angel-Pure-Camera-De...

BIRMA

3,863 posts

201 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
quotequote all
bad company said:
I’m using a Road Angel Gem at the moment but it’s a bit bulky and fiddly to connect the wire when returning to the car.

I was thinking of upgrading to the new Pure but some of the reviews on Amazon are not great. Has anybody here tried a Pure?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Angel-Pure-Camera-De...
I've asked the same question I guess nobody on here has one. I have had a less than pleasant experience with my latest Gem + the display went really dim and the battery went too.
Sent it back to RA only to be told it was not worth repairing and was offered a Pure at a discount.
Having been a RA owner for nearly 20 odd years with no problems I was well fed up with the Gem + experience and didn't take up the offer.
I've tried all of the phone based systems and don't like them so I'd like a Pure but not sure if the new company are up to giving good customer service.

bad company

Original Poster:

19,493 posts

273 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
quotequote all
BIRMA said:
I've asked the same question I guess nobody on here has one. I have had a less than pleasant experience with my latest Gem + the display went really dim and the battery went too.
Sent it back to RA only to be told it was not worth repairing and was offered a Pure at a discount.
Having been a RA owner for nearly 20 odd years with no problems I was well fed up with the Gem + experience and didn't take up the offer.
I've tried all of the phone based systems and don't like them so I'd like a Pure but not sure if the new company are up to giving good customer service.
Interesting, how old was your Gem+ ?

BIRMA

3,863 posts

201 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
quotequote all
bad company said:
BIRMA said:
I've asked the same question I guess nobody on here has one. I have had a less than pleasant experience with my latest Gem + the display went really dim and the battery went too.
Sent it back to RA only to be told it was not worth repairing and was offered a Pure at a discount.
Having been a RA owner for nearly 20 odd years with no problems I was well fed up with the Gem + experience and didn't take up the offer.
I've tried all of the phone based systems and don't like them so I'd like a Pure but not sure if the new company are up to giving good customer service.
Interesting, how old was your Gem+ ?
Just over a year when the trouble first started.

bad company

Original Poster:

19,493 posts

273 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
quotequote all
BIRMA said:
Just over a year when the trouble first started.
No wonder you were peed off,I’d have been livid. I have the Road Angel in one car and a Cheetah in the TVR.

The Road Angel’s subscription will need doing soon and I’m not sure I want to pay them another £100 on an old bit of kit.

silvermills997

36 posts

87 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
quotequote all
I have a pure and have had road angels from day one and can say without doubt the pure is excellent !

The screen is superb day and night, The screen change when you "Over-speed" is great as is the screen,

The only problem or fail point is it only really sits on a flat surface unlike the older ones that the bases allowed the head unit to tilt,

But i would give it 9 out of 10.

Btw i have two gems fail.

bad company

Original Poster:

19,493 posts

273 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
quotequote all
silvermills997 said:
I have a pure and have had road angels from day one and can say without doubt the pure is excellent !

The screen is superb day and night, The screen change when you "Over-speed" is great as is the screen,

The only problem or fail point is it only really sits on a flat surface unlike the older ones that the bases allowed the head unit to tilt,

But i would give it 9 out of 10.

Btw i have two gems fail.
You mean it falls off of the ‘Smart Mount’? My Gem is at an angle so that could be a real problem.

BIRMA

3,863 posts

201 months

Wednesday 2nd May 2018
quotequote all
silvermills997 said:
I have a pure and have had road angels from day one and can say without doubt the pure is excellent !

The screen is superb day and night, The screen change when you "Over-speed" is great as is the screen,

The only problem or fail point is it only really sits on a flat surface unlike the older ones that the bases allowed the head unit to tilt,

But i would give it 9 out of 10.

Btw i have two gems fail.
Glad to hear an owners point of view on the Pure I'm reluctantly considering one but my last experience with the Gem + has really hacked me off.

bad company

Original Poster:

19,493 posts

273 months

Wednesday 2nd May 2018
quotequote all
BIRMA said:
Glad to hear an owners point of view on the Pure I'm reluctantly considering one but my last experience with the Gem + has really hacked me off.
You could pick up a used Gem+ on EBay? Presumably you already have the wiring and mount in place.

Your story reminds me that Road Angel also brought out the Pogo which was a fantastic product until all of the screens went black and could not be read. frown

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pogo-Alert/product-review...

Edited by bad company on Wednesday 2nd May 23:16

BIRMA

3,863 posts

201 months

Friday 4th May 2018
quotequote all
bad company said:
You could pick up a used Gem+ on EBay? Presumably you already have the wiring and mount in place.

Your story reminds me that Road Angel also brought out the Pogo which was a fantastic product until all of the screens went black and could not be read. frown

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pogo-Alert/product-review...

Edited by bad company on Wednesday 2nd May 23:16
The trouble is you just know the screen will go or the battery will fail on a secondhand Gem, I'm going to give it a year and see if owners of the new Pure have bought something with either a design fault or some other battery issue that will rear it's head after a year.

Zedboy

838 posts

218 months

Wednesday 9th May 2018
quotequote all
silvermills997 said:
I have a pure and have had road angels from day one and can say without doubt the pure is excellent !

The screen is superb day and night, The screen change when you "Over-speed" is great as is the screen,

The only problem or fail point is it only really sits on a flat surface unlike the older ones that the bases allowed the head unit to tilt,

But i would give it 9 out of 10.

Btw i have two gems fail.
Identical feedback from me. Only day 3, but immediate step up from Gem. RA offering additional year warranty on top of standard 2 years for just £49 at the moment too.

App based personalisation streets ahead of old school Gem rolling menus.

They even picked up the phone after 3 rings this morning ... things are improving!

BIRMA

3,863 posts

201 months

Thursday 10th May 2018
quotequote all
Zedboy said:
Identical feedback from me. Only day 3, but immediate step up from Gem. RA offering additional year warranty on top of standard 2 years for just £49 at the moment too.

App based personalisation streets ahead of old school Gem rolling menus.

They even picked up the phone after 3 rings this morning ... things are improving!
That's encouraging, lets hope the Gem+ problem was a blip in an otherwise useful bit of kit with a very long history of being up to the job.

bad company

Original Poster:

19,493 posts

273 months

Thursday 10th May 2018
quotequote all
BIRMA said:
That's encouraging, lets hope the Gem+ problem was a blip in an otherwise useful bit of kit with a very long history of being up to the job.
The Pogo was another blip by the same company. It was a great bit of kit until the screen went black and couldn’t be seen. That happened to ALL of them,

J66JBo

264 posts

129 months

Saturday 2nd June 2018
quotequote all
I have just upgraded to a Pure after 3.5 years with a Gem. The Gems screen failed on me so was impossible to see during the day (it was never great during the day).

The screen and build quality were the biggest issues with the Gem. Both of these have been massively improved with the Pure. The interface is also better too with the app control and screen that changes colour if you are under or over the limit during speed warnings.

For me the only negatives are the price and also the price for additional mounts - I feel they should include one dash mount and a windscreen mount.

Kinky

39,803 posts

276 months

Saturday 2nd June 2018
quotequote all
I'm torn between the Pure, Cheetah C550 and the Snooper 4ZERO Elite.

Looking at something small and subtle.

Currently use a 5" tomtom for satnav, and subscribe to the TT Cameras service. Now looking at ditching it, using the in-car satnav (which has it's downsides like traffic, etc).

If there was a 2"-3" sat nav with (updated) camera alerts then I'd be a happy bunny.

bad company

Original Poster:

19,493 posts

273 months

Saturday 23rd June 2018
quotequote all
I just received an email from Road Angel:-


This is a courtesy email regarding your subscription with Road Angel.

Your subscription is about to expire, but as you are a valued customer we would like to offer you some exclusive offers on renewal.

These exclusive offers are only available to you over the telephone by calling our sales office, although we can call you if you prefer.

Please contact us when you’re ready to renew your subscription to Road Angel and we will be more than happy to assist.

Our Sales number is 0330 320 3030.

Sounds like they want to flog me a Pure.

Any thoughts?

devnull

3,792 posts

164 months

Sunday 24th June 2018
quotequote all
I can't fathom why anyone would bother with spending the money on these units when you can just use waze for free on your smartphone. Are they that much more accurate?

bad company

Original Poster:

19,493 posts

273 months

Sunday 24th June 2018
quotequote all
devnull said:
I can't fathom why anyone would bother with spending the money on these units when you can just use waze for free on your smartphone. Are they that much more accurate?
The last time I tried Waze it didn’t warn me of fixed speed cameras and didn’t stream properly through my BMW car radio.

Zedboy

838 posts

218 months

Sunday 24th June 2018
quotequote all
devnull said:
I can't fathom why anyone would bother with spending the money on these units... ?
Because I’ve used Road Pilot, now Road Angel, for 20 point-free 40k mile years ... roll on the next 20 and blissful retirement!

bad company

Original Poster:

19,493 posts

273 months

Sunday 24th June 2018
quotequote all
Zedboy said:
devnull said:
I can't fathom why anyone would bother with spending the money on these units... ?
Because I’ve used Road Pilot, now Road Angel, for 20 point-free 40k mile years ... roll on the next 20 and blissful retirement!
Similar here.

I’d love to find an app that would do the same but having tried CamerAlert, TomTom app and Waze I have to say that none worked well through the car.

If I could solve this I wouldn’t need the Road Angel on the dashboard.