Talex GPS Speed Camera Detector Review
Talex is a new compact GPS based Speed Camera Detector and Speed Zone Detector.

How does the Talex Speed Camera Detector work ?
The Talex uses GPS technology to pin-point your location and uses it's database of known speed camera sites and matches the two together. So when you are driving along a road and approach a known speed camera or speed zone in the Talex database, the Talex will notify you and warn you that you are approaching a camera and tell you the speed.

Features

  • Small compact design, only 103mm (l) x 67mm (w) x 23mm (h).
  • Clearly announces the legal speed limit when approaching fixed camera sites.
  • Provides typically a 500 yard warning.
  • Easy Plug and Play dashboard mounting system with simple clean and easy magnetic mount system.
  • Bright LED text display allowing night and day operation.
  • Talex system.
  • Lightweight compact design.
  • 2 year manufacturers warranty.

 

What's in the box ?
Talex currently give you everything you need for most setups. In the box you will have:-

  • Talex GPS Speed Camera Detector
  • Magnetic Dashboard Mount
  • Windscreen Suction Mount
  • Mains Power Cable
  • Car Power Cable
  • Manual

 

Downloading the Updated Database
Straight out of the box, the Talex is easy to use.

  1. Just install the updater software onto your PC
  2. Plug the Talex into your Serial Port on your computer
  3. Plug in the 3-pin Mains Adapter
  4. Power on the Talex
  5. Run the update program and it will (once registered) download the latest camera database for you.

If you don't have a serial port (as most newer laptops fail to have) you can purchase a USB cable to allow you to connect it to your PC.

Mounting the Talex GPS Speed Camera Detector on your dashboard!
Mounting the Talex is very easy. There are two mounting systems available.

  1. Magnetic mount, seen below. This has an adhesive backing that can be stuck to the dashboard of your vehicle. The mount is magnetic and the base of the Talex is metal, so placing the two together, the Talex will snap nice and strong to the mount making it stay rigid on the dashboard.
  2. If you would prefer a suction mount, a windscreen suction mount is available in the box. This can be connected to the Talex and you can hang the Talex off of the windscreen.

    

Once you have chosen which system to use to mount the Talex in-car, you can now plug in the in-car charger/power cable, switch on your ignition and wait for the GPS Fix. Once fixed, you will be notified every hour of the time, and this will be synchronised from the GPS atomic clocks in the GPS Satellites.

Above you will see the controls on the side of the Talex. Here is the port socket to allow you to connect this to a PC, a switch to toggle between Download, Normal and Camera announcements, and the Power socket.

Using the Talex GPS Speed Camera Detector
We were pleased to see that in our tests, the Talex obtained a Satellite fix (3+ satellites) within 40 seconds. We didn't have to sit there waiting for the fix either, although the initial fix may take some time as it is called a factory fix and may need to obtain more information about the satellites. Even so, our initial fix only took 2 mins! Once You have received 3+ satellites, the Talex will know exactly where you are in the UK and will alert you to any speed camera sites it is aware of, and also black spots and other known speed reduction zones like passing a school.

The Talex isn't created to help you speed, it's created to make sure you comply with the law, and every speed camera we drove past, every school and even frequent mobile sites, the Talex alerted us immediately of approaching the suspected site. Not once did the Talex miss a camera.

The best thing about the Talex is the mounting system, having a magnetic base allowing this to easily be mounted to the dashboard of the car and due to it's such small size, makes the Talex extremely attractive because it's not big and bulky and you can remove it from the car easily when you arrive at your destination.

I thought the Government had made these illegal ?
No, the UK government have made it illegal to use a device that either physically detects the presence of a speed camera, or tries to interfere with it's use, e.g. jam the signal to avoid a ticket. GPS Speed Camera Databases do not do either, and are simply using a database of known co-ordinates and matching it against your current co-ordinate. If the government were to make these illegal too, then it would be illegal for you to tell a friend that a new camera had been placed just down the road (which of course would be ludicrous).

"The increase in camera use has opened up a market for those who supply devices that alert drivers to the presence of speed cameras. The intention is to make it unlawful for people to carry in their vehicles devices that detect the presence of police speed enforcement radar. It does not seek a similar ban on devices that inform a driver of the presence of speed enforcement equipment by the use of a Global Positioning System (GPS)."

Source: UK Government - PDF File

There's lots of GPS detectors around, what makes the Talex different from the rest ?
The Talex is unique because it detects for the following items:-

  • Warning of fixed speed camera monitoring systems.
  • Warning of red light camera monitoring systems.
  • Warning of possible mobile monitoring sites.
  • Optional warning of accident black spots.
  • Optional warning of schools.
  • Optional warning of congestion charging zones.
  • Very low annual subscription cost
  • 2 Year Guarantee

The Talex also is one of the smallest and lightest GPS Speed Camera Detectors available in the UK today, comes with it's own mounting system (a magnetic button that can be stuck to the dashboard. and comes with a 2 year guarantee!

Yes, but the annual subscription price is always too much!
We agree that with other devices the annual subscription cost can be as high as £150 per year, but Talex have realised that people just simply won't pay for the annual subscription, so they have made an attractive renewal price to retrieve the latest downloads of known cameras. That's why Talex will charge only £29 inc VAT for an annual subscription or £59 inc VAT for a 3 year subscription. This makes Talex the cheapest GPS Speed Camera Detector around!

  

The renewable annual or 3 year subscription has to be purchased direct from Talex. Information about this is included inside the box.

The Speed Camera Facts !

  • There are 5,000 fixed and mobile camera sites
  • Speed camera fines generate £68 million annually, of which £54 million is spent on running costs
  • The Government claims that speed cameras save 100 lives every year
  • The proportion of vehicles speeding excessively (15mph more than the speed limit) has fallen by 80 per cent at fixed camera sites
  • However, this drops to 28 per cent at mobile camera sites
  • There are several different types of speed camera:
    • Specs, which calculates a car's average speed between two points
    • Truvelo, which takes a picture of the front of the car
    • Gatso camera, the most common, found all over Britain
  • Accident casualties at 743 camera locations have increased rather than decreased, a new study shows
  • This year almost three million speeding penalties are expected to be issued, up from 260,000 in 1996
  • Women's speeding offences have risen by four percentage points in the past five years, yet still constitute only 17 per cent of the total
  • The number of traffic police has fallen by 11 per cent since 1996
  • Home Office guidelines state that 15 per cent of cameras can be placed at places other than accident black spots
  • The A537 from Macclesfield to Buxton is the most dangerous road in England. There are no speed cameras on
    this road.