Know your limits with these speed camera detectors (and apps) to help you avoid hefty speeding tickets
Even the most careful driver can exceed the speed limit. Maybe it’s late at night and there are no other cars around, or you’re just following the flow of traffic. With so many different restrictions and ever-changing limits on smart highways, it can be easy to get caught.
If you’re unlucky, you might spot a police nighttime detection van, or maybe you’ll see the dreaded double flash of a camera passing under a highway gantry. The inevitable envelope in the mail may require you to spend a day on a speed awareness course, add points to your award-winning driver’s license or head to court.

A speed camera locator can help you track boundaries and save points on your license. As cameras tend to be located in accident black spots, they are also a useful way to notify you of dangerous intersections.
We’ve tested a selection of devices and apps to see which is the best option for keeping your license clean.

how we test them

There are two types of locators: those on a separate device and smartphone apps. If the latter are necessarily cheaper, even free for some, they can however have compromises compared to a dedicated device.
We tested both types on an identical route, incorporating fixed and variable speed camera locations on motorways and back roads. We also passed two commonly used mobile camera locations on an A highway. The apps were downloaded to an iPhone 12. Points were awarded for accuracy, clarity, ease of use, and price.
Verdict
As smartphones get more sophisticated, apps that help you avoid speed traps are also getting better. This means that separate devices become less necessary, but some drivers may prefer them.
If that’s you, we like the Saphe Drive Mini or the Road Angel, as long as you have deep pockets and don’t want to be tethered to a phone.
If you’re happy with using an app, everyone who tested found the cameras fixed on our run. Waze’s ace card is how much data it can collect from users from various sources, which means you’re more likely to get a mobile unit warning.

Devices

1. Mini Saphe Drive Speed ​​Camera Detector
2. Pure Road Angel

Shapes

1.waze
2. All speed cameras
Saphe Drive Mini Radar Detector

• Price: £59.99
• Rating: 5/5
• Subscription: Free
• Contact: Saphe
The Drive Mini is small enough to fit in most dashboards and features a long-lasting rechargeable battery, which means it doesn’t require any trailing cables inside to keep it powered.
When linked to an app on your smartphone, it automatically connects as soon as you drive, and it’s easy to forget the device is there until a warning siren blares over the loudspeakers. car speakers.
The small screen informs about the subject of the alert, while two buttons allow you to report incidents or speed cameras to help alert other Saphe users. It’s not a perfect system, but it works very well and seems like great value here, even compared to Saphe’s One+.