"Radar Detector" for a penny: a review of GPS-informator iconBIT TRACKER MINI

When they sent me a box with this gadget, the classic “everything ingenious is simple” flashed through my head right away. So far, I have never heard anything about similar iconBIT TRACKER MINI developments, whose appearance is quite logical and justified. The model is a miniature box without reservation, which is especially able for reckless drivers to save tens of thousands of rubles (at least ~ $ 270 dollars) by avoiding fines due to attentive fixed-type complexes like “STRELKA-ST”. Only unlike the usual radar detector, iconBIT TRACKER MINI is guided purely by the built-in base of coordinates of cameras and the GPS module. This solution has its pros and cons, which we will talk about in the review.



A bit of history


I can be mistaken, but in my opinion iconBIT TRACKER MINI and its analogs "budged" not so much from full-fledged radar detectors as from ... DVRs. Last year, for the first time, I began to come across the flagship “black boxes” with the finally justified presence of a GPS receiver. If earlier such a maximum was capable of recording tracks of a car’s movement, then it later became used to warn about speed cameras.

And not to say that this required special hardware improvements - I know at least one model in which the firmware was released ex-post with the addition of the notorious notifications. Now this functionality is mainly available in top registrars for 6-7 thousand rubles ($ 162-189 dollars), but this price usually also includes the presence of the LDWS system. Apparently, in practice, the solution turned out to be very suitable, because the start was given to the release of a separate GPS gadget.

Equipment


The box gives a concise definition of the device - "GPS-informant about road cameras."



Packaging strongly emphasizes how tiny the device we find inside.





Both front and rear photos and schematic images are shown on a 1: 1 scale. Well, and traditionally for the iconBIT models, the purpose of the buttons is explained, as the brand does in the case of its other devices - registrars, tablets, etc.

Without a warranty card and instructions could not do. The manual is short and intelligible, and indeed there is nowhere to go to deal with the complexity of development.



The set of accessories is small, taking into account the specifics of the device, there is nowhere to accelerate. The miniUSB cable is designed to connect to a computer and install firmware or an updated camera database. The cigarette lighter power supply is made with an L-shaped plug so that it is more convenient to output the cable from the back of the iconBIT TRACKER MINI case.



Let me chide the iconBIT a bit. It seems to be obvious that in our time one can not do with one “siren” in a car - you need power, at least for a registrar and a smartphone. I'm not sure that the vast majority of cars are equipped with two cigarette lighters, so the motorist will probably have to spend money on buying a splitter. The best solution would be a power supply with a USB connector, a similar accessory is now found everywhere in the registrars of the middle and upper price range.



For installation, a bracket with a removable platform is used, fixing takes place on 3M double-sided tape. If I'm not mistaken, there are two sticks in the kit - one was pasted before me and was unusable, I had to use the last sticker. But for the next browser, I put a stick from the registrar in the boxiconBIT DVR QX PRO , in which one of the two mounts is exactly the same. However, I did not use either of the two stickers there :)



Installation, appearance and controls


The iconBIT TRACKER MINI bracket is designed so that the device can be installed both on the dashboard and on the windshield. Simply put - anywhere in sight. For example, on one of the “grocery” gadgets is almost under the ceiling, but I did not like this approach, I have to be too distracted from the road to look at the indicators on the display.



I like the installation on the glass in the lower left corner, when the view does not deteriorate in any way, and when you contemplate the screen of the device, by and large you will not lose sight of what is happening in front of the car. However, my option may not be suitable for those who prefer to install a holder for a smartphone in this place. My "dialer" while riding lies in a cavity next to the gear knob, so there was no interference.









And here is the “inverted” mount, when installing the gadget is obtained on the front panel, is also a good solution. It’s unlikely that a cable can be laid secretly, although this already depends on the driver’s ingenuity and a specific car.







Both the case and the buttons are made of matte plastic, the probability of messing the coating with your fingers and wiping it regularly tends to zero. I just don’t recommend directly “pawing” the screen, as it is protected by a glossy overlay.



There is a miniUSB connector on the back.



Below is the name of the model and speaker slots.



The dimensions of the device are 42 x 42 x 25 mm, comparable to the size of a matchbox. This, by the way, is a significant plus, because it is unlikely that someone will like to litter the car with a lot of additional electronics.



On the front side there is an LED display - the most economical solution, with a TFT-TN matrix, the price would probably increase slightly. The compass is displayed on the left, and the clock, current speed or distance to the detected camera on the right. Below we see four buttons. The purpose of the "cursor" keys is to change the values ​​of different parameters. ON / OFF is responsible for turning on and off. You are unlikely to have to use the latter, iconBIT TRACKER MINI switches itself on when the engine is running and turns off with the machine turned off. If you press the button twice, the sound will mute.

Opportunities


Next, we will deal with the “MENU” button and along the way we will begin to study all the custom options of the model. By a single click we call up the setting of the first iconBIT TRACKER MINI feature. The model is able to track the speed of the car and immediately begins to "bale" the driver with a constant sound signal if the manually set upper speed threshold is exceeded. At the value “0” the option is completely disabled, in general, the tuning range is in the range of 40-150 km / h. If you notice the ability to press on the gas enthusiastically and look at the speedometer too late - the reminder will not be amiss. Or when specifically no, no, and you want to speed up, the warning will make you think once again - is it worth it to violate the speed limit? And you don’t need to violate, because otherwise the gadget will express its dissatisfaction with its sound continuously.



Press the key twice and open the GPS speed calibration. If you notice serious discrepancies between the actual readings and model values, an adjustment from “-10” to “+10” is available.

When the device does not detect movement, the time is displayed on the screen. By default, the +4 GMT zone is set for Russia, but by pressing “MENU” three times, you can make an adjustment from “-12” to “+13” GMT.



Finally, by pressing the key four times, we get the opportunity to adjust the volume. A curious mode is available when the device itself makes the sound louder in direct proportion to the increase in the speed of the car.



Actually, the main thing is the identification of speed cameras. In the last update of the database, in the column “updated area” are indicated “Russia, CIS, Europe”, and in the field “Comments” - “Russian and Europe maps”. Thus, you can not name the local iconBIT TRACKER MINI gadget - it will be equally useful when traveling to Europe. Although I do not presume to imagine how the device will be treated in countries with a ban on the use of radar detectors. Here, registrar owners were most lucky with the “warning” option, because here additional functions are not striking.

The device starts to signal and count the distance to the object for about 500 meters, this is more than enough for a timely decrease in speed. Do not forget that the sellers of radar detectors are very fond of scaring customers with the possibility of “STRELKI-ST” to start “driving” a car almost a kilometer away. Well, how else to put together expensive radar detectors for 12,000 rubles ($ 324 dollars) with a warning for 1-1.5 km? By the way, I don’t really like the idea of ​​listening to a squeak for 1.5 km, and a trip to Moscow is quite capable of turning into an uninterrupted sound in this situation.

My tests took place for about a month in Moscow and the suburbs, to assess the completeness of the base, I at the same time checked with the information of Navitel and Yandex.Maps. the result is more than satisfactory, I did not find any “misses” in the iconBIT TRACKER MINI coordinate set. I note that I used the firmware from August 5, a more current version at the moment did not appear. I have no complaints about the completeness of the information, but I would not mind storing the database in the form of a TXT file open for editing, as it is implemented in registrars. So it would be possible to import databases of third-party projects such as mapcam.info.

Do I need it? ...


... Surely almost every first motorist asks such a question after learning about iconBIT TRACKER MINI. Let's figure it out and look for alternatives at the same time.

First of all, about the price. In the case of a GPS informer, you pay 1,490 rubles (~ $ 40 dollars), and for acquiring a radar detector - from 4-5 thousand (~ $ 108-135 dollars) and up to 12-15 (~ $ 324-405 dollars) thousand rubles for the most tricked out models.



Further, the most important thing is that in urban conditions there are a large number of interference sources, such as alarms that interfere with the normal operation of the radar detector and provoke false signals to the driver that annoys the driver. Yes, the devices have urban special modes, but nobody will give us one hundred percent guarantees anyway. But iconBIT TRACKER MINI does not care about this, since the device with a probability of 101% a) will not miss the camera b) will not give a false warning.

At the same time, estimate how many times in a month you can get into the sight of a mobile guard radar - and how many stationary sets are in sight? Simply put, is it really necessary to detect in real time? At habrahabr, no more than last year they wrote about such a wonderful thing as “ Register of stationary objects of observation (FVF complexes)”. This is an open registry with a complete official list of stationary systems for photo-video recording of traffic violations. At the moment, it contains 702 objects - and this is only for Moscow. If you look at the map, the city is literally dotted with complexes.



And you need to remember that cameras respond not only to speed violations. I will allow myself to quote Anatoly Nirov, technical director of the company that developed and produced STRELKA: Strelka complexes installed in Moscow now record high-speed violations, going to the oncoming traffic lane, traffic in areas not intended for vehicles ( roadside, sidewalk), traffic on dedicated lanes intended for public transport. ” By the way, in that interview the practical range of the complex to 500 meters was confirmed. From personal experience - my friend was slightly surprised when in a month I received “letters of happiness” worth 17,000 rubles (~ $ 459 dollars). It turned out that on one of the sections of his route between the house and work stood “ARROW”, fixing the exit to the very allocated lane.

Finally, we should recall the navigation applications (for smartphones), which now at the same time are equipped with the camera warning option. This means that when you get into the car, you need to turn on the GPS every time, start the program and put the device on recharge (the receiver increases the battery consumption). We leave the car - we take actions in the reverse order. I suspect that you will get tired of doing these manipulations quite quickly. I would call the Anti-Radar Strelka program, which costs $ 5 on Google Play, a more or less robust option, but again, a series of constant manual actions cannot be dispensed with, while iconBIT TRACKER MINI does not require such custody.

Conclusion


The iconBIT TRACKER MINI device is from the “taste and color” series. In no case do I claim that such devices will eclipse and completely replace full-fledged radar detectors. At the same time, I indicated in detail above why GPS informants not only have the right to exist, but are also able to become a very effective alternative to a separate radar detector. In the end, if you need to get “protection” from speed cameras, but you don’t want to spend too much, breaking up with 1,490 rubles (~ $ 40 dollars) will probably be easier than putting out twice or three times the amount for a regular radar detector. At the same time, after the test of the model, I can confidently say that you will not lose critical in the completeness of the detection of complexes. And even rejoice in the absence of false positives.

PS But what about the flaws? In my opinion, there is one minus. I would very much like to see in radar detectors of any kind a clear solution to the problem of detecting complexes of the Avtodoria type. Let me remind you that these cameras work in pairs and measure the average speed of the car in a certain area. So, it would be great to clearly inform the driver - where the tracking begins with the first camera and ends with the second complex. There is a controversial point - the iconBIT TRACKER MINI is completely devoid of battery, but if for the recorder it really can be attributed to a drawback, then in the case of a GPS informer, I would not take it as a minus.

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