Snooper S3 / S3-R

Matthew Johnson Liaison Officer Peugeot Sport Official Owners Club
The first thing you notice about the Snooper S3 neo when you open the box is it's size. The unit is that small that it will easily fit into the inside pocket of a coat or Jacket. Making removal for security reasons easy.

But can a unit this small be as efficient and accurate as the higher spec models costing over twice as much?

Once you have removed the S3 from the box the first thing you have to do is install the Software on to a Personal Computer. This software lets you connect, via the internet, to the Snooper GPS location database. Using the cable supplied, you just hook the S3 up to your PC and click the Satellite icon on your desktop (This appears when software is installed). Then its just matter of selecting ‘Cameras' or ‘Cameras & Schools' (that's right the guys at Snooper have now added schools to there GPS location database) and once you have selected which database you want to download just hit the ‘start update' button.

So as the unit is so small, what about useability? Well, the unit is a simple GPS location device and laser detector. It does not have many of the features of the higher spec models, like compass, atomic clock or show the speed limit at the trap you are approaching, but the unit does the basic operation of warning you of cameras and there location's very well.

When driving up to a GPS location, the unit will ‘Bleep' and the number 4 will appear on the numeric indicator. This means that you are coming up to a GPS location and that it's 400 meter's away. As you get closer, more of the red LED's light up (4 maximum) and the numbers count down to Zero (Each number equates to 100 meter increment's) The unit keeps bleeping until you have passed the GPS location. It should be noted that the unit is directional, that's means it knows the direction you are travelling in and will only alert you to Speed monitoring systems designed for the side of the road you are driving on, a neat feature indeed.

If you're Mr Average doing average miles, maybe taking a once a year exodus on your summer holidays then this is the unit for you. The Snooper S3 neo will do exactly what you bought it for, and it's very good at it, but if you want a bit more functionality and your purse strings will stretch to it, then buy a Snooper S4 neo or even Big Brother the S6- R Neo

Auto Express, March 30 th 2005 - 2 stars

At first glance, the S3 looked very similar to the more expensive S4. But despite using the same case, this was a very different machine.

And it was obvious where the money had gone - the display was dull and didn't have a GPS speedo. The S3 also lacked voice warnings.

It worked well enough on our test route, but as with most rivals, the laser gun detection was unreliable.



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