how many of you guys use trapster....

[bigmack]

trapster? I just heard about it from a friend and figured this would be the place to get some feedback.... so lets hear it. worth the use?

[Stealth Stalker]

trapster? I just heard about it from a friend and figured this would be the place to get some feedback.... so lets hear it. worth the use?

I don't use it, as I am not convinced that it is worth the trouble. The signal to noise ratio of their alerts is very, very low. That means that more alerts turn out to be bogus than turn out to be real, including many of the red light camera alerts, which are really the only real benefit of the system. For now, I'll pass and just continue to not run red lights.

[primehifi]

For now, I'll pass and just continue to not run red lights.

Well said..... Plus it's benefits are not worth either keeping the GPS always on on my bberry, thus draining the battery in a days use OR having to remember to turn it on every time I get in the car.

[The Invisible Vervet]

I just drove from Miami to Chicago, and I found the "usual hiding spot" POIs from Trapster very handy.

Thanks to some helpful guidance from crazyVOLVOrob, I had them set to a 3/4 mile warning and only medium or higher confidence. I brought along our GPS's USB cord in case I needed to tweak the settings upon arrival, but I don't plan on changing a thing. It wasn't obnoxiously chatty, nor was it too long or too short of notice.

While it isn't something to take as seriously as a V1 alert, it certainly helps you to be aware of the hiding places that are impossible to anticipate, and if you get a POI bong at the same time as a weak signal, it's enough to make you take it seriously. Just easing off of the gas and being prepared to brake if necessary is helpful and it was a useful (not necessarily bacon-saving each time, but certainly appreciated) warning a few different times on my trip.

I think it's best application is for long-distance drives where you aren't intimately familiar with every stretch of the route. It's overkill for short trips, local trips where you already know the lay of the land and where all the traps are anyway, etc. I don't have unlimited text messages, so I can't comment on that aspect of its utility, but I can envision it being very useful if enough people in your area are on board with it.

I'm not sold on its use for fixed location cameras due to many users (likely including myself) who can't reliably distinguish one type of device from another, and I'm only using it for that purpose until I get a Cheetah mirror.

Like a CB, Trapster is no good in a vacuum--the more people who use it, the better it will be.

[bigmack]

yeah i was thinking about getting it just for the longer trips or the trips where i don't know the terrain as well. Figured the amount of times that it just annoying might make up for the one time i would get blasted I/O if not for the app

[9500ier]

I only use my GPS for long trips (for trapster and to track progress) or when I am lost or have no clue where I am going. Either way they are relatively unfamiliar areas to me, at least in terms of usual police hiding spots. I haven't had a true save, but I have seen people pulled over multiple times where my alert was going off. Also, a friend of my who doesn't have an RD has been saved twice by trapster that I set up for him on his GPS.

I do not think its nearly effective as an RD, but if your going to have the GPS in your car and are treading in unfamiliar territory, why not have it?

I also only use Medium or better confidence alerts and I have my alerts at like 1,600 feet or somewhere around there.

[TSi+WRX]

I do send in information on the usual hiding/trap spots, but that's about it.

Locally, I know where threats are, so I don't use it, particularly since I use a Cheetah GPS-Mirror, which has a much more exacting database and presentation, when it comes to the fixed, RLC, and speed-on-green camera threats that I face.

On road trips, though, I'd take the GPS, loaded with Trapster POIs.

There are some inherent problems in the implementation of Trapster - however, its "Live Reporting" feature is definitely second-to-none, and is what I think is the best part of the system.

BTW, here's a whole thread, devoted to Trapster:

http://www.radardetector.net/forums/...-trapster.html

[hockey005]

on road trips when i use my garmin its on there

[bigmack]

yeah i don't currently have a GPS so i figured trapster would be better than nothing. I went on the website and looked at the trapmap and noticed a lot of the usual spots are already noted on map for my area. Its nice to see other ppl actually using this the way it should be used. Thanks for the link WRX...

[proudNMAmember]

I find trapster quite handy and I report things all the time.