Ironically enough, did a software update over the weekend and today it crashed on me. A reboot failed to fix it and Snooper reckon the only way to fix it would be a firmware update which would take 2-4 weeks and I would lose all data on board…
Which is a sod, basically.
Just spoke to them on the phone. Spent 20 minutes on hold with frequent gaps in their ‘on hold music’ as if someone had picked up the call then decided against it.
The chap I spoke to sounded like he was eating whilst on the phone which didn’t help and gave me two stories about where my device was.
A letter has been sent out for ‘upgrade’ options. The device was basically awaiting donor parts from other unwell items before it could be fixed.
An engineer was looking at the device now and it was on his bench and he would follow an unbiased view in fixing the fault…
Hmm. Helpful. I sent it in next day insured delivery on the 4th, they received it on the 10th and now on the 17th the engineer has it on his bench…
Hmm. At this rate I’m going to end up buying another device just to keep me going… Although the company I was working for last week didn’t allow any time for route planning or map reading, suggesting that I use a satnav and hurry up… Clearly they didn’t like being told that if their trucks limiters weren’t set to 50mph… 
The letter I’ve had from them tells me the device is beyond economical repair and suggested I get a new one.
The nerve of it, it was there [zb] map update that [zb] the [zb] thing up!!!
Considering the TomTom 5150 Truck though 
Considering the TomTom 5150 Truck though
Good choice, you wont be disappointed
Why spend a fortune on these “truck” satnavs? You’re all a bunch of mugs. Any cheapo boff satnav will do and then download the POIs for free and install them. It’s a 2 min job and any muppet can do it. If you can’t then speak to alix776 on here and he’ll sort it all out for you as he’s clued up on it all.
Rob the difference is that they will route you around any restrictions
Yes any sat nav will do but as said before many times its only a map and it isn’t driving the truck
Oh never used snooper but my view is these days a dedicated sat nav is too much money when a smartphone app will do just the job and a bigger screen doesn’t mean you’ll see more of what’s around you
alix776:
Rob the difference is that they will route you around any restrictionsYes any sat nav will do but as said before many times its only a map and it isn’t driving the truck
Oh never used snooper but my view is these days a dedicated sat nav is too much money when a smartphone app will do just the job and a bigger screen doesn’t mean you’ll see more of what’s around you
Yeah I know they route you round restrictions, but at the end of the day it’s just really an app that does that which you could probably find for free online somewhere and add it yourself. Same thing with the bridge POI app. The only difference is that you’re paying someone else for a device where they’ve already done that work and is readymade for you to use, and of course you pay through the nose for it.
For a long time I have used a variety of mobile phones running several satellite navigation programs, including Navigon and TomTom. The former couldn’t understand postcode but was good for choosing decent and suitable roads. The latter would take me any way. I once had it offer to take me up a footpath!
A few months back my phone got in a state, it wouldn’t charge but displayed the charge light and I found the charging connector was damaged. It would charge at home in the desk mount but not in the vehicle mount. As a backup I took the desk charger with me to work so that I could at least get verbal instructions, if not being able to see the map. I decided it was time for another phone.
I chose an android phone and was unfortunate to have it plugged in one day when I cranked the engine on the truck. Cue burning smell and a phone that wouldn’t fully start, only reboot and get very very hot. The replacement lasted a week before succumbing. Brand new 12-24v charger plugged into a 24v power source and it switched itself off and refused to restart.
I tried the job using maps. Remember those archaic things? Some of my drops had postcodes but most did not. They were often just a road name or a village and a house/farm name. Some of those had postcodes but not many.
It was a long week and by halfway through I decided I needed a proper dedicated SatNav but one that I would use for work and therefore it was worthwhile in spending more than £100 on a device.
After a lot of research I settled on the Snooper range from Syrius. I checked everything out and decided I was going for the ‘2000 Truckmate’ version. So, on Wednesday I duly rang them on a break and had a chat to Ian from Snooper. It was at this point I found out they were out of the 2000 range, but I got a free upgrade to the 6000 model. However, it was almost double the size than the 2000. 7” compared to the 4.6” of the 2000. Being an expensive item and the fact I was working away from home all week they sent it out to me with Royal Mail ‘Silver’ next day. I wasn’t in, but he texted me then reference number and coupled with ID I was able to go straight from work on the Thursday to collect it.
I rushed home (via the supermarket) and popped it onto charge and read the thick user manual. It didn’t take long as that was in several languages but it all seemed to be pretty standard stuff.
On the side is an SD card slot, which in this case had the 4GB card with ‘UK Truck’ loaded. There is a round power socket, a USB sync (not charging) socket and a 3.5mm jack for the TMC. There is an odd way to mount this but it seems pretty suitable. It has a bracket hole at the top and a groove in the base so hooks on at the outer edges of the case. The mount is similar to a RAM with a short rod in the middle. The suction with the rod mounts to the bracket and that is it. You then clip it into place on the back of the device. In the vehicle there is a bit of vibration, but that is to be expected. I guess you could always mount it so that he base of the device is resting on the dashboard or something.
Switching it on (there is a small master power switch at the bottom, use a small paperclip to operate it) was pressing a the only other visible switch on the device, the top right hand corner. The screen gives a nice image if a T-cab, or forward mounted engine truck pulling a trailer, along with the information that the mapping is from ‘Navtech’. It then asked if I was in a truck or a car and that I agreed not to be a danger on the road while operating it
However, when it went straight to the map I was a bit disappointed. The quality seemed less than what I was used to, but that is perhaps TT had used more solid colours. The colours looked a bit washed out. I soon found there were other ‘schemes’ and settled on that I felt did the job. When I’m driving there are clouds above the horizon in the 3D which move from right to left… Different I suppose.
At the bottom of the screen there is an icon to tell me the speed limit followed by my speed. The direction of travel, the road name and then on the far right is a GPS and battery symbol. That icon doesn’t take you to the GPS satellite view or even the battery information.
By touching the road name and the speed display it will cycle through other options, and you can also set them in configuration panel. By touching the top of the screen you can bring up 5 buttons.
Sound, browse map, viewing mode, brightness and speed cameras. You can also change day/night mode from here too.
Touching the screen in the middle takes it to the options. ‘Navigate to’, ‘My Favourite’ and ‘Configure’. There is an X to the right of that, which takes you back to the map. Often throughout the configuration you’ll find a small back arrow but likewise it sometimes isn’t clear. Each of the main pages have several extra pages within them. The ‘Truck’ related information is mostly held within the ‘User POI’ icon and even perusing that briefly it looks pretty good. Assuming it is part of the data loaded I can search for places like HGV garages, parking areas or industrial estates. I was quite surprised there were so many in my local area!
Most of the icons are quite intuitive, and you’ll soon pick up how to get through. Whilst the sound was switched on initially I soon switched it off but soon found that because the screen wasn’t as sensitive as I thought it would help to know I’d pressed something.
This is also where you set your truck settings. To add another you need to go a few levels deeper opting to ‘change’ your truck before it gives you an option to add one. The options you can put in are name, height, weight, length, width, weight per axle, truck type and load type. The latter two are separated as ‘truck, trailer, delivery, public’ so I am guessing that the ‘public’ can be used for municipal or bus/coaches. For ‘Load Type’ it lets you select none/normal, hazardous, explosive/flammable and harmful for water. I’ve not driven any of those yet so I stuck to ‘none/normal’. I also set up one vehicle with a 13ft height, 18t, 30ft long and 9ft wide. I suspect the truck was actually shorter than 30ft though.
The configuration page is where you can setup the alerts whether for cameras or sharp curves, or for your speed. It can bleep at you if you’re speeding. However, if I’m using it in ‘car’ mode it doesn’t show me the low bridges and 7.5t limits either so I’ve kept it in truck mode. I have also found if you turn the volume all the way down for speech it also affects the volume level of any calls via bluetooth.
I can also set security on this screen as well, so I need a PIN to power it up and I could use a PIN to lock out the config pages too. Ideal if mounted permanently in the truck!
So. I left it on charge overnight and had it in the car going down to work the next day (Friday). I’ve got a commute of about ¾ to an hour on the road depending my cruising speed. The Snooper seemed very large in the car so if I do get a mount setup in the car I would move it lower down on the dash as it does take up quite a bit of the windscreen. When I got to work it was no problem and looked at home there.
My work this week was near the South Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire borders delivering building materials in an 18t drop side rigid with a rear mounted Atlas crane with 3 control sets and a brick grab. It was a ’10 plate DAF CF 220 with a 6sp manual gearbox and, wonderfully, AirCon! Even when it rained it was on most of the time with the windows closed.
I set it up in the truck and got going. I tried the ‘multi route’ but clearly I was confused by something as it didn’t work. So I just went one by one using the smattering of a weeks local knowledge and the maps I used. The forkie was quite helpful on where some places were. As I said above, a mix of addresses and postcodes.
The mornings navigation was quick and easy. The voice was actually human and pleasant sounding and voice octaves changed more naturally. Some of the voice prompts confused me initially but probably because I was using that local knowledge stuff as well. For example, going up the A429 just past Halford and approaching the staggered roundabout for the Fosse I had to take the A4455 Fosse way and I was directed to take the right then immediate left, where I would have described it as 2nd exit or keep right. Otherwise roundabouts and directions are fine, including where there are more than 2 exits. They show the actual exit number.
The back roads are a bit easier as well. It kept me mostly on the main roads which I travelled over faster than the ‘unclassified’ roads that I could often barely manage 20mph on! However I also found that it was prepared to send me to main roads too much. For example, I had to get to Mickleton over to Shipston on Stour. The route I was offered was north up to the Stratford road (A3400) via Illmington, Armscote then A3400 and to Shipston. Where I knew I was going near Darlingscote which was a more direct route. Considering there were no weight limits and the roads were all the same class… It was 9 miles to take it’s route but 3 miles to take my route…
But I guess that I can’t have one without the other and occasionally I would have to do a little thinking for it. Such as navigating to Darlingscote and then from there telling me to take me to Shipston. However. The device when reprogrammed in that order still wanted me to go back around the village and back onto the original route but
I think it’s a learning curve with this device and it would have been nice to specify that I go ‘via’ somewhere I have selected on the map. Perhaps the setting is there already but I haven’t found it yet.
I certainly found it helpful to have and feel despite its short comings it is well worth the £279 I spent. I would have preferred a smaller device but then again, the large screen is quite nice. I have already added a few ‘parking’ places suitable for stopping an 18t truck without blocking the road. Sometime I will find a way to add in those other places that I have acquired over the decade or so driving trucks. Until then I’ll take it as it comes. I am also pleased that it has a free TMC, of which I’ve not used yet but not so pleased that to get updates even just after I have bought it meant I had to spend another £30! Still, that’s an annual cost.
The only other thing I have found is there may be a problem with the battery on this, or perhaps it is the way I am powering it up/down. I am only using the power button on the upper right not the main one with a paperclip to switch it off. I’ve also found another small reset button on the front bezel I had missed before. Not sure how much of a reset it gives though…
I charged It overnight, used it for an hour in the morning then it spent most of the day on charge when in use. However, it didn’t once tell me the battery was full. I used it for an hour last night to get home as the bluetooth for my phone and found it a bit quite for my liking but still managed. This morning having come to turn it on it won’t. It was completely flat. So it’s back on charge. We’ll see. It’s probably just my fault somewhere. It usually is
Learning curves….
Syrius Shop
S2000N Truckmate UK/EIRE
S2000N Truckmate Euro
S6000 Truckmate Lite UK/EIRE
The 6000 is the ‘Lite’ whilst the 7000 is the ‘Pro’ with extras, like a DVD or TV or something.
I have also yet to find the ‘scheme’ that has the nice dark green next to the road in that on screen image though 
Hi I have an s7000 pro and find it great as well although new map updates are dear at £59.99 inc vat for a Single update although it is a dedicated satnav with a lot more info ect on it. Maybe you could contact snooper and suggest a color scheme, they may doit and put it in an update for us all
It’s a good little device but there are niggly little things that let it down that anyone who has used it for any time will soon spot.
For example, the keyboard when putting an address/postcode/something in is a tad naff. The ‘OK’ key could be separated and perhaps even have a red border so it stands out more.
It would help if the little GPS/Battery icon in the lower right hand side actually took you to the GPS screen if you pressed it and using a standard black/white code for the battery the wrong way around is also confusing. I kept thinking the battery was ‘full’ up until it powered down Sods.
Still. I’ll contact them in due course The bluetooth on the device for taking calls is excellent. I keep my own phone in my pocket with the keypad locked and take all the calls on the 6000 Encouragement to get a full time setup in my own car too 
Ive had one for a couple of years and when I bought mine it came with free updates for life but now i see life means a couple of years as im sposed to pay now. Its not so good in europe as it is in the UK and I sometimes get no route available when there is a choice of several, but this is probably due to night time truck bans. It is possible to set a via point but you have to do it from the route map (page 3 in the menu pages). I like the big screen but wouldn’t buy another one.
Graham