Roads in our country are a special world, living according to its own unusual laws. Every motorist knows that anything can happen on the way, and therefore takes the necessary measures in order to avoid especially unpleasant situations. It is regrettable, but the latter category includes many traffic police and traffic police.
One of the main ways to avoid a sudden meeting with them on the road is to use radar detectors. Given the current fines, the purchase of such a device can fully justify itself on the very first trip. One of the most high-quality and widespread devices of this kind is the Sho-Me G800 STR radar detector, reviews of which, as well as its characteristics, we will consider in detail today.
Basic technical information
The Sho-Me G-800 STR is a budget device manufactured by a joint Sino-Korean firm. Its feature is that the equipment is really well adapted specifically to our conditions. Its cost is only five to six thousand rubles.
Domestic drivers are very fond of this device for the availability of GPS and the real opportunity to "catch" the ubiquitous Strelka complexes, which are more and more found every year on our roads. If you take any rating of radar detectors from a car magazine, then our "hero" will be, if not in the top five, then in the top ten leaders for sure.
As for external data, the device does not shine with them: a simple black box with an equally simple display. However, it is foolish to expect any visual delights from such a technique: on the contrary, it just should be as secretive as possible and not catch the eye of valiant road guards. If you place your Sho radar detector somewhere in the corner of the cabin, you won’t even be able to see it closely. Given the gentle "love" of traffic police to such devices, this is very good.
Important Nuances
However, if some incredible technical characteristics are vital to you, then you obviously should not buy a Sho-Me G800 STR radar detector. Testimonials indicate that the detection of "enemy technology" occurs in the standard ranges of X, K, Ka, Ku. Users also report that the device behaves normally in ultrashort modes "Ultra-X", "Ultra-K", "POP". As regards the latter fact, it must be emphasized especially.
Not all expensive devices of this class adequately work with such ranges. But we would not advise you to rejoice. In the future, we will talk about the problems that some drivers who have bought multi-band radar detectors experience.
But the really nice feature for the technology of this price range is that there is protection against standard direction-finding radar detectors VG-2. A laser lens detects their work in real time, within a radius of 360 degrees from the car. The presence of a GPS module is especially appealing to those drivers who need the following functionality:
- Displays the current speed in real time.
- Existence of an accurate electronic compass.
- The presence of a renewable base for all models and locations of fixed fixation cameras, including the newest ones.
- Possibility of automatic deactivation of the “radar detector” function when the speed decreases to values ​​acceptable on a given section of the road.
- The presence on the manufacturer’s website of new firmware, updated databases.
Some problems
What is the difference between the Sho-Me G800 STR radar detector? The reviews unequivocally state that in standard urban conditions the device correctly catches all Pulses-ST pulses at a distance of 700-800 meters. Alas, experienced car enthusiasts report that this technique is still not too correct can warn of an impulse sent from behind. And one more important drawback. The fact is that the GPS module continues to regularly testify to the presence of the Multiradar or Strelka complexes even when they are generally located on streets parallel to you.
A number of negative statements are associated with this, which were also “honored” by the Sho-Me G800 STR radar detector. Reviews of dissatisfied motorists are full of statements like: "an hour creeped along the street, looking for radars." Some even make tags in the device’s memory, as a result of which it can be completely clogged with unnecessary, incorrect information.
In addition, almost everyone notices that the device has an unpleasant habit of giving really false signals. Yes, the problem is hiding in the settings, but it's just very difficult for an inexperienced user to deal with them. However, if you connect your head and patience, you can achieve impressive results.
Motorists who have dealt with this are very pleased with the Sho-Me G800 STR radar detector. According to the current conditions, its price is scanty, but its capabilities are slightly less than in more sophisticated devices of much more famous manufacturers.
"Class hatred"
Oddly enough, but this device simply “loves” active cruise controls. Fortunately, they stand only on very expensive cars, and therefore on the roads they can be found not so often. Some buyers advise: “If you caught a signal in some unusual place, do not forget to look in the rear mirror. Perhaps you will see there some last novelty of the foreign automobile industry. ”
In addition, fans of a drive should not relax much, because after 120 km / h the Sho-Me radar detector (reviews of which we are analyzing) begins to annoyingly warn about the need to reduce speed. On good tracks, where you really want to press the accelerator pedal harder, it can be annoying. In principle, this function is disabled, so there is nothing “deadly” about it.
Important Notice
Negative feedback about the latter function is caused solely by the reluctance of users to deal with the settings. The fact is that such a “law-abiding” device is set by its truly law-abiding manufacturer. The company constantly monitors the state of domestic road legislation and timely makes additions to the base of the device. In general, this is the best radar detector in this price range on this basis.
To make it clearer. Suppose that according to the new rules in some place you should go no faster than 60 km / h. A smart device will start its annoying barrel organ at the very moment when you go at a speed of 61 km / h. To make it easier, look for the “Warning threshold” item in the settings and increase it by ten percent.
A few words about ranges
Despite the fact that the device is multiband, by default only one of them is turned on. This is a “K” In general, the ability to turn on / off ranges, which we already mentioned, is a huge plus that not all drivers are aware of. Judging by the reviews, many of our customers just peck at the assurances of manufacturers like this: "Only our best radar detector works in five / six (or until infinity) ranges!"
Here only experienced drivers say (having acquaintances in the DPS environment) that at present all the measuring devices that are used by our police work exclusively in the "K" range. It is just all the others that cause numerous false positives (of which we spoke more than once above).
Some taxi drivers say that the device we are discussing is very fond of operating on truckers. Of course, if you really need the X-band or Ku - no problem. Turning it on is a matter of a couple of seconds.
Chinese production
Finally, some samples simply have a “crooked” button, with which the Sho-Me STR radar detector detaches from the glass. Simply put, some buyers say that they are tired of trying to remove it ... Check this feature in advance, because when checking with a car inspection, you may be in an uncomfortable position.
additional characteristics
However, a moment with false positives can be considered a disadvantage rather conditionally. In urban conditions, in any case, you should not accelerate much, but because such a precaution will never hurt. In addition, advanced users are very fond of the Sho-Me G800 STR (the price also contributes to this) for the presence of the following characteristics:
- You can not only enter custom types of settings, but also set them as standard.
- There are both urban and highway modes.
- Some ranges can be turned off manually.
- There is a Geiger effect.
- If the battery is close to complete depletion of the charge, the device will warn you about this ahead of time, and not five seconds before its untimely death.
By the way, how much does the Sho-Me G800 STR cost? Its price, as we have said, ranges from five to six thousand rubles.
How easy is a software update?
If you read the article more or less carefully, you could not help but notice how we several times emphasized the possibility of updating the databases from the manufacturer’s website. But how easy is it to do? Many users of the "old school" with a computer exclusively for you. Will they be able to do this?
In principle, there is nothing particularly complicated in this procedure. Let's say even more: it is very simple! To do this, you need to download the driver, installer and service pack from the manufacturer’s website (the address is in the instructions that came with the device). Important! Do not try to download all this from some third-party resources, as in this case you can quite well get a lot of malware on your computer.
How to install an updated radar database
The driver is installed as follows:
- First, do not connect the device to your computer yet!
- Secondly, right-click on the downloaded driver file (this particular one, not the update file!).
- Select the option “Run as administrator” in the popup menu.
- Wait until the installation program starts, and then just click on the “Next” buttons. Do not worry, nothing extra will be installed!
- After completing the procedure, just in case, restart the computer.
- As soon as the system is restored, use the cable from the kit and connect the device to the computer.
- Run the installer file from the same manufacturer’s site.
- In the program window, specify the path to the file with updates and click on the "Update" button.
- Wait for the installation to complete.
That's all. As you can see, even a schoolboy can cope with this matter without any difficulty. If you are at odds with your computer, just follow the steps in the instructions.
User Impressions
By the way, what are the user reviews about this feature? Well, they are positive. People note that the base really helps to detect new radars in almost all major cities of the country. This is especially nice if you recall the simple fact that even the technical support of many domestic companies is difficult to navigate in the geography of their own country.
At the same time, residents of small towns notice that there is no sense from updates. In this case, motorists say that they have to use only the ability to install their own tags on the card. In principle, some offer an alternative “workaround”.
The fact is that the Sho-Me G800 STR radar has the ability to save user settings. If your friend / friends have the same equipment, then you can simply download the card that they created into your device. It saves time and nerves.
Real testing
Not trusting only one manufacturer’s assurances too much, we decided to collect real reviews from Runet users about this device and compile our own rating of radar detectors, including three or four of the most popular models in the price range up to nine thousand rubles. We invite you to see what came of it.
It turned out that buyers in our country most prefer the following models:
- The already known Sho-Me G800 STR White.
- Highscreen BlackBox ST.
- Highscreen Black Box Connect.
- Highscreen Radar ST.
Note that the two models in the middle are not exactly radar detectors. They belong to the class of hybrids, popular in recent years, combining the capabilities of both a detector and a DVR with a GPS receiver. Actually, only because of this they cost about nine thousand rubles. So what is the rating of radar detectors?
Before we answer this question, we invite you to familiarize yourself with the data from our pivot table.
Title | Cost | Ranges Used | Additional features | Detection Range "Arrows" |
Sho-me | In the range of 5-6 thousand rubles | X, K, Ka, Ku | GPS receiver | 700-800 meters reported |
Highscreen BlackBox ST | A little more than 5 thousand rubles | X, K, Ka, Ku | GPS receiver | 500-700 meters |
Highscreen Black Box Connect | Less than five thousand (in the range of 4600-4700 rubles) | X, K, Ka, Ku | DVR, GPS receiver | Most often does not fix |
Highscreen Radar ST | About 9 thousand rubles | X, K, Ka, Ku | DVR, GPS receiver | 700-750 meters |
So what does this test of radar detectors show? As you probably noticed, the Sho-Me we are discussing is far from the most profitable option in terms of cost. Of course, Highscreen Black Box Connect is much cheaper. That's just with the detection of "Shooter" he has very big problems.
In principle, the reviews of its customers directly indicate that in small cities there are enough of its capabilities, so ... If you need a relatively good radar detector, the price of which does not exceed five thousand, then the purchase will be quite profitable. Yes, and the DVR in addition ...
It is no coincidence that we do not particularly paint the last function. He takes off the device, as you can understand from its price, so-so. In cloudy weather, in the dark and at dusk, and even in slushy weather, trying to make out on his record numbers of traveling cars is still a pleasure. So if you need something more serious, we would advise you to pay attention to the Highscreen Radar ST model. This is the most powerful and multifunctional device of all of the above.
The user test of radar detectors (judging by the reviews) shows excellent results in all areas: the quality of radar detection is not worse than that of Sho-Me, and the basic resolution of 1920x1080 allows you to see the numbers of oncoming and passing cars under almost any conditions. If you have an SD card of the appropriate size, you can set the HD resolution in really simple and logical settings , after which there will be no problems with the image at all.
An interesting feature of Highscreen Black Box Connect
The name of this device does not accidentally include the Connect part. The fact is that to use it ... you will definitely need a smartphone. In principle, this does not make the price less attractive, since almost everyone has them, but why does a “smart phone” need a radar detector?
Everything is simple. The device displays all the required information on its display, and the program downloaded from the manufacturer’s website can record video not only on a removable card of the device itself, but also on a similar smartphone drive. Data is transmitted via Wi-Fi, so you can fix the device even in the trunk of a car.
Through the program, all settings are performed, so by this sign the device even wins over all the models described in the article: everything is as convenient, logical and simple as possible. Of course, this does not cancel out the general low quality of the resulting video and disagreements with Strelka.
Some conclusions
So where are the best radar detectors? The reviews clearly indicate that in the range of five to six thousand rubles you will not find anything better than the Sho-Me and Highscreen BlackBox ST. Both of these devices perfectly detect Strelka, having a comparable detection range. Their cost is almost identical, and the ability to update the databases in both models makes them almost twin brothers. And outwardly they are very much alike.
So what to prefer? What do the reviews say, which radar detector is better? In general, buyers say exactly the same thing: there are no cardinal differences between the models at all, so you can safely take the variety that is in the store. In principle, the Highscreen company in recent years is much better known in the domestic market, and they have better technical support issues. So many people prefer BlackBox ST.
But we repeat once again that in all other respects these detectors are almost identical, so the final choice is yours.