Detectors Timeline

The 1970s

Radar detectors originated in the USA in the 1970s.

Early 90s

It wasn't until the 1990s that these devices made their way to the UK with the arrival of the Gatso camera in 1993. Snooper were the first company in the UK to develop and market there own products specifically for the UK rather than American import models, hence we sometimes refer to speed camera detectors as 'Snooper', just as Hoover is synonymous with vacuum cleaners.

These worked by detecting the K band 24Ghz frequency used by the police and expanded to cover additional frequencies like Ka, Ku and laser as the police's range of technology also grew.

The Late 1990s

Come the late 90s people were starting to play with GPS technology and in the year 2000 Morpheous (now called RoadPilot) were the first company to launch a GPS based detector called the Geodesy, closely followed by Road Angel.

Present Day

Nowadays GPS based detectors make up 90% of speed camera detector sales and it is possible to get GPS based detectors combined with laser detection for some mobile van detection. However, most of these have a database of known mobile van locations and some give you the option of adding you own locations.