It's only been a few years that the first speed radar warning units arrived on the market. Speed radar warning systems are legal in most European countries, in sharp contrast with radar detectors, which are highly illegal in many countries. GPS based speed warning systems have a built-in database with all fixed speed radars, and often know which locations often have mobile radars present.
When you arrive on your motorcycle at a too high speed, it will warn you that you are about to receive a very expensive photo of your motorcycle! But that's great for all the fixed radars, but it's the mobile units that do the damage. There are many areas on the road that they operate, and from experience, I can tell you that you'll stop your GPS from warning you for every possible speed radar trap area. So you need a better system.
The French company AlerteGPS  have a new product called the G520. It's the normal style GPS warning system for speed traps (so you can't use it to navigate). But it also communicates via the mobile phone network (GPRSGeneral Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet oriented Mobile Data Service available to users of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and IS-136 mobile phones. It provides data rates from 56 up to 114 kbit/s.
GPRS can be used for services such as Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) access, Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), and for Internet communication services such as email and World Wide Web access. GPRS data transfer is typically charged per megabyte of traffic transferred, while data communication via traditional circuit switching is billed per minute of connection time, independent of whether the user actually is using the capacity or is in an idle state. GPRS is a best-effort packet switched service, as opposed to circuit switching, where a certain Quality of Service (QoS) is guaranteed during the connection for non-mobile users.).
Now when you are riding your motorcycle and see a mobile speed trap, press a button on the unit, and the information is sent to all units, updating their units in real time. Called RTA (Real Time Alerts), the service is not free, however, the normal database of radars is, at least, for the first 3 years. So you'll be receiving free database updates for 3 years.
This way you can ride your motorcycle in reasonable confidence that you're not going to be paying speeding tickets, unless of course you're the first person to encounter the speed trap.
Of course you'll need to rely on the good-citizenship of others, but if you compare it to the good old CB days, with a "Smokey warning", I don't see why not. It happened then, so why not here?
Apart from a 2 inch color screen, the G520 has an earphone plug that is meant for motorcycles, it also has a rain cover and a special motorcycle mount. Obviously, the unit can be used in cars and trucks.
Most European countries are covered in the database, so you can buy it internationally, and you can travel internationally. Remember it's legal. The AlerteGPS website has the radar coverage of most Eureopean countries that you can consult. Click here to consult the maps, including mobile radars.
Cost G520: €249
Cost RTA: €60 per year
Click here to access their UK site
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