Hi
I have a KVH R4 but havent ued it in earnest yet as it came with the van i bought.

One think to consider (although it may not be a major consideration) is that the KVH can only recvieve 2 satellites at any one time. You can receieve any sat you wish but they have to be programmed in with a PC or laptop. They system is usually set up with 2 common ones say astra 2 and hotbird and if you want to change these you have to connect a PC and alter a Dos type programme.

This may be fine for you but if comparing to a camos you might lioke to see how many satellites the camos can get without messing about.

Phill

 

Camos has 6 satellites pre-programmed in its controller: Astra1, Astra2(D/N/S), Hotbird, Atlantic Bird 3, Hispasat, Sirius.

Andy, the boss of Roadpro has carried out extensive testing on the reception capabilities of Camos (and his other supplied products). As I understand it, the 40cm dome will pick up Astra 2D just into northern Spain, perhaps down to Barcelona - exact locations vary in signal strength. Don't expect more than that. I doubt the Tracvision will be very different. If you want to get Astra 2D (the UK beam) further into Spain, I believe you need either a big static dish, or the Kathrein Cap 900 automatic dish.

We have just had a Camos 40cm static fitted, but have yet to go outside the UK with it. Initial impressions are very positive.

The reason a lot of maps seem misleading is that the rest of Europe really doesn't care about Astra 2D, so catering for the majority, they show reception for generic Astra 1 and 2. These are available throughout most of Europe with a decent dome system. One thing worth considering. If you can choose between Astra 1 or 2, and Hotbird, you will have access to f.t.a. English language radio throughout a wide area, even when you cannot get UK TV. The 2 satellite limit on a Tracvision may prove limiting in this respect.

Suggest you talk to Roadpro (and others).

Philip

 

Simon Bush the Sales Director of CA Clase has also driven to the extremities of Europe to establish how effective their systems are for land based satellites. http://www.caclase.co.uk/ Let me know if you would like more details of his trip.

KVH is a much bigger organisation www.kvh.com and manufacture satellite equipment for a whole range of vehicle, marine, military and automotive uses. So there is a tendency to feel that the quality of their equipment has the edge. If this is justified or not, it is hard to tell. Tracvision (KVH) is imported into Europe by CA Clase, so a European network of dealers is available should that be a benefit.

Camos will easily switch between satellites so give you a lot of scope, but you will have to add a digi box, as you do with the Tracvision but many retailers offer a package to include a suitable box with the Tracvision. (we sell the R4SL with a 12 volt Free To Air receiver for £1399) The R4SL has an advantage that it is only 30cm high so a lot less obtrusive on some vans.

RoadPro www.roadpro.co.uk have done a superb job with the Camos over the last few years and it is very popular. There is a new kid on the block that in fact comes from the same Korean factory as Camos manufactured for VDO (another multinational company with a fantastic pedigree)

The VDO 40 cm static retails at only £1199 as opposed to the Camos 40cm static at around £1399 http://www.outdoorbits.com/vdo-satellite-systems-c-156_11_61_263.html

I hope that this helps a bit

 

Hi
I don't have any knowledge of these products but if you look at the million pound boats in any harbour around the world they all have Tracvision domes fitted along with their telephone equivalent.
James

 

Thanks very much to those who have responded. Just a couple of comments.

The Tracvision is now able to capture 3 satellites so presumably Astras 1 and 2 and Hotbird should be the most suitable.

The VDO system looks interesting and looks to be a badged Camos at a cheaper price. This looks to be a good buy from Eddie but, because of my specific requirements for maximum range, the larger dished Tracvision R4 looks to be the best bet so far. Interestingly there are 3 dome colours available - white, grey and black which would look better on a dark blue metallic coloured van. You could of course paint the Camos/VDO but that would add to the cost and does not overcome the range issues.

Are there any Tracvision users out there who have used this dome in France/Spain and if so details of coverage would be useful?

 

I have the KVH Tracvision R4 SL,I have not used it abroad yet but it is excellent in the UK.It is also only 30 cms high so looks quite acceptable on the roof.

When I chose it,I was looking at the Camos,Maxview dome and the KVH.The Maxview was discounted because of 12 volt considerations i.e. it has it's own receiver which has to be switched on all the time{I take the sky box from home so the maxview controller,sky receiver and tv would all have to be powered on 12 v when off hook up),whereas both the camos and kvh can be switched off when parked.

I think I would have been equally happy with either the camos or kvh,the deciding factor was the size and reputation of kvh,they are a huge US company that are the biggest supplier of sat domes in the world.Most of the domes you see on boats or coaches are made by kvh.

The R4 SL is a 30cms dish so coverage will not be that great on the continent I think.The installer claims astra 2d as far as Bordeaux,any further south and you would be struggling.This is not a deciding factor for me as I will switch to the southern beam and be happy with sky news and radio 2-we have loads of dvds to watch as well.

The OP mentions that the KVH is a larger dish than the camos,this is not strictly true as both companies make a 30cm and 40cm model,if footprint abroad is your main consideration then you need the 40 cm dish,the downside is a slightly bigger pimple on the roof.

I think you will be happy with either the Camos or KVH,both are very good,have positive reports on here and are a similar price.

 

As the author of the MHF Camos 40 review, having used it reliably for nearly 6 years with no maintenance required, I will say that I wouldn't bother choosing between the two on the basis of the geographical limits that it will receive desired channels.

There are slight functionality, ergonomic and price differences according to preference, but I wouldn't agonise too much even over these, let alone other aspects.

Dave

 

The Camos 40cm retails at £1179, the KVH comes with a receiver as standard at £1399, the KVH tri sat will find three satellites, I will check with Simon and if it is OK will post a link to the results he got when he went to southern France and northan Spain

Nick

 

Nicky I have sent you a PM.

 

I agree with Dave, I wouldn't buy any dome based on being better geographically superior as I don’t think that any of the domes being discussed are that different on performance.

I apologise by the way in my earlier post I posted a link to VDO on Outdoorbits.com and then stupidly stated the price of the VDO 40cm static as £1199 when the price actually is £1149

Thank’s for the PM’s pointing out my error

 

Just noticed that the 40 cm Camos static has been reduced in price to £1179.99 so there is not much in it between Camos and VDO now.
The benefits of competition!

Just a bit p****d off that I bought my Camos in December to beat the VAT increase, which was less than the price reduction.

Philip

 

Thanks. The KVH Tracvision R4 dome is 8 cms larger than the Camos/VDO so I assumed big was best. Clearly there's not much difference in reception range between the two so thanks.

 

Just noticed that the 40 cm Camos static has been reduced in price to £1179.99 so there is not much in it between Camos and VDO now.
The benefits of competition!

Just a bit p****d off that I bought my Camos in December to beat the VAT increase, which was less than the price reduction.

Philip

Hi Phillip, the VDO 40cm has been available at £1149 since the autumn. 8O

It is annoying when things like this happen I agree. Just out of curiosiity why didn't you buy the VDO 40cm at the time?

Eddie

 

Hi Phillip, the VDO 40cm has been available at £1149 since the autumn.
It is annoying when things like this happen I agree. Just out of curiosiity why didn't you buy the VDO 40cm at the time?

Eddie

Several reasons really.
I guess it's because I had read a lot of positive comments about the Camos (I know VDO is a re-badged version). Also, I have had quite a few positive dealings with RoadPro and had been over to Daventry (it's not far from home) to inspect both Camos and Kathrein CAP 600 that we were considering at the time. So the proximity of the Camos importer is a benefit to me in case anything goes wrong.
Finally, I had already planned to have it fitted by Dave Newell in Telford whilst he was doing a hab check, and I've built up a bit of a customer relationship with him over the last 18 months. He fits the Roadpro range, not the VDO version.

Philip

 

Hi Phillip thanks for that, it is always helpful to try to understand why people do certain things, it helps us, hopefully to improve our service.

It is difficult with pricing though. One of the first things we did when we took over the Alden agency was reduce the price of the Netmaster from £3999 to £2999 whch we thought was far more realistic.

It must of made some peoples eye's smart though, which is a shame but it was the right thing to do.

Thanks for your reply

Eddie

 

And as good an example as any that price is more to do with what the market will bear than anything to do with cost plus reasonable profit mark-up!

Dave

 

Dave, you cynic 8O

Eddie

 

I cant help with spain but our Camos 40cm worked as far east as Bavaria, down to the Italian Lakes and the South of France (St Tropez). We found in these places we were probably on the edge of reception for the normal UK Channels as if there was a storm or heavy rain we lost some of them temporarily. Of course you can simply press a button and tune into another satellite. Not sure what programs you will get, probably mainly garbage. Ive never tried it but it is that easy apparently. I got mine fitted a year or so ago at Leasuretech in Clitheroe all in with a max free to air box. I think it was about £1350 fitted.

 

Im going to be quite blunt, so apologies. Put my dealer status aside, when I was looking (personally) for a system for my own motorhome, I had the choice of nearly all systems and I went for quality and pedigree over cheapness and the ability to watch more foreign satellites (that i'd never watch anyway). I have the KVH Tracvision R5 Twin LNB (another deciding factor, at the time it was the only dome that came in twin lnb version). Im chuffed to bits with it, its easy to use and does the job perfectly and I think thats the main thing! Since buying my system, many manufacturers are bringing out dome systems, including the VDO system mentioned and a new cheap one from Glomex. The list of systems continue to grow, with new boys coming online with what are good products, making both the dealer and the customers job a whole lot harder! I'd hate to be a dealer right now having to learn all these new systems.... :lol:

 

Shane be as blunt as you like 80 A rebadged version of an existing system being imported into the UK hardly qualifies as a "new boy" and when you consider that since the VDO 40cm Static which is the stable mate of the Camos system was launched in the UK at £1149 against the £1399 of the Camos this has to be a good thing for the market as a whole.

The proof is that the Camos 40cm static is now only £1179 so a massive price reduction to keep it viable.

I am waiting to see how much the other Camos range is reduced, in line with the £230 reduction on the 40cm static

Competition is always good for the consumer, which has to be good for business.

See you at the NEC?

Regards

Eddie

 

See you at the NEC?

As long as we're not snowed in, i'll be there Wednesday and Thursday.