Like our previous Saphe One+ review, the Saphe Drive Mini adds a screen to help keep you safe while on the road.
Is it worth the additional cost, though?
What is it?
The Saphe Drive Mini does the same thing as the Saphe One+ but adds a small portrait colour LCD screen between the two reporting buttons.
On here, it can show you alerts for speed cameras (fixed and mobile), traffic, and possible incidents ahead like accidents. The addition of a screen means it can also show the speed limit for the upcoming camera; this can be handy if you haven’t been paying attention to the speed limits—Tut tut.
How does the Saphe Drive Mini work?
Slightly chunkier than the Saphe One+, it’s still tiny, measuring in at 6cm x 2 x 3.5. It’s also a fraction heavier due to the extra tech inside.
As with the Saphe One+, it looks OEM, the plastic has that same matte effect, and it’s incredibly discreet. You could place it by your rear-view mirror and quickly forget it was there.
Unlike the Saphe One+, you’ll need to recharge the Drive Mini, and there’s a small micro USB connector on the underside to do so. No idea on battery life, but after a week of driving, it had used a bar, so potentially you’ll need to charge it once a month, maybe?
The Saphe Drive Mini also uses your phone to do the heavy lifting via the Saphe Link app. This needs to run in the background all the time and have access to your location all the time. If you turn that off to ‘ask’ or anything but ‘allow all the time’, the Drive Mini will disconnect via Bluetooth and not reconnect until you’ve changed it back.
Motion sensors are fitted to automatically switch on the Drive Mini when you get into your car; you can also power it off manually by holding down the left ‘red’ alert button until it switches off. Then, do the same to power it back on when you want to use it.
There are also two mounting plates in the box with 3M tape to attach to your dash or windscreen.
What’s it like?
Setup is straightforward; you download the Saphe Link app, register, login then turn the device on. As long as Bluetooth is switched on, your phone will connect to it automatically. That’s it; you’re good to go.
You can change the alert volume and type for every single warning. There are eight to choose from, with the lowest three being less intrusive beeps rather than wailing sirens.
Alert distance can be changed for the accident and congestion warnings, but the speed cameras can’t.
The display is clear and bright; it can really help showing the speed limit when you get the camera warning. It saves you panicking to look around for speed limit signs or having to slam the brakes on if you think you’re going way too fast. However, please don’t take them for granted, as speed limits do still change, so it still pays to be aware of your surroundings.
As with the Saphe One+, the Drive Mini picked up all the fixed camera positions we drove past. However, it didn’t pick up two mobile camera vans; again, this must be down to the limited number of people currently using a Saphe device here in the UK.
It would be good if they could tap into Waze or another system to cover mobile cameras more accurately or even send you alerts to confirm if a camera is still there or not.
Battery life on your phone will also be affected when using the Drive Mini. The Saphe Link app is basically the brains; it does the GPS tracking and then sends an alert to the hardware (Drive Mini). As a rough estimate, the Saphe Link app uses 10% of battery on my phone for every hour driven. Again, it’s not a deal-breaker, but bear it in mind if you have a long journey and then want to heavily use your phone for the rest of the day.
You can use the Saphe Link app to give you either on-screen alerts to upcoming cameras or show you a map of your location as you drive. I’ve never used either, as the whole point in the Drive Mini is to do without needing to use your phone – well, for me it is anyway.
The vast majority of people will likely use their phone for navigation or music anyway, so they wouldn’t have this on screen.
Saphe Drive Mini conclusion
Since using the Saphe Drive Mini, I’ve felt like my licence is safer, and I’m more aware of my speed. It’s a shame, not all the cameras are picked up, but hopefully, this will improve with time.
I also couldn’t find anywhere regarding collecting data from the Saphe Link app. Having to run in the background with full GPS access to your location feels like big brother tracking you. The annoyance that you can’t set the permissions to only be active when the app runs is also a little concerning.
Is the screen worth the extra cost? Well, currently, the difference is just £10; it’s worth it in terms of the speeds on screen, but you will have to charge it far more often than the Saphe One+, so it becomes a balance of what your needs are.
The best thing about all the Saphe products is that there’s no ongoing subscription fee. Most other camera alert devices have monthly or yearly fees with them.
There’s nothing else really in the market at this price segment, it’s not an entirely standalone device (needing your phone to do the work), but then you aren’t paying £300 for a RoadAngel.
Saphe Drive Mini Manual
If you want to check out the manual before you buy one, or have lost yours, here’s a link to the Saphe Drive Mini manual.
Where can I get one?
You can purchase the Saphe Drive Mini direct from Saphe.de or via Amazon.
We’ve negotiated a special 15% off discount code that will work on both sites; use: carwitter15 to bag your savings.
