Is the Shu <span class="highlight">Roo</span> effective?

Had mine on for over four years now and have'nt hit a single roo despite my best efforts. Maybe they need recalibrating :))

But then again they're just the $5 plastic specials from Supacheap hahahaha Just as effective as the more expensive ones IMHO

A few years ago there was a pretty scientific study/evaluation done by a university - I don't recall who it was, but maybe an internet search might turn it up. As I recall, it showed that they had no measurable effects. Save your dough.

Michael

I have the electronic Shu Roo and it works a treat, have had Dingo's / Roos try and come out in front of me and when in the beam they double back and head back where they came from.

Hit a Roo about 4yrs ago, so that is when I invested in one.

Cheaper than the excess and do work.

my 'Shu Elephant' works great, i've never come close to hitting an elephant.

( take with a huge dose of cynicism ), how many trucks do you see fitted with them?

Are these the same University people who said that the kangaroo in an endangered species?

A property we visited earlier this year in western Queensland can boast at least 25000 of the grass eaters.

We ran a vehicle without Shu-roos to Charleville and back one day and while we did not hit any roos they were certainly a problem in as much as they tended to hop across our line as we came close to them.

The same road at the same time of day in my vehicle with Shu-roos (Supercheap versions) we observed the roos moving away from the road at the 100/150 m distance. Also noticed that sheep tended to move much earlier than they had done during the previous run.

Not suggesting that you would never hit a roo if you had them fitted but when they move earlier they are much easier to see.

Kevin J

Have had them fitted for several years now. Haven't hit any roos, though a couple of emus have had close shaves. Does anyone know anything about the hearing capacity of emus?? Reckon they work, because you do see the roos put their heads up while we are a fair distance away, think about it, then move away.

Let's clear this up.

Shu Roo is an electronic device that emits some form of signal to supposedly frighten the Roos. It costs some hundreds of dollars.

The other thingy that is being discussed is a little plastic gizmo that sticks onto you bull/bumper bar that effctively uses air to produce an high pitched whislte. About $5 a pair at S/C.

I tried the cheapie whisltlers years ago when doing a lot of night driving between Townsville and Melbourne. I saw multitudes of Roos but never hit one.

Just good luck, or did they work? Dunno, but for a few dollars I'd use them again.

Jim.

Had them on my Troopy and was heading back to Perth from Adelaide, came up behind someone towing a horse float with 2 horses. As I got close to the float the horses started to get very agitated, really bouncing the float, backed off a bit and they quietened down. As I went to overtake they got all agitated again, I thought that was strange.
Only dawned on me afterwards that it must have been the 'Shu Roo's'.

Have a Happy Christmas everyone.
Dennis

Hi doodle,

I hit a kangaroo doing about 90km early Dec last year with the Shu Roo on, I had finished work late and was heading down from Sydney to Currarong NSW stopped in at east Nowra for Pizza on the go which meant it was 8:30 pm before I left.
I think Dusk had more to do with it than Shu Roo working or not working.
Totalled the alloy bar on one side , front right guard and pushed the bonnet across toward the other side.
I tend to see a lot more movement around Dusk and Dawn.

They put the Shu Roo back on the car behind a new steel bar and I will still flick it on if driving in the bush around those times.

Cheers michael H
(If I hit another Roo I'll let you know)

Had one fitted to my SS Commodore which was there when i purchased it, and yes i did hit a Roo with it. Luckily was only doing 80km/h and had time to brake before impact. Mate in front of me passed the Roo feeding on the verge without even seeing it(passenger noticed it though) and it didnt move an inch, yet as soon as i rounded the corner it hopped straight into my car head on. It actually lined up my passenger light and headed straight for it, The force of it heading at me flipped it clean over the roof of the car and onto the road behind me. It frightened hell out of me as i thought it was coming through the windscreen. In my opinion they dont work after that episode. Buying better lights and a bull bar is safer and way better insurance if ya ask me.

My steel bull bar works great, never hit anything so must be working well!! Michael

They only work - if you have a combination of twin southern hemisphere, oscillating air swirlers in your snorkel, combined with rare earth neodymium magnets on your fuel line, to line up the molecules of fuel so you get the more even burn - this in turn sets up a resonance with the shoo roos and of course - the roos understand this language and always run the other way away from the approaching vehicle and NOT across the road in front of you, which is why every vehicle that leaves the city once a year at Christams time for the bush should have them.

Cheers

Gidday Doodle

One of the things about these gadgets is that everyone knows how effective they are except the Roo (or cattle for that matter).

Emu’s just run around in confused circles until centrally placed in the middle of the road.

Wombats don't care 'Hit me if you can, then we'll see what happens to your prissy 4WD'.

Big Reds (and Greys} get into a fighting stance, and then ask politely 'can I sit in your lap’?

Brarham’s are docile creatures, particularly at night in the middle road as you come around a sweeping bend with 3 Million kilowatts of light (not to mention the Shu Roo).

This animal will introduce you to off road travel, which is exciting stuff, both for man and machine.....

If I was you, I'd save my money.

LOL

Regards

Kim

My troopy had a shu-roo on the bull bar when I bought it, and I suppose I was the same as all the other doubters. I remember thinking that there would be no way I would ever spend the 400 odd bucks on one of those gimmicks....and I didn't think they would be effective.

But after 6 or 7 years of using it I am convinced that it does actually work.
I have driven many thousands of kms at dawn and dusk, and through the night....and seen countless roos. But I can honestly say that not one single roo has behaved unpredictably or charged out on the road.
Usually they will just sit up and look at you, sometimes they will turn 180 degrees and head back into the bush.

I have a second set of driving lights on the bullbar that are angled out about 10 degrees, these light up the roadsides, and make it much easier to spot the roos.

So no, I haven't hit a roo with the shu-roo on, but I did hit one in my previous fourby which had the plastic whistle thingies fitted.

Cheers
Glenn

Hi all
I know the expensive "shoo roo's" work, but the cheaper alternative ones work too.
Originally I purchased the $5 ones and they do not do a real lot, simply because they do not whistle.
On the way to work, I drive though 42 km of "roo country", at dawn, and dusk, most days. Have tried several types of "shoo roo" gismo's on the market.

I then found the $28 metal ones that actually whistle, and they clip off the stick on base, for cleaning, and they whistle, even 5 year later.
I have had roo's heading straight for my vehicle, and they actually turn around and go the other way.
Not sure who makes them, but $28 is a lot cheaper than $xxx hundreds

Cheers
Bucky

At $5 or so for the plastic whistles it is a cheap investment even if they dont work , the other mega $ electronic jobs ? who knows ? probably work just as good as a stereo on full bore playing 'doof doof ' ,,,,

The proper shu - roo has been scientifically tested many times by reputable organisations like Monash Uni and has been proven NOT to work.

Don't waste your money.

Garry

I had one for many years on my GQ then moved it to my GU.

As someone else said above.....we need to differentiate between the $300+ electronic unit (which is what I'm referring to), and the $5- whistle gizmos....which seem to work just as well, as long as you're doing about 70k/h or more.

Anyway, I've since sold it.

I was a big believer in them ...... and in a way, I can still see the merit in them in certain circumstances. I vividly remember the morning I drove from Cooma to Batemans Bay in February 1999 to collect my "new" (to me) Ultimate camper trailer. I left Cooma about 5am and drove up the back way to Braidwood, before going down the Clyde Mountain. The back road is partly gravel for about 50klm and does not see a lot of traffic. The roos were THICK. To watch their reaction was interesting....... It was what I describe as driving an ambulance down a busy city street with siren blaring. People everywhere look up to see what the fuss is all about; nobody panics and runs on the road in front of it; they just prick their ears up, have a look and go back to what they were doing. Basically, as far as I'm concerned, the ShuRoo did the same thing. The roos would twitch their ears and raise their heads a little and go back to grazing. Not one roo stepped out in front of me.

However, I have hit a roo with the ShuRoo activated and it was after that, that I removed it....in the belief that I have no room on my truck for gear that doesn't earn it's keep. To be fair though, the roo I hit was plain dumb!!! It occured up near Pt Orgutta when I was heading to Spear Creek for a weekend's driver training a couple of years ago......

I was driving along the narrow bitumen road that leads into Spear Creek only doing about 50klicks. I could see the roo off to the right of the Patrol coming in at me....he was sort of heading in the same direction as me, but converging at the same time. I whacked him with the front right corner of the b/bar and I don't reckon he would've been in the "arc" of the ShuRoo at any given time, cos of the angle he was coming at me from. It was like a slow-motion thing..... I knew he was there and he just kept coming....stupid buggar!!!!

I know the uni studies reckon they don't work, but I reckon the roos can actually hear them; it's just that they may then choose not to act as they should (cos they haven't got a brain!!!! hahaha).

Roachie

There have been some really interesting comments here. The conclusion I get is there is a probability that the Shu Roo may work but not really effectively. I’ve collected several roos over the past 40 odd years but not long ago ‘my wife was behind the wheel’ when one jumped in front us. There was no way to avoid it. We were heading for Bourke after traveling around the corner country. It was on dust and we had just exited a small town (forget the name) when this medium sized roo committed suicide. The steel bull bar stopped our vehicle from sustaining any real damage and my wife was a little shaken up. Unfortunately she really took it to heart when I suggested the poor kangaroo was probably a little child’s pet as we were just outside this small town. That did it – she refused to drive any more, hence the main reason for me initiating this post.

I want to fit a gadget to convince my wife we are protected from kamikaze roos. If the arguments for the gadget were more positive, I would spend the bucks for the real deal and hope it does provide additional protection. Now I have learned there is a cheaper option. Thanks guys.

Cheers…… Doodle

I had a set of the cheapies and hit slightly more than I did without them. Difficult to come to any meaningful conclusion one way or t'other. Co-incidence, luck, chance will all play a part and the rest is guesswork. Bottom line is, I think all the differing experiences that we've all had point to an inconclusive outcome. Well, that's my take on it.

For my tuppence worth,
A lot of avoiding Roos Brahmas and other animals comes basically down to stock sense, early morning late evening see stock or a lot if dead Roos just slow down a bit, cows on one side of road calves on other slow way down, same with all the sheep you have other there. Most Roos if near the side of the road will put the head up and if are going to cross in front will angle away from the vehicle, not hard to slow down and steer behind while keeping in mind that more might be following.
In the four trips I have had in the Outback from Rental vehicles to my own I have hit two Roos both on last Trip thankfully in my own vehicle and not a rental without or plastic bullbars and were both around the Winton area, in both cases about 4pm and they appeared out of the shadows of the scrub at full speed, almost got slowed in time but clipped both, one L to R and the other R to L
They appeared to have a mission on and would have crossed anyway no matter what.
ARB steel bars on the Troopy not a problem, but then it might have been the Explore Oz stickers that made the difference?.
A Kiwi from the Land view point?.
Russ

have had them on a lot of work semi's and B-doubles ( some had two ) over the years,
still hit them,
they don't bother fitting them any more,