What Sat Nav?

[Manofkent]

This may not be the right forum but I am in the mkt for my first!
Prepared to spend £250/300 & must have European maps + streets + uk speed cameras. I find reviews so varied!
At present thinking about Garmain or Tom Tom
Need to get something this w/e as going to N Portugal next week!
Please include ease of updates etc
First hand experiences will be appreciated.
Thanks
J
04 C270 Est sport

 

[Captain Flack]

I went for a Garmin C510 deluxe which came with a DVD with European maps and lifetime TMS(warns of any accidents/hold ups on your route and offers diversions). Speed cameras are available free of charge from several point of interest sites.

I think that you can pick one up for under £200 but you need to buy a separate memory card(sd card). To give you an idea, a 512mb sd card holds all of the uk and france.

I bought it a year ago so there may be a better one on the market now but I spent a lot of time researching which one suited me best and I find it really easy to use.

I bought mine from Halfords(who offered the deluxe with european maps) but it pays to shop around.

 

[television]

As Captain Flack shop around on the net there are some good deals out there

 

[SNST]

Have you looked at www.pocketgpsworld.co.uk ?
I have Copilot which I'm fairly happy with. Some areas I find a pain - steering me along routes which I KNOW aren't the most effective (eg A444 south of Burton-on-Trent). I suspect all of the systems have their shortcomings.
Tom-Tom seems to be the market leader. Try it on a PDA, you can change to another vendor later without throwing everything away.

 

[R2e]

I can recommend the Tomtom Go 910. Comes with European and US maps to street level, a hard drive (I had problems with cards in another Satnav), cameras, and fits your budget. Can't fault it, I used it on a recent trip in Germany (hire car) and it was spot on.

 

[Phil D]

Dealers in this area and possibly further afield are promoting the road angel navigator 7000. it has a combination of sat nav together with the road angel camera detector database. I have considered getting one but have held off until I can get some feedback from users

 

[Devonian]

I second that. I have a TomTom go 910 and have used it all over the UK, Europe and America and find it fantastic. Whilst I have no first hand experience of other makes I understand the Tom Tom maps are the best.

 

[Ben Lovejoy]

TomTom routing can be rather bizarre at times - I'm told that this is because they don't do proper routing, only A-B, B-C, C-D, etc, so you can sometimes take some very inefficient routes from A-Z.

I recommend Garmin. Great mapping, excellent PC software for when you want to plot a fun route on back roads, fast to recalculate when diversions are required.

For speed camera support, go to the Garmin site, support, downloads and look at the POI loader. You'll find a list of supported models, and these are the ones that can provide speed camera warnings.

 

[television]

I also have a Navman, they are very good with maps for Europe, compleate with camera base

 

[Phil D]

I have heard very good things about garmin & although some good about tom tom as well - although if you look at reviews on amazon there are a lot of people who complain about trouble doing upgrades etc. Does the Garmin camera stuff cover mobile van sites?

 

[R2e]

TomTom routing can be rather bizarre at times - I'm told that this is because they don't do proper routing, only A-B, B-C, C-D, etc, so you can sometimes take some very inefficient routes from A-Z.

I recommend Garmin. Great mapping, excellent PC software for when you want to plot a fun route on back roads, fast to recalculate when diversions are required.

For speed camera support, go to the Garmin site, support, downloads and look at the POI loader. You'll find a list of supported models, and these are the ones that can provide speed camera warnings.

Can't say I've ever had any problem with Tomtom routing, or noticed this as a bad point in numerous reviews. Tomtom usually comes out top.

 

[A210AMG]

Hello,


HAve to say having uses TomTom on phones, the all in one units (TomTom 1 and such), PDA's and now on an XDA Orbit phone they work very well.

Points of interest are easy to load and add, the kit I have now being a phone with built in GP is very good as I don't need anything else with me.

Used ours over France and worked a treat, you can search via postcode etc, has speed cameras, lights, etc etc I have the france proper map as sometimes the ones it comes with are just main roads. You can upgrade to most maps you will every need and store these on the memory card.

I would recommend TomTom

Thanks

 

[kveysey]

Check out Halfords this weekend, they have a sale on sat-nav (up to 50% off) finishing monday. Just been on TV

 

[Manofkent]

Sat Nav

Thanks for all your comments.
Went to Lakeside yesterday. Visited lots of the usual places.
Discovered that the Tom Tom 910 is being replaced any time hence discounted along with others! Also Garmin 360
Yes went to Halfords but the guy was not a bit helpful, they had discounted models (could be that they are going to be replaced too?)
Looked esp at the size & the 910 seemed more bulky to carry in a pocket! This could be a good selling point?
Anyway I shall have another go this w/e
04 C 270 Est SE

 

[R2e]

Thanks for all your comments.
Went to Lakeside yesterday. Visited lots of the usual places.
Discovered that the Tom Tom 910 is being replaced any time hence discounted along with others! Also Garmin 360
Yes went to Halfords but the guy was not a bit helpful, they had discounted models (could be that they are going to be replaced too?)
Looked esp at the size & the 910 seemed more bulky to carry in a pocket! This could be a good selling point?
Anyway I shall have another go this w/e
04 C 270 Est SE

Yes the 910 is a bit large to carry in a pocket but that is the price you pay for the benefits of a large screen and a hard drive. Also that's what wives are for - to carry handbags to load up with Satnavs, etc

I usually lock mine up in the boot when it's not in use. Good news that it's discounted, it's still a good bit of kit.

 

[Ben Lovejoy]

It depends which database you download. There is a gpsworld one (which is half the price of the official Garmin one) which includes frequently-used mobile sites.

 

[Godot]

ViaMichelin http://www.viamichelin.com Mutz Nutz...so many POI with phone numbers throughout Europe, including the Michelin Guide for Hotels Restaurants, free Europe wide TMC, Speed cameras etc. Blue Tooth Phone as well

 

[Manofkent]

Sat Nav

Well took the plunge today - Bought Tomtom one XL Europe -went to Halfords met a man with a van & he told me all his mates were on Tomtom!
So as they were at the sharp end I listened to him!! So we went to Comet & bought one each! they were the same price in Comet £229-99 so bought there as we felt Halfords were not as cheap as their marketing boys lead us to believe!!! (Cheaper on the net)
We had £20 discount at Comet on the insurance. Halfords offered nothing!
The XL came out in May/June, was quite slim, but I think they will charge extra for downloads like safety cameras!
Pity I could not wait as Tomtom are bringing out a new model - 720 any moment seems to be a great improvement, with lots of gizmos!
The Sony looked good & I did not consider Michelin although I like their road maps.
The lesson I learned was that there are so many models being replaced at the moment - it would be quite easy to buy an old model! (That may not be a bad thing?)
Anyway we will give it a good test in the sticks in N Portugal this week!
J - 04 C270 est SE

 

[benzo]

You're probably en-route Portugal by now. Just wanted to add, I have an old Tom Tom One (2005) model. Serves me well here and in the USA. I use it in the second car, but I actually prefer it's routing to the comand in my e-class. Good choice. Enjoy

 

[Phil D]

manofkent - good luck with the new toy - please remember to report back on how it's doing
ps have a good holiday!
Phil