Sat Navs

What's your budget?

'cos that will dictate what you get.

I have two tomtoms, one on a symbian phone and one on my pda, both bluetoothed to a £50 gps off ebay.

Works fine, and the phone has european maps also!

Andy

I haven't really thought about the budget, I just want her to have something simple and effective and also something that can be removed when not in use.

Regards

Mick

Mick,
My wife has a "smartnav" by Trafficmaster in her car.
It doesn't display a map like tomtom, etc, but a graphic representation of the junction/roundabout/slip road etc as necessary. It gives voice commands, & displays time/distance for the journey & how far to the next junction, etc. It also flashes up speed warnings when you are approaching known speed cameras. (static placed ones, not mobile cameras).
My wife finds it very easy to use. She's not one for map-reading. You simply enter in the reqd postcode,it calculates the best route, & also will modify the route if congestion occurs. You can also use it by phoning from it, & asking an operator for a route, which is beamed directly to you.
Its not like a tomtom, but it does all the basic stuff v. well.
Maybe worth a look.
A road angel 6000 model is another alternative, & approx £180 from Halfords, & £140 off ebay.
regards,
Matt.

Weren't you planning on buying Mrs Mick a 911? A simple Carrera 2 (£67,000) has it as an option.

From the Porsche website:

Navigation system

The optional GPS navigation module includes dynamic route guidance via TMC (Traffic Message Channel). This function provides a visual overview of traffic congestion as well as automatic calculation of alternative routes. Other features include a navigation DVD drive in the luggage compartment and an easy-to-use menu structure. After entering your destination, the system determines your position using GPS and then guides you to your destination via the best possible route.

I would not advise you to buy RoadAngel, I had the 7000 series one and it was pretty crap.

I have now got a Garmin 310d and its very good, although its not geared towards camera warnings like the roadangel, everything else is so much better.

Deane

Mrs Mick went off the idea of a Porsch mainly due to the high incidence of vandalism.

Regards

Mick

Navman F20, simple to use, big screen, vocal instructions, speed cameras, full postcode search. Got mine with full European maps for £129.95 (dunno where from, company bought it)

Get it to speak with an American accent, and it calls roundabouts 'traffic circles' which amuses me no end, small things...

Use a map book and keep to the speed limits.

TomTom,
Easy to use, bear in mind that if you ask for shortest route....thats what you get, beit over a feild of oil-seed.

my 300Go is ok, but its too bulky, maybe a TomTom One with EU maps on board would suffice.

I use the pocketGPS database rather than the tomtom own cams data as it is allegedly more accurate...

Chaps

Does anyone have experience of the Tom Tom One Europe.

It seems pretty good to me. Basically we want something that you can take out of the box and use straight away.

Also a very stupid question. Could you walk the streets with one, say in London, to help you find your way around.

Regards

Mick

mick,
get a tom tom very easy to use even for a woman (ducks for cover) - they range from around £200 -£500 BUT shop around and do use the web.
got my top of the range for £300 with speed cameras and euro maps -even has usa !
regards, scotty

Scotty

I have no intention of ever entering America again until the American government make a public declaration that all of their immigration officials have been done to death in a similar manner to that done to King Edward 2nd. They are horrid and obnoxious assholes who badly represent their country and I hate them.

The Tom Tom One Europe is currently looking the favourite and online is below £180.00.

Regards

Mick

Mick,
I am off to New York in a few hours. I'll certainly pass on your wishes!
Start warming up the pokers now.
And as someone who has to go to the US every month or so, I tend to agree with your assessment.
They do not portray a warm & friendly welcome to the country for visitors (sorry, aliens).
Matt.

I use a Tomtom upgrade for my HP IPAQ with bluetooth GPS. It is on the whole very simple to use, with a good mounting bracket and the display and voice instructions are excellent. However, it doesn't accept the full post code, only the first part and you have to then enter the street and house number etc. The problem is it doesn't always have the full address in it's memory data. Also it doesn't have a any facility to get live updates or speed camera warnings etc as do some of the more expensive kits.

Not bad for an attachment and the beauty of it is that I can leave the GPS in the gloove box without too much concern as I'm always carrying the IPAQ with me as my organiser.

Gary

Mick

I have recently bought a SatNav - the prime reason was I contemplated driving to Germany and wanted European coverage.

The new TomTom may have the latest maps but the 710 / 910 certainly didn't leaving you with the prospect of forking out close to £100 extra for the privilege of downloading maps which should be included in the price!!

I ended up with a Mio C520t which has full 2007 Europe wide maps and a slightly larger screen than the TomTom but is very thin - a bit like a mini plasma tv vs the TomTom CRT!!

I would imagine it being 100% ideal for walking about towns or cities, easily fitting in a handbag or equivalent.

The only problem I have with it is a very superior voice telling me when I am exceeding the speed limit.

It's an extremely impressive box of tricks - mine cost just over £300 from the Tottenham Court Road mafia!!

Peter

funny ive been to the u.s. twice now and found them very welcoming and friendly. im only speaking as ive found !
ever thought it could just be YOU mick ?

Scotty

I work with a woman who went out there just last month.

She found them unnecessarily offensive. Same complaint, they shout at you from just a few feet.

It is their tourist industry that will suffer.

Regards

Mick

Chaps

Is there any running costs with these sat navs, do you have to pay to have them periodically updated.

Regards

Mick

quote:

Originally posted by Mick Parry:
Scotty

I have no intention of ever entering America again until the American government make a public declaration that all of their immigration officials have been done to death in a similar manner to that done to King Edward 2nd. They are horrid and obnoxious assholes who badly represent their country and I hate them.

Regards

Mick

That was my recent experience of JFK. Thoroughly obnoxious trog making people wait for hours while asking stupid questions and breaking periodically to use her hand cream!

The foreign visitors queue was 2 hours in a shitty non-air conditioned crap hole. They deserve no visitors and I would not re-visit for any amount of money. Sod them.

Steve

Chaps

That is two of us within a small forum, so these sub humam scumbags are not doing America any favours at all.

Regards

Mick

quote:

Originally posted by Mick Parry:
Andy

I haven't really thought about the budget, I just want her to have something simple and effective and also something that can be removed when not in use.

Regards

Mick

Mick,

Surely that means... you!!!???

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Mick Parry:
Chaps

Does anyone have experience of the Tom Tom One Europe.

It seems pretty good to me. Basically we want something that you can take out of the box and use straight away.

Also a very stupid question. Could you walk the streets with one, say in London, to help you find your way around.

Regards

Mick

Hi Mick,

I've had a TomTom One Europe for a few months now and am very happy with it. Ergonomically, and aethetically it's a very tidy piece of equipment. The touch screen and the layout of the icons is simplicity itself.

I've not tried it outside of the UK yet, but have had no problems using it around the UK. Occasionally i've had a few issues in major cities with roadworks, but it will quickly re-calculate if you tell it to avoid part of the route etc.

I bought mine just after Christmas for £250, and it was worth that, but as you say, it's well under £200 now!

I haven't loaded the speed camera locations on to mine for a reason - i don't want to begin to rely on it warning me and become complacent. I could see myself relying on it too much, and getting a bit carried away at times - fine if it's up to date and accurate, not so fine if it isn't, or for mobile cameras. A very personal choice though...

As regards wandering around with it, i don't see why not.

I'd recommend it.

Phil

Phil

Thanks for that, one last question, do you have to pay for updates.

Regards

Mick

Mick
As an alternative to TomTom, which seems to get at best lukewarm user reviews on the web, have a look at the Garmin Nuvi range. I gave a 310 to my wife (a real technophobe) and she loves it. Garmin make excellent maritime kit and that seems to spill over to their landlubbers' gps systems too. I am looking at Nuvi 670 for myself at the moment. Not sure about ongoing subscription costs though.

Mick,

I'm not sure, sorry. I haven't done the whole online thing yet, and haven't felt the need.

Just had a quick look, and the 'TomTom HOME' page which comes up when you run the software says "TomTom HOME also checks the version of the TomTom application on your device and notifies you when updates are available". This relates to the system software, and you'd expect updates of that.

You have to pay for 'safety' camera updates. These appear to be 30 euros for a 1 year subscription to the safety cameras, and 50 euros for a 1 year subscription to 'traffic and safety cameras'. You'd want to look into what you get with each.

As regards maps, there are a number of them for sale on the TomTom site, but there are no obvious updates. I've had a brief look around, but can't see obvious version numbers, although they must have them... Perhaps something someone else has experience of?

Phil