sat nav that can be trusted

Idiophreak

I've got a TomTom one and find it *ok* I guess....it's got us lost a couple of times, sending us in circles etc and it has a tendancy to turn off within a couple of miles of the destination (while plugged in, strangely - think we might have a duff unit). It's always worth checking, once it's set the route, but before setting off, that it's actually taking you to the right place and that it isn't cutting through tiny villages etc to save 1/2 mile...GPS isn't a substitue for common sense...

Idiophreak

hansi wrote: »

and nothing visible in the card to nick!

About as bad as "site", I guess.

What's that about people in glass houses?

hansi

"Nick" is slang. "Site is is the wrong spelling!:T

hansi

OK OK you got me:mad: :mad: :j

basill

sco0ter wrote: »

Dont all sat navs talk you through the route???

Am I the only one who cannot stand the voice directions? When I first saw a sat nav in action I thought the voice directions were the best thing ever. After about a day of use they became a serious irritant!

As a regular user with a sense of direction and a love of radio 4 I have the sound off now. The Tomtom maps are very clear and only require the odd glance to keep me on track.

I have downloaded a set of silent voices, so I can benefit from the speed camera warning sounds but not be distracted from the Archers by those awful voice directions.

B

Moneymaker

TomTom for me because I use an Apple Mac and TomTom provides compatible software. You have to keep your wits about you. It took me up a 3 mile country lane to a padlocked gate. It tried to take me up a 4 foot wide bridle path ("horses only"). It tried to persuade me to drive through a fence onto a school playing field (and the school hadn't just been built). And it has encouraged me to drive up one way streets (in the wrong direction) on many occasions!

But, overall, I would hate to be without it. I keep it in my pocket at all times. I refer to it for my exact speed while driving. It drives my wife nuts (so there's a recommendation!)

culpepper

we've both got tom tom mobile on our phones. I love mine, it is a stress buster as I hate getting lost. We share long drives and I was always having to say to OH 'well is it this turning or that one ?' as he would drop off to sleep when he was supposed to be navigating. Now we can each sleep while the other one drives and no more feeling sick because of looking down at the map book or having to shout out for directions.
the handy thing about the phone version is you can just look at the maps without having the reciever turned on when you are out somewhere, just like a regular map book just by typing in the name of the road you are in.

Bernie

sco0ter wrote: »

Never had that problem... TOMTOM will only keep trying to return you to the route if it still the Fastest or shortest (depending which you pick) that is available. Drive up a road for a while and when a new route that is faster or shorter becomes available it will replan for it.

Quite!... and by the time you "drive up a road for a while", you've missed the best option.

Even then there's an infuriating wait for the route to be calculated from either unit and when done, to find that TomTom it trying to take you back to the "faster/shorter" M25 that you've just left to avoid the jam. Garmin does this situation better and, for me, this is the main benefit I seek in a GPS unit. In my wee opinion of using both over many years and in several countries, the Garmin implementation scores over TomTom.

If I could only have only type - it would be Garmin, however, I've got both and like fishing rods or shirts, use the one that's best for what I'm planning to do.

I cannot comment on the mass of other manufacturers or newer models now available - and the prices now make me feel ill (I once paid over £600 for a Streetpilot 3 with its 128kb memory card - spare cards @ £125)

...but I now treat my GPS like a watch, I always have one to hand!

:beer:

compmad1

tom9980 wrote: »

Just make sure you fully upto date your tomtom after purchase and keep updating it once a month with the free user map corrections.

I didn't realise that you could get free updates, I thought you had to pay for them. I've been onto the TomTom site and I can't work out where these are or how to go about updating it. Can anyone advise? (Earlier this year when I went to Cornwall I found some of the new roads were not like on my TomTom.)

Also how do I work out which version I have of TomTom One. When I tap the bottom right hand screen it says "GPS V.1.21". Does this mean I have Version 1 of TomTom One? It does not say anything on the unit itself. I threw away the original box. Thanks.

Marty_J

Interesting article that was in Reader's Digest awhile ago:

http://www.readersdigest.co.uk/images/files/Satnav.pdf

GPS is apparently rubbish.