which satnav system

catford

I want to buy a satnav system that i can use in the van for delivery work and also maybe use in the car sometimes.Has anyone got any recommendations?? Things to look out for? -bad value etc!

basill

For use on your deliveries go for one which allows full 7 character postcode lookup. Some systems offer only partial postcode entry ie you enter the first 3/4 chars or town name and then have to select a road name from a long list. This can be infuriating.

I am a big fan of tomtom and bought a tomtom go last year, it has been excellent, even better now as after the recent firmware and map upgrade it has full postcode lookup as well.

As it is self contained it is easy to move to another vehicle and spare mounts are available.

The go is not the cheapest solution, you can run the software on a PDA or smartphone if you have one. this method can be a bit untidy on the dash though.

B

AlanCollier

I agree with Basill, TomTom Go units are the best available. Doing it with a phone/PDA is possible but incredibly fiddly and is a pain to use on the move.

--Alan

ohreally

Ideally you want one where you can input all your route details for the day and it will calculate your journey between say 10 drops. I don't know which units will permit this though.

basill

tomtom 5 does allow multi stop route planning, but it is a bit of a pain sitting down and entering all your route, then if you dont actually hit the target for one ie park round the corner you need to manually step on to the next part of the route. You are better off using your local knowledge to plan the days drops avoiding known troublespots and ending up on the way home! then use tomtom to zero in on each postcode or address one by one.
When I first had the unit I used the voice directions all the time, but now I find them a distraction and always have the volume set at zero. The display is so good I just glance at the maps when I need guidance. I find it useful to have some stats on each journey on screen also, I`m often asked for an eta and out of jams this info is available and pretty accurate.


Buy one!!

Basill

crewe

Take a look at www.kdcomputers.co.uk

Got the Mio 168 PDA with tomtom 5 and safety camera database.

Works like a dream.

catford

Basil--are you on commission from tom tom??I've had a bit of a shop around and tom tom does look pretty good.All i need and a bit more.Now i,ve got to write to santa and get my order in----

ohreally

To throw another option into the frame, i have one of these chaps...http://www.navman.com/land/products/icn610/ It can be picked up from Costco for around £230 (their guarantee is basically for as long as your a member). It's pretty good but not infallible and i've used it for around 6 months all over England and Scotland to very good effect.

catford

crewe -does your mio take the full 6 number postcode and how easy is it to install?my firm wont pay up for a satnav in each van and i'm so hacked with losing hours of my life in london ,looking for places ,that i'm goung to buy my own .Could i take the mio in a bag or something each day? or would that be a pain? Whatever i get must be totally portable!

catford

ohreally-the ads for navman seem very good -it has the portability i need,but i'm a bit concerned about only having a 5 digit postcode finder .How do you find it?how accurate is it in inner city built up areas?

saver_sam

We bought the Garmen i3 a couple of weekends ago when it was on offer and this allows you to enter full postcodes and then house number, or you can use town and street. Set-up is easy - just plug and go.

My husband found on the first day of using it around east london that he had finished 3 hours earlier than he normally did using his map book. All he does with his work is sort it into post code order and it appears to lead from one to another.

It does have a bit of an annoying voice, but you can reduce the volume.

hope this helps.