sat navs

Contessa

I have a Garmin Nuvi. It's the widescreen version which I think is well worth having. I find it excellent. Also very intuitive to use.

dizziblonde

I bought a TomTom last summer after finally getting sick of trying to find obscure schools armed with a print out from AutoRoute and an A-Z (I'm a supply teacher). I don't regret the money I spent on it - despite holding off for such a long time and viewing them as an expensive luxury.

The issues I've had with it are - it's obsessed with the M1, and would happily route me on it to get to the end of the street if it could - fine if you don't know vaguely where you're going and the M1 isn't jammed with really evil roadworks, but it's the most inefficient way to get to where I'm going sometimes and it's obsessed - leads to some animated conversations between me and it in the car on the way to places... "turn around when possible"... "no"... "turn left"... "no, you're just trying to turn me around sneakily".

I've had to reset it once when it just couldn't find the GPS signal at all - has only happened the once but it was an annoyance.

The other issue I've had is since I moved house (got to love Nottingham crime) my car's been broken into twice in the space of a fortnight - both times when I had a suction cup on the windscreen, and that's what they've actually nicked (my car being the steaming pile of poo that it is there's nowt much nickable in it). I've got a replacement cup, but it's rubbish and doesn't stick to the windscreen so I balance it hooked over the ashtray and have to remember to hide it in the glovebox - it's just really really annoying to have to do that every single time.

It's also lousy at holding a battery charge - I get about 2 hours max out of mine before I have to resort to the cigarette lighter charger.

Bernie

...and it's the Garmin I use most on business trips to unknown destinations because it is better at re-routing if you diverge from the plotted route. By comparison, TomTom will bust a gut to get you back onto its originally planned route that you've deliberately left - a real pain if you've left the M25 because you've had a traffic jam warning. To get my TomTom software to re-route properly, you have to go through the menus - not too clever when you've been forced to detour and are in the middle of a mass of traffic! Garmin just starts over from scratch, handy if you chosen not to turn up the goat track it's picked for you...

For pre-planning a route, TomTom is far better, you can stick in via points to your hearts content on the map to generate your own preferred route. Garmin kindly allows just one via point.

Mind you, both my units (Garmin C510 and TomTom 5 in my Ipaq Pocket PC Phone) are now outdated so the newer kit may well have addressed these observations.

"Safety" Camera database - see here:

http://www.scdb.info/en/software-plugins/

...one fee, feed all your GPS units. (Got a Garmin handheld, the wife has another C510 and another Ipaq too).

AdrianHi

The last two posts sum up the everyday difference between TomTom and Garmin when it comes to doing what a sat. nav. is really for.

TomTom favours main roads, too much (obesssed with the M1)
Garmin favours smaller roads a little too much (the goat track :rotfl:) but at least re-routes you in an intelligent manner.

So what you really want is something in between.

In amoung all the TomTom and Garmin posts the answer lies - someone I know who has had TomTom, Garmin and the last one rates the following highest of all for intelligent routing:

mchale wrote:

Have a look at the Navigon 2210.

hislan

So....If I was interested in getting a TomTom (which I am) which of the squillion of models would anyone reccommend?

I've just been looking on the Halfords website at all the different TT packages and my mind boggles!

I'd like something with UK & Europe maps, but apart from that, I haven't got a clue what's important to look for?????

Also, excuse me if I sound stupid, but does the typical TT package come with the window suction mount, carry bag and cigarette lighter charger - or do you have to buy that as extra?

All advice much appreciated!!!:o

jack_spratt_2

You need to go to a retailer to try them out and see which model suits your needs and how the software looks !!.
Yes they all come with a windscreen mount and charger but no bag.as far as I am aware
John Lewis are doing some tomtoms with 2 year of map updates free in there packages they will also price match any UK shop that has a shop premises .

Things to look for are do you need Text to speech, wide screen, ability to play music through them and blue tooth .

Have a look on the pocket GPS website there are lots of reviews and the forum will give you plenty of advice !! there speed camera database is the best there is

I have a tomtom 520 ( UK maps ) and if you can pick one of those up it will have most of what you need but it is an older model.
It really depends on the price you want to pay and the features you want

You need the 720 for Europe and UK maps although you can add the Europe maps later if you need them by paying for the map download

artha

What is the difference between V3 and V4?

V3 devices seem to be heavily discounted at the moment and sold as "classic" TOM TOM Go by Argos.

My old basic Garmin with a scroll wheel is getting a bit long in the tooth but I'd like to replace it with something with a touchscreen for ease of use and with updated maps. Any thoughts?

cathodetube

I want to get a Satnav for the first time after using one in a hire car I rented in the US a year ago. It cost me approximately £15 extra a day to get a car with a Magellan GPS. It was mounted below where the ashtray is. I want to have a Satnav to use in the UK, Ireland, Europe and the US. Is it difficult to download the info for those countries and would I have to pay a lot for one? Any advice welcome. I would also like to be able to use it on foot as well. I saw a Tomtom on either the QVC or Ideal World channel which was loaded for UK and Ireland. The info. said it could also be set up to use in different countries. It was about £120 which seems very reasonable. Thanks in advance.

asbokid

smcaul wrote: »

I have not got one, but these seem to have good reviews and are very cheap.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146672#

£46 is very cheap.. and you can apparently replace the TurboDog s/w with TomTom 7

Ebuyer had a widescreen 4.3" Navigo model for £55 but it's currently out of stock...

Wortle

Is there any satnav that warns of low bridges/tunnels in Europe please? Thanks