Which Sat Nav?

Wasted_User

Garmin I3 with speed cam POIs loaded on it

billy_the_kid_2

HP 2210 Ipaq running TomTom Navigator 5. works for me.

mookiandco

I have Garmin I3 and Navman 610.

My husband is a big fan of the Navman. He prefers the big screen!!!

However, I prefer my little I3 which does the job perfectly. The screen may be small but the instructions are loud and clear. It also has loads of POIS such as marks and spencer, waitrose etc, which are obviously very important!

BigAde

snowy1998 wrote:

thanks for the replies so far...

The Garmin i3 good as some reports are, I was put off by the small screen.

I thought I would be too, but it's a clear display and is very effective at the job in does.... see if you can borrow one to try it out first. They're so much cheaper than the alternatives you mention.

The smaller screen has advantages too... it's easy to site it in an unobstrusive place and easy to take with you when you leave the car.

boatman

shopaholicsan wrote:

I am also considering the Navman 530 but I want to use it for travelling in western europe. How exactly do the european maps on cd work?
What would anyone recommend as the cheapest option for european mapping on sat nav. Please be gentle with me as I'm not very well up on terminology (eg what is a PDA as mentioned earlier in the thread?) Can you add european maps to all basic models or not?
Thanks all

A good bet for a satnav with western europe is the Garmin C510d(deluxe) for £300 from Halfords. This is a good price because it also includes the traffic module(uses FM radio signal - FREE)and will automatically work out the best route around any traffic problems.
On a tomtom satnav to get traffic(£40 a year subsription+call charges)you need to use your mobile phone with GPRS and bluetooth.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10151&storeId=10001&productId=240303&categoryId=33962&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=33962&crumb=31468&varient=&CarSelectorCatalogId=&CarSelectorGroupId=
Satellite Navigation Garmin StreetPilot C510D from Halfords Price £299.99

lee634

The Original TomTom Go 1Gb SD card with Maps of western Europe

BigAde

boatman wrote:

A good bet for a satnav with western europe is the Garmin C510d(deluxe) for £300 from Halfords. This is a good price because it also includes the traffic module(uses FM radio signal - FREE)and will automatically work out the best route around any traffic problems.

That's interesting... while I'm happy with my i3, I would like to upgrade it in the future to include a device which includes traffic information... I have an (invaluable) portable TrafficMaster box which gives audio alerts to traffic problems.... I always thought I'd try go for TrafficMasters SmartNav system when I upgraded.... but this FM system with the C510d is interesting.

Boatman - is the FM signal UK-wide? Or is it limited to major cities/certain areas? How well does it work?

oldagetraveller

I only have experience of Navman and would NOT recommend. The actual hardware is fine but the included UK maps are way out of date. 4 times out of 5 I'm sent the wrong way! I have to still rely on real maps for backup which rather defeats the object and the expenditure!

boatman

BigAde wrote:

That's interesting... while I'm happy with my i3, I would like to upgrade it in the future to include a device which includes traffic information... I have an (invaluable) portable TrafficMaster box which gives audio alerts to traffic problems.... I always thought I'd try go for TrafficMasters SmartNav system when I upgraded.... but this FM system with the C510d is interesting.

Boatman - is the FM signal UK-wide? Or is it limited to major cities/certain areas? How well does it work?

It uses the RAC trafficmaster system in the UK so should be similar to what you have now(better in cities i guess), and will also work in europe.

http://www.trafficmaster.co.uk/shownews.cfm?num=307
TrafficMaster

This website has a bit about the system it uses:
http://www.gpsw.co.uk/details/prod2978.html

choccyface2006

We have a Tomtom go 300 and its brilliant!

My dad has a Medion and its not great at all, we took both out with us a few days ago as we needed to find the driving test centre in Chester, (new roads and one way streets) my dad was taking me the next day so we wanted to find it and mark the GPS position. The Tomtom was great, good signal and directions, the Medion didn't get a signal for the whole distance (20 miles, till we stopped & took it out the car) and even when we got there we couldn't get it to mark the GPS position so we could get back easily! On the way home it thought we were somewhere miles away, I would buy Tomtom every time! I think there loads more free downloads for it too, we have just about everything on ours.

Not sure about Navman though!

Sarah x