TOMTOM models advice please

happyhero

Hi I would like to buy my mother a TOMTOM for Xmas, she says my stepfather used to plan the routes but is not really able to anymore so she fancies one of the TOMTOMs as opposed to any of the other makes, not to replace him of course but just to help:D. I was looking at them on Amazon, Ebay, Argos outlets on Ebay(mainly refurbished on here) and Argos itself and I am struggling with the models, so could anyone guide me a little please?

She is a bit of a technophobe, hope thats how you spell it, so does not want loads of functions, just the basic ones.

I was hoping to spend around the £90 up to £130 mark but for that I was hoping to get one that was wide screen and must definitely have postcode navigation, which the cheaper ones do not have it appears.

She needs it to have UK and would like Europe but it is not that important (she does travel abroad to see other family a bit so it would be nice, but not often by car).

When I bought mine which was one of the first it had UK and greater maps or roads of Europe which I find brilliant, ie it had most of the roads in Europe that I needed, but what does it mean now when it says Europe, is it all the roads in Europe now?

Some of them say UK and Europe and some say Europe, so whats the difference, surely they must all offer full roads of the UK?

If so why do they say UK and Europe if the UK is in Europe, surely it is obvious then that Europe contains UK maps or is there a subtle difference?

Has the Greater roads of Europe map that I had gone now, ie when it says Europe do you just get all the roads?

Sorry if some of these questions are a bit silly but I got mine a long time ago.

Has anybody bought one from the Argos outlets on Ebay that are refurbished, if so how did you find it, being that it was classed as refurbished and should mean only package damage etc?

I am drawn towards the XL models, but what is an XL model as opposed to any other, ie does the XL denominate it as having a certain feature?

Help please my brain is frying trying to pick the right one, but hopefully price should narrow it down and it seems possible to get what I would like for the price I mention.

Any and all help appreciated.

Esqui

Here's a quick guide to them:

Models
Start - Basic navigation, easy to use
One - More advanced features (including lane guidance)
One XL - Same as the One with a larger screen
XL live - Same as the One XL with Tomtom's live services (e.g. Google local search, petrol prices)
Go Live - Large screen, bluetooth calling, Live services

Maps
Start, One and One XL come is either UK or Europe 31/4245. UK includes Ireland as well. Europe 31 has UK & Ireland plus Western Europe and some Eastern Europe. 42 adds more Eastern European countries and 45 has all those plus (I think, Greece, Turkey and another one)
The XL live has only Europe 42/45 versions.
The Go Live comes in UK (Go 540/550), Europe (Go 740/750) and Europe and North America (US & Canada) (Go 940/950).

It's also worth noting that the Start, One and One XL don't have expandable memory, so you can't add maps later. But the Go Live can be added to.

From what you say you need, this would be good. Or if you wanted the larger screen, this one (btw, ignore the saving on it, it wasn't really worth £280)

happyhero

Esqui wrote: »

Here's a quick guide to them:

Models
Start - Basic navigation, easy to use
One - More advanced features (including lane guidance)
One XL - Same as the One with a larger screen
XL live - Same as the One XL with Tomtom's live services (e.g. Google local search, petrol prices)
Go Live - Large screen, bluetooth calling, Live services

Maps
Start, One and One XL come is either UK or Europe 31/4245. UK includes Ireland as well. Europe 31 has UK & Ireland plus Western Europe and some Eastern Europe. 42 adds more Eastern European countries and 45 has all those plus (I think, Greece, Turkey and another one)
The XL live has only Europe 42/45 versions.
The Go Live comes in UK (Go 540/550), Europe (Go 740/750) and Europe and North America (US & Canada) (Go 940/950).

It's also worth noting that the Start, One and One XL don't have expandable memory, so you can't add maps later. But the Go Live can be added to.

From what you say you need, this would be good. Or if you wanted the larger screen, this one (btw, ignore the saving on it, it wasn't really worth £280)

Hi Esqui, thank you very much for your help if possible could you tell me what you think of these two in comparison to the 2 you mention,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TomTom-ONE-Satellite-Navigation-System/dp/B000PS68ZS/ref=sr_1_34?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1259931742&sr=1-34

and

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TomTom-Classic-Satellite-Navigation-ROI/dp/B001XCWNMM/ref=sr_1_46?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1259931742&sr=1-46

I think one might be virtually same as the bigger one you suggested, but not sure, sorry about long addresses, do not know how to do links like you did above.

stulaunch

You cant go far wrong with TomTom XL, dont really see need for high spec units, unless you want to add extra maps on or want to pay for extras like live traffic for instance.
Same price a as few places, including Tesco where you can have delivered next day at store if you have one locally also 5% cashback from Quidco http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.203-5742.aspx

Same price as PCWorld also Quidco there

Not sure about latest map guarantee at Tesco though