Sat Nav virgin - help please!

headintheclouds

After too much time spent getting lost I've decided to invest in a Sat Nav. However, the choice is totally baffling so I wondered if any of you could give me some advice to narrow it down a bit.
I only want UK maps as I don't envisage driving abroad for the foreseeable future.
I'd also like traffic updates so that I can find a better route if there's a major hold-up on a motorway etc. (having taken 4 1/2 hours to drive 125 miles last week when the M25 was closed!).
I don't know if there are any other features I should consider as essentials.
What about updating maps - do you usually have to pay for this or does it vary between different makes?

I'm looking to spend as little as possible but would consider going up to about £150 if I had to - unless there's a really good reason for spending more.

Thanks very much in anticipation of your help.

TVR2

Bit of a de facto choice but my Dad has a Tom Tom and has nothing but praise for it. It features everything you want but I'm not sure about the traffic updates (are they even reliable)? I think his is a fairly basic model, cost less than a ton I believe...

JQ.

I think they're going to start becoming old technology very quickly. I've just got an Iphone4 and installed a FREE app that provides me with Sat Nav, which works just as well as the TomTom One I've been using for the last 5 years. All I needed to do was buy a car mount for the phone, which was £2.50 off Ebay.

If you have a modern mobile phone, check whether you can get a Sat Nav downloaded onto it. My wife has just ordered a Nokia N8 mobile phone and I believe that has a free sat nat already installed.

If you don't want to go down that route, then I can highly recommend a TomTom One which I've used for the last 5 years without fault. I believe you can now get them with Traffic Updates, however that is subject to an annual fee.

getmore4less

Check out Halfords they usualy have a good range and prices I got

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_732061_langId_-1_categoryId_165685#dtab

Comes with
Lifetime traffic
2 year map updates
1year speed camera

Some nice features like
lane assist for roundabouts and junctions
reality view images of motorway signs.

A_Doonhamer

Have a look in Halfords or somewhere. I would imagine a shop nearby has some sitting out of various types you can play with and see which you find easier to use.

Cash-Strapped.T32

JQ. wrote: »

I think they're going to start becoming old technology very quickly. I've just got an Iphone4 and installed a FREE app that provides me with Sat Nav, which works just as well as the TomTom One I've been using for the last 5 years. All I needed to do was buy a car mount for the phone, which was £2.50 off Ebay.

//

Agreed - but I would suggest a bit of caution.
You could spend all week reading up on various forms of GPS (or more accurately, how devices use it to locate where they are), but just to give one example;

Many phones use assisted GPS, which use the always-on internet connection to "assist" the GPS chip, whereas other are totally dependant on it; Same goes for specific navigation apps.

You can quickly imagine how this might let you down at an inappropriate moment.


Actually I'm with you on this one; I bought a cheap TomTom one a little while back to use with my 125 bike, a bit of home-made action to convert the fag-lighter plug to run from the terminals.

However, had I been a bit wiser, I would have spent just a little bit more on the 2nd had smartphone I'd bought a month earlier, and used that instead of the dedicated sat-nav.

Anyhow, lesson learned.

But to the OP, yeah, a basic TomTom is about as user-friendly as they come, but can optionally be combined with a nice little freeware program called Tyre, which uses Googlemaps to allow you to plan very complex journeys on a PC, before saving it to the device.

The box might advertise tonnes of features you'll never use, but beyond all that, the basic "get me to some place I don't know, or home when I'm lost"-itty of it is ideal, and after fiddling with it for 10 mins you'll be able to sort out routes in no time - If you can work your phone without too much trouble then you'll be fine.

I've used some pants ones that took so long to plot a route, or work out where the planned route would take me, I may as well have just tried it alone..


(Literally) right out of the box, I was able to get a TomTom up & running at like 11pm in the middle of a Tescos' carpark, in a strange city at night in the pitch black; In order to get me home after I'd gotten completely lost buying a new motorbike.

That's about as much Sat-nav virginity as anyone can have & it was fine - I'm sure you'll have no trouble. :cool:

Christ, this post reads like a damn tomtom advert - Then again I'm very biased - being on a bike & using it a lot for little work jobs I do appreciate having one to hand (I keep it under the seat at all times).

DCFC79

Tom toms are the best for sat navs me thinks, i was going to suggest getting a smart phone and use the free sat nav app but that would eat into your data allowance whereas a sat nav wouldnt

getmore4less

Don't forget to check they really are full post code.

momoyama

To those talking about mobile 'phone SatNav apps, use caution. Someone touched on it. PC-Pro discussed this recently. Some have the maps pre-installed, some install on the fly. Personally I wouldn't touch the latter even if they are free. You can SatNavs really quite cheap now. Go into Halfords and talk to them. I have a TomTom and have always got on really well with it. I've even got Master Yoda as my voice . I bought a TomTom because of so many recommendations. When I bought mine, which was a few years ago, Halford recommended Garmin as the better product but it didn't work through some windscreens. I don't know if this is still the case. Beside, I don't think you can get Master Yoda on a Garmin!

DCFC79

momoyama wrote: »

To those talking about mobile 'phone SatNav apps, use caution. Someone touched on it. PC-Pro discussed this recently. Some have the maps pre-installed, some install on the fly. Personally I wouldn't touch the latter even if they are free. You can SatNavs really quite cheap now. Go into Halfords and talk to them. I have a TomTom and have always got on really well with it. I've even got Master Yoda as my voice . I bought a TomTom because of so many recommendations. When I bought mine, which was a few years ago, Halford recommended Garmin as the better product but it didn't work through some windscreens. I don't know if this is still the case. Beside, I don't think you can get Master Yoda on a Garmin!

ive used my desire as a sat nav and its been fine, you get the maps from google which download to your phone

momoyama

DCFC79 wrote: »

ive used my desire as a sat nav and its been fine, you get the maps from google which download to your phone

But do you have the maps stored on the 'phone or do you download them as you're moving?

Incidentally, an on-line PC-Pro article on SatNavs and free apps.