Trying to decide on a satnav

vinylmusic

I've done a lot of research and I'm close to deciding on one to buy

Halfords offer the Garmin 1340LMT UK, ROI & W.Europe for £129
It comes with free lifetime map and traffic updates updates

Curry/PCWorld offer the 2340LMT UK, ROI & W.Europe for £129
also with free lifetime map and traffic updates updates

For personal reasons I hate buying from curry/pcworld and will only buy the 2340 from them if the difference between the two is advantageous

Looking at the specs of each I cant see any difference at all

I assume that the 2340 being a higher number means that it is a later model

Can anyone fill me in on this and point out any differences I may not be aware of

Both items have good reviews and both have lifetime updates so I'm having difficulty in making up my mind

Weird_Nev

Here's the specs:
1340

2340

the actual size, resolution etc seem identical. Have a pur over the specs and see if you can tell them apart. The 2340 has a worse battery life though.

adamc260

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/compare.do?cID=402&compareProduct=94721&compareProduct=73213

That link may help, compares them side by side.There are a few differences but nothing that seems major.

Halfords are offering slightly better cashback on TCB and Quidco compared to PCworld.

grizzly1911

MSE -Buy an AA road Atlas -2012 is probably on offer now for about £5 and probably just as accurate.

More useful as well you can eat your picnic on it and easily throw away the crumbs:)

Currys and Halfords rank just as badly IMO.

sebastianj

I will agree with 'adamc260', i have had Garmint for about 5years and it is lovely to use, spot on instruction and reliable.
sebastian

TrickyWicky

Don't bother with TomTom, they've recently annoyed thousands of their users who found their units couldn't get a satellite signal due to some 'Leap year' bug - a month after the extra leap day. Tons of people were left lost, frustrated, annoyed, etc.

Tomtom did eventually get it sorted but by god they were slow. Avoid like the plague.

Lum

Going off those specs.

2340 is slightly lighter with worse battery life.

However it comes with a lifetime subscription to traffic data which (supposedly) will route you around congested areas if a longer route would work out quicker.

It also claims to be able to display junction signs, which would make it easier to confirm if the exit you're about to take is, indeed, the correct ones.

It has a couple of other things that seem pretty pointless, though the feature where it will remember where your car is automatically, when it detects it's being removed from it's windscreen mount could be useful to some people who park in giant non-multistory car parks.

Personally I do just fine with an android phone. *shrug*

vinylmusic

Since starting this thread I found a really cheap refurbished Garmin Nuvi 765 wide traffic Europe for £50 also at Halfords
Iwas really cheesed off to find they'd sold out
I wish they wouldn't advertize things that they no longer have

Anyway what swung it initially was that it offered everything I needed from the others I was interested in, all but lifetime maps. But then the price difference made me think that I could manage a couple of years without map updates for the sake of £80

The reason I'm mentioning this is to ask if anyone has noticed any other similar deals online or in stores. I'm all for saving up to 80 quid

My main needs are
European maps
Lane change
Traffic
Full postcode search
Bluetooth, would be nice but not important

I am keen on ecoroute which is free for all Garmin navi users so I guess a Garmin would be a better choice

vinylmusic

Lum wrote: »

Going off those specs.

2340 is slightly lighter with worse battery life.

Personally I do just fine with an android phone. *shrug*

I have an android too, an HTC Wildfire S but to use it as a Satnav would mean paying extra for unlimited internet so I wouldnt find it so cost effective
I know my provider "GiffGaff" gives calls and unlimited internet for only £10 pm but using their PayGo option a tenner lasts me a good 2 months so in effect I'd be paying an extra £5 a month just to use the satnav

Lum

I'm pretty sure there's other satnav options for android than just Google, some of which use the traditional method of storing all the maps locally.

Also, can't the newer versions of google maps be made to cache the maps? I'll have to double check that and get back to you.

Which version of Android are you on?

vinylmusic

Something I'm not sure about with my HTC android phone

I used to have a Nokia 5800 Music xpress
I remember it would pinpoint my position wherever I was without connecting to the internet
It even found my hotel in Los Angeles and all the surrounding street names
If such a facility exists on my HTC wildfire S I haven't found it yet. It's always asking for an internet connection

So I can save on the cost of a Satnav but pay for internet usage instead
That would be OK except that I go abroad a lot and with those outrageous data roaming charges would make it far too uneconomic