Which Sat Nav to buy

DCFC79

Looking at buying a Sat Nav, would mainly be used by my mum so must be easy to use and with clear instructions. Had a look on argos (halfords also same price) and they have a Garmin for £100.

Halfords have this 1 for same price.

Anyone have a Garmin or a Tomtom they would recommend ?

Something ive just noticed is the Argos 1 mentions about Western Europe maps and the Halfords 1 mentions nothing about Western Europe maps, Halfords do have the 54 LM with Western Europe maps for the same price.

Moneymaker

Of the two, I prefer my TomTom for ease of use. For example: to mute the audio on a TomTom, it's a single poke. To achieve the same on the Garmin, I have to pull over and park while I make several pokes.

(My models are a few years old so they may have improved the later ones but this is the sort of thing to check.)

DCFC79

Moneymaker wrote: »

Of the two, I prefer my TomTom for ease of use. For example: to mute the audio on a TomTom, it's a single poke. To achieve the same on the Garmin, I have to pull over and park while I make several pokes.

(My models are a few years old so they may have improved the later ones but this is the sort of thing to check.)

Thanks, yes a good point about mute the audio.

pepdavies

I used to find, living out in the middle of nowhere, people with garmin units could find us but TomTom owners always got lost. Maybe garmin covers more addresses? I'm sure they are both good enough for most usage though.

danthemoneysavingman

saw this, any good?
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/tomtom-start-25-nav-uk-roi-full-europe-98-99-free-lifetime-maps-worth-79-99-halfords-1913246

hanwellmike

I got a Garmin from Argos last year and am very happy with it. I bought it as it was on sale. It was an "LM" version which has free lifetime maps subscription which means that I do not have to pay for updated maps. I just plug it into the PC every now and then and it updates for free. Make sure you look carefully at the specs before you buy. Good luck.

searchlight123

as a long term tomtom user i recently bought a garmin and hated it. it depends what you want to do with it but i am used to putting my own 'point of interest' lists on it and a third party speed camera database and this proved nigh on impossible on the garmin compared to the ease of use with the tomtom.
also the tomtom HD traffic is far superior in accuracy to garmins traffic reporting. i know this for a fact after running both units side by side for a week. with tomtom now offering lifetime map updates on their cheaper units, its a no-brainer for me at least.
as i said, if you just want an out of the box sat nav without you wanting to add or personalise it at all then there's probably not much in it but if you are after something a little more advanced go the tomtom route.

molerat

tonygold wrote: »

as a long term tomtom user i recently bought a garmin and hated it. it depends what you want to do with it but i am used to putting my own 'point of interest' lists on it and a third party speed camera database and this proved nigh on impossible on the garmin compared to the ease of use with the tomtom.
also the tomtom HD traffic is far superior in accuracy to garmins traffic reporting. i know this for a fact after running both units side by side for a week. with tomtom now offering lifetime map updates on their cheaper units, its a no-brainer for me at least.
as i said, if you just want an out of the box sat nav without you wanting to add or personalise it at all then there's probably not much in it but if you are after something a little more advanced go the tomtom route.

Now not possible on the 2013 onwards TomToms either. TT seem to be putting all their efforts into in-dash units now.

If you want an "old school" unit http://www.tesco.com/direct/tomtom-xxl-classic-series-sat-nav-5-screen-with-uk-and-ireland-maps/544-6527.prd

bod1467

What type of mobile phone does your Mum have?

I use my Nexus 4 as my satnav now, using the Navfree app (with downloaded maps so no data requirements).

jackieblack

We have that Garmin (52LM)
Very easy to use and free lifetime map updates.

If you don't need the european maps, John Lewis have UK/NI only version for £89.95 and give you a 2 year guarantee
http://www.johnlewis.com/garmin-n-vi-52lm-gps-navigation-system-free-lifetime-uk-and-ireland-maps/p461496?kpid=231973975&s_kenid=4adf250d-c41f-b868-52c9-00003be0f0ed&s_kwcid=128x64422&tmad=c&tmcampid=73
Or Tesco have the same one for £89 http://www.tesco.com/direct/garmin-nuvi-52lm-weu-5-inch-sat-nav-with-free-lifetime-map-updates-for-the-uk-we/799-0493.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=799-0493

(Don't be swayed by Argos's claim that it's 'half price', it's not)

Johnmcl7

I have an old Tomtom XL (one of the original ones with a bigger screen I believe) and one of the reasons I prefer it over other solutions is that it generally seems to handle routing better in terms of balancing the distance of a route and the likely average speed. So when it wants you to take a longer route it's usually the right choice as the roads are better.

I had a Garmin unit which I found useless in this regard as it seemed to heavily prioritise distance over speed so it would route me down ridiculously small back roads to save some distance even though the back roads were far slower going. The couple of times I use Google's navigation solution it also seemed to get the balance wrong and routed me down slower roads.

As the Tomtom is old I've been looking for a newer replacement although reviews of recent Tomtoms (such as the 1005) seem to be very mixed. I've been trying a Nokia for its navigation software and it generally seems very good although I've yet to see how well it manages the routing. I'd be interested to know if there's any of the recent Tomtoms with larger screens that are worth considering though.

John