Best buy SatNav for £100

securityguy

motorguy wrote: »

Will that not require data usage when not in the UK? The O/P specifically asked for Western Europe

Apps like CoPilot include offline maps, so they will function without any connectivity whatsoever. I know CoPilor exercises some people into apoplexy, but it's always worked OK for me.

[Deleted User]

scaredofdebt wrote: »

If you have a smart phone you can download apps that work well as sat-navs for free, I use Waze and it is very good. Just get a cradle to mount the phone on the dash/windscreen, cost about a tenner.

I got my Tomtom Start ( can t remember the model ) from Argos for £65. Its absolutely brilliant with clear voice instruction giving actual street names. No smart phone will match a dedicated satnav like that. Its not worth it acting like a cheap mini cab driver with his wonky phone sellotaped to the windscreen. I d vote a proper sat nav as the best car safety device in the last 40 years and the man who invented them should be given the Victoria Cross.
When I m in an unfamiliar area I can sit back and follow the voice instructions along with the visual directions on my windscreen at eye level in the centre ( not in direct view ). I m in awe of how it directed me through the mess of Central London to a house to pick up an Ebay buy last month without a hitch.Without that I would have been stopping every few hundred yards consulting an A to Z

roddydogs

With so many new cars having a built in SN, plus so many using smart phone/Navmi, separate SNs are on their way out.

Rubidium

I agree that a dedicated sat nav is much better than any phone app but you should always have an old fashioned hard copy map with you, as even the best sat navs can sometimes lose signal between tall buildings in large cities. I have used a phone app occasionally but I much prefer using my Tom Tom.

[Deleted User]

roddydogs wrote: »

With so many new cars having a built in SN, plus so many using smart phone/Navmi, separate SNs are on their way out.

Personally I much prefer my satnav up at eye level view on my windscreen.Much better than constantly having to glance downwards to the dashboard as if I m looking at the radio controls.. And what happens when the built in box of tricks packs in..as it 100% surely will do ! how much will that cost to replace ?

roddydogs

sacsquacco wrote: »

Personally I much prefer my satnav up at eye level view on my windscreen.Much better than constantly having to glance downwards to the dashboard as if I m looking at the radio controls.. And what happens when the built in box of tricks packs in..as it 100% surely will do ! how much will that cost to replace ?

No to mention updates can only be done at a Main dealer, so at best once a year, and the usually at extra cost, my OH just paid £400 to have the SN installed, its a total rip off but thats just how things are going.

roddydogs

Oh, and I forgot to add that some don't take British 7 digit postcodes!!, you have to enter it manually.

motorguy

roddydogs wrote: »

With so many new cars having a built in SN, plus so many using smart phone/Navmi, separate SNs are on their way out.

So are CDs, the combustion engine, DVDs, etc, etc. Doesnt make them not useful in the meantime.

almillar

you should always have an old fashioned hard copy map with you, as even the best sat navs can sometimes lose signal between tall buildings in large cities.

I bought one of these, but I can't work out how to get the wee arrow to appear to show me where I am?...

A._Badger

Don't assume that a newer one will necessarily be a light year better and, as Rubidium says (above), take a real map with you, too. I recently replaced my ancient Garmin with a current model and the mapping has been significantly wrong twice so far, in just a couple of uses.

Still, wild, exotic Sussex (where I happened to be). Hardly Garmin's fault if somewhere so remote hasn't been fully mapped yet, is it?