Sat Nav recommendation required

andy1974_2

Im looking to buy a sat nav system (gonna wait until the sales start)

I have got a headache looking at all the different systems and reading reviews, I have a budget of £150 and was hoping to get a widescreen version with live traffic updates but dont know whether I need this or not as never had a sat nav system before.

can anyone recommend a system as the more I look the more confused I am getting!!


Thanks in advance.

isofa

Have a look at the different options from TomTom, Garmin and Navman. All make excellent devices, there were some recent comparative reviews in T3 and The Sunday Times. I've always liked my TomTom.

Live traffic updates can be via radio signals "RDS-TMC" (usually free) or via mobile phones (which usually costs extra/subscription) usually linked with bluetooth.

For example, although not widescreen, the TomTom ONE Great Britain Traffic Edition which is normally £200 is at Amazon at the moment for £154 inc free delivery, and does include the free to air traffic updates:

http://www.amazon.co.uk//dp/B000W3KB0O/

The Tom Tom Go 520 is the more feature packed widescreen edition but is £200 from Amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000RW2WU2/

Both have lots of user reviews on Amazon.

philnicandamy

isofa wrote: »

Have a look at the different options from TomTom, Garmin and Navman. All make excellent devices, there were some recent comparative reviews in T3 and The Sunday Times. I've always liked my TomTom.

Live traffic updates can be via radio signals "RDS-TMC" (usually free) or via mobile phones (which usually costs extra/subscription) usually linked with bluetooth.

For example, although not widescreen, the TomTom ONE Great Britain Traffic Edition which is normally £200 is at Amazon at the moment for £154 inc free delivery, and does include the free to air traffic updates:

http://www.amazon.co.uk//dp/B000W3KB0O/

The Tom Tom Go 520 is the more feature packed widescreen edition but is £200 from Amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000RW2WU2/

Both have lots of user reviews on Amazon.

Have to agree been a long time tomtom user myself, I had previous versions that used the TMC over the air traffic updates & to be honest they were pretty much useless but they were free unless you decided on using the subscription based traffic service, this uses the bluetooth connection of your mobile to connect to tomtom traffic & download traffic updates to your sat nav...a little expensive though because you pay for the years subscription then have to pay your mobile provider as the downloads use your phones data connection..(the cheaper TMC free version rely on a signal broadcast through classic fm) ...although now the hardware has changed the receivers are much more better than they were..

Some good reading here

www.pocketgpsworld.com

ormus

remember to keep a map in the car as well.
i had trouble yesterday going from the lakes to scotland and back to manchester.
satnav took me back to kendal to avoid the roadworks instead of direct to penrith.
then returning from edinburgh, the sat nav took me all round the world.

satnav can be brilliant but so f00king annoying sometimes.

fatnbald

I have tried a few versions both portable and built in to the car.

I now have a TomTom One Europe which seems to have the mapping and navigation off to a fine art. Once or twice it has chosen a route which is poor due to traffic volumes, which it is never going to know, on those occasions I just use my knowledge and it soon catches up with my routing.

I have used it across Europe and it rarely misses a beat, it is one of the best purchases I have ever made, the 30 euro per year camera POI download is good value as well, regular updates and gives camera locations for the whole of Europe.

greyteam1959

fatnbald wrote: »

I have tried a few versions both portable and built in to the car.

I now have a TomTom One Europe which seems to have the mapping and navigation off to a fine art. Once or twice it has chosen a route which is poor due to traffic volumes, which it is never going to know, on those occasions I just use my knowledge and it soon catches up with my routing.

I have used it across Europe and it rarely misses a beat, it is one of the best purchases I have ever made, the 30 euro per year camera POI download is good value as well, regular updates and gives camera locations for the whole of Europe.

What model number is the TomTom that you refer to with the 30 Euro per year updates?????
:beer: :beer:

evadanit

I am a woman, which makes me a woman driver, but I drive like a man.... lol.... ok, so I need to get somwhere, and CAN read a map, but hate finding that I have gone up a one way street!
We had a navman, and it took me up about 3 no entries and a few dead ends, y dad also has a Navman, and his does the same.

so a few months ago, Hubby purchased a Tom Tom one XL, and can I say, it's fantastic! so "woman friendly" and I love the way it reminds you BEFORE you get to a roundabout, rather then when you are ON the roundabout.!

fantastic buy, and I love it!

LuciferTDark

I've had a TomTom Go300 for a couple of years now & wouldn't part with it for all the money in the world. It does get things wrong from time to time but that's mainly because the maps are always out of date, which is unavoidable really.

Aiadi

Garmin & TomTom are both excellent and I use them both.....:p

fatnbald

mervyn11 wrote: »

What model number is the TomTom that you refer to with the 30 Euro per year updates?????
:beer: :beer:

It is the Tom Tom one Europe V2,

Using the Tom Tom home PC program there is an option to purchase the both the camera database for a year and also the live traffic updates as well from Tom Tom. Personally I have had a few bum steer's using other live traffic info services and took long detours for no reason so I gave that one a miss. However if you want to try it I think they do them as a combined add on for around 50 - 60 euro's.

Some places sell the units with the add ins included as special packages, with mine I got the free carry case and it was £200 last summer, the price has plummeted now and I have seen the V3 UK TomTom One for £129 recently - think it was in Argos I saw it.

V3 includes the map share version of the software, basically it takes the information on new roads etc from users and then includes it in the map updates for everyone else.

greyteam1959

Thanks fatnbald...................