Sat Nav

[laserblazer]

I'm looking for a budget satnav with European maps. Nothing fancy. Can anyone recommend something and what are must-have features?

[ChrisH]

I would deffo stick with a TomTom or a Garmin rather than a cheap alternative.

[Kitkatninja]

I would deffo stick with a TomTom or a Garmin rather than a cheap alternative.

 

I agree, one of my mates, bought a cheap Sat Nav 1 1/2 years ago. This year they stopped supporting it (no more map updates or firmware/software updates, etc). He ending up buying a TomTom this year. As for me I have a Tomtom and apart from the baterry that needs replacing (it's a couple of years old) it hasn't failed me yet

 

You can pick up a cheap-ish TomTom or Garmin of Ebay, if you do not fancy paying the price of a new one

 

As for features, speed cams are always good one, and the new GPS's come with bluetooth and can link with your mobile phone so you do not need a separate hands free kit.

 

-Ken

[PEO]

argos online have £30 off their TomTom sat navs Buy TomTom ONE UK and Republic of Ireland. at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for .

[Jon]

I have got TomTom 6 running on my symbian phone (nokia n73), I just got myself a blutooth GPS receiver (around £20:00) and it works a treat, I have maps for UK, Europe, and France.

[MkII]

I've been playing with a few sat nav programs. There are two map sources for all of them, plus the routing done by the software. iGO8 won awards for it's 3D Buildings and landscape, and ultimate configure ability.

 

All the business users/ lorry drivers seem to swear by TomTom. I did some tests finding awkward places and TomTom won hands down. Of the many softwares I've tried TomTom has by far the smallest footprint. It's graphics are minimal but ultimately functional. The colour scheme is the best visible in bright light conditions.

 

I love iGO8, and use it all the time. But I'm a visuals freak. I always keep a copy of TomTom as standby.

 

MioMaps is identical to iGO but without souped up visuals and menus.

 

The mp3/4 integrated players are a waste of time IMHO. Same with traffic alerts. The sound dips when the sat nav beeps. Nice.

 

I think widescreen satnavs are a waste. 3x4 ratio suits what you're looking at perfectly. Why slow down the s/w with useless data?

 

All speedcamera and place of interest data is freely available, as are alternate voices.

 

Voice directions are another thing TomTom excels at. Although the other programs mostly offer Text To Speech - voicing actual street & place names (can be fun in Wales! ), the delivery is always broken and choppy. TomTom voices are smooth.

 

This TomTom @ £120 inc European Maps looks a bargain. There are two versions of map. The individual country maps are far more detailed than the whole of Europe map, so watch for that. Maybe cheaper to get a UK version and add countries as you need them. You have to switch maps at the border (other apps do this automatically).

 

/nuff

Edited August 16, 2008 by MkII

[laserblazer]

I got a good deal on a Garmin Nuvi 250 with Europe maps Seems to do all I want. Thanks for all of the advice.

[Grommit]

I have got TomTom 6 running on my symbian phone (nokia n73), I just got myself a blutooth GPS receiver (around £20:00) and it works a treat, I have maps for UK, Europe, and France.

 

It's a pity that Tom Tom does not work with a built in GPRS.. I have Garmin on my N95

[PeterW]

It's a pity that Tom Tom does not work with a built in GPRS.. I have Garmin on my N95

 

There is a proggy/hack that will do this I have had it working on mine.

[EduTech]

I have Tom Tom on my PDA which i use when going places... just download the software and install it to the PDA have maps for UK and Europe..

 

James.

[richard.thomas]

I have a Garmin 250 (i think, either that or 350) I got it with the traffic addon that can change your journey depending on the traffic. This was the main thing I wanted the sat nav for; and at the time Garmin was clearly the best for it. Only time it has failed me was when I was looking for new houses and it didn't find one that had been built since I'd bought my sat nav (which is fair enough ). It told me the other day that it'd appreciate a map update- so I might give it one!

[elsiegee40]

We've got a TomTom and it's been brilliant...

 

We gave it a thorough testing in France this Summer. The ability to save your current location as a favourite was really useful. The location of our Villa went in, the location of the Avignon MotorRail station went in...

 

And better still it warned us about the French speed cameras just as efficiently as it does the English ones!

[Sirbendy]

I've got my trusty Garmin Streetpilot i2 here..not let me down yet. The mother in law used hers in Belgium fine as well. Not made anymore, but tiny, basic and solid.. Loaded with the speed camera database and custom POIs as well. Good fun.

 

I got shot of "recalculating" though. "Arse!" expresses it much better..heh..

[Grommit]

There is a proggy/hack that will do this I have had it working on mine.

 

Any link to this ?

[MK-2]

I got a MyGuide 3100 which runs a customised IGO software. It also has the added bonus of letting you access WindowsCE running it to use it for other things (MP3/video playback....obviously not video while driving!).

It got great reviews, and I do recommend it (cost about £60), but it looks like ebuyer have stopped stocking them, chances are they went out of business too!!

[plexer]

I've got the myguide as well and for the driving I do when needing maps etc... it is good enough but there is the problem with updated mapping and I think you're right about them going bust.

 

Ben

[MK-2]

plus a minor annoyance on the myguide is how it voices directions.

instead of "in half a mile turn right" you get

"turn right....in half a mile"

 

so the first thing you hear is turn right, which makes you glance right for the next road, and then look at the display to see where its means. and of course if you ignore it thinking it'll be half a mile, it invariably is turn right in 100yards, so you pass it

[plexer]

Yeah had that and also on some tight bends that aren't junctions it will tell you to turn right or left which should be bear right or left or no direction at all.

 

Ben

[PeterW]

Any link to this ?

 

YouTube - TomTom with internal n95 gps (BinPDA Hack)