Dos_Box Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 It's my birthday in a couple of weeks and my better 3/4 has suggested getting a sat-nav, not because we can't find our way from one end of the country to the other, we can, but because when we go to gigs and shows etc in strange towns, and we're a bit tired of arriving just as it is starting therefore foregoing the usual pre event pint. So it looks like a sat-nav would be the ideal pressie. What I want is something up to £150, has speed cameras, traffic info (if poss), car parks and as many bells and whistles as possible. Can anyone recommend one?
mattx Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 It's my birthday in a couple of weeks and my better 3/4 has suggested getting a sat-nav, not because we can't find our way from one end of the country to the other, we can, but because when we go to gigs and shows etc in strange towns, and we're a bit tired of arriving just as it is starting therefore foregoing the usual pre event pint. So it looks like a sat-nav would be the ideal pressie. What I want is something up to £150, has speed cameras, traffic info (if poss), car parks and as many bells and whistles as possible. Can anyone recommend one? Waste of time - do yourself a favor and get a proper OS Map. Cheaper too.
nc- Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 i have this one and i am happy with it. TomTom ONE Europe Traffic V4 from Halfords Price £146.79 Half Price Hama Accessory Pack
mossj Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 I have a tomtom xl (the thin widescreen version), just about fits in my jeans pocket too. but tbh i've taken it out twice, and I drive everyday. I've only got it cuz my rents got me it for christmas. Half the fun of travling, is trying to find your way round *insert odd town/city* and ending up in the middle of knowhere.
Dos_Box Posted March 16, 2009 Author Posted March 16, 2009 Waste of time - do yourself a favor and get a proper OS Map. Cheaper too. We have many dozens of S maps, It's just OS maps don't show you the one-way system in Liverpool, or how to get to Shauns house without doing 3 laps of Aberdeen, or the alternative routes out of Manchester after all the major venues have gigs on a Friday night and everyone tries to get out of the city at 23:15 and the roads are jammed!!!
Domino Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 Tomtom One XL Traffic Edition - UK & Europe Mapping With TMC Receiver - Ebuyer is just out of the price range, but has a nice set of features and is pretty sturdy and reliable. the european maps are pretty damn handy when wandering round amsterdam at 5am....so I'm told.....
Dos_Box Posted March 16, 2009 Author Posted March 16, 2009 Half the fun of travling, is trying to find your way round *insert odd town/city* and ending up in the middle of knowhere. Yes, but not when you are tryign to get to a gig\film\show and you know you are running out of time.
Michael Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 I use a Garmin nüvi 770 (looks like a mini widescreen) and the majority of the time it has worked great, but I think I paid £200. You may pay more for it now however as most electrical goods appear to be going up in price - month by month.
mattx Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 We have many dozens of S maps, It's just OS maps don't show you the one-way system in Liverpool, or how to get to Shauns house without doing 3 laps of Aberdeen, or the alternative routes out of Manchester after all the major venues have gigs on a Friday night and everyone tries to get out of the city at 23:15 and the roads are jammed!!! Lordy, I used to go up and down the country watching Wycombe footy club about 10 years ago, also did tons of Hospital Radio functions & in my last job was going up and down the country visiting various area offices - never used a Sat Nav. Just me and a trusty A-Z and maps of the various areas. I suppose it did help that I did have [ thats out of date now ] map reading qualifications - but that was for North Wales !!
DSapseid Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 Another vote for TOMTOM i bought mine about 4 years ago and i wouldnt live without it!
RabbieBurns Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 Ive only ever used a Garmin, and it was great, did all the speed camera stuff.
OutToLunch Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 I'd personally have a look at getting a Navigo - Navigo 3.5" Sat Nav V2 PLUS - UK Maps, Full Postcode Search - MP3 &MP4 player, Bluetooth and FM transmitter - Ebuyer - and buying yourself something extra with the (large amount!) of change. It runs Windows Mobile under the hood and the mapping software is supplied on an SD card, so any other software such as TomTom, iGO (much better than TomTom imho) etc will happily run on it if you pop a different SD card in with a few tweaks. Much more fun for tinkering with, adding extra software to, skins, menu tweaks etc.
SC-UK Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 Yet another vote for TomTom here. I have had a Go510 for a few years and got on brilliantly with it. A couple of months ago my other half wanted a SatNav so I gave her my 510 and got myself a nice new 540 Live. It's wonderful. Has the new TomTom HD Traffic which utilises mobile phone signals (I think from the Vodafone network) to work out traffic speeds, delays etc.
SteveBentley Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 TomTom's software is great. Bear in mind that rather than being a black box piece of kit it's just software that sits on a glorified Windows PDA that has a GPS receiver. This means that if you can run additional apps on the same unit. I use an app on mine that logs the position, so I can use it on battery and take it with me when walking, and I have some software that will tie up the timestamp on the GPS log with the EXIF on photos and geotag them.
somabc Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 TomTom will definitely do the job. Just make sure to take a backup of the internal memory before making any changes / installing software
triggmiester Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 My vote goes for the Garmi Nuvi 250, I paid £79.99 from amazon at christmas and it has full european mapping :-) (that's £100 off!) I have used tomtom and this is far superior. Neat little size. From what I have read on the tomtom traffic system, it's pants. IMHO with tomtom you are paying for the name. Garmin is no-nonsense.
jamin100 Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 Buy a phone with built in GPS and put tomtom on that . . Then you have everything you could ever need in 1 device.
WStore_Dan Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 My vote goes for the Garmi Nuvi 250, My girlfriend has this and it's a great little unit. Has full european maps and traffic camera details etc. Support is pretty good too. Where she kept putting it in and out of her handbag with the cable still connected, she somehow managed to break the little firewire input on the back. It was loose and probably come away from the internal circuit board. I emailed Garmin and told them the problem and the serial number. I forgot where I bought it from so couldnt provide an invoice like they requested but they were still happy to help. Sent it back to them on a Saturday and by the following Thursday, they had sent us a Nuvi 250W which is the latest widescreen version. Cant say fairer than that
SteveBentley Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 My vote goes for the Garmi Nuvi 250, I paid £79.99 from amazon at christmas and it has full european mapping :-) (that's £100 off!) I have used tomtom and this is far superior. Neat little size. From what I have read on the tomtom traffic system, it's pants. IMHO with tomtom you are paying for the name. Garmin is no-nonsense. I used to have the Garmin i3, I found it told you what you were doing far too late for you to be able to do it (if that makes any sense!) so you'd nearly have stopped at a roundabout before you knew which way you were going, and inevitably you'd be in the wrong lane. Have they improved that in recent models?
john Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 TomTom, I've got it on my ye-olde XDA but currently using someones all in one unit (cannot remember the model as its in the house) but that is really nice and much quicker to re-route than my XDA version. Sorely tempted to get one myself.
plexer Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 I used a tom tom one xl recently and thought it's navigation was pants. Also recently tried to update it as they now say every unit gets a one time free update and it still told me it had expired. Ben
yabbadabba Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 I have used TomTom lots as I used to work as a travelling techie and well impressed with it. So far I have had TomTom on a PDA with a seperate GPS unit, worked fine with the additional extra the PDA was also a backup phone if needed.. Had a dedicated TomTom unit and was impressed with that but it annoyed me having a separate device. Now I have TomTom on my mobile phone, screen is a little small but its a good compromise.
laserblazer Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 I have a Garmin Nuvi 250 which I picked because it was best for European maps in my budget. I do a lot of swimming events and it's brilliant for finding the pools and takes all the stress out. I'm normally a really nervous before a comp. as it is so appreciate one less thing to worry about.
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