TomTom GPS..

[RabbieBurns]

Know nothing about them, but had one in the hire car in the US last week and it was awesome. Obvioulsy buying it here it will have AU maps, so it will need to be able to work in the UK (europe too?)

 

Which model should I get?

[LeMarchand]

Don't know, but my Dad recently donated me an old one. Don't need to use it often, but was very impressed by its ability to recalculated the route if you can't take a turn.

 

You should get an Official Star Wars Voice though. Or, if you're as cheapskate, Google for "free Tom Tom Voices" to find other (not as well done) voices.

[TechSupp]

Took our own to Florida on holiday (too costly to hire, I'm a cheapskate) earlier this year and it was brilliant. Could not have done it without, take a wrong turning, no probloem, let me re-direct you! Ours is a Tom Tom One bought in the UK with UK maps and just bought and downloaded the Florida maps to it.

[RabbieBurns]

is the Tom Tom One decent? I quite fanceid the Kit from Knightrider voice if its available.. The thing i liked about the TomTom compared to the Garmin my sister has is that it gives you at least 2 miles warning.. the Garmin seems to wait till its right on you

[TechSupp]

Not really had too much problem with it, been OK so far. When I was looking for one, it was the one most suggested, but that was 18 months ago and things may have changed since then, but as far as I'm concerned and the amount we use it its OK. It did have a mad session once though, going down to cornwall, it got fed up and decided that instead of going along the motorway we were in fact in the middle of the field at the side and kept trying to redirect us back around to join the motorway we were actually already on! A quick reset and all was well again...Just don't think Bruce liked the easrly morning! Yes we do call it Bruce, we use the Australian voice and its like the voice of the gods suddenly booming out i.e. Bruce Almighty. People did wonder when we said we were taking Bruce with us to Florida!

[featured_spectre]

I too would get the Tom Tom One. Very good, I also have ALL maps available that I require as I downloaded them as part of my purchase, and by all maps, I mean in terms of Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Canada and the US, and Australia and New Zealand

[RabbieBurns]

can the One hold all the maps at once? what is the memory of the thing?

[round2it]

Mine has a SD card for the maps

so if you get one big enough yes

[featured_spectre]

as above...mine is all on a 32GB SD card

[TechSupp]

Just make sure before you buy as not all have facility for an SD card. Mine does not but has room on internal memory for Florida and UK at same time, enough for me.

[elsiegee40]

We have a TomTom Go 920 with Western Europe and US maps on it... this model has been superceded now.

 

You can expand the storage available for Maps by using an SD card - have just updated the western Europe one, that was 2.2GB in size and gives you an idea of how much space you need for each extra map!

 

We love it - definitely wouldn't be without it.

 

FWIW the Which? Best Buys are: Garmin Nuvi and TomTom (various models) - top 2 were Garmin Nuvi 1490T an TomTom Go 930 Traffic

[SteveBentley]

If you've got a Nokia or Android phone with GPS you can get either OVI Maps (Nokia) or the sat-nav version of Google Maps (Android) for free.

[TechSupp]

But would that incur roaming costs using an android phone abroad? That could be more expensive that renting a sat nav instaed.

[SteveBentley]

Certainly on my nokia you can download the relevant maps to it (free from their site) in advance and use it in offline mode.

[Hightower]

I used 'Navigation' on my droid for the first time over the weekend, and I have to say it is fantastic! I absolutely love it! It even speaks the street names and everything (as best as it can, but really really good!).

[RabbieBurns]

I installed Ovi Maps to my nokia (5mb) and it seems to use a data connection every time I enable it. I only get 500mb a month so not ideal. How do you download the maps and use it in offline mode?

 

also, I can imagine using a nokia phone is OK for walking etc, but I wuoldnt want to try to follow it in a car, the screen is tiny..

[SteveBentley]

Also within Ovi Maps, go into the settings (the spanner icon) > Internet and in the Connection item you can set it to offline.

 

Get a car charger for it though - the GPS isn't very battery friendly.

[rf600]

I didnt think you could use tomtom in the USA as i thought they used different satellites, or is it only the basic one that wont work?

the reason im asking is im off out there in two weeks and have a basic tomtom so if i can just download the maps and use it that would save me some money.

 

J

[RabbieBurns]

as far as im aware the only satellites used for gps are USA owned. The europeans are in the process of deploying their own satellites though so they are not dependant on the USA satellites, which the USA could switch of at any time if they wanted*

 

As far as your basic tomotom, no idea. The tomtom I had in the USA worked a treat.

 

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_%28satellite_navigation%29

Edited July 20, 2010 by RabbieBurns
added more info

[rf600]

thats cool,

think i'll have to look when i get home

[creese]

TomTom uses the same set of satellites worldwide. I used mine in S Africa with no problems, other than balancing it on the dash as i had forgotten my sucker.