Satnav recommendations for parents..

[Sirbendy]

My mother has borrowed my aged but reliable Garmin i2 satnav unit, and loves it..so I'd like to get her one herself.

 

However, I need recommendations.

 

Requirements:

Largeish screen (easy to see whilst moving)

Loud volume (hearing not so good in denial, heh)

Accurate

Easy to use and enter data into

Preferably lane assist or similar to reduce confusion.

 

Anyone got any suggestions? As I say, I love my tiny Garmin, but I do appreciate it's old, small screen, scrollwheel entry etc..sometimes it's said "turn left" and she's taken it literally and ended up in a driveway..heh.

[nikaso]

The newer Garmin Nuvi widescreen models are good, big screen and clear, I don't think you are ever going to get round the problem of glitches in navigation because the map data will always be wrong somewhere, I remember taking a TomTom to Spain a few years ago and it tried to send me down one way streets (the wrong way) and once it tried to make me join one of the Autovias (motorways) by driving up the off ramp!

 

I just sold a Nuvi 255W which was good but didn't have the lane assist, if I was buying another I would use the Nuvi 1690 but I decided for me personally Google Maps on my droid was good enough.

[creese]

My TomTom, not new, has MapShare, so is updated with new roads and new layouts regularly. It also flashes up graphics of the junctions to indicate the correct lane on motorways. It doesn't flash up SteetView like my Android though.

[Dom_]

I have an old tomtom go 500 which is still going strong, but I tend to use my desire navigation as its much quicker..

 

Saw an advert for the new TomTom HD, which looks very fancy. I'm not sure how it works, but it claims to show traffic in real time, and automatically divert you if there's a quicker route than sitting in the traffic.

 

TomTom, portable GPS car navigation systems - looks pretty neat!

[MK-2]

i have a tomtom which has a nice large screen, volume is quite loud (and if you mess about with low volume mp3s it can stream to the car radio any instructions), has lane assist, gives directions ahead (such as turn left, then take the third exit on the roundabout) so you dont reach a roundabout wondering what to do.

hasn't given any probs, and like mentioned above, mapshare and corrections make it good for updates

[Norphy]

I have an old tomtom go 500 which is still going strong, but I tend to use my desire navigation as its much quicker..

 

Saw an advert for the new TomTom HD, which looks very fancy. I'm not sure how it works, but it claims to show traffic in real time, and automatically divert you if there's a quicker route than sitting in the traffic.

 

TomTom, portable GPS car navigation systems - looks pretty neat!

 

My version of TomTom on my iPhone has TomTom HD. There's no magic to it, it merely connects to TomTom's servers over the internet and downloads the latest traffic information from their servers. It works quite well for motorways etc but I've found that in London it's not always particularly accurate as it only covers the larger roads. It takes you down smaller roads which it thinks are clear but aren't because they're not in traffic database.

 

On a standalone unit, you'd need to have a mobile phone with a bluetooth connection and a data plan. The amount of data that it uses is pretty small though, I'm barely using 50MB/month on my iPhone at the mo and I'm using the SatNav most weekends.

[TechMonkey]

I would recommend TomTom. They just seem to have a clearer UI for people to use. Even my Dad who can get confused with a kettle manages to use it and I trust my Mum to set it up if she is passenger with me. I haven't tried any others though so no reference point. I have one of the original TomTom units that has just lasted and I've given it a few upgrades now and then.

 

The HD's do look lovely though, they use a radio system to send traffic, I think something like the RDS system car radio units use. I used to love when my old phone was able to hook up to my TomTom and get the traffic. Diversions were always good and timely so I can only guess how good they are now!