Block 18 Posted 18 August, 2009 Posted 18 August, 2009 Finally decided to go for one after giving up trying to get the wife to map read. Looking for a decent one preferably with blue tooth. I have looked at countless sights and models and decided that a recommendation was the best option. Willing to pay up to about the £130 mark but any cheaper would be good. Let me know your good or bad experiences please.
Saint Keith Posted 18 August, 2009 Posted 18 August, 2009 i had a garmin in a hire car last week, was really really good. much better than what i get built into my car!
OldNick Posted 18 August, 2009 Posted 18 August, 2009 I have had 2 occasions to be not happy with TomTom customer services. They are doing a promotion where you get 20 or 30 cashback. My wife bought a TomTom 1 at Halfords on this offer.We then went on line to get the money refunded, after filling out the form it was then made a requirement to print the form off.Considering we dont have a printer connected to our laptop it was a massive inconvienience. If you dont have a computer you cant even get the form! I get annoyed filing out these forms anyway.So I sent an e-mail to customer services telling them I was unhappy, and the replyt back was from Niels at customer services saying read the terms and conditions on our website and it says you have to print it off. That was enough but then he put if you havent got a printer go to an internet cafe and do it.No sorry for your inconvienience or we'll put a form in the post. We have 2 tomtom products both are good but i will try Garmin next time.
Block 18 Posted 18 August, 2009 Author Posted 18 August, 2009 Hmm looking like a Garmin at the moment. Thanks for your input fellas
Guest Dark Sotonic Mills Posted 18 August, 2009 Posted 18 August, 2009 I looked long and hard about the very same issue. I finally settled on a Garmin Nuvi 265WT, cost about £135 if you look hard enough. Excellent reviews and free traffic info for life, plus free map upgrade. (Mine already came with 2010 software) It covers all of UK and Europe, including places like Serbia and Bulgaria.
Hatch Posted 18 August, 2009 Posted 18 August, 2009 I still don't understand the need for Sat Navs. (unless you drive for a living, 100% of the time)
Weston Saint Posted 18 August, 2009 Posted 18 August, 2009 Story about a Sat Nav. Last week we went by minibus to Basingstoke for Hants v Yorkshire. Off Junction 6 as indicated then 1st exit at roundabout fine and then first exit at next but our driver missed it and so went off at the second. No problem TomTom imediately recalculated. Next left took us down a one way slip road. Turn right......low bridge and we were too high. Left was 1 way and against us. So we slowly turned left only to arrive at another low bridge again we were too high! Cyclist came along frantically waving we were going the wrong way. We turned and he showed us a way over a pavement squeezing between bollards to make our embarrasing escape. TomTom rerouted again and we reached our destination without further problems! I have my own TomTom and find it great. Heard good reports about the Garmin as well. Just bought a new car with a Radio Navigation System Columbus fitted. Cost is £1500 plus vat!!!
Ponty Posted 18 August, 2009 Posted 18 August, 2009 You'd think a Tom Tom would at least know the height of your vehicle FFS.
JonnyLove Posted 18 August, 2009 Posted 18 August, 2009 Using my iPhone just purchased Co-Pilot £25.99 Have to say very comprehensive Sat Nav for the Money took about 5 minutes to get used to the new menu (used to using Tom Tom) Took it for a quick test run and can't falter it at the moment. So if you have an iPhone and looking at getting Tom Tom I have to say Co-Pilot is work a look at first for the money (Tom Tom is £59.99)
Guest Dark Sotonic Mills Posted 18 August, 2009 Posted 18 August, 2009 Using my iPhone just purchased Co-Pilot £25.99 Have to say very comprehensive Sat Nav for the Money took about 5 minutes to get used to the new menu (used to using Tom Tom) Took it for a quick test run and can't falter it at the moment. So if you have an iPhone and looking at getting Tom Tom I have to say Co-Pilot is work a look at first for the money (Tom Tom is £59.99) I have Co-Pilot on my HTC Touch Cruise. It has a very good and thorough mapping system, including Eastern Europe, but phone screens by nature are small, the speaker is very quiet and the satellite updating is slow IMO.
JonnyLove Posted 18 August, 2009 Posted 18 August, 2009 I have Co-Pilot on my HTC Touch Cruise. It has a very good and thorough mapping system, including Eastern Europe, but phone screens by nature are small, the speaker is very quiet and the satellite updating is slow IMO. Can't say I have those issues with my iPhone GPS picked me up within 30 seconds (much faster than my stand alone Tom Tom unit). Screen seems good enough and the speaker is fine but then I have always kept the sound down on purpose as I just look at the screen for direction pointers more than listening to the sound. (Helps me remember routes)
St Landrew Posted 19 August, 2009 Posted 19 August, 2009 A friend of mine asked my advice recently about a new Sat-Nav, knowing my experience with IT. It makes me laugh that I should instantly know about GPS technology too, but there you go. I know a few Sat-Navs I might actually consider for my own use, but as I don't have a proper use for one, and prefer to use a bit of common sense, signposts, my nose, the Sun, and Google to get around anyway, I've steered clear of them generally. So when I recommended a Navman from Halfords, with a normal store price of £199 at the shop, but online at £99, you can imagine he took my word for it. Apparently, it's sh!t-hot too, so there's my recommendation. The feature that all the top ones have that the cheap ones don't, is a sophisticated form of lane assistance. If you find a cheapie with this, that's probably the one to go for, given all the other necessary and some other unnecessary features. I know someone who swears by Becker GPS as the bees-knees. Trouble is, they're expensive, and buying something that is the most expensive is hardly ever the cleverest thing to do.
hamster Posted 19 August, 2009 Posted 19 August, 2009 I looked long and hard about the very same issue. I finally settled on a Garmin Nuvi 265WT, cost about £135 if you look hard enough. Excellent reviews and free traffic info for life, plus free map upgrade. (Mine already came with 2010 software) It covers all of UK and Europe, including places like Serbia and Bulgaria. I have to ask DSM, how much would that Satnav on your sub be worth at Bursledon boot sale? They must be bloody good, wouldn't want to drive one of those buggers into a farmesr field. which is what I nealy did using a bloody SatNav. I hate the blooody things. Get a map ffs.
Block 18 Posted 19 August, 2009 Author Posted 19 August, 2009 Hampster I totally agree with the map and a print out from Google. But after the last weekend with the wife trying to navigate while I drive was the final straw, three arguments on one short trip just aint worth the hassle. Final words from her get a bloody sat nav.
View From The Top Posted 19 August, 2009 Posted 19 August, 2009 I'm currently in very rural Northern France and I've borrowed my father-in-laws (Garmin 200) sat' nav' and it's been a godsend. Never used one before but will be getting one on my return to the UK.
angelman Posted 19 August, 2009 Posted 19 August, 2009 TomTom is the easy to use. Bought the wife a NavMan once and that broke fairly quickly and it was no way as intuitive as TT. I got her TT1 and even she can use it (so it must be easy!!!!). I had a TT Go 910 but that broke. I think that they did go through a patch of dodgy products. Just bought a European version of TT1 IQ for £160. If you don't need Europe (but is very useful on holiday) I think that it is £30-40 cheaper. It depends what else you want your SatNAv to do. If you just want for directions then that's fine. TT1 doesn't do telephone calls but even when my TT910 did, I never used cos its a bit crap. I don't want an MP3 player. Text messages can wait so don't need those read to me when driving. Only thing the 910 had that I liked that I dont have now is a remote control but that's no great problem. Not tried Garmin but would suspect that TomTom is probably the market leader due to its simplicity.
Scummer Posted 19 August, 2009 Posted 19 August, 2009 I've got a cheap Navigo satnav from WHSmith, think it was about £45. The software that comes with it is rubbish, but it can be easily hacked to run TomTom and a few other sets of satnav software. There's a website where you can download all the software, including worldwide maps, speed camera data, etc.
Post-it note Posted 19 August, 2009 Posted 19 August, 2009 I've got a cheap Navigo satnav from WHSmith, think it was about £45. The software that comes with it is rubbish, but it can be easily hacked to run TomTom and a few other sets of satnav software. There's a website where you can download all the software, including worldwide maps, speed camera data, etc. I done the same, bought this one from ebuyer. Read the reviews for instructions for hacking it to run TomTom 7. http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146673 Works like a dream and about half the price of a tom tom.
Scummer Posted 19 August, 2009 Posted 19 August, 2009 Think that's the new version of the one I have. Don't think mine has bluetooth or fm transmitter. Looks the same though.
GenevaSaint Posted 19 August, 2009 Posted 19 August, 2009 Hmm looking like a Garmin at the moment. Thanks for your input fellas Got a Garmin Nuuvi for £170 from Halfords which included all European maps, one free update and TrafficMaster subscription for life (Very handy for avoiding traffic incidents). could have got something cheaper but the Traffic Master thing is a god send. IF there is an incident on the route an icon appears which you can touch and then recalculate to avoid. Forgot to add also has Bluetooth for handsfree with the mobile.
Handyman Posted 21 August, 2009 Posted 21 August, 2009 A friend of mine asked my advice recently about a new Sat-Nav, knowing my experience with IT. It makes me laugh that I should instantly know about GPS technology too, but there you go. I know a few Sat-Navs I might actually consider for my own use, but as I don't have a proper use for one, and prefer to use a bit of common sense, signposts, my nose, the Sun, and Google to get around anyway, I've steered clear of them generally. So when I recommended a Navman from Halfords, with a normal store price of £199 at the shop, but online at £99, you can imagine he took my word for it. Apparently, it's sh!t-hot too, so there's my recommendation. The feature that all the top ones have that the cheap ones don't, is a sophisticated form of lane assistance. If you find a cheapie with this, that's probably the one to go for, given all the other necessary and some other unnecessary features. I know someone who swears by Becker GPS as the bees-knees. Trouble is, they're expensive, and buying something that is the most expensive is hardly ever the cleverest thing to do. Becker satnav's have reduced in price along with all the others. Buying something that is expensive at the cheapest researched price is far better than buying cheap rubbish that either wears out quickly or doesn't do what you bought it for, properly, in the first place!
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