sat nav

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Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 10:00 am

ok guys, what satnav you`s got, any poor / good experiences....

i`m about to invest in one. but dont want a herring.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 10:40 am

I've got a Garmin Nüvi 250 Wide and I'm very happy with it. It was fairly cheap as well, I paid £139 at Halford's. I've heard that the Germin Nüvi 700-series is very nice as well as it has the real time traffic warnings and stuff.

I've used it quite a lot and I've never been sent the wrong way or to a place that wasn't my actual destination. The only "problem" is that if you have say "Little Cottage" as destination in a small village and not a street name then you may have to settle for something near your actual destination. Another "problem" is that it sometimes sends you a shitty route just because it's shorter distance wise, this is easy to remedy though by adding "VIA". Other than that I'm extremely happy with my Garmin.

I've used TomTom too and nothing wrong with them. It doesn't seem to be possible to change languages easily on them or between miles and kilometers but the one I borrowed was a year old.

Go with one of the big names and you'll be fine. I looked at Garmin, Navigon and TomTom but settled for the Garmin as I'd heard most good things about it.

Happy satnav shopping!

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 11:19 am

CoPilot on my HTC PDA, never had any trouble with it.

*** BANNED *** Joined: 02 Jan 2006 Posts: 2021

NAVMAN 2, Cheap and cheerful but works well.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 12:10 pm

i`ve looked at the tomtom and garmin range. the spotty teenager in halfords recomended `any` and said tom toms had some issues. (i think he was too young to drive... Rolling Eyes

)
i think the garmin is slightly better value for money.

drew,

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 1:06 pm

I've got a Garmin Nuvi 660 with Bluetooth, and it's great. This is about my sixth Garmin, and each one is better. The cell phone works through it hands-free, no need to touch a thing when receiving a call. Imports your phone book when you marry the phone to it. Very easy to find any addreess. And you can choose your audio turns direction voice - I've picked Karen, the Aussie female. The 4.3 inch touch screen is very easy to see. You can move it from car to car, and even walk about with it. Plays music and audio books using an SD card. They've been on sale lately, very inexpensive.

Go online and look at reviews. I think you'll find the Garmin lacks some of the problems of the others. JMHO.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 1:13 pm

My office has a couple of TomToms which we can use for work, and a friend has a Garmin. I have always found the TomTom easy with very few glitches whilst I have been navigating around the UK. However, having recently seen the Garmin in use, it appears to be even more user-friendly. I'd be happy with either if I were buying one for myself. Smile

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 1:18 pm

I had a tomtom for about 2 week then I tryed the garmin. there both good but I liked the garmin more. more user friendly. easyer to update.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 1:55 pm

Becker Travel Assist Highspeed.
80 Euro incl V.A.T.
Needs a software update. Inspite of that it' working fine for me.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 2:40 pm

cheers guys, i`d rather be recomended a system than advised by the shop. just because your likley to get better honest reviews. i`ve also asked around the "place of work".

i`ll be lent one for a day to try out! it just so happens its a garmin branded, i`ve already seen a tomtom in action.

oh well happy navigating.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 3:34 pm

I've had my Tomtom for a year now. The biggest problem is it trying to lead you down tiny little roads that it sees as the quickest route. You quickly learn to avoid going down any dodgy looking roads, and usually once it's recalculated it may only add a minute or two to your journey by going a different way. Other than that I find it an absolute gem of a system.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 3:59 pm

I have had experience with both Tomtom and Garmin. I think both are very good systems, but would give a slight edge to Garmin.

Bruin

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 4:26 pm

Garmin & Co-Pilot on a PDA. Personally, I prefer Co-Pilot.

I've got very mixed feelings about these things - last year we went to my brother in law's in Scotland. On the way up we used the GPS - insisted on taking us through the centre of Carlisle & then along a 'B' road which, whilst extremely scenic, was only wide enough for 1 vehicle. I reckon that some of the articulated lorries coming the other way were using the same systems Shocked

. Once we got a few miles away from destination, it was invaluable for getting to his front door. On the way back, I got hold of a road map, found an 'A' road which took us right to the M6 & straight home.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 4:28 pm

Stupid question, but, is a sat nav the same as a gps?

Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 12:11 am

I use a Mapsco or regular road map. Tis old fashioned and like the adventure of getting lost and finding my way out.

Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 1:26 am

^^^ No stupid questions vaultdweller; satnav is GPS.

I've used tomtom, navteq, Streets & Trips (YECH!), and IGO, I think I tried a few others too courtesy of P2P and found tomtom to be far better than anything else.

My wife, six year old son and I were driving to Palm Beach this winter and in the middle of nowhere she decided that she HAD TO HAVE Italian food NOW. TT gave us a few options with a short distance. We were able to meander off the suncoast highway, get dinner and get back on our trip with no problems.

Navteq was hard pressed to find a Publix in Florida on the other hand.

They are all a little different so try out a few and see if there is one with an easy interface that you like.

Also if there is a Demo unit in the store see what it finds in your area. Again TomTom was able to fine me an organic farmers market within a few miles of where I was staying. So along with the easy interface I found that the database was very impressive.

Also if you have a PDA there are a lot of kits to set it up as an in car GPS. You might want to look into one.

Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 1:35 am

vaultdweller wrote:

Stupid question, but, is a sat nav the same as a gps?

Yes and no.

The nav unit software uses GPS to plot a course. I have never lost a nav unit satellite signal, unlike regular GPS.

I use it in my "articulated lorrie", or 18 wheeler (I think that is what is meant...). I cannot depend on it for routing, but when I get close, it takes me right to where I want to go. Reading street signs at o'dark 30 is a pain in the arse (another British term), and the sat unit makes life easier since making a u-turn can be illegal, dangerous, or impossible for miles if I miss my street.

Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 1:47 am

^^^ Kent, not to nit pick but I thought sat nav was GPS? Is there a difference? I'm assuming that you aren't referring to Galileo?

BTW: While Googling SAT NAV I found this site. Looks very handy.

http://www.nearby.org.uk/coord-entry.html

Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 5:40 am

I've had 6 now. Two factory installed units. The built in ones are the best as they don't even require Sat coverage, they work on inertia guidance until they can acquire three satellites for triangulation. Go in a tunnel or in a parking structure and they keep working. The Lexus/Toyota unit will not let you play with it if you are moving. I guess that's safer. A larger screen will also let you do two screens. One to give you the overview and one for block by block navigation. Update for the units are on DVDs and are almost as much as a good new GPS unit. I had an receiver that connected to a laptop or tab computer. Don't get one of those. I use a Lowrance for biking and put it in a supplied waterproof bag for canoing. The best of the portable units is the Nuvi series. The only question is how much you want to spend.

Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 12:36 pm

@ Stoker

It was nitpicking, on my part, not yours.

A regular GPS will give you location, and maybe a direct line to your destination, if you program it to do this.

The sat unit software uses GPS satellites and roads included in the software as waypoints to automatically direct you to your destination.

Its a great tool, if you do a lot of driving and you dont know where you are going. In my opinion, I wouldn't bother with one if I drive the same places over and over.