Best Sat Nav System

Mason Storm · January 27, 2007, 22:08

I know this is down to personnal choice but I just wondered if there was one system that gets good reviews from most people?

I'm looking to buy a sat nav with traffic and the Garmin Nuvi 300T seems a good price but is it actually any good? Would I be beter off with a Tom Tom?

I've read a few reviews of Garmin Nuvi vs Tom Tom machines and can't seem to find a definative winner.

Anonymous · January 27, 2007, 22:10

Ditto! i would like to know this aswell! i was just about to post similar topic!

good question s8)

s8)

Anonymous · January 27, 2007, 22:10

Never used anything other than the TomTom systems, and tbh I don't think I ever will. It's better than I could possibly have imagined, hence why I ended up buying two.

Go into Halfrauds and have a play with them both, see with one's better for you.

heathstimpson · January 27, 2007, 22:32

I use a Navman N20 and have been very pleased so far.

proeliator2001 · January 27, 2007, 22:35

The navman has got good reviews. I'm used to TTN5 and its little quirks so am happy with that - if you have no preference the navman may be a little cheaper so is a good bet.

heathstimpson · January 27, 2007, 22:43

Quote from: "proeliator2001"The navman has got good reviews. I'm used to TTN5 and its little quirks so am happy with that - if you have no preference the navman may be a little cheaper so is a good bet.

Costco were doing a special so got it for just under £150; a bargain s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

loadswine · January 27, 2007, 23:05

I've used a Tomtom one for about 9 months and its brilliant and so easy to use. If I'm going anywhere where I don't know the locations of the speed cameras, its invaluable. Monthly updates keep it accurate. Its been the best car add on I've bought.

darrenjuggins · January 27, 2007, 23:14

Hi,

To add to the debate and hopefully help you decide....

i've had a TTG700 and have found it invaluable, the Speed Camera update from Pocket GPS World for only £19 a year is a steal and they are constantly upgrading the units, so my unit still has up to date software, the same as the later X10 units (510, 710 and 910)... You not only get the sat nav, but Bluetooth connectivity....

The prices of all have plummited, I paid over £600 at launch of the TTG700, but I know you can get the 910, which now comes with a 20GB HD, maps of the WORLD! and TMC (ariel required) for about £300-£400.

I played with a Snooper Indago last night, which on thier web site slag off other machines, such as TT and Garmin, but I've got to say apart from the build quality of the unit which was very nice, for £400 and £99 for the camera subscription, I think they are blowing in the wind!!!

Options, you may want to look out for are the reroute due to Road Block and also the ability to delete parts of your route, this was SO important last week with the storms, else the satnav just gets you back to the same route ASAP, with these options, you can avoid that happening....

I'm well please with my TT and would really struggle to find anything close.... but with the TT One now down as low as £160 for the Euopean version, you really can't got far wrong....

PS - I downloaded the america map for mine when I went to the states, it was invaluable....

Happy shopping..

Cheers

Darren J

rtbiscuit · January 27, 2007, 23:35

i use TTN6

just updated from 5, nice iprovemnts,

only down side is i cant work out how to rotate the screen.

but it has some other goodies insread.

me likey long time! s:D

s:D

Anonymous · January 28, 2007, 11:07

Hi,

I Profess to be an expert on this subject have had 5 different tomtoms, maybe I am addicted.

Since the maps have now been cracked, I think it is best that you buy the TomTom One for £168 from dixons, the maps are uk and ireland, but I have most of the world on maps, and send anybody them if you cross my palm with silver.

As for the speed cams, nobody pays for them either, you can get them free

m http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/editori ... ppc_tomtom m

celmacmat · January 28, 2007, 15:17

I have the Nuvi 350 Euro (map for Europe) and it is really good IMO.

Plenty of downloadable extras that you can add as well.

normanh · January 29, 2007, 17:17

I have a Medion PNA 500T ( I think) with european maps its fine has its funny turns on occasions but it beats the wifes map reading everytime. Seems to be best in France or Belgium rather than the UK. All in all worth the money I paid.

normanh

Mason Storm · January 29, 2007, 20:00

the main reason why the Garmin Nuvi 300T sounds appealing is beacause it includes lifetime traffic which is a must in any unit I get. Do Tom Tom offer this option at a similar price? (£230)

Also the 300T includes an MP3 player.

Chris · January 30, 2007, 14:22

blimey, just checked the prices on that dixons link and can't believe how cheap the new TTGs are!! I seem to remember paying about 400 quid for my 700 about a year ago!

Mason Storm · February 1, 2007, 20:39

Has anyone used a Tom Tom with Traffic like the TT Go 510? I'm interested but I've heard a few people moaning that the traffic function doesn't work properly.

Anonymous · February 2, 2007, 10:05

I have used TomTom Go for a couple of years now and its very good, unless you are going to a big country hotel in the middle of a golf course or an airport.

I recently sold my 2 year old TomTom Go Classic for £180 and bought a brand new TomTom One for £185 from Toyota LOL! Same device only smaller and it has Bluetooth for the Traffic Updates. I tried the updates once, but you have to believe what its telling you. I was told on my 20 mile stretch home that there was a 40 min delay, so I decided to go with the re-route, only it took me an extra 1 hour to get home via back roads, so I should have stayed on the M1.

I have also recently upgraded my mobile phone to an O2 XDA Orbit which has SatNav built in. It comes with CoPilot Live, which IMHO is not as easy or as quick as TomTom, and I will be changing it to TomTom shortly.

With regards to the SpeedCameras database from PocketGPS, they are very good, however I am in a syndicate and we pay the £19 between 6 of us so its even cheaper s:)

s:)

darrenjuggins · February 2, 2007, 11:02

Craig - Slap your wrist! you should be paying for your own up date!!! not spitting it between 6 of you!!!

I get mine free as I contributed to the Database, but won't share the download with friends, as they get too much of me at my expence already!

Grumble over......

Darren J

Mason Storm · February 2, 2007, 20:49

Quote from: "cstevens"I have used TomTom Go for a couple of years now and its very good, unless you are going to a big country hotel in the middle of a golf course or an airport.

I recently sold my 2 year old TomTom Go Classic for £180 and bought a brand new TomTom One for £185 from Toyota LOL! Same device only smaller and it has Bluetooth for the Traffic Updates. I tried the updates once, but you have to believe what its telling you. I was told on my 20 mile stretch home that there was a 40 min delay, so I decided to go with the re-route, only it took me an extra 1 hour to get home via back roads, so I should have stayed on the M1.

I have also recently upgraded my mobile phone to an O2 XDA Orbit which has SatNav built in. It comes with CoPilot Live, which IMHO is not as easy or as quick as TomTom, and I will be changing it to TomTom shortly.

With regards to the SpeedCameras database from PocketGPS, they are very good, however I am in a syndicate and we pay the £19 between 6 of us so its even cheaper s:) s:)

Interesting to hear you only paid £180 for a new TT Go, you say you tried the traffic updates once, I guess there was an extra charge for it, while the unit I was looking at included a lifetime traffic service.

Anonymous · February 2, 2007, 20:56

Quote from: "Mason Storm"
Quote from: "cstevens"I have used TomTom Go for a couple of years now and its very good, unless you are going to a big country hotel in the middle of a golf course or an airport.

I recently sold my 2 year old TomTom Go Classic for £180 and bought a brand new TomTom One for £185 from Toyota LOL! Same device only smaller and it has Bluetooth for the Traffic Updates. I tried the updates once, but you have to believe what its telling you. I was told on my 20 mile stretch home that there was a 40 min delay, so I decided to go with the re-route, only it took me an extra 1 hour to get home via back roads, so I should have stayed on the M1.

I have also recently upgraded my mobile phone to an O2 XDA Orbit which has SatNav built in. It comes with CoPilot Live, which IMHO is not as easy or as quick as TomTom, and I will be changing it to TomTom shortly.

With regards to the SpeedCameras database from PocketGPS, they are very good, however I am in a syndicate and we pay the £19 between 6 of us so its even cheaper s:) s:)

Interesting to hear you only paid £180 for a new TT Go, you say you tried the traffic updates once, I guess there was an extra charge for it, while the unit I was looking at included a lifetime traffic service.

Yep on ebay there is a seller who I since found out is Mr T in Sheffield. Selling them for £180 each (I think it was £190 with shipping). Cant believe I basically did a swap for an old one LOL).

As for the traffic, you simply set up your phone and the Tomtom via Bluetooth and it uses GPRS to download a set number of times that you choose. If your on pay as you go its normally about £3 a mb I think, and the updates are only a few K. I get 3Mb free on my contract so free.

Anonymous · February 2, 2007, 21:01

Quote from: "darrenjuggins"Craig - Slap your wrist! you should be paying for your own up date!!! not spitting it between 6 of you!!!

I get mine free as I contributed to the Database, but won't share the download with friends, as they get too much of me at my expence already!
Darren J

Nope, I am one of the thousands of people who where thoroughly p**** off that their database which was always free was compiled 100% by members of the public (myself included) and then they choose to charge for "their" database.

The database would not be in existance if it wasnt for the public and it was always a public domain database, and I am disgusted that they suddenly decided to charge for MY data!.

If there wasnt a legal loophole then I would publish the damm database on my own site and make it free!

End of my rant s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:

mg · February 2, 2007, 21:20

If you want a free database thats pretty accurate (I saw no major differences in the PocketGPS POI's), you can try

Cheetah's Trinity™ database

works for me (and at the right price)

EDIT - Should have said this is for TomTom - don't know if it works for others.

Anonymous · February 3, 2007, 08:07

Quote from: "cstevens"The database would not be in existance if it wasnt for the public and it was always a public domain database, and I am disgusted that they suddenly decided to charge for MY data!.

Which was a fair enough attitude when they were going to charge the people that had contributed, but it can't really be justified since they decided to give free for life subscriptions to the contributors.

Even before they decided to give me a free subscription for MY data I was of the opinion that the charge wasn't unjustified given the effort and expense involved in creating, confirming, updating and distributing the database.

If any of that data had been YOUR data then you'd be getting it free.

Mason Storm · February 4, 2007, 10:37

Quote from: "mg"If you want a free database thats pretty accurate (I saw no major differences in the PocketGPS POI's), you can try

Cheetah's Trinity™ database

works for me (and at the right price)

EDIT - Should have said this is for TomTom - don't know if it works for others.

I guess this only works with a Palm with Tom Tom, is there any way of getting updates free for a Tom Tom unit? Or alternatively manually adding your own speed camera locations?

mg · February 4, 2007, 12:18

Quote from: "Mason Storm"I guess this only works with a Palm with Tom Tom, is there any way of getting updates free for a Tom Tom unit? Or alternatively manually adding your own speed camera locations?

Incorrect.

I have a TomTom Classic and it works for me. You just need to copy the .ov2 and .bmp files to the unit via USB cable (can't remember which sub-folder - check the site for details). I copied both fixed and mobile UK ov2 files but use a custom bmp file for display (didn't like the ones from the site). This 'manual' method used to be the only way to get POI's.

Once you add the ov2 files, fire up the TomTom and set the POI to fire off at whatever distance you want. Note: bmp files have to be named the same as the ov2 to get picked up and used.

Mason Storm · February 4, 2007, 13:20

Quote from: "mg"
Quote from: "Mason Storm"I guess this only works with a Palm with Tom Tom, is there any way of getting updates free for a Tom Tom unit? Or alternatively manually adding your own speed camera locations?

Incorrect.

I have a TomTom Classic and it works for me. You just need to copy the .ov2 and .bmp files to the unit via USB cable (can't remember which sub-folder - check the site for details). I copied both fixed and mobile UK ov2 files but use a custom bmp file for display (didn't like the ones from the site). This 'manual' method used to be the only way to get POI's.

Once you add the ov2 files, fire up the TomTom and set the POI to fire off at whatever distance you want. Note: bmp files have to be named the same as the ov2 to get picked up and used.

Cheers, I managed to transfer the file to my Tom Tom but as I have only just purchased it I'm not sure how you set POI to fire off? Do the speedcheetah speed camera icons show up in the same way as those already loaded on my Tom Tom?