Another suggestion is to get a Garmin StreetPilot Atlantic from Tottenham Court Road. Expect to pay £420 inc power lead if you negotiate at bit. You'll need the map software and a memory card, which will take the total to about £540, but that's still a lot less than any of the dash-mount systems, last I looked.

The routing is only semi-automatic, which suits me just fine as I like to choose which roads I want to drive along. The GPS then just makes sure I don't stray off them. Alex loves it, as she doesn't suffer navigation stress any more If you want full auto-routing, then that requires a laptop.

Apart from that, it's all positives. You can take it between cars, or even use it as an A-to-Z if you're walking around an unfamiliar area. Of course, as you can remove it from the car, the theft aspect is less of a worry, too.

One caveat though - the software CD for detailed coverage of the UK isn't out yet (due imminently) but the built-in base map still contains pretty much all A-roads and a fair few B-roads too.

-= mike =-

 

Hi William,

Check out this website, my brother has done a review on the Alpine system.

 

Has anyone out there any good or bad experiences of the miriad of systems out there. I am particulary interested in the Philips Carin 522. How accurate are they and how easy are they to use?

 

I hope I can help, but I'm from the USA.

I have a Delorme GPS, it works with my laptop