Taff107

As the old man is about to buy a Motorhome to travel about Europe, I thought it would be a good idea to get him some Satnav to put in it. I've had a quick search but I'm just getting myself confused! The PDA option seems handiest with its other functions but are they as good as dedicated items?
Can anyone recommend one bearing in mind that it must

(a) Be removable to be used in another vehicle
(b) Must have comprehensive European coverage
(c) Easy to use
(d) £600 or less
(e) have voice directions
(f) integrate neatly into the cab of a £50,000 vehicle!

OllyK

If it needs to be easily removable then the integrated option is a bit of a non starter.

I have a PDA with TomTom. Works very well except that the bluetooth GPS unit is somewhat un-reliable, so I'd go for the hardwire option, or get an alternative one, so buy the PDA, buy a GPS and then buy TomTom rather than looking to buy it all as a kit. If you have a RoadAngel or similar, you get a PDA cable that will supply the GPS info to a PDA or Laptop, be careful though as RoadAngel etc are illegal in France and no doubt in other countries as well.

I have no gripes about the PDA or the TomTom software, the display is clear and easy to follow and the voice instuctions are clearly audible.

Taff107

Thanks Olly, PDA does look favourite at the minute. How would you go about e mail/internet access whilst on the road with the PDA?

OllyK

Most PDA's are bluetooth compatible, if you have a Bluetooth phone then it's pretty straight forward. If not then you may need to get a modem card for the PDA and a cable to the mobile.

Jer

Buy an XDA II. You can get them for under £150 on a O2 200min contract. Then he can surf the web with the XDA or use it as a modem with his laptop.

Pheasant Plucker

Have a look on this site:

http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/

Used them in the past and they were very good. Allows you to compare loads of different ones.

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Look at http://www.navman-europe.com I have their iCN630 and I am impressed with it.

Chris L

I'm thinking about this aswell and I reckon the PDA option with Tom Tom or something similar will suit me. However, another one worth looking at is the new Tom Tom Go system. Have a look on their website for more info.

Chris

OllyK

TomTom Go is fine if you don't plan on using the PDA for anything else

Chris L

Tom Tom Go isn't a PDA - it's a purpose built GPS sat nav unit. To be fair, PDA functionality wasn't a requirement and the 'Go' would meet all of the points raised.

OllyK

Chris L - that's what I was getting at, if you don't plan to use the PDA for anything else then get TomTom Go, if you want the other facilities of a PDA then TomTom Go is not the weapon of choice

Taff107

I see the Tom Tom Go has the "....major roads of europe". Would that mean just motorways or A roads?


....jesus, just checked it's £800 quid too! You could get two PDA set ups for that!

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

go for the navman iCN630 or iCN620 both under 800 quid and good graphics and many options, the iCN630 can use postcodes to locate the address.

good maps of the whole of Europe