What SatNav
 

Has anyone out there in Scoobyland got or used SatNav as I'm thinking of getting it only problem is I'm not sure which way to go i.e a purpose made unit e.g Garmin 2610, Navman icn630 or the new Tom Tom unit or whether to go for a PDA with GPS fitted to that?

If anyone has used Satnav I'd really appreciate any info you could give like are they as good as I hope... or is it all hype?

i have a 2210 and tom tom 3 and a cf gps card (so i can walk round with it as well) and find it great.

Yeah, got an iPaq 2210 running TomTom3 (just upgraded from TT v2), but with the Bluetooth GPS receiver/cradle rather than the CF version...very good, best thing since sliced-bread, etc, etc...and v3 is certainly far more stable than v2. The only criticism I would level at it is that at the end of the day, it's still running MicroShaft OS underneath it...and as long as you make allowances for this, you'll be fine...eg, you have to switch off the Bluetooth radio after shutting down the TomTom app, otherwise, you'll go into the office, and it'll constantly "hunt" for the GPS receiver, requiring a soft-reset. If you like gadgets and don't mind/can use them, then fine...My Dad/Girlfriend/Brother/Mum (in no particular order!) would hate that.

I'm used to it now, so doesn't bother me, and love the dual/triple purpose use I get out of it also being a PDA and MP3 player (with 1GB cf card).

The only time it's let me down BIG TIME was in Birmingham a few months ago, and had to get across from one side to another for 2 back-to-back meetings, and the bl00dy thing hung, one of the last times I ran with Version 2....tried everything for 25 mins...no-go...reverted back to paper maps....next day got it going (still don't know how). Fingers crossed, it shouldn't do this again, cos I'm now on TT v3...

Certainly cheaper than buying a dedicated in-car OE unit, and still better value for money (IMHO) than the purpose built Garmin-a-likes (and smaller)...using a PDA screen is perfectly big enough, by the way.

HTH

Spen

Mate I went for tomtom2 on my xda2 with a bluetooth gps - it truely roocks!

Tomtom go (standalone unit running tomtom v3) is probably gonna be aquired by my dad, as he's very impressed with mine but is a lil long in the tooth to go learning pda systems... www.pcworld.co.uk are banging tomtom go out at £500 and theres an interest free option...

tomtom are the bizzo!!

I just bought one of the new Tomtom Go units, its absolutely ace, well worth the 445 I paid for it, my friend bought one at the same time, its totally portable and works a treat. Check it out www.tomtom.com

I have a Blaupunkt Travel Pilot E1 + 10 disc changer in my Forester. It is a simple but effective single DIN unit with monochrome display and voice instruction. Features dynamic route guidance using TMC, which takes you off the highway and leads you around traffic hotspots. No system crashes and no drama (so far).

Downside is the bulky head unit that you take with you when leaving the car...

Suresh

I'm using TomTom 3 on a Dell Axim X3. Works very well. Most impressed so far. Tom Tom Go is also very impressive. Sal's Dad has just got one of these - very smart unit - great sound and the added feature of an inbuilt battery, so you don't necessarily need to have cables trailing all over the dashboard.

Chris

I love Scoobynet the people on here are so helpful thankyou all for your excellent suggestions...

Get the Go if you know what I mean, cant praise enough only fault if I was picky is that you cant enter post codes, although they are used.

I don't know much about sat nav, so sorry if this sounds thick ;). But it seems very expensive to me compared to *cheaper* lap tops. Isn't there any laptops that have sat nav cability, or softwear that you can buy?

Palm Tungsten T3 and TomTom 3. Overall:

Pretty bloody good actually. The functionality is generally good but you can't (AFAIK) put in multiple points of call when planning a journey and it has made some perculiar recommendations on some journeys.

I'd recommend it.

Cheers
Kav

I have the Navman iCN630 and it have had no real problems with it, it gets it's knickers in a twist occasionally here in Germany but that is a known problem with the first batch of software.

A good feature is the interchangable SD card slot, you can store various maps on different SD cards and just change it as and when you need to.

For the price it is great, the only downside to it is it doesn't take batteries so it has to be used in the car or with the mains adapter.

The new batch of software due tot be released soon has many new and improved features.

How do I know all this? my mate works for them :D:D:D

Maybe I should organise a group buy on Navman iCN 630 units. Anyone interested??????

Bought my first satnav last week. It is a TomTom Go. It seems to do everything that I expected, and more. The touch screen makes it all very easy. It has tha added bonus in having a volume control that makes it audible over my Scoobysport exhaust. (and my failing hearing!!)

And my ability to spell even simple words, having just read my post. (save you picking up on it scoobychick!!)

Must be an age thing :D

For those using the tom-tom units, how quickly do they work, in terms of:
- Initial warm up / acquisition time
- programming in destination
- the unit starting to give instructions after you've set destination.
- How fast it will re-calculate route if you miss turning / go a different way.

Thanks

www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk has some good reviews of the systems. After much umming and arring I bought a Garmin StreetPilot about 18 months ago. Very good and very happy with it.

To save you hunting for the reviews in that link I posted:

Garmin 2610 review

Navman icn630 review

TomTom Go review

HTH

Hey Jon :D.

I've got a Blaupunkt DXR52, and wrote a review here.

Like I said earlier, it does have some annoying idiosyncrasies but overall, it's pretty bloody good.

Cheers
Kav

The icn630 review is good but now out of date Navman have released a new version of the software and has more features including postcodes so you can find your destination quicker by typing in the postcode and then using the drop down selections.

Guess I'm going for the Tom Tom unit. Amazon (of all companies) are selling it at a great price - £425.24
Really informative post btw.

For the benefit of kend:

For those using the tom-tom units, how quickly do they work, in terms of:
- Initial warm up / acquisition time
Very quickly - 30 secs or less
- programming in destination
How quick can you type a postcode? (It's that easy)
- the unit starting to give instructions after you've set destination.
Straight away
- How fast it will re-calculate route if you miss turning / go a different way.
Very quickly, depends on what you've done, but the screen will update within a matter of seconds.

Chris