Best car portable satnav???
 

Got about £450 limit to buy a system ,I'm better to get a PDA with software package I.E. TOM TOM or a stand alone setup.Needs to due street level in western Europe plenty of memory for up grades ect 2d maping post code search ect.Any ideas noticed TOM TOM 700 comes with a 2.5 hard drve but some cope with only 256mb ??So any ideas people.???

TT GO 700 it is....

I'll second that! Used one recently on a trip across England + Wales and it was awesome!

Very clear screen, excellent instructions and very easy to understand. So much so, even I didn't get lost!

Not played with the TT much, but recently got a Navman 550 with the traffic module (which has a wire ariel thing which is somewhat messy).

Can't fault it so far, but yet to use it 'in anger' on a long journey.

edit - sorry, didn't read your budget properly... It's around £530 with the traffic module, probably less without.

Thanks guy's looks like TT 700 it is then, like the remote and hands free plus the massive storage.Did a search on p/runner £406 not a bad price incl vat p/p
http://www.blokesstuff.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=75

TT700 without a doubt. Used it since launch at all the European F1 races which meant is got a real good workout and saved me many a time from the exit via country roads when the motorways were chocka after the race. Excellent bit of kit...

Andy

I've got the TT700 and can't fault it. Really pleased with mine. Managed to navigate me all around Europe last summer, and helped us find some really interesting places which we would otherwise have missed. The rerouting for traffic etc is really quick as well. Recommended...

Word of warning though, the maps for southern Ireland are not great. About 40% of the roads just don't exist in the tomtom maps. Having dsaid that, my brothers navman had exactly the same problem, so I think it's a problem with the map data used by all these units rather than the tomtom itself...

TT700 - i got one for Xmas - great stuff

Sorry to hijack but for someone who only needs one with UK mapping would people generally recommend the new Tom Tom One?

The 700 is faster, (even with just uk maps as it has a faster processor) and has other features like being able to connect you your phone and automatically reroute you around traffic jams etc.

Up to you if you think it's worth the extra cost :)

Dan J - Yes... For UK only then TT One is the chap to go for. Most of the auto and gadget mags seem to agree on this.... Most say it's much better than the Go 300.

Great thanks for the replies. I've found a place where I can get the Tom Tom One for £225 no hopefully. Cheapest I've seen the 700 for is £413. Handsfree phone use and a faster processor aren't worth a difference of £188 to me!!

The GPS receiver in the ONE is much better than the receiver in the 300/500/700 anyway - so it should more than make up for it.

Enjoy......

Thanks hopefully I will! One of my main concerns is where I mount it though. I know it only comes with the mounting arm that you attach to the windscreen but I've been hearing many stories of people seeing these mountings now and breaking into cars to see if the unit has been left in there etc. And I wouldn't want to keep removing the mount as well as the unit everytime I left the car!

Can they be mounted anywhere else/safer at all?

They must have line of sight to the satellites - so the 'sky' basically.

Heard many stories of them working satisfactorily when on air-vent mounts or even lower in the passenger compartment. ONE should be good here as it has a very sensitive GPS receiver... apparently will work OK behind heated windscreens etc. that caused problems with earlier sat-navs.

I leave mine in the car all the time - and remove just the GO to the glove-box if I park anywhere too 'public' (Sainsbury's, town-centre multi-story etc.). I think the theft of sat-navs is more down to where you live or leave your car than actually having the thing in there. If you live or leave your car somewhere that a £5 note would get nicked from the centre console (accompanied by smashed side-screen, etc.), then you'd probably be best to hide all evidence of the TomTom. If you're normally pretty confident about leaving your car where you normally go then I wouldn't worry too much...

Just watch, I'll get mine knicked tomorrow now..... ;-)

Yup well in my job I'm travelling to all different places to see my clients. One day I could be parked up in a rough council estate in London with groups of lads on every corner and the next in the drive of a millionaires house in Henley! Guess I'll just have to judge each individual situation! Will look into seeing where I could get a mount for the air-vents though that could work. They're pretty much at the top of the dash anyway and then the mount wouldn't be so obvious to passers by than if it was in the windscreen. The Scoob's seem to attract more unwanted attention than most marques so it just gives a greater chance of trouble!!

What's the matter with the receiver in the 700? I never have a problem getting a signal with mine, and it aquires all the satellites etc within a few seconds of turning it on. Can't really see how that could be improved :)

Hmm well was all set on going out and getting the ONE tomorrow but looking on ebay tonight there's a few potential opportunities to pick up a 500 for around the same price as the ONE (£250 ish) or a 700 for around the £300 mark over the next few days!

So it's got me thinking now. Would a 500 be better than the ONE for similar money and would the 700 be better than the ONE for about £50 extra??!

I know Shades has mentioned the new ONE has a better receiver than all of them now so perhaps not?

Didn't expect this to get so confusing! Advice appreciated please!

I ended up buying a One for just over £200.
I looked into the common Tom Tom choices and narrowed it down to either the Go 500 or the One.

The 700 was too expensive for what i would realistically use it for. In other words it is unlikely i'd need street level mapping for Europe..so discounted this one.
I preferred to have the faster processor in the One and the 500, so discounted the 300 and i'd heard some people have reliability issues with the 300 (maybe that's because there's more of them sold than any other i don't know..)

So it came down to the One and the 500.... I liked the idea of having handsfree for the phone, but for the additional cost it wasn't worth it. Yes you get other things like mainland Europe mapping but i'm unlikely to use it, so i bought the One and i'm glad i did.

It's quick at calculating routes, has full postcode search, is quick at recalculating routes and basically does what it says on the tin.
Now that i've added a free download showing potential speed camera sites it's all added up to a very good in car add on.
Well worth the money.

Just m tuppence worth.. :)

Yup that sounds pretty similar to how I'm thinking. The European maps are something I wouldn't really need. The handsfree calling for the phone would be a handy option but I'm wondering how this actually works. If you're using the nav and a call comes through surely it can't give you the voice directions as well as having your phonecall coming through the speakers together?! Could always get a seperate bluetooth car kit if that was really required.

So I suppose even if I could pick up a 700 for say £320 that's still £60 more than I'd pay for the ONE. And would the additional features of the 700 be that beneficial to me for my needs. Perhaps not.

Wish I'd bought the ONE when PC World were doing it for £219 before Xmas! They have a deal at the moment where it's £259 but they include a Tom Tom ONE carry case usually worth £50 with them so perhaps it's still a pretty decent deal.

I thought the One would maybe have came down in price in the January sales but obviously not. I find it amusing PC World say it comes with a *free* bag worth £50 when in effect it's not really cause they sold the One on its' own for £219 in December!

I spoke to a friend about using the handsfree for the Tom Tom and although he didn't have any direct experience of it, he mentioned he had a stereo in his car which did the same thing (allowed you to use your phone handsfree) and he said it was pretty poor in operation, this is why i ended up going for the One.
A bluetooth headset is pretty cheap to buy and works as it's meant to. Works out cheaper than going for a higher spec Tom Tom.

Re: the worry about theft of portable Sat Navs... what's the big deal in spending 2 seconds taking the suction unit off the screen and hiding it out the way!?!
Or if you are in and out the car regular during the course of a day... don't use the suction unit then! Leave the unit on the seat or in the centre console. You'll still hear it!.. And if you didn't you can always press the left hand side of the screen to hear it again!

Right well I finally bit the bullet and went out to buy the ONE. PC World were out of stock but also had no mention of the free bag offer instore. Then I went across to Curry's who had 2 left. I mentioned the deal PC World were offering and they agreed to price match it. So I'm now the owner of a ONE for £259 in the Tom Tom case, not too bad a deal I guess.

Whether I'm the happy owner or not it's too early to say as it's still in the bag! Was out last night and recovering today! Perhaps I'll get it up and running tomorrow!!

You won't be disappointed Dan. Was money well spent. :)

Got a 300 a few months ago and been well impressed with it. Already got handfree Bluetooth phone so didn't need to pay the extra for it. Going to Europe? there are plenty of places on the Intenet to 'upgrade' maps etc anyway. And don't forget to get some different voices - I've got Ozzy Ozboure telling me which way to ****ing go!

Yup well I'm loving my ONE so far! Don't know how I did without it in my job up until now! Extremely impressed with it.

Where do you guys get the different/celebrity voices from then??! Jane's starting to bore me a bit already! I heard there's a Mr T version?! Could be interesting!

Got my set of voices on E-bay for 99p!

Have had a tom tom go 700 for a while now, awsome bit of kit. Why I went for it instead of the 500 etc, is that the europe map is one complete map, so you do not need to swap or change maps when you go accross france to germany etc.

I also bought the america maps, and used it whilst I was in florida - worked like a charm!

Nice, I'll take a look!

;-)
http://www.scooby.enterprise-international.com/tt5.htm