yam got a scooby

Can anyone recommend a resonably cheap Satnav. Theres so many to chose from and so many different reviews. I want something that is pretty simple to use and is capable of doing routes in Europe. Ive been looking at a few cheap ones like the Navman Pin 570, Garmin i3, Magellan Roadmate 300 and Tom Tom 300. The Tom Tom seems to get the best ratings but is about £100 + more than the others.

Any help much appreciated

Phil

You get what you pay for

Tom Tom

Every time

highlander68k

TOM TOM

get's my vote! (and I've tried quite a few).

ben44

Try TOM TOM in London with a few routes you know **** me you'll be late home for dinner

fritz

I have the original tomtom and its been fantastic, so easy to use and you can add point of interest files which can be downloaded from the net eg. Tesco's, Shell petrol stations, speed cameras (although these will never be 100% accurate)

The only thing with mine is that the maps are out of date. My house is on a new housing estate which is about 3-4 years old and the road is detailed but it is un-named. Im pretty sure that the latest versions have a much more up to date map - I'm just to tight to pay for the update at the moment .

Have a look on the tomtom forum here for more views.

http://www.expansys.com/forumoverview.asp

I dont have any experience of any of the others but hope this helped.

Ray_li

I've got a Tom Tom and I think the maps need updating

Petem95

Get Tomtom mobile if youve got a phone running Microsoft Smartphone or Symbian OS. All you need is a bluetooth GPS receiver which can be got from ebay for about 50-60quid, and the software

Been using Tomtom on my C500 for a few months and its fantastic!

ben44

I agree. Mines only a week old aswell.

Has anyone noticed the petrol stations are always 1 junction out? Not a massive problem, but amussing.

Its a funny brommie accent on the woman aswell, but the "roundabout" saying will get on your **** pretty quickly. In all, and hindsight, A-Z's are still only a few quid and probally more up to date

GC8

Id suggest a Mitac Mio 168 PDA with a built in GPS receiver for a shade over £200 delivered. To that add TomTom5 which ranges from £5 on t'eBay to £130 from TomTom. The Acer T25 running Destinator costs about £225 and it isnt bad either, although the Mitac is way better and cheaper with the skanked TomTom (dont tell Mr Clark, he'll have a turn).........


Simon

Ray_li

I'm from Birmingham

waggy doo

iTrader: (1)

I have been using Tom Tom for 2 weks now,great when im south of the thames,bloody useless when north of thames.
Signal drops out all the time,wrong directions etc.
Think probably get that with any sat nav when in central london though.

DonnieDarko

i have an ipaq with tom tom v5.1

its great.

if you know where to look, upgrades are free

ben44

Should be right up your street then! (If it can find your street that is)

yam got a scooby

Cheers for all the replies. Im even more confused now


I think I will try and go for a PDA with Tom Tom on it. As I can get the software pretty cheap and the updates. So it should work out cheaper than buying the actual Tom Tom system.

KiwiGTI

I've never been a fan of Tom Tom and the PDA nav systems, partly because I expect anything I buy to have a rough life. (I can't be the only one that has watched a suction cup give way and then a £400 Ipaq smash it's screen)

Only Garmin is really good enough I think, they are virtually indestructable and just seem much more reliable - afterall they do make professional marine and aviation GPS

highlander68k

You think the Tom Tom maps are bad - you should try some of the others

Gizmo555

If you're worried about smashing your PDA get a Brodit proclip and holder from http://www.brodit.com Got one for my Axim and mobile and works a treat - also looks pretty good. You can get some bits and pieces to allow you to use one proclip with different holders i.e. one for your PDA, one for your mobile and then swap them as required.

Cheers

Mark

jono300

iTrader: (8)

How / when was the last upgrade with the maping systmn off tt5 ?? any chance off a link to where I may look to see this sort off thing ??!!!

sure my version is 5.0 does this mean the mapping systmn is older or does this just relate to the compatablty off the software with certain pda`s / phones etc ??

pm if you want ??!!

Ray_li

I went for the Tom Tom cuz its one of the best on the market

Brother_Will

As stand alone specific units go the Garmin I3 wins hands down its simple to use and does exactly what its supposed to out of the Box no messing about and full postcode search. True you can get software and PDA units that come close to that price but its not a dedicated unit and takes a little bit of setting up, plus a little bit fragile too. Tom Tom go 300 is a good unit with lots of options and very very very simple to use the new Garmin C310 is simplified still further and adds a full postcode search out of the box for £20 less than the Go but you wont get the Tom Tom plus services.

davedipster

I must agree the Garmin i3 is a very good buy. Had one for a few weeks now and it great.

mightyyid

Tom tom 700 - great bit of kit and works all over Europe and I've tried it at every GP I've been to and never had a problem. Would certainly recommend it.

Andy

Sport160

TOMTOM won't give you full European street mapping of out the box. It will provide major roads of Europe, but if you want full street level maps you will have pay for extra maps

Rgds
Neil

1994GTB

Had a garmin i3 for 2 weeks now.Paid £199 from halfords.
Came with 256mb transflash micro sd card!
Really easy to use.Good for points of interest i.e...gatso's,optimax garages,restaurants etc....regular camera database updates available.
Suction mount is excellent if used properly.
Runs well on batteries.Use 2500mah nimh for best life.
Gets a position from cold in under a minute most times!!!
Garmin are king when it comes to gps.Lots of aviation heritage etc..
Good build quality,excellent plastics,robust design...blah..blah..Small screen is easy to read.voice directions good.
Tom Tom plastics are ****ty quality,and designs look cheap...not in my scoob.
Don't want a touch screen as I hate greasy prints on screens.
I can take my unit out in 5 seconds and put it in my coat pocket,handy if you dont want your windows punching through whilst you nip in a shop.
Pda solutions can be a bit arsey...extra cables...mounts..etc..plus the threat of an os crash!Too much hassle for me....
Easy to get neat install of power supply from lighter socket to lower windscreen on a scoob..took me 10 mins.
Surely this has to be the best solution on the market today for under £200.
Well done garmin.
Buy one you wont be dissapointed.

Nevetas

Tom Tom 700 gives full europe street level mapping out the box

John57

I got a Tom Tom 500 yesterday and it's great - we looked at the Garmin i3 but went for the bigger screen of the Tom Tom + my phone works hands free fine with the unit .....

Routes we tried it on were fine, signal fine, quality fine, touch screen / display was great.

Only downside - other than cost .... the Gatso database is less than accurate where I live in south london - on the bit of the A3 near me there were 4 errors out of the 8 cameras we went past (1 warning but non existant camera, 1 with wrong speed, 2 which were not shown). They obviously do need to do better on this front !!! There is a website link to report 'problems' or new cameras which I used .....

wrc350bhp

think i will stop and ask a copper, thats if i can find one

golf

been looking into this for a week now make my mind up time 2morrow got it down to two choices garmin c310 or garmin i3 tried tomtom 300 saturday took it back sunday wouldnt turn off also liked telling me take 4 exit at roundabouts wen there was only 3 wasnt impressed also tested navman 520 sent it back crap sound especially in a scooby better directions than tomtom

davedipster

The i3 got my vote.
Very impressed with the ease of use, quality and accuracy.

scoobyboy1

iTrader: (16)

Ive got the PDA with Tom Tom on it, and Ive got the speed camera's downloaded on to it as well, If you want to have a look at it, before you spend your hard earned cash, I dont mind showing you in the week as you dont live far from me.