Hi all
After a little advice. I am looking to purchase a new sat nav.
Won't be used often so don't need anything too fancy. Mainly be used for when we take caravan on holiday.
Looking to get one with lifetime map updates, uk and Western Europe.
Looking to spend around £100 to £150 max
So what's the general consensus to what's best? Tomtom or garmin?
Thanks in advance

Never been 100% happy with my Tom Tom XL, has a habit of telling me to turn right half-way along a dual carraigeway!! Also slow to react on direction changes sometimes.

Never had any experience of Garmin so cannot say about them.

Can't really comment on the Tom Tom but my uncle got one of the latest expensive garmins to use in his truck (delivery driver) which get rated very highly and we took it to force racing cars when I was getting my car set up. It drove straight past the premesis and took us round a 4 mile loop down country lanes which is a real pain with an 18 foot trailer on the back

From my experience Garmin are better, but I don't use either - if you have a smartphone just use one of the free apps. That what I use now and works just as well.

Normal road use, tom tom every time

used to be a dyed in the wool Tom Tom man but changed to Garmin about 18 months ago and don't have any plans to go back. Better value IMO if you choose the right one with free map updates for life and traffic services etc. Left Tom Tom as their customer support when a 14 month old unit died on me totally and they made it very clear they didn't give a hoot and I should line their pockets by buying another one, didn't even offer a discount on a replacement!

I use the app on my galaxy S4 it's pretty good.
Have used Tom tom and it was ok, had a blonde moment now and then but was ok.
Garmin, I haven't used but I have heard from friends that it's very good. Also updates
maps more often.

Tom Tom are crap compared to Garmin - why manufacturers install Tom Tom as oe (Renault, hang your head in shame) is beyond me!

My bus has TT installed as OE and it's useless, whereas the screen mount Garmin is fantastic, even though it's 6 years old!

ATB

Simon

I bought this a few weeks ago:

http://www.halfords.com/sat-nav-audio/sat-nav/car-sat-nav/garmin-nuvi-2508-lifetime-digital-traffic-uk-roi-5-sat-nav

I find it very good, clear directions / screen and photos of junctions etc. The digital traffic is also decent and comes free, otherwise it's £99 on its own.

Hope that helps.

Do you have a smartphone? The TT for Western Europe app is only £35 with free lifetime map updates.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/tomtom-western-europe/id326075062?mt=8

[Edited on 28/6/14 by geoff shep]

I think my Tom Tom is sponsored by BP.

Thanks for all the responses.
Appears everyone has their favourites and no definative answer between them. Not keen on using phone for sat nav plus the wife will probably use it too.
Think I may go to halfords and check them out and see which one feels best and see what staff say about each one

quote:

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Originally posted by geoff shep
Do you have a smartphone? The TT for Western Europe app is only £35 with free lifetime map updates.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/tomtom-western-europe/id326075062?mt=8

[Edited on 28/6/14 by geoff shep]

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quote:

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Originally posted by dave
I think my Tom Tom is sponsored by BP.

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I've a garmin can't fault it to be honest

Well just been to halfords and got myself a garmin 2597lm.
Seems to do everything I want and staff said if I reserved it online, I could get £10 off which I duly did.
So £119 collected.
And to be fair the staff seemed ok. Opened the cabinets and let me play with each one I considered and explained features etc
Time will tell if it's any good but if it does what it says, I should be happy
Thanks for info

When my TomTom One stopped working I went to Halfords and bought an XL. I liked the 2D display on the One because it's very like the Ordnance Survey maps I'm used to. I found out too late that the 2D display on the XL always has North at the top, while the 3D display rotates to have the direction of travel at the top. Apparently the XL 2D display cannot rotate
When I took it back to Halfords the salesman told me he always recommends Garmin. So why didn't you tell me yesterday when I bought the TomTom you pillock ????

Google maps on iPhone, street view is handy feature too ....

Horses and corsets, I've had a Tom Tom and Garmin, using a Snooper atm.. out them I think the Garmin was the best..

If I could jam them all together that would be good, however depends what you need, you dont know until you use one and the others..

I use my Nokia Lumia. They come with free sat nav built in, and you can download maps for just about anywhere in the world for free. Good maps and well integrated into other phone functions.

Other than that we have two TomToms and have always found them great as long as you plug them into your computer from time to time to do the updates.