Board logo

what sat nav system?
skydivepaul - 20/1/06 at 01:18 PM

Well i am finally going to get me a sat nav system after holding out for the last few years. I drive about 30,000 miles a year and I have resolutely said "I've always managed with a map, i dont need any of that sat nav stuff its for wimps" anyway i borrowed one a few weeks back and its brilliant
i used a navman unit which cost about £350.00 and i found it great, however i dont want to spend £350.00 if i have to. Can anyone recommend a good unit, i have seen that Halfords have an offer on them at the moment and the tomtom one is £250.00. I want a unit that i can take from car to car and i also want it to work in the USA when i go on holiday and work there.
Cheers

Paul

aweekes1 - 20/1/06 at 01:21 PM

Tom Tom one is fan-dabi-dozi and you can change the maps. Tom Tom Go 700 is the kippers and has in anternal hard drive so you can have loads of maps in at once. Then again as you won't be driving from Europe to US in a single trip, using a few different SD cards wouldn't be a problem?

awinter - 20/1/06 at 01:27 PM

I can recommend the PDA route, HP RX3715 about £230 and tom tom 5, then download the speed camera database for free and hey prest yo alos have all the speed camera locations too. You will also need a Bluetooth GPS unit. Have a look at Total PDA

DarrenW - 20/1/06 at 01:29 PM

Ive just bought tomtom 300. Basic UK only. Its fantastic. Cant fault it. Ive been to a couple of places in ind estates that it didnt know. It got me to the estate, i found the place then programmed the GPS co-ords in for next time (in case i go there from different direction etc). Greatr piece of kit. Extremely easy to use.

steve_gus - 20/1/06 at 01:30 PM

i have a tomtom one and i can thoroughly recommend it.

it comes with full uk maps and points of interest. For example, if you are someplace you dont know and want a burger king, makkyd or whatever, they are all mapped so you just ask for the nearest one and it plots the route.

the 128mb card with it has no room for other maps so id recommend you get a 512mb card from some place like ebuyer.com


Tomtom website lets you download maps - the usa can be bought as 5 bits - each is about 40 quid.

dont bother trying to get hookey torrnet downloads - it needs a 'key' to register the map - and its tied to a particular unit.

if your phone has bluetooth you can even get traffic info on it.

atb

steve

uklee70 - 20/1/06 at 01:36 PM

I've got a tom tom 1

What a great bit of kit !!!!

you can download the speed cameras free from gps world so dont sign up for tom tom plus

the only thing that is a shame is that it doesn't act as a bluetooth car kit but has bluetooth for tom tom plus

Lee

Mr G - 20/1/06 at 01:48 PM

RECENT BARGAIN SAT NAV THREAD


The Pocket PC with built-in gps reciever when installed with TomTom5 Navigator comes highly recommended.



Cheers


G

mookaloid - 20/1/06 at 02:14 PM

I think 5th gear or one of the motoring programmes on the telly tested sat nav systems and TomTom came out top.

bob - 20/1/06 at 02:41 PM

Yep it was 5th gear i think,they said it was good value for money and also its smaller than the other tom tom range so its a bit more practical.

although they did put a price tag on it of £199 which i havnt found yet

DarrenW - 20/1/06 at 02:53 PM

I bet 5th gear were future proofing that program so when its aired in a years time on Sky the price will have dropped to £199.
I paid £299 for mine in Nov when most other places were between 299 - 350. They are dropping all of the time.


Can you get the updated mapd off the internet and download to the memory card? Ill have to look into that (New section of A1 isnt covered near leeds way on).

k33ts - 20/1/06 at 03:15 PM

i had the madelion right pile of crap ive swaped it for tom tom 100xbetter

bob - 20/1/06 at 03:58 PM

Just seen tomtom 1 on ebay at £229 buy it now so they are getting there.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TOMTOM-ONE-GPS-IN-CAR-SAT-NAV-BNIB-NR-SATELLITE-NEW-1_W0QQitemZ5856315228QQcategoryZ75327QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Edited on 20/1/06 by bob]

simonH - 20/1/06 at 05:29 PM

totom one £216 +vat
TomTom Cheap

bob - 20/1/06 at 06:32 PM

Ruddy VAT

zilspeed - 20/1/06 at 06:36 PM

Or walk into your local comet and get one for 259 quid - Couple of quid more than ebuyer obviously, but maybe worth it for just picking one up.
Tomtom at Comet

[Edited on 20/1/06 by zilspeed]

steve_gus - 20/1/06 at 07:35 PM

mine was 249 from currys in dec

Mine didnt have a road on the way to work thats been built for over a year. I suspect that it takes a bit of time for new roads to be mapped...

atb

steve

Mark Allanson - 20/1/06 at 08:09 PM

Even if it is a little more expensive that ebuyer, I would go with commet or currys etc.

Ebuyer have a zero returns policy, I had a mother board which was DOA, and they refused to replace or refund, even when I got a report from a local computer engineer to prove it was toast.

skydivepaul - 20/1/06 at 10:26 PM

cheers lads for all your advice.
looks like tomtom one it is then.
Halfrauds are doing them for £249.00 so its out with the credit card tomorrow

steve_gus - 20/1/06 at 10:29 PM

next time, pay with a visa CREDIT card. You can get them to refund the money and bitch fight with ebuyer

atb

steve

ps - its been mentioned on here that halfords also have a dodgy policy - they dont replace units that fault in the first few months - they get sent off for repair.

Id go with currys if i were you....






quote:
Originally posted by Mark Allanson
Even if it is a little more expensive that ebuyer, I would go with commet or currys etc.

Ebuyer have a zero returns policy, I had a mother board which was DOA, and they refused to replace or refund, even when I got a report from a local computer engineer to prove it was toast.

skydivepaul - 20/1/06 at 10:43 PM

Could be currys then, I'll check their price

quote:
Originally posted by steve_gus
next time, pay with a visa CREDIT card. You can get them to refund the money and bitch fight with ebuyer

atb

steve



ps - its been mentioned on here that halfords also have a dodgy policy - they dont replace units that fault in the first few months - they get sent off for repair.

Id go with currys if i were you....






quote:
Originally posted by Mark Allanson
Even if it is a little more expensive that ebuyer, I would go with commet or currys etc.

Ebuyer have a zero returns policy, I had a mother board which was DOA, and they refused to replace or refund, even when I got a report from a local computer engineer to prove it was toast.


[Edited on 20/1/06 by skydivepaul]

Tim 45 - 20/1/06 at 10:44 PM

I think the tom-tom is the dogs danglies...however i would go for the GO-500, which offers a bluetooth connection to a mobile for handsfree calling, if you dont already have a bluetooth kit etc.

A problem with them is the built in aerial fails if you have a vehicle with an athermic windscreen. In which case you would need to buy the aerial kit, which extends the aerial to wherever you desire. When that is up and running it averages about 7 or 8 satellites and rarely loses a signal, except for tunnels.

We got ours from scan, they have now come down to the £390ish mark - remember for that you get the added functionality of the phone sync and handsfree!

If cost was an issue there was always that little garmin one that was on sale in somerfield for £99.99

HTH

Mr G - 21/1/06 at 06:33 PM

The pocket pc pda and TomTom Navigator 5 come in at £224.97

Example ebay tomtom software price HERE

You'll be getting your moneys worth with the pocket pc and the option's to load whatever software you want onto it.