Sat Nav newbie - request for info

I've just got a tomtom one and it seems pretty good. signal reception is excellent - I ca actually pick up the signal inside my house. The only issue I have is that the maps seem a little out of date. But assuming you pay some sort of attention when driving and don't trust what the tomtom says anymore than a person in the passenger seat giving directions, all should be fine.

In message , Angus Manwaring writes

My better half asked WTF do you want a sat-nav for? but got me one for my birthday. It's the cheapest option, the Medion from Lidl (or maybe Aldi, whatever) The maps are not totally up to date, and it tends to send you down narrow roads and through industrial estates on occasion, but as long as you apply common sense that's not really a problem. Just ignore the obviously silly instructions and the dynamic re-routing soon catches up. Last weekend she was in Edinburgh, on her own, trying to get back to Fife but caught in _massive_ queues on Queensferry Road. She deliberately drove down a side road for half a mile then hit the "get me home" button. It navigated her down side roads, emerging at Kirkliston and saving _hours_ of waiting. She now won't leave home without the sat-nav in the car!

With careful positioning of the windscreen mount it's out of your sight-line through the screen, but don't EVER leave the sat-nav OR the empty mount visible in the car unattended, they're the latest hot favourite for the opportunist thief.

I've got a TT One and very pleased with it. Hearing the reports about thieves targeting cars with suction ring marks on windows or viewable mountings on the dash I made my own mounting bracket using a 6" long bracket that slides neatly and firmly into the gap between my sliding cup holder tray. The bracket can be easily pulled out and stored in the glove box so no obvious signs for a thief to see.

Going one step further I got a spare car cig lighter socket from the scrappy and installed it out of sight at the front of the consol. It only operates with ignition so the TTOne power lead can be left permanently in place and is completely hidden from the outside, and with my original cig lighter still viewable from the outside so no obvious signs of anything being connected.

Garmin i3.

TomTom kit is great, I love TomTom on my PDA, but the Garmin kit is significantly cheaper.

You soon get used to it, although using a touch-screen at work helps.

You could attach the mount to the centre console using one of the non-destructive solutions that slip into the gaps between panels.

Agree with the advice about TomTom...good maps and easy to use. I'm personally partial to the GO 300 and 700 and would suggest the 300 if you want a more basic model. I like how simple it is and it helps me get where I need to go!

Angus Manwar> Sorry if this is slightly off-topic...

Wait a few more years. The Galileo satellite is being launched and others will be by 2008 and it will be far superior to the current US Military satellites that currently transmit GPS signals (Which could also be turned of at any time). The new Satellite is going to allow for far more accurate positioning, (especially in built up areas), will be dedicated to civilian use of GPS and will support new technologies within GPS.

More info:

Also in last months Personal Computer World there was quite an in depth review of them. If you want the mag, it's currently in the recycling bin, let me know through this forum.

Slightly OT here, but I saw a programme on TV that explained how new roads were added to the maps - literally by driving round them in a car with a laptop on the passenger's lap!

Apparently the lead time from that being done to the satnav manufacturer issuing the updated map can be up to 18 months.

I bought a Palm Zire with ViaMichelin for my wife (being a PalmOS user myself anyway). It's a little bit idiosyncratic (eg "turn slightly right usually means "go straight ahead while another road branches left"!) and it sometimes chooses routes I would avoid knowing the traffic (eg the M1!), but it works perfectly for us (a friend has had countless problems with an identical system; I suspect a degree of user error). The only downside of the ViaMichelin software is that it doesn't do postcodes.

We found it invaluable on holiday, just looking up a restaurant on the WAP phone then finding it with the satnav for example!

And I agree with the other poster about traffic avoidance; just take the next turn and let it work out where to go next.

Another slight advantage of the PDA-based versions is the ability to hook them up to the PC to work out routing on a big screen, download new maps, etc, as well as the fact that the in-car holder looks like a phone holder - it isn't obvious it's a satnav. And my wife plays Patience on hers when she's bored!

My next step is to get a GPS card for my Treo smartphone and install the ViaMichelin software on that.

I would advise against unless you get a really good price. These models have old receivers and are due to be replaced very soon.

Don't be daft - he'll be divorced (or worse) by then following yet another argument with his wife.

Current kit is perfectly adequate for general GPS-assisted motoring.

Mathew

Tow friends of mine had a Tom Tom, don't know what model each had, but they seemed very unreliable and had to be reset periodically. Is this typical of these units? Or their competitors?

No I wasn't saying it wasn't, just if you can hold on, just 18 months - 2 years, maybe woirth the wait

Regards

I'd probably be replacing the kit within a couple of years myself, anyway, given the pace of technology.

You can always thing 'oh, I'll hang on for a bit because something better is around the corner'... the trouble is, that no matter when you decide this, there will always be something better due to arrive soon.

Ooooo I dunno, I said that about Telewest's Hard Drive Recorder (Rival to Sky+), I had it fitted this morning. Damn!. Glad I waited. Nothing rivals it. yet ;)

The letter about the HDTV upgrade will be delivered any day now....

Now I *am* confused

High definition telly. Several times the resolution of your existing telly. I got the info pack about upgrading my Sky+ box to a high definition version today.

Okay, thanks for the advice.

All the best, Angus Manwaring. (for e-mail remove ANTISPEM)

I need your memories for the Amiga Games Database: A collection of Amiga Game reviews by Amiga players

Yeah, I'm sure I'll cope with it, but I just hate people's fingers (even mu own) on any of my screens. :)

This sound great, but what are these solutions? Is it 3rd part stuff that I'd find in a car accessories shop?

Cheers to all for their thoughts.

All the best, Angus Manwaring. (for e-mail remove ANTISPEM)

I need your memories for the Amiga Games Database: A collection of Amiga Game reviews by Amiga players