SatNav

I've used the Tom Tom sat nav and the Navman sat nav I've now got rid of the Tom Tom in favour of the Navman which came complete with European maps. I've also got the optional Traffic module which informs you of any holdups on route which as far as I know is not an option on Tom Tom. Having used both I'd recommend the Navman.

We use Garmin's 2610 which cost over £600 when it first came out a couple of years back & is now available for £178.05 inc P&P & Free Carry Case with latest V8 mapping covering the whole of Europe down to street level

The new TomTom One is pretty good.

can't really recommend others as thats the onlyone I have used.

Personally I preferred the Tomtom & it does traffic. I found changing the route on the Navman whilst stuck in a jam really difficult.

A friend swears by Navman. He has been all over Europe using it and reckons its the dogs!

Dave

I would always say TomTom, in particular the TomTom One version 2 (GB or Europe).

I have used a navman and found it pile of pooh. Tells you to turn left about

750 yrds before the turning and not again. Pretty useless if there is several turnings in front. Also, the colour schemes on the map werent exaclty obvious to which was the route or the road. (the routes are coloured similar colours to the roads so it looked like the route went several ways sometimes). Also, hard to re-route when required.

Also played with a Garmin Nuvi in Halfords. Very slow at route calcualtion (compared to an old Ipaq with TomTom5 on it, and TT 1V2), slow at re-routing if you come of at the wrong junction and the refresh rate on the graphics is woeful. You would of turned the corner of junction and the Garmin display is still showing you at the junction, so if there is another junction after the first you wouldnt see it on the display. You cant set avoid part or routes.

For example, when I set a route on TT, if it takes me via a known blackspot, i can press just a few (5 ish) buttons on the touch screen and can divert from that road completly and it will re-route.

The navman uses a combination of hard buttons and touch screen. I could never work out when I had to press what to get the desired function. TT is purely touch screen (so is the garmin).

You can use TMC receievers with some Garmin, Navmans and Some TT's, but NOT the TT1 V2. You can use their traffic service via GPRS instead though on the TT1V2. I use inbuilt sat-nav on a nissan too that has a built in TMC reciever. I'd say that is better than the TT traffic via GPRS BUT still woefully inaccurate. You can be sat in traffic on a motorway/trunk road and no mention of the delay on the TMC.

Have a look at

(follow links to forums and then the individual forums for TT, Navman and best buys etc)

Steve

As you will see, everyone has their favourite. They all do the job, but in different ways. I have an old (3 years) Garmin Streetpilot III which I am still happy with.

One thing to be aware of is reception. Some modern cars have heat reflective windscreens (you can see a purple reflection in it when looking from the outside). These type have a metal film embedded in them and this can give reception problems with GPS and other similar units. I had to use an adittional aerial with mine on a 307.

In message , Marvin writes

Me too, orange sprinter van....

I use a Navman cheapie from Lidl. No frills, no bluetooth etc. It just navigates.

Likes: easy address input, quicker than finding glasses, finding map book, looking up page and square, finding right page, etc. etc. Maps seem pretty up to date, about a year behind. Clear on-screen map, especially the 3D view, voice commands give just about the right warning period before a turn. It takes you right to the door number, ideal when you join a street from a cross road and don't know whether number 27 is left or right, or the road's miles long with several cross roads. When not actually navigating the map shows whether the road you're on goes right round or is a cul-de-sac, vital information in a long-wheelbase sprinter in a narrow street.

Dislikes: Postcode input, you can't input a space between digits without switching screen back to text input, unnecessary extra clicks, and KY1 2 is a long way from KY12. It insists on using 'A' roads when a 'B' road shortcut would save miles, but the dynamic re-routing catches up eventually. On a sunny day, wearing a hi-viz vest, you can't see the screen at all unless you point it at a ridiculous angle. It uses MS Windows, need I say more?

I use mine every day, and consider it a vital tool for the job.

The TomTom ONE v2?

We seem to be following each other around when it comes to sat navs, as I recall you originally had TomTom3 on an iPaq, then TomTom Mobile and then TomTom ONE, which is exactly the same as myself...