Sat nav - what do you recommend ?

[tpwuk]

Johnsco....Android can be a phone or a tablet computer. What sort of mobile phone do you have?

 

[rascalmaster]

i have had 2 tom-toms over the years; excellent!
my 211 has an inbuilt command nav... but hers doesn't. we both have tom-tom apps downloaded on our iPhones; and it is awesome. + saves you carrying around another gadget...
my wife and my iPhones are set up in iTunes as the same account; so anything one of us buys- the other gets free ;-)

 

[DITTRICH]

Personally, on the standalone units plugging into cigarette lighter sockets, garmin or tomtom, there is not alot between them. Either one will do. The key points are:-

1 Map updates - free, chargeable, lifetime subscription, ease of updating.
2 Traffic subscription, free, chargeable, lifetime.
3 The interface, do you like it?
4 Postcodes, can it deal with the WHOLE postcode (probably yes nowadays)
5 Bluetooth, MP3, handsoff connectivity may be important to you.

If you at all intend to take your car across the channel then the maps ought to be european. Ensure that all the countries you are likely to travel to are included. This is only an issue if you go eastwards to the edges of the current EU where coverage can be less than 100%.

Whether it is a tomotom or garmin, it is only as good as the map data and there are 2 companies teleatlas (dutchies) and navteq (yanks). I don't think there is alot between them.

If you come from a bilingual or multilingual family then it needs to work and preferably speak in these languages.

If you travel further afield then you must choose your satnav with care. Not only must you have got the languages sorted, but the mapping too. Maps are sold in packages for markets and if your requirements straddle two areas then your satnav needs to be able to handle this. Mostly nowadays, additional maps can be downloaded onto the device or purchased on plugin SD cards.

Just because there are alot of posts about tomtom do not assume it is the best. walk into a shop after doing your research on the internet and decide for yourself.

If you have more cash to burn and hate the sight of cables dangling about or non oem equipment hanging about the dash then consider a built in unit. Either double DIN fixed screen or single DIN flip up motorised screen.

Just my 2c as usual.

 

[johnsco]

Johnsco....Android can be a phone or a tablet computer. What sort of mobile phone do you have?

I'm the only person you know who doesn't carry a mobile phone.
All my working life, the phone is going all day.
The last thing I want is for people to be able to reach me when I am not working.

 

[johnsco]

Thanks All for your very-helpful advices.
Thanks Ringway for your negative comments on the NAVMAN.
Thanks Dittrich for your helpful summary.
At least I know now what I am looking for.

 

[johnsco]

Hi All.
I'm resurrecting my old thread after some 2.1/2 years.
After all your advice, I bought a Tom Tom Start 20.
It did everything I wanted.
However - In the past 3 months it has become increasingly-erratic and has now died.
I took it apart to see if there was anything obvious ... No luck.

During the time I had it working, it was pretty good.
It did its job and was fairly-simple to use.

The crappy connector on the back of the unit was pretty-poor.
They must have scoured all the international connector catalogues for the cheapest and crappiest connector they could find.
It kept dropping out.
Sticky-tape was the answer.

I'm in the market for a new one.
I'll probably go for the cheap and cheerful Tom Tom Start 25 ..... Unless anyone really things that they are rubbish.

Any comments would be appreciated.
I'm not into mobile phones / smart phones / etc.

Thanks in advance.