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Sat Nav for cars


Tony
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Hi all

I am interested in buying a Sat Nav system for the car (just one of the ones that sit on the dash or stick to the windscreen) but there are so many to chose from, and me not having a clue about any of them, i have no idea what to go for.

So if any of you have a sat nav, can you tell me what you think of the model you have.

I am interested in the, Tom Tom One Europe or the Garmin 300 Deluxe, i am willing to spend upto £220.00 €350.00 on it.

I also want the maps to cover the whole of western Europe.

Thanks for any advice you can give on this.

Tony

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We can recommend a Garmin. Ours is three years old now but the newer ones have all you'd ever want. The screen is easy to see and the holder, on the dashboard, is easily covered with a scarf, if you don't want to remove it.

The added bonus is that you can download the updated from the website - I believe you have to pay for some on other makes.

The only irritation is the voice but she (in our case) doesn't have to be on.

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I have had a Garmin 2610 since 2003 complete with European maps (and USA maps bought as an extra in 2004 for use during a 7week touring holiday of America).

Although 4 years old it still does all I need of it and I have found Garmin support to be quite excellent.

Some of the newer Garmin models incorporate MP3 players, link to your mobile phone, show photos from a camera card and do all sorts of things I regard as quite frivolous. If you want a reliable unit with excellent mapping - then Garmin can be recommended.

The only point I would make is that Garmin issue firmware updates which you can download for free - but updated mapping is made available every two years or so - at extra cost if you buy a unit capable of being updated - not all are.

A good feature of the latest Garmin units is the inclusion of speed camera warnings - I have a separate Road Angel for this function - but would appreciate an all-in-one unit. Yet again - you have to pay an annual fee for camera data base updates.

I have no personal experience of Tom Tom or other makes - but a friend who had a Tom Tom at Christmas now wishes he had chosen another unit - it has proved to be unreliable and the mapping leaves much to be desired.

Yer pays yer money and yer takes yer pick.

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Hi

Thanks for all the replies so far, i can see this is going to be a hard choice to make, as both the Tom Tom One and the Garmin Nuvi 300 both get very good reviews :blink:

Tony

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I have a Tom Tom 910, it is unbelievably good. It has guided me through Paris twice without a hitch as well as a visit to the UK, and numerous routes here.

You can connect it to a computer and download updates, plan routes and itineraries in advance, change all the settings etc; and it now has free speed camera alerts, mine has warned me of cameras in France and the UK. You can select different voices and by the way it reads out the street names as you come to them. I can't fault it at all.

It comes with street level maps of the whole of Western Europe as well as the USA and Canada. Have a look on their site, www.tomtom.com you can see what each model comes with, but shop around for one if you want to buy, there are some good discounts available. Must add, do not leave it, or the windscreen mount, in the car and make sure there are no "rings" left on the screen where you mounted it when you leave the car. You can protect it with a password but thieves still target them, probably throwing it away when they find they cannot use it.

If you would like any specific information post back and I'll do my best to help.

Regards,

Sapins.

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How can you look at them and drive safely at the same time? Surely thay can be more distracting than a mobile phone.

I hardly ever look at mine - the voice prompts you well in advance of any junction you are to turn at. It's a lot safer than taking your eyes off the road to gawp at road signs or road nameplates - or even worse, consult a map on the passenger seat as some idiots do.

Sat-navs are a tool you don't really appreciate until you have one - and once you get one - you wonder how you ever managed without it if you do much driving.

A couple of years ago we spent 7 weeks touring in the USA and I took my sat-nav with me. I had already loaded from my computer the precise location of all the hotels and places we planned to visit - it was a godsend. Not only that - if we saw something interesting offf route - we could vere off the route and take to the minor roads or city streets safe in the knowledge that the sat-nav knew where it was, even if we didn't, and would steer us safely to the planned destination.

My step-daughter has driven for about 10 years but never far from home - she was too nervous about getting lost or collecting more speed camera points on her licence. We bought her a Garmin 310 for Christmas 2005 which includes speed camera warnings and it has opened her World. She now thinks nothing of spending a week-end in the far corners of the UK to see friends - or just enjoy time away with her 13 year old son - who has also benefitted hugely from the new found mobility.

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The only point I would make is that Garmin issue firmware updates which you can download for free - but updated mapping is made available every two years or so - at extra cost if you buy a unit capable of being updated - not all are.

You're right. :)

A good feature of the latest Garmin units is the inclusion of speed camera warnings - I have a separate Road Angel for this function - but would appreciate an all-in-one unit. Yet again - you have to pay an annual fee for camera data base updates.

Just read in the Computer Active that camera detection devices are going to be illegal here soon.

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Just read in the Computer Active that camera detection devices are going to be illegal here soon.

It is not true - if that is what they have said without qualification - they are wrong.

What the government are making illegal is laser detectors - my Road Angel has one built in - but I understand that by the time it warns you that you have been hit by a mobile laser detector you have been nicked anyway - it all happens in 0.3 seconds and you have no time to slow down. I have switched my laser detector off and use the Road Angel to warn me of fixed and mobile speed cameras, average speed detection and hazard areas such a schools.

Sat nav systems that warn you about fixed and temporary speed cameras are quite legal and will remain so.

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Just read in the Computer Active that camera detection devices are going to be illegal here soon.

It is not true - if that is what they have said without qualification - they are wrong.

What the government are making illegal is laser detectors - my Road Angel has one built in - but I understand that by the time it warns you that you have been hit by a mobile laser detector you have been nicked anyway - it all happens in 0.3 seconds and you have no time to slow down. I have switched my laser detector off and use the Road Angel to warn me of fixed and mobile speed cameras, average speed detection and hazard areas such a schools.

Sat nav systems that warn you about fixed and temporary speed cameras are quite legal and will remain so.

I don't think they were referring to sat navs........

See

http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computerac...tection-devices

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Hp Ipaq RX5915 .. Pda with GPS. Tomtom 6.

Got one, tested it on the road, haven't got lost.

WM 5.0, 2 gb of flash (with TT on it so that leaves about 500 MB free for me), 400 MHz Samsung CPU, BT, WIFI, SD card slot. I like it, though it may be more than 200 pounds. It was 580$ when I got it. Package comes with car holder, car charger/ outlet charger and cables. I kind of think this one is a best buy. If it had GSM would've been perfect.

Read this meanwhile: http://www.geardigest.com/2007/03/02/choos..._gps/page5.html

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Just read in the Computer Active that camera detection devices are going to be illegal here soon.

Yes it's the way our lot think. Do not prevent crime, just create government revenue from it.

The next move is to put all policemen in plain clothes or unmarked cars. That way there will be no prevention/deterent, and following criminal and potential troublemakers will be more profitable.

You know it makes sense.

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Just read in the Computer Active that camera detection devices are going to be illegal here soon.

Yes it's the way our lot think. Do not prevent crime, just create government revenue from it.

The next move is to put all policemen in plain clothes or unmarked cars. That way there will be no prevention/deterent, and following criminal and potential troublemakers will be more profitable.

You know it makes sense.

That Law has already been passed Catgate. As from February 14th it is now illegal to have a warning device in the car.

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The answer surely is to obey the law as it stands. Speed limits are there for a reason. I was driving down the A 38 a few weeks ago approaching Lichfield. There were some new road works ahead so I braked. Unluckily for me I passed the camera before I had slowed to the 40 limit. I now have three points on my licence, and have paid a £60 fine. I have no complaints about this I should have spotted the road works and the camera sooner. It was my own fault.

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You have just proved the point that generally speed limits are nonsense. Had the conditions been such that there was a need to slow down to a lower speed, no matter if it had been as low as 10 MPH, you would have done so. because you could see the need to do so. So how come that someone sitting in an office many months/years ago was sufficiently cairevoyant to know that on that stretch of road, or any other for that matter, it would be unsafe at any time to do any speed above 40 if there were road works ?

We have a stupid situation about five miles from us where there is a 20 mph zone complete with humps and bumps and potholes. It is right outside an infant school. For a maximum of one hour per day (4 x 15 mins) for 5 days of term time there are children about (generally getting in or out of mummies 4x4). Yet for all the rest of the time it is still decreed by someone who knows, far better than a driver on the spot, that is dangerous to exceed 20mph, even if there is not a soul about.

There is a law which controls all driving and it requires that we each drive "with due care and attention". To create an accident of any sort by contravening this law should result in the accident causer (even the pedestrian if it were the pedestrians fault) being banned for life. If this were imposed we would very soon have much safer roads.

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The point is that many, especially the very young, flout the existing law deliberately, so I see no harm in meeting out punishments. The local bypass which has been open for a couple of years has a 50MPH speed limit. It is a nicely surfaced road, but has only one lane in each direction. Yobs regularly use it as a race track, clocking up speeds well over 100MPH at times, endangering other road users. Unless the law steps in and attempts to catch and punish the guilty this flouting will only get worse. How many times have you travelled through motorway road works with workmen only inches from passing vehicles, doing your best to drive safely and protect these men, only to have someone speed past you oblivious to the potential danger? Even though it has cost me I am perfectly happy that the camera was there.

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I thought this thread was about recommended Sat Nav units for cars. :blink::rolleyes:

I do beg your pardon, sir. Have I transgressed...again??? :shok:

You? Say somehing out of place? Never! :D

This was supposed to be recommendations for sat navs though.............

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You? Say somehing out of place? Never! :D

This was supposed to be recommendations for sat navs though.............

I was glad you posted this because I had never seen the news item and have been wandering about with my radar detector stuck in my windscreen until today. I do not think it will make any difference to the way I drive, which has always been with circumspection, despite not having a Semitic background, but it was nice to know what was ahead.

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Hi All

Thanks very much for all the info and advice, i see that i have my work cut out for me in choosing one

A new one has now been thrown into the mix see

Median GoPal PNA510 Navigation System with TMC, This unit also seems to be getting some good reviews.

I will let you all know on what i decide on.

Thanks again

Tony

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