SATNAVS - recommendations ?

[Easy 10]

I want a SATNAV.
I don't really need one, as its not very often I am on a journey somewhere I've never been before. And as I am of the male gender, I can easily read and and understand a map. However, I'm also a sucker for a gadget. I want one that lets me download amusing celebrity voices and stuff to at least temporarily help alleviate the general boredom of driving, and it will come in handy for the odd away trip when I'm not getting drunk.

TomTom seems to be the daddy of the satnavs, but I don't really want an all-singing, all-dancing one that does traffic updates and also routes Europe, North America, the Shetlands and all that bollocks. I just want a (fairly) bog-standard one, preferably one of those nifty little widescreen jobbies. Are the Garmins any good ? Will it also let me have downloaded VOICES and stuff ? Or does it really have to be TomTom ?

I prostrate myself before the grizzled and wisened sages of NSC...

 

[bhaexpress]

I inherited TomTom on both of my last two mobiles, believe me I wouldn't bother as their support is shite. The product is fine as long as you don't add anything to it.

 

[algie]

Get a Garmin.I paid a ton for mine and it's so much better then the Navman i had.Very easy to use.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

From my very limited experience, the 'hilarious' celebrity voices are annoying, tedious and difficult to follow. Much better to stick to the generic posh totty one. I call mine 'Sally' and I love her.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

A workmate downloaded 'Ozzy Osbourne' for his. Hilarious. And completely impossible to actually understand the directions.

The workmate in question is a complete arse, it has to be said.

And Scottish.

 

[bhaexpress]

I inherited TomTom on both of my last two mobiles, believe me I wouldn't bother as their support is shite. The product is fine as long as you don't add anything to it.

 

[Easy 10]

I heard the Robert de Niro one, and that was excellent.

"Take da next fuckin' toirn on da left"

 

[hans kraay fan club]

So you said, Frank.

 

[Gazwag]

I inherited TomTom on both of my last two mobiles, believe me I wouldn't bother as their support is shite. The product is fine as long as you don't add anything to it.

Now that is quite an impressive double post

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Yep.

My recommendation is: don't leave it attached to the windscreen when you nip into the nearest cafe to pick up your lunch, unless you want to be seeing it in the window of Cash Converters within a couple of days.

 

[Clothes Peg]

I have a Garmin Nuvi 250. Retails at around £100. Comes in widescreen which costs a bit more. Great basic model. No fuss. Just plans routes and gets you from A to B. Only has one voice (posh female). Does the job and is good value for money. It does have European mapping which was very useful on a trip to France but not an essential.

Only downside is that the name input keyboard is alphabetical, not qwerty. So it takes a bit of getting used to. Plus there is a road in Petworth which it doesn't think exists. That's the only mapping error I've found. I've not updated the software at all. The speed camera detection was supposed to be a 30 day trial, but it has never expired or demanded subscription payments from me. Can be more of a hindrance as it is distracting!

 

[Easy 10]

Yep.

My recommendation is: don't leave it attached to the windscreen when you nip into the nearest cafe to pick up your lunch, unless you want to be seeing it in the window of Cash Converters within a couple of days.

Good point.
Well made.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

You'd be amazed how many people do.

Probably the same people who get offered laptops for £300 by blokes in the car park of B&Q, hand over the cash, and are then shocked to find when they get home that the case in fact contains a 1993 edition of the Yellow Pages.

No sympathy from me

 

[Superphil]

Had a TomTom One for ages, excelletn bit of kit. For a real budget one though, get an upgrade on your mobile phone, many Nokias and other mobile phones, even my Blackberry, have GPS built in.

On Superwifes N82 it has the full voice SatNav, GPS, Google Maps, and the upgrade was free. If you are partial to a walk, or run, or cycle ride, after you get back you can download your trip from the phone onto Google Earth and it will give you an overlay of your route onto the ariel view, with speeds, time, altitude and stuff.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Why?

 

[Skint Gull]

Had a TomTom One for ages, excelletn bit of kit. For a real budget one though, get an upgrade on your mobile phone, many Nokias and other mobile phones, even my Blackberry, have GPS built in.

On Superwifes N82 it has the full voice SatNav, GPS, Google Maps, and the upgrade was free. If you are partial to a walk, or run, or cycle ride, after you get back you can download your trip from the phone onto Google Earth and it will give you an overlay of your route onto the ariel view, with speeds, time, altitude and stuff.

Or if your wife decided she wanted to know where you were really going she can easily tell. Nice idea but I think you'd have to be very careful with it

 

[REDLAND]

I have Garmin on my phone and a TomTom sat nav 710, the TomTom is better by a country mile and ignore Frank he speaks rubbish

 

[Superphil]

Why?

Er why, I guess for athletes, training that sort of stuff. Also would ensure you know for sure how far you have run, walked etc. Also for oor orienteering, or just to provide you with information of where you have been. It's also quite good fun to see what your route looks like from the air, especially when you have been walking on a mountain, which we have done.

Or if your wife decided she wanted to know where you were really going she can easily tell. Nice idea but I think you'd have to be very careful with it

Er, it's Superwifes phone, so how on earth would she be able to find out where I am? Oh, I get it, you're worried about the possibility of your wife checking up on you. I guess I would suggest that you don't worry about buying a sat nav phone, but perhaps a bunch of roses or counselling.

 

[Dave the OAP]

I have a Tom Tom...its terrific and you can turn off the warnings that you are going too fast.

 

[Superphil]

I have a Tom Tom...its terrific and you can turn off the warnings that you are going too fast.

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