discussion Sat NAv

[Guest]

Live in Jersey and know 98% of the 500 roads here. But !

London, youngest son lives in Plaistow East London, and last time there after 20 mins travel from one place to another we ended up at the original place we departed from. True,so true !

So for the future Sat Nav. So members which one should I get. Not expensive just something simple which will take me from A to B and you do not need brains to use it. Bearing in mind it does have to be simple as I will only be using it 4 or 5 weeks of the year ie re-learning each time I come back to it.

Laurie

 

[john i am]

Hi Laurie few years back I had a navman straight forward any easy to use no bells or whistles on it which was at the budget end of the market but used to take me all around the uk with no problems whatsoever for about 5 yrs before someone stole it so be careful don't leave it in your motor especially around London lovely place (Halfords )

 

[Lee W]

Laurie, my father in law has a Garmin, if can use...anyone can!

Lee

 

[PaulTRose]

i swear by TomToms

had a tomtom one for 7 years til swambo bought me a new one last year (cant remember which model)

greatest invention ever............no getting lost, no stress, no wasting time or money on petrol cos you have got lost

 

[Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds]

I use a Garmin, have done for 5 years in the car now. Before that I used a tracker version when Mountain biking, neither have ever steered me wrong

Adrian

 

[Ian M]

I just use Google maps on my smart phone. Always in my pocket and can even give directions on foot or bicycle.

Ian M

 

[John]

I've always preferred TomToms, I now buy my cars with sat navs built in, my sense of direction is at best, bad

I think most sat navs are pretty reliable, I've just had a quick look and I can't believe how cheap they are now, this is only £33

 

[Guest]

I bought a TomTom 2 1/2 years ago for £240 (!) but it died after two years. When buying a replacement from Halfords I considered the Garmin equivalent. The nice lad said that it had all the features of the old TomTom so I bought it. However, within a few hours I found it did not have all the features and, even allowing for it being another make with inevitable differences in usage, it (for me anyway) was much less easy to use. For example, with the TomTom you can navigate to the menu that you need much more easily than with the Garmin. I returned it to Halfords and exchanged it for a TomTom "Start 25" which cost £99 (including a 20% discount on free offer to all). It does not have live traffic that the earlier one had (but we don't live in a congested area) but unlike the earlier one it came with free European maps updated three time per year. It is very good indeed.

Features that I find very useful include being able to go more or less straight to another item without the tedious process of backing up through menus (for example, tapping the screen on one of three places while driving gets you to map view (or 3D view) of your journey, and to two other places in the menu system which I can't remember without the device in front of me); the ability to drag the destination to the exact street corner etc. when you have the town displayed (eg., the destination shows the town centre as requested then you can drag it to the sea front. Also, when you have set up a route to a town you can ask for Places of Interest there, such as Indian Restaurants, Parking, Swimming Baths. You can of course specify a destination by its Post Code. We are very satisfied with it, and it was a good price.

 

[Guest]

I've always preferred TomToms, I now buy my cars with sat navs built in, my sense of direction is at best, bad I think most sat navs are pretty reliable, I've just had a quick look and I can't believe how cheap they are now, this is only £33

The £33 job you mention doesn't look look a TomTom despite its name "Tom".

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all the replies. Are these all easy to use ?

Other thing is that living in Jersey I wanted to play with the thing before getting to London. Otherwise I may land back at Weymouth. Can any of you tell me if Jersey is included on the TomTom or the Garmin.

As an aside I am the only person to approach Hull, to go over the Humber bridge from the south end, to get onto the wrong motor way and cross the bridge from North to South then to carry on for 8 miles down that road before you come to a roundabout to return and have a go at crossing the bridge in the correct direction for Hull.

Laurie

 

[ojays]

Tom Tom One bought from a Cash Exchanger Store for £35 three years ago and not been a problem at all.

Updated just after Christmas when they do reduced price offers. They made first offer at £65, (ignored) second offer at £35 (ignored) and third offer £27-50 so updated.

Found it excellent so far.

Gregg

 

[Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds]

tapping the screen on one of three places while driving gets you to map view (or 3D view) of your journey, and to two other places in the menu system which I can't remember without the device in front of me); quote]Hmmm whilst driving??????!!!!!! Don't let my friends in traffic cars see you

Adrian

 

[Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds]

This may help you been impartial as well

http://www.which.co.uk/technology/computing/reviews/sat-navs/

Adrian

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all the replies. Are these all easy to use ?Other thing is that living in Jersey I wanted to play with the thing before getting to London. Otherwise I may land back at Weymouth. Can any of you tell me if Jersey is included on the TomTom or the Garmin.

As an aside I am the only person to approach Hull, to go over the Humber bridge from the south end, to get onto the wrong motor way and cross the bridge from North to South then to carry on for 8 miles down that road before you come to a roundabout to return and have a go at crossing the bridge in the correct direction for Hull.

Laurie

My TomTom recognises Jersey towns (Saint Helier needs to be typed with "Saint" in full). I have just set a journey from my house to Bradford Avenue, Saint Brélade. I am told it will involve 293 miles and 10 hours 25 minutes via Weymouth. (Google Maps also states 293 miles, but only 8 hours 40 minutes, also via Weymouth?)

I have also just planned a route to Malta as a test: 13 hours; and Inari (N. Finland): 39 hours, 2,251 miles. The World is your lobster!

 

[Guest]

In the works vehicle I have a Tom Tom with live updater which is excellent on motorways and dual carriage ways it shows all the lanes and which one you should be in way before you can go wrong a bit idiot proof so it suits me £120

In my own vehicle and I have had this for years a Binatone this is the bottom end of the market at less than £40 but it has never failed to get me where I am going and it is tough lives through winter in the glove box and I have lost count of how many times it has been dropped does not have all the bells and whistles but it has more than earned my respect.

Rob

 

[Guest]

Thanks Adrian.Got that and loads of info.

Thanks Steve. That is interesting. Just wonder it it gets confused on board the boat.

Thanks Rob for your info.

Amazon here I come well after choosing a model.

Laurie

 

[flyjoe180]

Whatever unit you buy Laurie, get the best deal you can on map upgrades. My missus bought a Garmin and it has life time map upgrades. I had a Uniden, no upgrades or any way of upgrading it now so be careful. As Ian said a lot of people use their smart phones, Google, Windows and Apple all have various GPS navigation systems installed. I can only vouch for the Windows and Android (Google) system, both of which are just as good as any GPS unit. You are also less likely to leave the phone in your car. I always wipe off any residual marks left by the suction cup on a GPS unit from my windscreen. Garmin are the best GPS unit manufacturers in my opinion with good after market support and ongoing map upgrade services. They also specialise in GPS units for boats and aviation.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Joe. Just did that I bought a Garmin. Toss up between that and a TomTom.

Looking at all the comments in Which, very good, Amazon, confusing and it is most difficult to choose with so many rival and contradictory comments.

What swung it to Garmin. Emailed TomTom support to find if Jersey was on the map 3 days ago no answer. Rang Garmin support in England. 5 minute wait. Yes the nice young woman said. I have relatives in Jersey and they use it. Deal done. Good support from Garvin worth a lot. Now a learning period for my long suffering brain brain

Laurie

 

[Guest]

Hi Laurie, I've also not long got a Garmin and have found it ok, I especially like the little picture that comes up of the motorway junction you are approaching and the little arrow that tells you which lane to be in. However some of the road and place names have a very strange pronunciation. I found my old tom tom got very confused crossing the channel and would take about 30 minutes to work out where we were. I haven't yet taken the Garmin across yet so couln't tell you about it.

I did find that the tom tom support to be very good as i had a problem with mine after updating it. It would switch itself on at odd times. Early one morning I was convinced we had burglars as I could hear voices, but it was the tom tom mumbling away having turned itself on. I had to send it away to their place in Scotland several times and the turn around was usually less than a week. They were never able to sort it out though and in the end I became convinced that all they did was just stick it back in the post.

For the Garmin this is a handy forum http://forums.gpsreview.net/categories/garmin-auto-forum-garmin-nuvi-forum

 

[flyjoe180]

Good choice Laurie. You'll find the Garmin intuitive and easy to use.