Hope the mods don't mind this, but we've covered this sort of thing before when there's been car specific items.
Next week Aldi and Lidl have gone car accessory bonkers in their selection of weekly specials, with the highlight being a handheld satnav type thing at Lidl, although for the slightly tighter budget Aldi will be doing a quality looking chamois leather for £2.99
www.lidl.co.uk
and
www.aldi.co.uk
No connection, nor endorsement from me although my Lidl tree loppers and bike lights were a bargain the other week !
Matthew Kelly
No, not that one.
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I missed out on the cycling gear as I was up in Edinburgh at the time :o(
The PDA with sat-nav is a bargain at £349! Having a similar set-up myself, I can vouch for its usefulness.
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Just been to the Lidl local to work and they still have the cycle helmets & lights in plentiful supply. Sadly none of the bargain £12 child seats though which is what I really wanted.
Is it time to start the Pelletier (sp?) effect cool box discussion again ?
Matthew Kelly
No, not that one.
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Peltier, I think, but I'm not 100% certain.
No doubt mapmaker will know.
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Indeed - but so did you! Although I was a bit stumped by the earlier spelling, and am afraid that I didn't work out what he was trying to write.
tinyurl.com/2d4zs
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Proposing to spend more on a bit of plastic than on a whole Mercedes... what a strange world in which we live. ND, as you seem to be a bit of a whizz on these,
So these Sat Nav things, what else do you need, and what are the running costs? Do they need to be attached to a 'phone at exorbitant rates - or do they work out where they are independently? Do they require regular updating with expensive new software?
Does the PDA have a sensible level of memory, i.e. is it reasonably 'future proof'?
I presume that Lidl are selling them because they are outdated in some way. (Old trick, upload fancy normally expensive software onto knackered old computer, and sell computer to people who didn't want it in the first place, together with a system that they'd never have paid £349 for either...)
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I don't have massive experience of Lidl or Aldi, but the computer stuff I've seen there has actually been OK - good stuff (not obsolete) at good prices. I imagine this SatNav unit will be OK, but I'd be interested to know what it could do for me (do they include the GPS receiver and can it be loaded with speed camera database?).
We've never bought much in the way of food from them, but what we have bought has been OK. Their Feta cheese is better than Safeway's and half the price, ditto yoghurt, potato salad etc. I'll maybe persuade the wife to do some shopping there and tag along to look at the SatNav unit.
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From Peltier effect to Feta cheese in 3 easy posts...
>do they include the GPS receiver and can it be loaded with speed camera database?).
Rather what I was wondering - is it a standalone system?
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I missed out on the cycling gear as I was up in Edinburgh at the time :o(
You could have consoled yourself with a visit to the cycling holy of holies while there: www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk (I have no connection with them, except as a very occasional customer, but please feel free to delete if it looks like a plug).
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This is the pukka deal, ladies and gentlemen. Complete stand-alone unit, pretty much identical to mine except made by Typhoon instead of Compaq. Latest processor, more than adequate memory, accepts Compact Flash for additional expansion. A genuine steal.
Can't comment on the ability to add speedcamera locations, would need to know the software package used. If it's tom-tom, the answer is yes. If it uses Kane/Destinator then yes, but at an unacceptably high price.
You could always just look out for yellow boxes at the side of the road, I suppose.....
ND
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I had to smile at the "Running Tights - Short" at £4.99.
To me they look more like "Running Shorts - Tight", but then most clothes are tight on me... :-)
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Lidl extra virgin olive oil, and Parmesan cheese is very cheap as well.
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Lidl lasagne @ 3.99? for a large pack is great & cheap!
Roger.
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From memory of the leaflet I picked up in store, the PDA comes with GPS receiver, a 256MB flash memory card with the navigation software on it, in car charger and mounting device, case and runs Windows Mobile 2003(?) so you probably could get some speed camera position software for it as well as your usual PDA stuff.
You could probably stick some MP3s on there and play them as well.
Matthew Kelly
No, not that one.
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Yup, you can run MP3 and WMV files on these PDAs. To answer a couple of Mapmaker's earlier questions:
No, you don't have to connect the PDA to a 'phone. It will have a small sat.receiver to mount on the dash which talks nicely to the various geo-sats hovering over our heads.
Once the software is on there, it's on there. Only need to update if the govt. decide to rebuild the UK road network..... So very unlikely you will need an upgrade.
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Apparantly 10% of the UK's roads change within a year - new roads, closed roads, one-way systems, changed priorities, different speed limits, new roundabouts, bypasses etc. etc. etc.
All of which will affect the ability of the software to calculate the best route. Mine gets updated every 6 months and sometimes it makes quite a difference.
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"new roads, closed roads, one-way systems, changed priorities, different speed limits, new roundabouts, bypasses etc. etc. etc."
All that and still no street signs *sigh*. I will never understand the UK's aversion to them. I have jokingly theorized that they were all taken down during the war (so the Germans would get lost if they invaded) and noone bothered to put them back up!.
When I first moved here I bought the most expensive, comprehensive street map I could find and quickly discovered that it was useless as I could never figure out where I was in the first place. GPS seems to be the way to go.
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Thanks! So do you think that this particular will be upgradeable?
Maybe it'll go very nicely in my 1992 Audi 100 Avant (A6 shape). (Hope this one lasts longer, they seem to like nice large German estates near where I live.)
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Your new Audi. eBay purchase?
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No. out of exchange & mart. Why you ask?
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No. out of exchange & mart. Why you ask?
Just idle curiousity. We often see people on here posting about getting rid of cars on eBay but very few stories from buyers.
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Came very close to buying one on ebay last week - the V6 version - which required a new engine. Ended up going for astonishingly more than I expected, with some very fierce bidding in the last 3 minutes. But no, this was from a private seller who had had it on the market for 2 months. (He apparently had the cash pinched from him this weekend, so I hope that he doesn't think I'm one of the buyers described in HJ's guide to sellers "The best advice when taking cash is to swap the V5 and keys for the cash in a bank so you can bank it safely straight away. Take cash on your doorstep and you won't be the first to receive a little 'cash relieving' visit shortly afterwards by big, nasty men you wouldn't want to argue with or to threaten your children."
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So do you think that it will be possible to update the road atlas next year (for less than £350...)?
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Funnily enough I've just dropped an email to the makers of my iPAQ software asking about upgrading maps to reflect the ever-changing roads of Britain. I'll stick a post on here when (if) I get a response.
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Been to have a look at the leaflet.
It is running a voice & display output system called "Falk Navigator '04". A quick search on the internet suggests that this is a German system. It does claim to have maps of the UK loaded up (!). Despite a map of Karlsruhe Strasse...
3 year warranty.
Upgradeable.
And the PDA is called 'Typhoon Myguide' which is also & not surprisingly German.
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I found this earlier with a bit of googling.
tinyurl.com/35pc4
And a similar, if not the same model, just rebranded as the Typhoon.
reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/handhelds/0,39023875,...m
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For anyone planning to camp outside Lidl on Thursday morning hoping to pickup the PDA/Sat Nav system, there's a very interesting thread at www.pocketgps.co.uk/modules.php?name=Forums&file=v...7 , which discusses the origins of the base unit, it's spec and the provided software. It also very interestly makes a comparison to a "separates" system built around iPAQ 2210 PDA for around £50 more.
Hope it helps anyone considering this ....
Chad.
P.S. I know I could have shortened the URL by making it "tiny" but as many BRs will browse at work, myself included, I prefer to see the full destination before I click through. I've been passed "tiny" URLs from mates who thought it was funny to re-direct me to, lets just say, less reputable sites.
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P.S. I know I could have shortened the URL by making it "tiny" but as many BRs will browse at work, myself included...
Tinyurl and similar services are barred at my place of work because they could so easily be abused. But then, so is the Backroom.
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With regard to anyone using tinyurl.com for the purposes of diverting people to any of the \"non reputable sites\" will find their account closed without warning.
Mark, Alan, and myself check every weblink that is posted on this site purely for that reason.
Sometimes weblinks are very long, and can sometimes screw up the page width of the forum. Also a long weblink doesn\'t word wrap properly, thus making it a dead link. Tinyurl.com and snipurl.com are handy for shortening long url\'s, and we trust everyone here is sensible about how they use them.
--
Dynamic Dave
Back Room Moderator.
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With regard to anyone using tinyurl.com for the purposes of diverting people to any of the "non reputable sites" will find their account closed without warning.
I was just making clear my personal preference, I was certainly not implying that a fellow BRer would abuse "tiny" URLs - no offence intended.
Chad.
P.S. I posted that link first DD! :-)
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I was certainly not implying that a fellow BRer would abuse "tiny" URLs - no offence intended.
None taken.
P.S. I posted that link first DD! :-)
I actually posted that link earlier in the day. However, it was in the moderators mess room, as I was discussing this pocket pc with No Dosh and Mark - so only they would have been able to see it ;o) I thought is was a good idea to post it here later, only to see you had already done so. Connection problems last night, made it a real pain to edit my post.
There, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it ;o)
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i can vouch for Dave's protestations of innocence; the link was posted in the "back-backroom", where Mark, Dave and I meet to moan about you lot.
As an aside, I'm posting this from my iPAQ whilst sat in my car outside a national trust property in Dorset.
Ain't technology great?
No Dosh
mailto:Alan_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
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... the link was posted in the "back-backroom", where Mark, Dave and I meet to moan about you lot.
That certainly must be a full-time job - how do manage to get away to do any moderating?
:-)
Chad.
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"However, it was in the moderators mess room, as I was discussing this pocket pc with No Dosh and Mark - so only they would have been able to see it"
Oh I seeeeeee. Any bargains to be had get rifled by the mods first before the poor plebs get to squabble over the crumbs and left overs........
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as I was discussing this pocket pc with No Dosh and Mark....
So what was your collective analysis then?
I'm fairly inclined to go down to Lidl and have at least a good look. If the PDA had built-in bluetooth and more expansion flexibility I'd definitely buy it - all that for £350, you could hardly go wrong! Hence why the iPAQ 2210 system looks appealing even at £50-75 notes more.
Chad.
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iPAQ 2210 is £220 from www.expansys.com/ so I cannot imagine where you are seeing a price of £400 - £425. You can get an iPAQ 5550 for less than that.
I wouldn't touch the lidl with someone else's barge pole.
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I should've made it clear, the price comparison (£350 vs around £425)is for the (IMO excellent) iPAQ 2210 plus the car kit, sat nav kit and required software.
Chad.
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B4 you get too excited, this offer is not for the whole country...
**************************************************************
Satellite Navigation System with Pocket PC
REGIONAL OFFER - Only available from stores in London, the South East and the South West of England and South Wales. Check in store for availability
**************************************************************
No good for us Northeners. :-(
John R
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my favourite German supermarket is actually EDEKA...
but I still can't get that offer :(
pat
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Well, I got to my local Lidl store (Morden) at 9:30 this morning and managed to bag the last one.
I'm going through setting it up and it looks like it needs a good long charge - so I won't get a chance to road test it for a day or two.
Looks a good bit of kit, it is plug and play (good for the technophobes out there!)
But of course, the first thing you do after spending all that money is work out where Solitare is on the goddam thing...
Still, looks good value.
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I'm waiting until Monday... for the footpump (twin barrel, £4.99). Looks like good value to me!
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Dynamic Dave sent me a text at about 11:00 to say that Swindon Lidl had queues out the door and they had sold out already.
No Dosh
mailto:Alan_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
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They all probably want to get out of Swindon but can't find their way out!
Chad.
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