Probably been discussed before, but I guess that the answer changes every other week, anyway..... But which is the best sat nav system, both on a budget, and / or if money is no object? How about anything with built in speed camera detectors / road angel type of system? Do they actually "detect" the cameras, or do you have to tell them where the cameras are?
If you know what I mean?
Thanks,
DrS.
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Money no object: built in Sat Nav systems have the advantage of being linked to the ABS sensors so they know how far the car has gone and to an electronic compass so they know which direction as well as receiving informatoin from the GPS satellites. My VW (Blaupunkt) system even works in the Mersey Tunnel! Built-in sat navs have larger screens (6-7") and, most importantly, seem to be less likely to be stolen.
Budget: Tom Tom 910 gets great reviews and 710 is good and less complicated.
Ultrabudget: some sat navs <£100 but unsure of quality.
Speed camera warning devices
My Road Angel has a database of the speed camera locations and uses its GPS system to see if I am approaching one. The database is regularly updated by user inputs which are up and downloaded into a central database. It also has a laser detector but that is or soon will be illegal.
As far as I know, none of the built in Sat Navs will show speed cameras but the locations are available for systems like the Tom Tom. Road Angel now produce their own Sat Nav & Camera Detector which is supposed to be quite good.
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i have had tomtom on a pda for a few years now.
finally decided to upgrade and thought i would try the tomtom one. Its £179.99 from most places, a lot cheaper than all the others and has most features you need. You can easily download camera database to it.
It is very quick, very easy to use and a great upgrade from the pda version i had - now have proper post code entry.
I could see no reason to upgrade to the more expensive versions.
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I bought a Tomtom One just after Christmas when it was on offer at Halfords for £159.99. I've been more than impressed by its performance, though I have to say that I haven't experienced alternative satnav systems. A friend who has seen it was also impressed as it was much quicker and more convenient than his system which worked in conjunction with his hand-held computer thingy. [it seemed to have wires all over the place!]
For balance, I should add that my son bought a Tomtom One a month before me and it broke down after 2 months - it is in the process of being replaced under warranty.
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Prefer the TomTom to the built in BMW thing. Their Customer Service is second to none as well, chap in work broke the screen on his, he contacted them, it was collected by a courier and returned fixed for nothing.
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Some windscreens reduce the sattelite power to the extent of causing the signal to drop out on portable systems, so any purchase needs to be checked against the actual vehicle position. On a visit to France and Italy, I hired a Pug, and found that my Navman kept losing the signal. Not a good idea in Paris rush-hour. I ended up hanging the unit by its suction cup from the open sunroof, with Dearly Beloved in the back seat reading down the distances to run to next turn. Other than that, I found Navman to be almost infallible, except where cities had changed their one-way systems but not their electronic maps, e.g. Naples.
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I wok in electical retail and have a good knowledge of these systems. I have had many in my time too, all fee of couse! My Expeiences summed up as follows:
Acer N35 - pda & satnav - terrible build quality & vey fiddly
Gamin i3 - fiddly to use but works well for under £100
Roadangel 6000 (speed cam alerts too) - useless - poor build & infuriating interface
Sony (can't remmeber the model number but was a big black one) - no toush screen - worked well apart fom that
TomTom 510 - ridiculously easy to use & accurate - the only one my GF can use without instruction
My honest opinion is to go for the TomTom One, which has all you need - full 7 diget postcode, touch screen, small & smart, and uses the latest SIrfStar3 chipset for quick & accurate satellite lock-on. If you can splash out another £100 o so, the Go 510 adds camera alerts, 4" widesceen & euro maps (main routes)
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Prefer the TomTom to the built in BMW thing. Their Customer Service is second to none as well,
>>Not my experience. I contacted them re very specific errors in directions and also voice directions different from the screen directions.
There responses were totally useless.
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I bought my first Sat Nat system Tom Tom 510 couple of months ago. I've used it few times on short and long journies and it works great. What I like the most about it is the fact that it detects all the speed cameras almost half a mile before the camera and beeps loudly and flashes on the screen with the speed limit so you know what speed limit is set on the camera. Get one and I'm sure you won't go wrong with it, it cost me £299 from argos.
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Purchased a Tom Tom 710 back in December 2005, since then upgraded it to include TT traffic and Camera sites. Apart from a few times when it gets its proverbial underwear in a twist it is an excellent piece of kit.
BIL changed his Navman PDA version for the TT 910 a few months ago and he rates as much as me. The traffic system works from your mobile connected via bluetooth and downloads traffic updates either manually or automatically. This has paid for itself (about 30 euros as a download) more than once, by diverting me before I get stuck, rather than rely on traffic reports from the RDS and then trying to replan at the time.
I guess like all systems there is bigger and better for the money but the TT navigated me all the way to the south of france last summer without a hitch, including the periphique around paris.
Agree with the previous poster about the camera - extremely useful and if you pass one and it's not yet on the system - or a mobile site you can add that too, thus if you pass it again you are always warned well in advance. BIL supplements this by road angel which detects radar and laser guns as well but he doesn't seem to bother with this much now (he does about 400 miles a day in his job)
Hope this helps
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I have the Acer N35 which I've found ok. The destinator 3 software maps were a bit out of date so I updated to destinator PN.
Problems:- GPS is sometimes a bit slow to get a fix - an external antenna helps (about £15 on e-bay).
I had to get the power connector replaced under warranty.
The processor is not very powerful and the unit may not be able to run the more updated destinator software (destinator 6)
Overall though as a budget buy I could reccomend one.
Any one know which gps/system/software has the most up to date maps?
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See this month's Which? which also seems to rate the Tom Tom 510 and One as very good.
I'm stuck with my built in Kenwood in the Outback, which is very good and easy to use, but updating is expensive (new discs are £300) and I can't add on traffic info or scamera locations.
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There are some people who buy the cheapest combined satnav/pda and download tomtom software at no charge. This is disgusting.
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LOL!
I would normally give something like that a whirl, except I can probably get my company to pay for an "official" unit, anyway!
Thanks, everyone, for your comments: Most helpful!
DrS
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I tested the Tomtom One out last night on the 'shortest' route back from Maldon to Bury St Edmunds - I normally opt for the 'quickest' option. It took me on the most minor of roads that you would need an OS map-wielding genious to navigate you down in the absense of satnav. It was almost as quick as the 'quickest' option - and was about 20 miles less. I must admit, the journey would have taken longer during the daytime when roads would have been busier - I was travelling between 10.00 -11.30.
BTW - I can imagine what might happen to some of these minor roads if road-charging is introduced on major routes.
Incidentally, I can confirm that the Tomtom One works fine behind the Quickclear windscreens in my Mondeo and SWMBO's Focus.
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Apart from a Mitac, Sony and a couple of Navmans, most of our field guys use TomTom and Garmin. From what they say and when I've been out with them, there appears to be few functional differences between these two makes and it seems to come down to taste in the interface. That said, if I had to choose I'd go for a Garmin 660 on the basis that it has comprehensive mapping, bluetooth, TTS, built in, subscription free FM Traffic, which from what I've seen, works brilliantly and importantly, all that in a slim unit which you can easily slide into your pocket. Here's a decent site for the OP www.gpsmagazine.com/reviews.php
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Has anyone any experience of a Medion GPS ( sometimes sold on Aldi or Lidl)
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"Medion GPS"
Yes I have an "Aldi" one - bought it a year or so ago - it's a PNA250T (MD96800). Seemed very cheap at the time, but prices of others have fallen since.
Works perfectly well, with very few errors (it did try to send me down a cycle track once!) and is easy to use. Have used it both here and in France and added speed camera data. I also like the fact that it is "slimline" and slips into a pocket very easily when removed from car - some of the TomToms look a bit bulky for that.
However, I have no experience of using TomTom or others (apart from a rather primitive Navman PiN (which also works well after updating the firmware, but I now use that solely for MemoryMap OS 1.50000 maps when walking). TomTom may be far superior to the Aldi Medion but I can't comment on that. If you have any specific Qs on it plese post again
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Phil
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I've got a TomTom 910, which is fine, but have to say the TomTom One my daughter uses can't be beaten for VFM. Screen mount on the 'One' is easier to use, and it's as quick to route and reroute as my much more expensive unit. These GPS units rely on a database of cameras (which needs updating) as their camera alerts are based upon checking your location against the camera location database. Some units (and I believe Road Angel is one) actually detect the radar emissions.
JS
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Another vote for the TomTom One - we have the europe model, paid 219 quid before christmas, very happy with it. But can´t comment on live info, traffic updates or the speed camera database as we don´t use these options.
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got an older Tomtom 500......perfect.....speed camera downloads have saved me a couple of times, particularly the safety camera van sites....just downloaded upgraded map of Western Europe and USA & Canada for forthcoming holidays... the damned thing is invaluable
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