I bought the Garmin 300T (thats the one with the live traffic updates) last month reduced to £99 from almost £200

It's a great bit of kit, i had a Tom Tom before and this is just better.

Depends on what you want, i did notice you can make your own startup screens for the Garmin though

Here's a couple i made earlier

The TomTom mount I got is perfectly sturdy but nice and compact.

Oh , and you can do startup screens for the TT as well

Avoid the Navmans. I have an S50 and it is truely awful. Nice looking display but it crashes all the time and there's no way to switch to a new route if you hit trouble.

are they about to upgrade the Garmin nuvi 300 ?

Argos are doing it for £90, (from 130) even though the 250 and the 200 widescreen are both £100

from some one in the trade who deals with 100's of sat nav sales a week Tom Tom units are a better product although if you have a problem thier customer service is not good! you get more toys on the tom tom units and a two year send away guarantee. They are more suited to computer literate people. Garmin units are more basic and not as well finished but if they go wrong within there years guarantee and you have purchase your unit from your frendly Halfords store's they will swap the unit over for a new one. stats show most units go wrong if at all after 2 months of use. Halfords do have a price match policy and will if pushed match internet prices! like for like

for info garmin 250 and 200 are now obsolete being replaced by 205 and 255 much improved units also tom tom 1 v3 are being replaced as we speak

I have tomtom on my PDA (did require a bit of fiddling to get the postcodes working) and also have a stand alone Garmin Nuvi 200w

I like Garmin for its ease of use and easy to update software by connecting to the PC.

TomTom standalones are basically cut down PDAs using a Windows CE platform.

Cheaper than buying a PDA and TomTom in the shops but you get more functionality.

I don't really have preference.

I have a TomTom 520 and think it's brill. I was using the MFD2 in my Octy for 2 years so was a little out of touch with the latest portable sat nav units.

I was very supprised with how easy the TT was to use. Packed with tons of features and the touch screen is a joy to use, you can even shout the post code in if you can't be bothered to type:D

Another vote for TomTom:thumbup::thumbup:

ive not used a TT but i am impressed with my dads garmin, my only dislike is not been able to put in itenaries like you can on a TT.

I vote tomtom,

I still use our now rather old 910, which has been upgraded to the latest maps and software.

For some reason, I like the tomtom interface, and also the clear easy to read display. Battery life of the 910 has always been dodgy, but it does last for quiet a few hours.

The computerised voices can be quiet funny, especially when driving in europe and you have the option set to say everything. "Follow A10 towards Bordox for 200 miles" along with many others on my recent trip through europe.

I also have TT6 on my n95, but the maps have not been updated for a while, I also have TT5 on my PDA, but again the maps are way out of date.

Yet another vote for TomTom 720. I have the traffic version, but don't really make use of it. Check compatibility with your mobile - cause the Bluetooth handsfree connection is useful - although you need to stick with TomTom voice packs for texts to be read out etc. No issues with it and used it to go down to France at Xmas and didn't miss a beat. In saying that - it sometimes struggles to get me round Bradford! Doh!

Mannyo has a good point here

The TT interface is really easy to use.

My mate has the 910 and It's rammed full of features like it can read your text messages etc and has a remote control.

Useful if you need them.

I updated someones Tomtom One (the first mk1 unit) to the latest software. It did need larger capacity SD Card.

I did have TT3 on my XDA2S and after upgrading to 5 it took a little whilst finding out where certain things had moved in the menu!! But TT5 was a lot better than 3 and 6 is the best yet although it looks little different to 5.

Garmin interfaces seem to the same. The C510 has the same menu interface as my 200w

That said I'd be more inclined to buy a TT if I was buying one. The TT1 widescreen is what I'd get.

What about the other PDA navigators like Via-michelin and co-piliot that seems to be bundled on the new Varios and XDA Orbit/Stellars?