My old man is after a satnav, he doesn't need anything flash, just solid and reliable. He won't be driving outside the UK.

He doesn't have a PC, we will update it when he gets it from mine, then would hope not to have to do anything for a couple of years !

I have shortlisted it to these 3, any opinions on which is best, or what decent alternatives you would recommend for the same money ?

Garmin Nuvi 50 £88

TomTom start 20 £95

TomTom XL2 £89

The Garmin is a nice simple unit and is easy to use.

Personally I prefer Garmin to TomTom, so I might be biased.

I have the Tom Tom go Live, very reliable and easy to use.

i have a garmin, had it for 5 years now, never had a bother and that easy my Gran managed to use it !!

Im on my 2nd garmin,my old one lasted 5 years before it started to play up,my girlfriend has a tom tom & she prefers my garmin,best thing is to pop to your nearest halfords & try using a few to see what you like best.

Thanks guys, I don't know if the local Halfrauds has any of the above, when I checked online it was a case of getting them in to order :think:

I am guessing the ones with traffic alerts etc need a subsciption ?

WE've a Tom Tom XXL was a bit more than that when we bought it but I have seen it for £90ish.

Might be better to look for a bigger screen if your old man's eyes are not as good as they were. Lane guidance is good to have.

The Tom Tom has been completely wrong on one occasion, and the map updates are quite expensive.

Bought a TomTom XL for my wife in November. Been fine in terms of navigation although it is somethimes a little slow to pick up GPS signal when activated. Nice big size and pretty easy for her to use. If I know she is going somewhere new I will set up the place as a favourite, quite easily so she only has to look in that list for destinations.

She struggles with it on complicated roundabouts but I think thta is driver not sat nav to blame.

Got an old Garmin (3 years old) and now a new Tom Tom live. The Tom Tom has more toys on it but the maps seem more up to date on the old Garmin ! at least around where I live. The Garmin is also a doddle to use, I would go for the Garmin.

I have 2 Mio sat navs, bought very cheaply from Tesco direct. One is a 3.5" jobbie and cost around £30 (including a free map update). The other is a Mio 612, featuring a 5" screen, lane guidance, safety cameras and a free map upate. I saw this on hotukdeals and managed to get it for just over £40, with a -£10 voucher code.

My old man is after a satnav, he doesn't need anything flash, just solid and reliable. He won't be driving outside the UK.

He doesn't have a PC, we will update it when he gets it from mine, then would hope not to have to do anything for a couple of years !

I have shortlisted it to these 3, any opinions on which is best, or what decent alternatives you would recommend for the same money ?

Garmin Nuvi 50 £88

TomTom start 20 £95

TomTom XL2 £89

I've got a road angel 7000 gathering dust if you want it. £20 plus postage, not the best sat nav in the world but it's cheap!

Thanks for all the input guys, we went with a Garmin Nuvi 50 in the end, should be here today

I've got a Garmin Nuvi 1390 and it is dire. Hopeless in towns and has a habit of changing to a nearby location if you touch the map screen. I've set it on fastest route and it has still taken me through town centres in rush hour rather than going a few extra miles up a motorway. Spoken directions are poor. It doesn't give enough warnings at roundabouts and tells you to turn into a road by name, as if you know the name of every road you are turning in to! My £40 Navigo was much better and as it was Windows C you could put other system maps like TomTom on to it so it was more versatile.