Thats the problem with sat nav units the screen mount is a massive giveaway' date=' I've got a Navman iCN550 with the traffic module and the wires are a pain and it's glaringly obvious you have the unit in the car.

I am thinking about mounting it lower down somewhere and getting an external GPS receiver for it. Other than the wires it's ruddy great.

Does anyone know roughly how many sat navs get nicked every year?[/quote']

My Sat Nav is built into my Pocket PC which I take everywhere so it doesn't live in the car. Won't stop some scrote breaking into my motor to look for it though when he spots the window mount. I have however drawn a thin in permanent marker around the suction cup on the windscreen so if i have to park in a dodgy area I can remove the window mount and then put it back in exactly the correct position again when I return to the car.

Not a bad idea that, trouble with mine is it needs a 12v supply to run the traffic module (the system was a prezzie from SWMBO). In hindsight I should have put more thought into it but I didnt know about the traffice module power supply and associated cables like the FM radio antenna.

It's worth the hassle though.

If someone breaks into my car they will find my JVC HU, the sat nav, my TR-30 and a boot full of tools. I cant take them all out every time I leave the car as it's simply impractical.

And I aplogise for hijacking this thread a little and it was unintentional, I will happily start a new thread called "The expensive stuff that can be nicked from Dans glovebox". :P

I know in Sussex the local police have been putting things out for the papers to publish that they are finding more and more mounts being stolen. Even if they don't get the actual unit. I guess it makes sense, you can sell the mount on fleabay and the buyer will not worry about where its come from, they won't know.

Read about in my local paper a few weeks back.

Not a bad idea that' date=' trouble with mine is it needs a 12v supply to run the traffic module (the system was a prezzie from SWMBO). In hindsight I should have put more thought into it but I didnt know about the traffice module power supply and associated cables like the FM radio antenna.

It's worth the hassle though.

If someone breaks into my car they will find my JVC HU, the sat nav, my TR-30 and a boot full of tools. I cant take them all out every time I leave the car as it's simply impractical.

And I aplogise for hijacking this thread a little and it was unintentional, I will happily start a new thread called "The expensive stuff that can be nicked from Dans glovebox". :P[/quote']

I keep my HU faceplate in the car, I'm a lazy git and it's too much hassle taking it out each time, I'm not suprised you don't take your stuff out.

when you get home from work which normally involves sitting behind the wheel for at least 5 hours plus 8 hours on the job the last thing you want to do is take half the ruddy car into the house via your jacket pockets.

It's lazy and I bet there are more than 2 people on here that are like it.

Yeah I keep them out of view but a few sucker mounts and a de-faceplated HU is going to point any savvy ch@v straight towards the glovebox. :(

I've recently ordered a new L&K Octy which should be here early March and I am considering treating myself to a tomtom to go with it.

At the moment, I think the choice is between the tomtom one and the tt Go 300. (I say think because I'm trying to decide whether I need sat nav, or whether I would benefit more from a GPS / radar&laser speed 'scam'-era detector instead)

My mum has just brought a tt Go 500 and is quite pleased with it, but I don't need the bluetooth option for the phone or the Euro maps, so Go 300 would do the job.

However, from what I've read here, the 'one' sounds the better option.

Few questions thou:

1) Does anyone find, once the novelty has worn off, that they simply can't be bothered to use it? Either too busy or in a rush / already know where they're going / it's not worth the hassel?

2) Regarding the speed 'scam'-era downloads - do these units alert you when in standby mode? I.E. If you're browsing through the menu's or if you haven't programmed a route?

3) How do the units alert you, is it just visual or is there an audio alert too?

Alternatively, does anyone own/use a GPS / radar&laser speed 'scam'-era detector - and if so which one? Would you recommend it?

Anyone own both? Which is the more useful? Which one would you definately not be without?

Any comments good or bad - please post

Helpme:

In answer to your questions, i only use it when i dont know where im going.

Surely, if you don't use it all the time, you don't get the speed camera alerts as your driving around?! :confused:

That's the reason I can't decide whether to go for the speed camera detector instead. That way there's no excuse for not using it. I'd hate to spend

Few questions thou:

1) Does anyone find' date=' once the novelty has worn off, that they simply can't be bothered to use it? Either too busy or in a rush / already know where they're going / it's not worth the hassel?

2) Regarding the speed 'scam'-era downloads - do these units alert you when in standby mode? I.E. If you're browsing through the menu's or if you haven't programmed a route?

3) How do the units alert you, is it just visual or is there an audio alert too?

Alternatively, does anyone own/use a GPS / radar&laser speed 'scam'-era detector - and if so which one? Would you recommend it?

Anyone own both? Which is the more useful? Which one would you definately not be without?

Any comments good or bad - please post [/quote']

I have an Ipaq combined PDA and quad band phone running TT5. it talks to my Parrot combined bluetooth car kit and sat nav receiver through the car audio. So bit different to your set up

To answer your questions

1 - no always use it. Just slide it in the holder and switch on - takes 2 secs. When finished switch off TT, then screen then slide out - again 2 secs. The advantage with my set up is that the holder is mounted on the dash not on a sucker on the windscreen and hard wired. It looks more like a phome holder - so less likely to get broken into

2 You can set them up either to alert you when they are on your set route - then they only work when you have a route set. You can also set them up so that they notify you as soon as you get within a set distance (you set the distance) of a camera whether you have set a route or not.

3 Both. Most people download audible alerts (free from many places), which they set up to go off at set distance. If you get database with different speed cameras you can set them to go off at different distances. When the alert goes off the camera sign flashes on your screen until you are passed it.

Most dedicated camera detectors you can buy nowadays work in two ways.

First they have a databse of known positions and built in sat nav. So that is exactly how the sat nav ones work - the difference is you can get free databases and updates for sat nav on various sites whereas all of the dedicated camera warning units use their own proprietary system and charge you for downloading the updates.

Secondly they have radar detectors that detect a radar beam and warn you. I have never used one but have been told that this bit is often useless. By the time it has detected the radar, warned you and you have reacted (heavy braking!!) it is too late - its smile please and pay up already.

The third way - blocking the radar is illegal!

Personally I am happy with sat nav system only. Certainly would not want both - how many more bits can you stick on the dash. After all that is why I ended up with a combined PDA and phone

Hope that helps

Peter,

Sounds like a nice set up, like the idea of dash mounting rather than window suckers

Also, with the cost of some GPS/Radar detectors - you could have bought a GPS sat nav with change to spare, LOL

As said above all you can really hope for is a device that warns you of potentially annoying speed cameras - ie A roads etc. The radar detector is nigh on useles as by the time it has warned you the police would have taken a reading too.

For around £250 (or less) you cant go wrong with TT one - I too was a bit wary of the novelty value but for the ease of getting somewhere its ace. Really quick and easy to use.

As for using it everywhere -no point. A satnav will never beat local road knowledge so why try, and also I now of all the speed camera locations in cheltenham so again no point.

Anywhere where my route knowledge is hazy I will use it for the cameras and route...

Also it tells you if you are nearing known mobile camera sites - very useful to knw aso.

I say it is a good 'waste' of £250 as a £5 map will always surfice, but us guys need useful gadgets. And the TT one is ace at that...

HTH