I will be giving up my independence from satnav systems soon as I will need to do a fair bit more travelling around the country for a couple of months. Usually I just open the map, have a look, take a few way points down with pen and paper and go, but with the price of satnav systems falling, it is time to go for the lobotomy and get one.

So what is good in the cheap arena? I have seen TomTom One, a really cheap one from Medion (at aria), Navman, Sony and Garmin systems all cheap.

Any opinions or advice appreciated. Stuff like who charges tons for map updates, silly routing errors, ease of use etc.

Chris

I'm a TomTom man, but you'll likely get some positive feedback about the Garmin units too. Navman also - my Dad uses their F20 and it seems good.

I use mine a fair bit and don't notice any really annoying features really. I have the One v1. Key in my mind is reviewing any route before you start, like you would with a map, rather than following the device completely blind. It's only a machine at the end of the day, trying to match satellite info to a stored map, so it's not infallible

Steve

Hi Chris,

General concensus seems to be between TomTom and Garmin from what I've read on here.

We bought a Garmin (slimmer for one thing). Speed camera updates are around £29 per annum I belive - but have Talex anyway.

Recent holidays - very minor routing issues, 2 very tight systems of roundabouts in Exeter that must have confused the Garmin - kept telling us to take certain route and then 'Recalculating' 30 seconds later got conflicting results.

Elsewhere, no issues whatsoever. Overall very impressed with whole package (was approx £110 from eBay Nuovi 250).

Tom Tom is the default choice, it just works really well.

The Medion unit gets really good reviews as well, and I've had a medion PC and universal remote before and they were both really well made and worked very well. never tried the satnav though.

I have a TomTom and my job involves visiting peoples homes and its generally, spot on. I do get the occasional time when the map is a little out of date but its never broken down and I've been using it for about 18 months now.

I have a Tom Tom 510 that was faultless including rural southern France, it did then proceed to take us down what can only be described as a farm track just outside Halifax, in fairness tho it did lead to were it was meant to

I have a tomtom1 and am looking to update to a newer sat nav next year as im always using them for my job and certainly have got my moneys worth out of the tomtom1. have had a garmin and a michilen but wasnt overally impressed. my brother has a navman which i dont get on with. Im looking at a tomtom1 v3 for my next one so get down halfrauds and try them out. Oh if the staff get pushy tell him to shut up or you'll buy it else where.

Thanks for the replies folks. The TomTom 1 looks to be top of my shortlist at the moment. These seem to sell better than most, but I try not to follow the crowd. I can get the Medion really cheaply at the moment (mind I can get the TomTom1 for £117.50). Time to get out and have a closer look at a few units I think.

Chris

Ive been using Tom Tom Navigator 5 via my PDA for some time - its works very well. Unlike others ive used, it recalculates a new route very quickly if you happen to deviate from the original one. It uses postcodes too. I also download speed camera info from pocketgpsworld.com

Ive been using Tom Tom Navigator 5 via my PDA for some time - its works very well. Unlike others ive used, it recalculates a new route very quickly if you happen to deviate from the original one. It uses postcodes too. I also download speed camera info from pocketgpsworld.com

That is another possibility. I use a palmtom PC / phone thingy (Qtec S100)

Chris

wheres that chris (tomtom1 £117) might have to hint to my family to club together to get me one

wheres that chris (tomtom1 £117) might have to hint to my family to club together to get me one

I'd make sure it's a v3 ONE, as the maps for v2 are so far out of date and to update you'll need to upgrade to TT 7.

wheres that chris (tomtom1 £117) might have to hint to my family to club together to get me one

Makro has or had them. I am going to wait until after christmas and pick one up then. The Makro price goes up on Weds. They are V3 Cracker by the way.

Chris

AVOID ANYTHING WITH MEDION ON IT. WORKED FOR A COMPANY THAT USED TO SELL THEIR PRODUCT AND WHEN IT GOES WRONG YOU'LL GO TO HELL AND BACK FOR ANY SATISFACTION.:thumbdwn:

BOUGHT A GARMIN C300 WITH VERSION 8 MAPPING OFF HALFORDS FOR €50 AS WE WERE GOING TO WRC IN SLIGO AND NO COMPLAINTS:D

AVOID ANYTHING WITH MEDION ON IT. WORKED FOR A COMPANY THAT USED TO SELL THEIR PRODUCT AND WHEN IT GOES WRONG YOU'LL GO TO HELL AND BACK FOR ANY SATISFACTION.:thumbdwn:

BOUGHT A GARMIN C300 WITH VERSION 8 MAPPING OFF HALFORDS FOR €50 AS WE WERE GOING TO WRC IN SLIGO AND NO COMPLAINTS:D

Thanks for the tip. I am probably going with TomTom One or One XL. These seem to offer good performance for not too steep a price.

Chris

i've got a garmin (so's the brother), dad's got a tomtom and we prefer the garmin - it's just better/easier to use

it did then proceed to take us down what can only be described as a farm track just outside Halifax

I thought all the roads in Halifax were farm tracks

Sorry to resurrect his one again. Do any of the system in use allow you to locate by map grid reference?

Chris

Unsure about grid references.

Haven't really tested.

I think you may see the grid references in the GPS status though? (maps from ordinance survey)

I normally use TomTom but have been trialling the Garmin Nuvi200w whjich does work pretty well.

Having tried both out in shop, I think I prefer the Tomtom interface and graphics. Particularly useful is the way in which the Tomtom has the little icon in the bottom left telling you which way you are going at each junction as well as the map view. The Garmin unit does not give you this option, but does have a better map view. Still to decide, but would like to be able to track down coordinates or find a way to put them in. Is it possible to generate and program in your own POIs and if so, how?

Chris

Garmin 660 FM, choice of map views, user-configurable icons for your car, bike or truck, very accurate mapping, proper orientation of vehicle icon at round-abouts & exits, bluetooth integration with your phone, very fast recalculation speed, speed camera warnings (not always up to date), good for walkabout use in unfamiliar territory, good package of accessories in the box (leather cover, car and mains chargers, USB cable for integration / updates via internet, FM radio for out of vehicle use), wide-screen, etc. On offer in Halfords at the moment.

UK, Ireland and European maps enabled out of the box.

Used this last week on trip to UK and it "un-lost" me twice; once in the car at road-works and once on foot in York; expensive compared to some other systems, but well worth the money IMHO. 4.5 stars out of a possible 5. I've docked it half a star for cost and some out-of-date speed camera locations.

Tom Tom Navigator 5 on a PDA - use lots of rural roads and visit farms - postcode input is a real boon as many of the farm names are not found and no street names.

TomTom 6 on PDA using an external bluetooth GPS reciever.. never had any problems... also used a standalone TomTom though can't remember the model number which was great!

All i can say is that from my experience TomTom is the best, but only ever used TomTom (apart from my friends N95--- i won't be making that mistake again!!!!!!)

I use a PDA / phone combination, but I really wanted a standalone unit. Reading up on the Tomtom manuals, I can enter coordinates, so that is a result.

Chris

Sorry to resurrect his one again. Do any of the system in use allow you to locate by map grid reference?

Chris

Fairly sure the TT one v2 did.

Worth going into halfrauds and having a look though