Which Sat Nav?

A snowHead

Looking to buy a Sat Nav to get me out to the Alpes a couple of times a year as well as around this country. Can anyone recommend a good model etc. Never had or used one before. Can i buy one with European maps installed already. Are ski resorts on the system? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

A snowHead

I've used TomTom for about five years, inlcuding driving around Italy a few years ago. It's always been spot on. The only time when I've got in to trouble (Saturday rush-hour Bristol) was when I ignored it.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

garethjomo, I have a TomTom 910 excellent bit of kit includes european mapping and lots of other place I will probably never need!

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I'm about to use my TomTom 300 (old model but recently upgraded maps of western europe) to get from Geneva to la Clusaz end of January - this will be the first time I've used it abroad so will let you know how I get on.

I can recommend the TomTom for use in this country - wouldn't be without mine now.

Just make sure you buy one with European maps - I believe the tomtom one only comes with GB Map.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Tom Tom gets my vote too. It can get a bit snarled up in city centres abroad but generally a cut above yer average road atlas

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Can none of you numbnuts read a map or remember more than one instruction on a list rolling eyes

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

rob@rar, Let's see, it wastes resources, dulls what's left of our minds, makes us zombie-like reliant on technology that is known to be erratic, for the most part they are redundant and the number of times I've seen people touching the bloody things whilst driving is up there with the to$$ers with mobile phones wedged tween shoulder and ear and a notepad and pencil working their magic on the top of the steering wheel.
Their ubiquity is only equalled by the incompetence in their use.

Masque, like most things, sat.nav can be used intelligently or it can be used stupidly. I don't abdicate all responsibility to the box of tricks on the windscreen or in the dashboard. Owning a sat.nav doesn't make otherwise sensible drivers into numpties, and for many, including me, it makes us better drivers on unfamiliar roads.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

rob@rar, can't you smell fish? . . . and there are an AWFUL lot of numpties out there Shocked

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Masque, mostly fishermen...

snow reports

Masque, yes, but with TomTom I can get from any postcode to any postcode in another of 13 countries. If there's a traffic jam I just get diverted. As I said, I've never had trouble with mine. Anyone that finds their SatNav system erratic or unreliable isn't using it properly.

I guess what make SatNav the best gadget I've got is that it doesn't matter where I am, I can get somewhere without having to get online, or find a shop that sells local maps. A UK road atlas form the AA is about 500 pages long, and that won't even get you into Birmingham city centre. My SatNav will fit in my pocket and will get me into a specific car park, garage, hotel, pub, PC World, ...

I occasionally carry mine with me when on city breaks when it becomes little more than a map.

You know it makes sense.

To get back on topic, I occasionally use a TomTom 910. It's easy to use (especially if you ignore all the extra features like bluetooth phone function, mp3 player, etc) has pretty good battery life (so no trailing power cables), has a built-in hard disc with Euro and North American data, and seems to hang onto GPS signals very well (good for cars with athermic coated windscreens). The only drawback is that the size of the screen is much smaller than the sat.nav I normally use, so it takes a bit of getting used to.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I must admit I am sympathetic to Masque's point of view. I do not do enough driving to need one. I know of others in the same position, who only use the car to drive to the golf club, who agonise over which model of Sat Nav to buy. There is an element of keeping up with the Jones's involved.

I just have no interest in a researching a new electronic yoke I have no real need for. You also have thieves hunting for Sat Navs. People remove them from the car, but thieves still break in on the chance it is hidden. Who needs that ? In time, all cars will have them as standard. Until then, I will do without one.

A snowHead

I recently bought a HP iPAQ pocket PC/PDA with built in TomTom Navigator 6 Sat Nav. I am very impressed with its features - it comes with the usual Sat Nav car windscreen removable holder and mains and car chargers. In addition to the Sat Nav facility, being a Windows pocket PC it comes with usual Mobile PC software, including Windows media player, so I can download and play music and video files, and being bluetooth and wifi enabled I can send and receive e-mails and access the Internet.
The exact UK model no. was rx5935, (this comes with maps for UK and all of Western Europe built in). The HP technical spec is here. It comes with 2GB rom built in, of which the built in software and Western Europe maps take up just over 1.7GB, leaving about 260MB for additional user downloaded files (e.g music tracks). However, there is a SD card slot, and I have just bought a 2GB card for £12 and purchased and downloaded from the TomTom website the maps for USA and Canada (for 100Euros) since I will be doing a motoring holiday in the US in April.

An independant (US magazine) review of it is here

A snowHead

tom tom one europe should be good, certainly priced well

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

If travelling to the alps, check your sat nav,as they do not always consider that alpine passes close in the winter Puzzled

I have had lots of phone calls from people saying 'We have just to come over the pass & will be there in 1 hour'. 4 hours later they turn up after back tracking many miles.

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Might be worth a quick look at some GPS or SatNav forums. TT seems to be the most popular and for many people it works just fine but it does have bugs and the maps (along with the other companies) are a couple of years out of date. The main gripe people with have with TT is the (lack of) customer service if things don't work.

I use TT 5 on a PDA and for the most part it works well, but also has a tendency to take me down single track roads sometimes even though the main road takes no longer, and this is on the 'fastest route' not the 'shortest route' setting.

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I woudl recommend a PDA with a built in GPS. If you are only gping to use it in this manner, then ebay is stuffed full of them. One a couple of years old is more than ok. Do an ebay search for "yakumo delta 300" for example.

Two or three advantages to these.

The software is independent of the device, so you can just buy it or, aherm, download it from a torrent site.

Tom Tom software for example is available all over the place and you can make up your points of interest, for example, ski resorts, motels and what not.

The little rubber sticky thingy means you can pop it in your hand luggage and wack it on a hire car window.

At £50 a piece, its not going to break the bank if it gets damaged/nicked.

Get yourself a 2gb SD card from ebay for a tenner and wack on 3 or 4 country maps if you want. No problem.

Updated maps and stuff for tom tom - available all over the place.

Use mine in Europe all the time - no drams.

Help!!

Which Sat Nav?

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