Sat-nav. Brief review.

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James.UK
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Sat-nav. Brief review.

Post by James.UK »

I recently bought a Garmin wide-screen Nuvi 200 sat-nav.. And it does what it sez on the tin. :D

Easy to use, clear voice info, sharp maps, and large, easy to see/understand onscreen icons to touch as required..

It has several usefull options, the one I like is, no matter where you are, you can look up local info such as, nearest garage, shops, hotels etc etc.. :D

I also bought a 230v mains trickle charger, and a USB lead for it as extras..

All things considered, it gets 10 out of 10 from me.. :D ..
.
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Post by XantiaMan »

Got a TomTom One here, had it since October 2006, best thing i ever bought!
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Post by alan s »

Over here in the colonies, they can be good and bad depending where you use them.

GOOD: Travelling back on a 1000 klms trip it tells me to turn right at a junction I normally go straight ahead at. To me it appears to have me doubling back, so I grab a normal road map and see it shows what appears to be very small tracks, so decide as we're ahead of schedule, we'll go with it anyway. I find a lot of roadworks have been done, so perfect road and I save 87 klms as a bonus....happy!! :lol:

BAD: Different brand and I'm driving to the big smoke on a highway I know well. Halfway down a range, it springs to life and tells me to turn left!! :shock: There is no road there, but a drop of around 10 - 20 metres, through a fence, over another embankment and into a river. :oops: Coming home, it tells me to turn there again. We suspect it may be an old cattle route that possibly hasn't been used for about 50 years.
Same trip, we log in where we are and leave the City heading for home.
It seems a strange way to get out of the City from where we are, but with the constant roadworks and redesigns, we take it on face value and follow instructions, see what appears to be a major road looming up and when we get there are advised "in 50 metres, turn right" which is the road coming off and on the major bridge which carries 8 lanes at that point, has a "no right turn" sign on it and no traffic lights, so have to turn left and find out own way out of the place, because unlike the first one we had which I think was a Garmen Navman, which used to 'recalibrate' whenever you took a different option, this one kept insisting you turn around and follow it's instructions which on that bridge, one of the busiest in the Southern Hemisphere, isn't a real good career move.
I agree though, bloody great thing particularly when not in familiar territory, but over here they alter the joint so often, they don't seem to be able to keep up with all the changes. In more established and stable environments, would be priceless.


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Post by Xaccers »

I have Joanna Lumley giving me directions, and calling me "darling" when I arrive *swoon*
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Post by elma »

I run tomtom on a pda and it's fairly good, although slow to boot up.
Do get into the occasional argument though with one way systems and it telling me to turn down roads with big signs that say I can't though.

Also tried navman which was rubbish.
Consistantly on the journey between north and south wales it would just decide to head for London.

Next time, sony phone and tomtom. My mates sony phone kicks up tomtom in seconds.
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Post by philipte »

I can't afford a TomTom, I have to make do with a MapMap :lol:

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Post by CitroJim »

XantiaMan583 wrote:Got a TomTom One here, had it since October 2006, best thing i ever bought!
TomTom gets my vote. I have a TomTom One like yours Gareth, basic and does the job a treat. I was given a subscription to the PocketGPS speed camera database which gives the location of every known speed trap, including known mobile spots, SPCS and potential ones. As a bonus, Vicky Butler-Henderson (of 5th Gear fame) warns you of them in that gorgeous voice of hers.. :P

Dad has the RAC one with Route 66 mapping. Whilst not quite in the TomTom league, still extremely good for the price and a doddle to use. :)

I did, for a while, have a Sony. I just could not get on with it, far too complex and fiddly. One plus point with it was the sucker. Absolutely brilliant, unlike the TomTom one, which is rubbish.

One tip, wipe away any rings left on the screen by the sucker. If low-lives see these rings they will know you have a satnav and break in to your car on the off-chance youve stashed it out of sight somewhere in the car.

I thought it unlikely until two of my friends lost side windows because of this :evil:
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Post by James.UK »

Does the unit have to be on the screen? How about up above the shade-slider between that and the sunroof? having its power cable coming down should not be overly intrusive?..

Admitedly I go off the voice fingy and don't bother to look at the maps much as up till now I have only used it in areas I am familiar with just to see if-how it works.. :wink:

Now I need a new-better car radio, as mine (original) is losing its memory and channels every 10 mins! lol.. But I will start a seperate thread for that.. :D
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Post by mezuk04a »

Ive had to borrow tomtom ones after my pda died and the suckers are very poor. On a trip up to a hotel for a course after work, it fell off and ended up in the passenger footwell on three occasions, not very safe whilst driving.

Was given a Packard Bell one for free off my B-I-L and although not as fancy and user friendly as others (especially the tomtom), the sucker/cradle is by far the best and for free it does a good enough job for me.
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Post by MikeT »

I thought I'd add my recent experiences to this thread... (warning: it's a long read!). My requirements were for a portable 400MhZ (or better) SatNav device with up to date UK maps & free speed camera database, that's inutitive, easy to read and use.

1. First off was actually an impulse-buy while I was food/fuel shopping in Tesco's - Becker Traffic Assist - was the last one the shelf, £79.99 with UK, Ire & European maps on a 2GB SD card & CD! I asked if it gives speed camera alerts but the assistant couldn't help. She did remind me that if I didn't like it I could get a full refund within 21 days, so the deal was done! :)

Talk about German engineering! It's a robust, large display unit with quality stereo speakers (1Wx2) very easy to use, intuitive and offered both MP3 & photo players. The spoken directions were very clear, prompt and with a nice natural voice. Apparently it does support speed alerts of some kind (not necessary speed cameras?) but there's a get-out clause about "depending on country" or something daft like that. Either way, it did not alert me to any cameras and there were no relative menus to configure - which was the reason I stated to get my refund.

2. Money back in my pocket, I saw a ViaMichelin X960 in Maplins for the same price and bought it due to it boasting speed camera alerts with free updates for life. In short, you get a fantastic range of Michelin's guides built-in to the Points of Interest categories but only covering UK & Ire (unless you pay another £30). Absolutely amazing amount of information about the best places to stay, eat, visit etc, etc, etc. There's even more functionality if you combine it with the complimentary website (see ViaMichelin.com for an idea) - too much to recall & list here. The SatNav was a noticeably smaller display (3.5in) and less intuitive than the Becker but pretty straight forward to use. What I didn't like was the cradle arrangement, very fiddly to setup and unnecessary awkward to remove (for when parking in chav territory). After several days playing with it I found it had a "motorway mode" which adapts for high speed driving very well. Additionally, you can set speed warning thresholds for all roads (i.e. warn me when over the speed limit; but see problem below) as well as giving alerts for fixed speed cameras so I was pretty impressed with this little unit. However, it had no MP3 or photo capability (yet it shows Michelin's Green Guide photos! And you can even create your own on-screen icons for your "favourite places" (POI) which caused me to giggle to myself as I thought of the possibilties! :lol: ) What made me decide to take it back for a refund was the constant nagging of speeding when I was clearly under the limit! i.e. When I reached 37mph in a 40mph zone I got nagged. Ditto for 38/39/40+ etc. I soon began to suspect the unit classed all single-lane roads as 30mph limits as even in a 50 limit I was being nagged at 37+mph. I called tech-support and they told me it was a bug that should be fixed with the next update but were unable to tell me when this would be.

3. So I took my money next door to Halfords where I had a choice of two other SatNavs for £10 less :lol: The LG N10 and the Navman F10. Both had claimed to have speed cameras but the Navman stated you pay thereafter £40 per year!

So I went for the LG. This SatNav was not so good. It didn't recognise my postcode (the other two did) and the touchscreen menu "hung" for about 5 minutes every time you entered a postcode it didn't know (even my local DVLA office wasn't there). It was obvious this SatNav's map was inaccurate rather than outdated. Additionally, although it gave speed camera alerts, the speed camera menu was ghosted out and unavailable :? And the voice!! :twisted: It was synthesised! And with poor punctation to boot!! i.e "At the roundabout, follow the.....roundabout. Second exit." and then, as you got onto the roundabout it repeats..."Follow the......roundabout. Second exit"

Anyway, I kept it for a while as Halfords have a 30-day return policy giving me some time to play with it before returning it to take the Navman for a test-drive :wink:

But that was my downfall. When I returned to Halfords, they asked if I'd like another model (suggesting a Tom-Tom at £60 more) but when I went to point out the Navman I wanted, I noticed it's price had gone up by £20! :cry: ...... Then again, every cloud has a silver lining......

4. So I took my money and wandered next door into Maplins again. Well lo & behold, at the bottom of their SatNav display, was a new model (Keomo) for £69.98! Ch-ching! 8) so I bought it. However, the spec on the box didn't match the contents. The claimed 1GB SD card was actually only 256MB. The Western European Maps only covered UK & Ire and the mains adapter was missing.

That aside, it's not a bad package for the price as it plays MP3's, photo's and video! I was chuffed with that but not so about the missing components (according to the box) and immediately took it back only to find it was the only one in stock and they had no plans of ordering more - the best they could do was offer me a refund. I actually wanted to keep it so asked if we could "cut a deal", thinking I could get more money off here! :P

Instead of cash-back, I was given an additional 1GB SD card (RRP £39.99) and USB mains adapter (RRP £19.99) off the shelf. I was told the speed cameras & European maps could be downloaded off the website for free so left it at that.

All in all, it's not quite as intuitive as the Becker, but we get along ok. I downloaded the speed camera's but there is no EU mapping to download for free....... What appears to have happened was I bought an ex-display unit that was originally priced at £229. This lower-price version is the same unit but without the EU maps and power supply..... they obviously haven't realised the box still lists the original contents!

Considering I got four free test-drives of different units, had originally budgeted for £90 and eventually got this one for under £70 (plus an extra SD card and mains adapter) I'm happy enough. 8) It even comes with it's own pouch; and the cradle is a doddle to use/setup/remove. The MP3, photo & video players are the icing on the cake for the price.

Bravo Tesco, Maplins & Halfords for their no-quibble money-back guarantees! That's the way it should be IMO.
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Post by MikeT »

Sorry, double posted
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Post by elma »

citrojim wrote:
XantiaMan583 wrote: One tip, wipe away any rings left on the screen by the sucker. If low-lives see these rings they will know you have a satnav and break in to your car on the off-chance youve stashed it out of sight somewhere in the car.
Thats exactly why I run mine on a pda, I bought the one that wedges into the dashboard in front of the speedo perfectly to avoid those tell tale marks.

Growing up in London made me suspicious and paranoid
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