Which Sat Nav?

[John_Findlay]

Ok chaps and chapettes. Looking for the benefit of your collective wisdom please.

Just got £100 worth of vouchers as a Xmas bonus (lucky me) and am looking to purchase a SatNav for the car with them. I see Halfords are selling a Navman system for £99 but I know nothing about which are good and bad. Willing to add a bit to that princely sum of £100 if needs be but not too much. I only need UK maps.

Which are good and accurate, which should I avoid?

 

[AMcC]

Hi John
just bought a Garmin Nuvi 205w last week, read a few reviews first and so far it has worked really well. Only UK maps and only £99 at Halfords.

HTH

 

[USER1999]

Got a garmin nuvi350. It's a couple of years old, but if you want to get truly and utterly lost you can't beat it.

 

[Sneds]

I'd always recommend tom tom personally. So easy to use! The smallest model is more than adequate for anything in the UK x

 

[haplesshacker]

I have an early Garmin Nuvi, and a friend has a Tom Tom. Personally I prefer the TT. I just think that graphically it's a far better unit, especially when dealing wth juntions particularly on motorways.

 

[DMC]

I bought a Navman s70 in the summer,cant fault it.

 

[Golfmmad]

Aahh, Sat-navs,

I think you have to be selective where you use them.

Was on a golfing break last year in Cornwall, with a mate and his wife, luckily they drove. On the way back my wife wanted to pop in and see an old elderly friend. No problem our friends said, we'll just pop in the post code on the sat-nav.

Well, I've never driven down narrow roads like it
So narrow and hardly used, grass was growing in the middle of what was supposed to be a road that the sat-nav had directed us along. I thought we'd never get there but did eventually, and didn't want to think about what we would have done if another car was coming the other way!

Golfmmad.

 

[haplesshacker]

Garmins make a habit of sending you down grass infested tracks. It seems to think that it's the quickest route, as it's a 60 limit! Only if you're Stig Blomquest(sp)!

 

[GB72]

I also always use a Tom Tom. Decent maps and the intelligent route planning is pretty spot on

 

[Imurg]

Only had one experience of Sat-Nav
I was doing a refresher driving course with a pupil recently and the last part involved driving from Aylesbury to Welwyn Garden City - she was starting a new job there so it fitted in. Anyway, she had a Sat-Nav and wanted to use it so I let her. She followed it to the letter and God alone knows where we ended up but it was nowhere near Welwyn!!

 

[Region3]

I used to have a Tom Tom and now have Garmin.

TT is the easier of the two to use, mostly because it updates so smoothly.

 

[viscount17]

I have a Navman i520 or 530.

I don't recommend Navman for one reason - they don't update maps, they discontinue the model or the series.

Admittedly costs have come down so updating maps can be as expensive as buying a new one (in some cases) but don't forget the discounted model will be the one due for replacement, has been around a couple of years and has maps at least that old.

Doing it again, I'd go for one that updates maps - as far as I know that's only Tom-Tom.

 

[Doh]

I have a Garmin never had any trouble with it.

 

[USER1999]

My Garmin will take me off the motorway, to cut a corner involving 3 miles of dirt track, which spits you back out onto the motorway you have just left. It thinks you can save 10 seconds by driving like a lunatic down a track little wider than a foot path, when it would be way quicker to stay on the motorway.

 

[Fyldewhite]

Recently went to Paris for a week. Used friends Garmin Nuvi (not sure of model but it wasn't the cheapest). It was fantastic, pictures of signage at upcoming motorway junctions, speed monitoring and warnings of limits, ETA was spot on every time which is very useful when you have a eurotunnel train to catch or are meeting someone etc. Used it while touring the Somme battlefields and war graves which was mostly country lanes and small villages. I simply wouldn't attempt a day out like that again without one. Can't compare with Tom Tom etc but if I were buying a satnav I'd get one of these no question.

 

[Sneds]

I think it speaks volumes that people recommend their own sat navs (naturally) but most the people who have had experience of more than one brand have been recommending the Tom-Tom x

 

[DCB]

What happened to the Knowledge

Sat Navs cheating

 

[Dave3498]

I've had a TomTom for a few years now and it has never let me down. Even driving through France, Spain and Portugal, it was spot on. As with all satnavs, you have to put in the right info in the first place. The people who finish up going down tiny country lane have clearly asked for the shortest route, and that's what they get. For satnavs to be effective you must ask for the quickest route.

 

[Junior]

Tom Tom all the way for me , easy to use, picks up local hotels and landmarks, the only down side is that it does pick up every road / track under the sun so you can find yourself darting down country lanes every now and then. Always gets me to where i need to go though.

 

[Fyldewhite]

I think it speaks volumes that people recommend their own sat navs (naturally) but most the people who have had experience of more than one brand have been recommending the Tom-Tom x

Very true, just look at the skycaddie debate (...oh no not again!!)

Hovever I think (as always) it will come down to what you are prepared to pay. Tom Tom are generally very functional and affordable and therefore more people have them and consequently recommend them.

The Garmin I used in France was I believe about 300 quid new and was miles (and I mean miles) better than my sisters Tom Tom that I have also borrowed.