Which Sat Nav?

[Parm]

Now that I've got my own car, I'm looking for a sat nav solution. Any recommendations?

The car is a Honda Civic and, at first, I was contemplating getting the Honda sat nav built into the dash, but, it'll cost at least a thousand pound I would have thought. I figure that a standalone device might be a better option.

Anybody have a lot of experience with sat navs? I've only really used one built into Lexus cars before.

The only thing that really puts me off a standalone device is the clutter. I don't want wires all over the inside of my car, and I don't want a big holder stuck to the windscreen.

Having had a look around myself, TomTom's latest-greatest, the GO 930T, is due to be released any second now. That, I'm guessing, is the cream of the crop. But, is it worth the £400 or more it'll sell for?

Thoughts?

[tiggerai]

I love mine - TOMTOM PDA - Meets wouldn't have happened without it!

Got Navigator5 on it at the mo, but will get upgraded soon to Nav6 so I can use it in swissland and lafrance.

[Saracen]

Personally, I rate Garmin highly.

I travel all over the UK and have, on a number of occasions, travelled with colleagues with other GPS systems. We've compared routes, with two or more systems running simultaneously, and I've yet to see anything outperform Garmin. Other units compared have included Road Angel, Navman and, of course, several varieties of TomTom. And, just to show it's not an irrational bias, I also have TomTom on my PDA and a TomTom One standalone.

The reasons I prefer are are numerous, but the most important are :-

- quality of maps
- ease of use
- superb screens

However, I'm a bit out of touch with current models.

My point, though, is don't dismiss Garmin. TomTom are probably the brand that's best known to the mass market, but in my opinion, Garmin represent the quality end of the market. Why? Because they've been at it for a lot longer, and because they do systems targeted at a wide range of users of different types, with different expectations .... and different budgets.

Having owned and used several systems, personally, I'd take a lot to coax me back to TomTom from Garmin. But it's each to his own in terms of what appeals to you, and the feature sets are a bit different.

[Flibb]

I prefer a phone / PDA based system, that way you can use whatever software you like. The Brodit clips and mounts are the best bet for permanent mounting, you can get these for monst systems including phones and stand alone.

[fatfisher]

I use Satnav on my phone (N95) Works awesome! i use tomtom 5 but have to use external gps! But still seems to be top notch!

[Saracen]

Oh, and I don't know about TomTom, but Garmin have a sort-of sandbag mount with that anti-slip material on the bottom, as an option. I was astonished at how well they worked, and how stable they are, even under heavy braking. No screen suckers are necessary, if you want to avoid them.

[Lee H]

I love the Garmin XT for the N95.

Take a minute to aquire satellites using the internal GPS but it's very fast in reacting to changes

[Steve A]

TOMTOM all the way for me, i use it my N95 and it works great even if i have to use a seperate GPRS reciever.

[dave87]

Personally, I rate Garmin highly.

I agree with Saracen.

Having used a Garmin Streetpilot 2720, its fantastic. Their Nüvi range is pretty damn good in terms of screen visibility and general user layout. The best bit is it'll fit in a suit jacket without weighing the jacket down, and as such you don't have to leave it in the car, and indeed can even use it on foot.

The maps and routing software are as good as I've seen, and they are quite reasonably priced now they've got competition from the likes of TomTom, Navman, RAC even.

[dave87]

Oh, and I don't know about TomTom, but Garmin have a sort-of sandbag mount with that anti-slip material on the bottom, as an option. I was astonished at how well they worked, and how stable they are, even under heavy braking. No screen suckers are necessary, if you want to avoid them.

Yup, came as standard with some of their higher end SatNavs for a while, probably still available online for not very much either.

I dare say you've extensively tried it in your car Saracen, and it copes admirably in a Porsche Boxster giving it a bit through the twisties (Parent's car).

[Parm]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!

Which of the Garmin is the cream of the crop? It's frustrating when manufacturer websites list a whole load of models but don't explicitly state which are newest!

When I had a look at the new TomToms, I noticed they had features which revolved around the idea of people using them. I can't remember what the features were called, but the device basically collects route times, road data and so on from all the users and collates it to make the whole service better, yada yada. Sounded good in theory, don't know if it actually is.

There seems to be quite a few choices, so I should start by crossing things out:
I don't want Sat Nav on a phone, I've gone off the idea of big bulky phones, I prefer to use my phone(s) for calling and texting only.
I don't really need a Sat Nav that I can carry around with me, can't see myself ever carrying one around.
I'd like to leave the Sat Nav in the car, but, I'm aware that it needs to be concealed to not attract a potential break-in. Therefore, I'd want a stand/mount that can be hidden away easily too.
I don't plan on using the device for music, movies, photos etc, just the sat nav is what I need.
That said, I do want the sat-nav to be very good. Accurate maps, traffic data, good sound, crisp clear screen and no delay/lag.
I don't want a subscription charge - do most of them have one?

Probably a long shot, but I don't suppose any shops let you try Sat Nav devices out?

[Rave]

I have a Navigo from ebuyer which cost me £60. A little bit of registry tweaking and I have got some other software running on it fine.

They don't sell that model anymore but they do have a widescreen model with a larger and higher res screen:

Navigo GPS Sat Nav - UK Map, 4.3" Widescreen, Full Postcode Search ALSO plays MP3 & MP4 - Ebuyer

I would be tempted to upgrade, were it not for the fact that I've only used my current one in anger approximately three times since I got it. I only really wanted a satnav for the accurate speed reading, and for the ability to take random traffic avoiding diversions on the rare occasions that I undertake a journey for which I'm not certain of the route.

[dave87]

Unless you want to spend big money (£600-1k) then the Nüvi 7xx(t) might be the one to look at.

[Parm]

I'm definitely wanting to spend less than say £400, tops.

[dave87]

Yup, I'd look at the Nüvi 7xx(t) range, for the basic 710 you are looking £250ish, upto £350-375 for the 770T

[Vimeous]

Don't use them myself but I've only ever heard positives for TomTom kit.

Ref Garmin
My father has one.
He bought his because his new phone didn't have voice activated calling and the Garmin does via bluetooth. He like it alot
The only blot has been this week when he received a compulsory update to the device and he has been unable to reconnect his phone since.
Might be a one off (not investigated it fully yet) but always interesting to see how support reacts to issue like this.