Which Sat-Nav?

[Dareos]

not entirely sure whether my advice (and advice it is, not sales pitch thanks ) is welcome, but do not get TMC RDS traffic addons, they suck basically. If you have an unlimited data package then the extra subscription to TomTom plus is worth it for the traffic updates.

[mycarsavw]

not entirely sure whether my advice (and advice it is, not sales pitch thanks ) is welcome, but do not get TMC RDS traffic addons, they suck basically. If you have an unlimited data package then the extra subscription to TomTom plus is worth it for the traffic updates.

What he said.

You have a radio, you have eyes, you'll soon have SatNav, you don't need anything else.

If you know there's a jam up ahead (on mine, up to a few miles) you can program the SatNav to take you round it by telling it there's a road block. I've used it a few times and it works ok. Just ok, nothing more.

[Dareos]

Just had a report from a client that the Via Michelin 960 appears to be missing a whole lot of postcode info, not sure whether this is an isolated case or not, but will update as i hear more

[GeorgeTuk]

My Garmin i3 was £160 (its now £140) and works great. Not the biggest but the interface is so easy adn its nice and small so you can take it out of the car. Fine with Continental driving (auto swaps sides of the road), full postcode searches and one small mistake in 2 years of at least twice monthly use.

[smallstool]

TOM TOM 910 for me!

Gets me to Spain without looking at a map.

Works very well and the hard drive for mp3's, talking books etc is great.

[LWA]

Just bumping this thread as I'm after a sat nav unit.

Is the advice above still applicable (TomTom One, Navman F20 etc) or should I be looking at another unit?

[Saracen]

Personally, I still like Garmin, Leon. But a lot depends on exactly what you're after, and of course, budget. When I bought the last unit (nearly a year ago), the screens on the Garmin Nuvi series were, in my view, significantly better than the TomTom equivalent (910). By that, I mean they were brighter, clearer and particular with strong backlighting at dawn/dusk, FAR easier to see. In addition, my experience has been that Garmin maps and routing algorithms are as good as any and better than some. There certainly have been issues with exactly how up-to-date some TomTom units have been, especially the basic UK ONE.

But then, at least in the consumer sector, TomTom's marketing has led them to have a huge marketing lead in customer awareness. But ..... if you look at the extent of the range, you'll find Garmin do some fairly high-end commercial stuff too, as well as off-road handhelds, marine, etc.

Garmin, it seems to me, have the Rolls Royce end of the market in terms of reputation and background in the field. Whether that carries over to the budget end of the consumer market or not? Dunno.

But Garmin may well not offer some of the consumery features of TomTom, like (at the price point I was looking at) the 20GB hard drive of the TomTom 910. They offer MP3 playback, but from SD Card. However, I decided (and was right) that I was never likely to want to use MP3 playback from a SatNav, so it didn't matter if or how it worked.

All I can really suggest is to work out what features you actually want, then decide accordingly. Maybe, like me, you want the core SatNav, or maybe you care about bells and whistles.

[Grim Reaper]

I would go for Tom Tom One - cheap, easy to use and functional.
Alternatively get a smartphone with built in GPS (sirfstar III) and then get a crap mobile which comes with free line rental (effectively making your GPS free vs the cost of having a mobile which I need anyway) and install tomtom on it - eg Mio A701.

I have both and am very happy with them.

[LWA]

Thanks both for the very prompt replies. I shall head over to UK Hot Deals to see what kind of prices the afore mentioned products are going for.

Thanks again.