I dont really like the idea of satnav much and so far havent bought one and do all my driving with a pair of paper maps and the help of googlemaps.

However come a sunday evening after a weekend at a friends or on the boat there's something very tedious having to get a map out to get home, even if you dont get lost.

Ive also now got 8 points and am not looking for anymore, so while im not expecting to replace constant vigilance and a push to drive slower with technology, every little helps, and if it could blep at me when i got over the limit (motorways and sideroads) that would awesome too.


Any thoughts suggestions?

I dont want to pay more than i have to, but equally, price isnt really a driver.

I also want something fairly small/compact if possible for us in the kitcar when driving in Europa.


Daniel

tom tom
this one
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_728475_langId_-1_categoryId_165685

Edited to say dont let halfords con you onto a garmin, the ones they have in this bracket are pants. Shame as their of road stuff is about as good as it gets i believe
Edited again to say I went to buy a tom tom, i got convinced of a garmin, I tried it, it was pants, it went back with a complaint and i came out with a tom tom

[Edited on 16/7/10 by ReMan]

been very happy with my basic garmin (with europe maps). We used a tomtom thingy, again basic, down to CLM last week. Seemed fine too.
One thing, the satnav took us on a rather long route as fastest (avoiding tolls), not sure why, but I suspect it was trying to follow a main road next to the motorway. We saved an hour or so on the way back once we borrowed a proper map on th eway home and just popped in a few points to force our chosen route.
The garmin has a fair speed warning system. I need to update mine, but you can buy annual, or just one off updates for small piles of cash.

I have a Navigo from Ebuyer. It was £45 back then and comes with what I can only describe as 'pants' TurboDog Navigation.

Anyway, downloaded TomTom Navigator 7 and with a bit of code hacking now runs on the Navi.

Have just updated with the latest European map and has up to date cameras as well.

Tip for the camera's? Don't drive past them over the limit. Just keep under the limit, at all times (doesn't apply to 7's)

THESE are basically the same as the old Navigo.

quote:

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Originally posted by coozer
I have a Navigo from Ebuyer. It was £45 back then and comes with what I can only describe as 'pants' TurboDog Navigation.

Anyway, downloaded TomTom Navigator 7 and with a bit of code hacking now runs on the Navi.

Have just updated with the latest European map and has up to date cameras as well.

Tip for the camera's? Don't drive past them over the limit. Just keep under the limit, at all times (doesn't apply to 7's)

THESE are basically the same as the old Navigo.

---

I got a Tom Tom One.
Size of maps is down to the size of the SDRAM card.
Take out the original, copy it to another larger one, and store original in a safe placce.
I kept my original card, and didnt upgrade it, si I have the "day one" card as a backup.

The maps are coded to the machine, and you DONT want to loose the original software / card. That would get expensive to recover from!

I pay pocketGPS world for their camera updates. Much cheaper than the tomtom ones.

dont know if that helps.

I still have my old Navigo and have run MioMaps and Garmin software on it but Tom Tom is the one I always go back to.

I've always gone Tom Tom. Most problems people have with any sat nav is that they set their routing preference and never change it and then moan about the route they get! Also worth getting it mounted in the car properly if you want to use it on a regular basis. Mine slots into a mount I bought off ebay fitted to a small bracket on the dash with power connected, so just drop it into the mount and off you go. I cringe when I see some people with it stuck right in their line of sight in the middle of the screen.

I had an Old garmin Streetpilot and I DOWNGrade to TOMTOM

What a piece of Crap the TOM TOM is everything below the TOMTOM can;t do and the Garmin could 5 years ago

1) it won;t switch on with ignition - Sorry not feature
2) it won;t continually Beep when near a speed camera and above the speed limit - sorry not a feature
3) It was sending me up 1 way streets in Glasgow
4) It has iRoutes. WTF it's never re-routed me yet and still takes me into gridlock at Rushhour.

It's going out the window soon and i'll go back to my 5 year old Garmin Old StreetPilot

quote:

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Originally posted by mad4x4
I had an Old garmin Streetpilot and I DOWNGrade to TOMTOM

What a piece of Crap the TOM TOM is everything below the TOMTOM can;t do and the Garmin could 5 years ago

1) it won;t switch on with ignition - Sorry not feature
2) it won;t continually Beep when near a speed camera and above the speed limit - sorry not a feature
3) It was sending me up 1 way streets in Glasgow
4) It has iRoutes. WTF it's never re-routed me yet and still takes me into gridlock at Rushhour.

It's going out the window soon and i'll go back to my 5 year old Garmin Old StreetPilot

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Cheaper here:

Amazon - TomTom Europe

Good price, compact, has current speed, current speed limit and warns when you exceed it. Has a compact mounting system. Ideal.

Seems to be a fair bit of tomtom/garmin rivalry going on then! And a bit of a back water of using cheaper 3rd party devices with the tomtom software on them

I had a Palm E2 i tried to get tomtom software one but in the end gave up trying to get it to talk to its gps base and never used it.

Software updates seem key too, to make sure its uptodate, particular once you have cameras/speed locations and the like.

Can you set onthefly via points as well, if you dont like the route it picks for you or would like to tweak it to say pass a road you know is good, for whatever reason or other? Can you tell it you have a trailer (no small roads/lower speed limits etc)? Can you tell it to avoid motorways (sunny day in the kitcar) which i guess links with setting via points.

Would be nice even if you could design the route on the pc then shove it in, for convoys and club drive outs.


Daniel