Which satnav do you use?

[FronteraGirl]

On the subject of getting a cheap satnav to 'replace' my useless Fronty speedo, which one do you use? Are the really cheap ones like Navman (approx £70-£80) any good or is it better to pay a bitty more and get a Garmin?

And I don't actually know how these things work, do you have to pay a monthly fee for updates or something?

[Sooty]

I've had a Tom Tom One for about 4 years now and its pretty good. However, it does depend how up to date your maps are.

My girlfriend has a Garmin and it's crap. It always sends her the long way to anywhere.

Do you have a phone with GPS? If so, Google Maps is better than both as it'll find specific places rather than just postcodes or roads.

[domino]

I got a Navman from Morrisons for £30 - it's brilliant and hasn't let me down once

I also have Garmin on my mobile which works very well too with things like cameras, traffic updates etc.

[jontera]

I got a garmin nuvi 205 for christmas from the wife.

never had one before, because I'm a man and know where i'm going even when lost..sorry on a detour /taking scenic or alternate route and it's everyone else that is driving at the wrong speed. but so far as I can tell it's a decent little thing, easy to use and since i found the reciept cheap (TJ hughes Liverpool..thing they have a website which you might be able to mail order stuff from, but don't hold me to that) cost under 70 notes. There are better out there but so far it's got me to Oulton Park quicker than the route I've used for the last 3 and a bit years and to a wierd place called Lockerbie and back ok.

I'd recomend it for a cheap little thing that will get you from a to b. Oh and it does what domino said about the traffic cameras, dunno about the other bit mind.....only used it half a dozen times...like I said I'm a man and I don't need a woman in the car to tell me what to do, got one of them at home that tells me when to get up wash the dishes etc....FOG is my only real break away fromthe life under the thumb..

well you asked..

[Jools]

I run TomTom 5 on a smartphone for directions - never let me down, and even knows forest tracks etc.

Also have Memory Map on a tablet pc, which is very cool. Funniest comment I heard - about 4 am on last year's Rally of Scotland, we were parked up doing radio control. A group of spectators wandered past,and we heard "Now that's what I call a satnav!". If only he knew it gives no directions - just says where you are!

Cheers
Jools

[john (smifffy)]

tom-tom 500 also got HP pda with tom-tom navigator & memory map installed

[FronteraGirl]

Ta for the info.

Sounds like Mrs jontera has the right idea, more power to her I say

[Dave Tucker]

I also use a tom-tom 500. Not let me down yet. Very good.

[Rich]

a seriously hacked navman f10 still runs navman softwear plus tomtom, mio maps, bee line gps,garmin plus an whole lot more

[Trugga]

[john (smifffy)]

[Trugga]

[Drift]

I should imagine it can be run on a laptop with mobile pc emulator?

[headbanging]

I have a Navman F something.

It's ok and does the job. Just need to keep it updated.

Navman do offer, for a one time fee, live traffic alerts and diversions around any jams. Never used it but have been saying for the 3 years that I must give it a go.

[furball]

On my second TomTom One, bog standard version. I do 120,000 miles a year with work so it's on all day every day during the week and it's always done me fine. The newer versions have something called IQRoutes on, which can tend to take a bit of an odd route sometimes, and it will insist on taking the M1 if I'm going anywhere in London north of the Thames (even places that are just off the M40), but so long as you know when to ignore them they are just fine.

And for reference, TomToms run a custom Linux build, so you might struggle to get it to work on microsoft unless you want to try the pocketpc version on an emulator. More info on that can be found here http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/road-runner/51892-tomtom-pocket-pc-emulator-rr.html and here http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/tomtom/77148-tomtom-how-pocketpc-emulator.html#post823955

[Fallguy]

i have a tom tom one version 3, found it ok provided it was pluged into tom tom home regularly for updates, recently purchased a garmin nuvi 765t - a lot more bells &whistles and it locks onto satelites a lot quicker than the tom tom, really pleased with it.

[Wilberforce]

Blimey...
I must be the only person here who still uses maps & atlases then??

Serious note though, I've only ever used 2 types of Sat-Nav. First was a VDO-built in jobbie in a Merc Sprinter, which wasn't particularly brilliant. Other than that, have played with a couple of TomTom's. They're pretty good, the caveats as ever being: keep the maps as up to date as possible, and have the nerve to ignore it sometimes (you can always try again if it doesnt work)

[jason]

I have tom tom on my I phone its ok but when i was round Coventry it got a bit lost and so did i,and it Nearly went out the window
I have been doing a reps job for......10 years now and i have had that many sat nav's, but i always like the tom tom .
And in my frontera i have the I player kit so it will play the direction through my speakers as well as hand fee and traffic and music

[Sir-Doris]

Regular tomtom one in the car, apart from a few new roads and junctions its never led me astray. As mentioned keeping them updated is the key.

Also have tomtom and memory map running on a PDA in the truck so I can have OS maps and sat nav in one device.

Tomtom give you free updates within a map version but you have to pay to upgrade to the new map versions which come out every year or so. However, it is possible to download the latest maps for free and crack them yourself but thats illegal and I wouldnt condone that sort of behaviour.

[huggy]