Which Sat Nav....

Hi Guy's

After many years of map reading in the dark and trying to seperate the moulded pages of a cheap A3 size map bought from tescos thats be sitting on the floor of my landie with wife screeming in one ear and the children in the other asking me:director: 'are you sure this is the way'..... i have decided to buy a sat nav (i think?) I love maps and map reading and it is really goes against the grain but there we are...
We travelled over 5000 miles this summer around Europe with a map which only showed the major roads...and got lost many a time who needs mod cons! but after 12hours driving and the only one still laughing is me, i think its time for a change... even if i don't use it i can say i have one!
I have a 300tdi 110csw and i don't want one which sticks to the window it will just get in the way....
So if anybody would be so kind with any suggestions i would be very grateful..

Cheers
Mark

Get to pc world. Tomtom start 25 5" screen Western Europe maps with free lifetime updates for £100. There are other models in the free maps offer too. Look on tomtom website for full details and model list on what's in the offer.

Garmin sat navs are good and they make a mount which is not sticky and just goes on any flat surface, like this:

http://www.243tcr.com/library/010-10306-00.jpg

most of stick to the window and to be fair there isn't really anywhere else to mount 1 in a fender..

unless ya wedge it in the dash somewehere.

If you'r going abroad make sure it has the EU mapping as a lot of the cheaper ones only have UK & ROI maps.

If money is no objection Get one of these Memory Map Adventurer 7000LR PLUS - 2013 SNOOPER OUTDOOR GPS SYSTEMS - Snooper but not from there lots of places do em a lot cheaper

Tomtom have those beanbag mounts too. But after using navigon, garmin and tomtom. I pick tomtom every time. Much simpler and user friendly. I have an adhesive disc on my dash and its much better than sticking to the windscreen.

You'r better buying a Samsung Galaxy s2 and using the Nav on that. Mine coped in Lanzarote fine when i went on holiday. plus you can buy whatever phone holder you please.

You do incur slight data charges though if you arnt on a decent tariff

Glb8686 said:

You'r better buying a Samsung Galaxy s2 and using the Nav on that. Mine coped in Lanzarote fine when i went on holiday. plus you can buy whatever phone holder you please.

You do incur slight data charges though if you arnt on a decent tariff

Click to expand...

Didn't think Lanzarote was big enough to get lost on

Bromsgrove Defender said:

Didn't think Lanzarote was big enough to get lost on

Click to expand...

It is if you rely on the female in the passenger seat to direct.

Glb8686 said:

It is if you rely on the female in the passenger seat to direct.

Click to expand...

Ha ha I do but then my Mrs is special, dont call her Debbie nav for nothin

legally speaking if a sat nav intrudes into swept area by more than 40mm you can get nicked .
That aside , i have found garmin to be excellent , allowing parameter selection , but like anything you tend to get what you pay for , I find the 7500 a bit big in a car but it has a nice big display and remote antenna facility so you can mount it away from windscreen . The 1490 is about half the size , has lane assist etc full euro coverage but no remote antenna facility HTSH

ps some euro countries dont allow safety camera info on satnavs so be warned

fiver for a book of maps or hundred quid for a sat nav seems a no brainer to me

specially when you can use the maps to play nowts and crosses with the kids wilst waiting for the tow truck

if you have an iphone nav free app It is really good and users report mistakes changes so far used it and spot on everytime plus free. No data charges either

Hi,
I have an inbuilt Tom Tom in my van which is great but recently fitted a Garmin Nuvi 5inch which runs all the time in my Freelander......these are good makes also......

Ian

I have a Tomtom but I don't use it. I just use the the maps on my iPhone (works better than a tomtom and the sound can be easily configured to go through my car's speakers, plus the updates happen automatically and for free) If I am going anywhere far, I use my iPad mini instead (also mountable) which has a bigger display but otherwise it's the same.

Satnavs in their original form will soon be a thing of the past once people realise that their phones/tablets can do the same, plus a lot more.

My setup looks pretty much like this except my iPad is a little smaller as it's the cheaper mini version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvF9e2ixEyo

Cres2 said:

I have a 300tdi 110csw and i don't want one which sticks to the window it will just get in the way....
So if anybody would be so kind with any suggestions i would be very grateful..

Cheers
Mark

Click to expand...

They don't really get in the way unless you get a massive screen. Good thing about a fender is that when its on the screen its near to the cigarette lighter for charging so you don't have the wire draped across the landie like in some cars.

I prefer Tom Tom to Garmin but thats just because i'm used to them and know how they work and, importantly, i am used to the screen setup on them and find it clearer.

One thing, if you do get one, PLEASE USE IT! my inlaws have one and they only use it if they have been lost for ages. I sometimes sit in the car with them and they say to eachother "which way now" and go back and forth arguing about which way they should go and which way they remember being quicker and then they think about it for a while and i think "just use your sat nav!!!"

Tomtom have the better more accurate live traffic reporting both in the UK and Europe. Punkt.

Garmin sell more units than tomtom. That said I swear by tomtom and it's traffic routing. Bloody amazing yet I swear by garmin for hand held specific units.

Garmin have some real nice interfaces which I actually prefer however the tomtom
Live traffic reporting wins me over.

I would not spend a fortune on one of the higher end models.
With the higher end models you get more bling bling. Example being Bluetooth to your phone (good look with that for speech clarity in a landrover)! The other gimmic being able to upload films onto the device. Pointless.

I would suggest physically playing with the interfaces in halfrauds /PC world etc. I would however highly recommend only buying these devices from the Internet as you have much much cheaper prices and more upto date recently realed models.

I hope this helped?

Oops I forgot to add.

If you do not wish to mount to the screen try this company or one of those excellent but expensive been bag ideas as one of the other chaps mentioned earlier.