Which SatNav?

[gensetsteve]

Without live updates any sat nav is only 10% of the machine. I pay £47 a year for the service and its paid for itself in a day. I reckon it saves me sitting in about 7 hours of traffic a week. Been years since I sat in a jam of more than 10 minutes.

[Garyjp]

Without live updates any sat nav is only 10% of the machine. I pay £47 a year for the service and its paid for itself in a day. I reckon it saves me sitting in about 7 hours of traffic a week. Been years since I sat in a jam of more than 10 minutes.

 

 

i bought tomtom go600 earlier this year saved me hours of sitting Fxxxing traffic. (i do about 40k/year) live traffic, its free for life and free map updates. up there as one of the best items i have ever bought in my life...marginally beaten by a nice bed 😃

[mendiplogs]

Had a Garmin for years, TomTom for 18 months which failed now back on Garmin.

Navigation not much between them, possibly tomtom very marginally better although it still took us down country lanes 6ft wide We use the satnav to find good restaurants when we are away so Garmin is much better unless you are happy to dine out at McDonalds. Basically POI on Garmin better imo.

Smart phone may be the way to go though

 

HI MATE i had a garmin it was no good at all tom tom all the way but now it a iPhone thanks jon

[Paul Jenks]

i bought tomtom go600 earlier this year saved me hours of sitting Fxxxing traffic. (i do about 40k/year) live traffic, its free for life and free map updates. up there as one of the best items i have ever bought in my life...marginally beaten by a nice bed 😃

 

What he said.

 

The Garmin, brand new, in my Mitsubishi, is very poor. The 6 year old Tom-Tom I was using before was better than it. Now have the go600 and link it to phone to get live traffic. Paid for itself many times over. As the traffic is shocking around here now with all the roadworks and daily accidents I even use it on short local journeys.

[Garyjp]

What he said.

 

 

 

The Garmin, brand new, in my Mitsubishi, is very poor. The 6 year old Tom-Tom I was using before was better than it. Now have the go600 and link it to phone to get live traffic. Paid for itself many times over. As the traffic is shocking around here now with all the roadworks and daily accidents I even use it on short local journeys.

 

 

i have paid for the 'safety camera' alerts. £20 for the year. also shows mobile cameras where mr plod are out and about. im not convinced about how good this is but £20 is bugger all in the scheme of things and if it does save me being the wrong side of 3 points...happy days!

[mendiplogs]

i have paid for the 'safety camera' alerts. £20 for the year. also shows mobile cameras where mr plod are out and about. im not convinced about how good this is but £20 is bugger all in the scheme of things and if it does save me being the wrong side of 3 points...happy days!

 

Hi GARY I'm told were safety camera alerts are very good but only go along at 25)30mph :thumbup1:thanks Jon

[Garyjp]

it gives you loads of warning (about 30 miles regardless of speed) just sometimes tells you there is one there and doesnt exist...mainly ones on motorway roadworks. its still bloody good tho lol

 

if you are in a traffic jam and no sensible route around..it will tell you not only the delay eg 10mins, but what the delay is, such as accident/roadworks/congestion. if you know you its only going to be 10 mins delay, i find it takes away some of the stress driving on the roads today. its not neccesarily the delay, its the not knowing if its 10 mins or an hour.

 

as you approach a queue on a motorway and still going 70, it flashes red on the display. its surprising how effective that is when you have been stuck behind the wheel for hours and concentration isnt quite as sharp as it should be!

 

you need to have a good data plan on ur mobile phone tho as it downloads the traffic data through ur phone.

[Garyjp]

...spooky or what...got an email from tomtom this morning, speed cameras alerts on special offer for a tenner 😃

[TGB]

Can it fetch a paper and make a brew ?

You can get news, (and other - sport, motoring, etc.) media on them. But they're not much use for shade eyes on a hot day or wrapping crockery when moving house.

 

As to tea. I suppose if you had a mug big enough, you could stir with an iPhone. Then again, maybe not.

[TGB]

... I,m still on the Great Britain AA road map for when I leave the shire...

I do like paper maps; my preference being the A-Z series. But I've been using them for years and had got used to particular colours for certain designations of road. Bought a 2013 atlas and they've changed all the colours round. Plus they've skimped on the ring-binding and gone with glued spine. Which results in west-east joins being lost in the great shadowy devide.

 

Was once given a new Sony satnav, only to find it needed an immediate update before it would function. After the update process failed several times. I look on the net for help, only to find Sony had recently pulled out of the satnav market; and there wasn't a software ungraded available. Hense it became an expensive present, which was not only unusable but unsaleable too.

 

They tried to return it to the Sony shop for refund but were turned away. Now I know Sony used to make great mid range speakers. But that was the last Sony equipment they or I have ever purchased. Crap pre-sales & after-sales service, from a once reliable company.

 

After that debarckle, I went off the notion of owning a satnav. There's been a few time I wish I'd had one. But then remembered the bother I had with the only personal example. I like the idea of having an iPhone app but first I need an iPhone. I could get the 'Nav Free' app for the iPod but I'd have to upgrade to IOS 6, which uses Bing Maps not Google Maps. I just don't get on with Bing.

 

Looking on the bright side, the iPhone 6 is on its way. So iPhone 5s are going to be cheaper at some point. Mind, I recently bought a £9 Nokia PAYG from Tesco. Last time I went to Spain, my mobile didn't work. Which was a damned nuisance. Lots of faffing around looking for people.

 

This time, Orange couldn't guarantee a signal with a Motorola. So I bought something which would and did work; and is cheaper than Orange. Decisions, decisions... do I get a third phone & load 'Nav Free UK & Nav Free Spain'? Or just open a phone shop.

Edited September 13, 2014 by TGB