Which one do I want?

gtijon · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 17, 2008 Posts: 4

I'm after a sat nav. I want the following things:

1) Getting where I'm going, without being directed down back roads.
2) A windscreen mount that stays put, or a simple to fit permanent mount.
3) Speed camera warnings.
4) TMC *if* it's worth having. It'd be nice to be able to listen to CDs without having to tune into the traffic on Radio 2 every 15 minutes.
5) Small enough for me to remove and carry around easily. I often have to park up in dodgy areas in the middle of the night.

Bluetooth would be a bonus but it's not important.

I'd like it to cost £150. Less is better because I'll be less upset when it eventually gets nicked or becomes completely obsolete.

Any ideas?

mikealder · Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 5:01 pm Post subject:

A TomTom One Third Edition with RDS-TMC would fit the requirement and just within budget, anything more in way of extra capability would be more costly.
To answer your specific points:

1/ Any Sat Nav will get you from A to B, some do it better than others, Garmin have a nasty tendency to go for country lanes due to the stupid road classification - it treats any road with National Speed limit classification as higher speed than you would perhaps drive at. You can turn off the unpaved roads to reduce this but it doesn't remove the stupid road classification they use.

2/ There are options from companies like Brodit that offer custom vehicle mounts which are far better than the supplied mount, that said the TomTom mounts don't fall off as long as you keep the screen clean.

3/ Speed Camera Warnings, use the ones available from this site, they are considerably more comprehensive than any other offering. You also get the opportunity for a free lifetime membership should you report a new camera first (subject to verification).

4/ TMC - A very big if, there are still issues with reception in the UK which plague all RDS-TMC irrespective of manufacturer, this is very much location specific.
Once you sort out reception the other issue is data reliability which is not too good in the UK, I would never use TMC data to re-route, I tend to use the road signs and radio broadcasts to work out a more realistic view of what is ahead.

5/ The One Third Edition is very easy to slip into your pocket, it has no Bluetooth capability, if you want that for hands free consider the TomTom 520, but it will cost slightly more than your budget, very well worth considering though as the x20 series are far superiour in terms of capability.

Take a trip to your local Halfords and have a play around with a few devices to get a feel for them, then ask a few more questions if need be before purchase - Mike

gtijon · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 17, 2008 Posts: 4

By the sounds of it, TMC isn't going to be worth having - if there's traffic in my local area, I can find my way around it easily. It's traffic when I've got to travel a couple of hundred miles in an area I don't know that would cause me problems.

I've been told that it's possible to install Tomtom 6 on a lot of smartphones, PDAs, cheapy sat navs etc. Is Tomtom 6 much worse than the current software? My understanding is that you can still get up to date maps but the software's not as flashy. Would that be a viable proposition? That way I'd be able to have one device that does a variety of things, which would be nice.

It'd also be nice as these devices tend to have expandable memory which means EU mapping, MP3s in the car etc. would be a possibility, whereas the Tomtom One looks pretty non-expandable.

Bluetooth would have been a nice bonus but I've already got a built in car kit so it's not a big issue.

gatorguy6996 · Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 8:36 pm Post subject:

Just as a note the TT one 3rd is already obsolete. Replaced by the 130's.
Also a clean windscreen is no assurance that a TT suction mount will stay in place as evidenced by my 930 falling not once, but twice in the space of 30 days. My experience is by no means rare, that I am sure. I now take extra care and a heavy hand to press the mount into place.
_________________
Garmin 1695 / 255 / 760 w/MSN - Droid w/Google nav + Navigon - Navigon 8100T - Dakota10 - GPSMap76C - GeoMate Jr.

mikealder · Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 8:47 pm Post subject:

A Phone running TomTom 6 is a viable option, BUT the maps are far from upto date, the most recent map you can use with this software is v675 which released over 12 months ago. Considering some road changes can take 12 -18 months to become incorporated you are currently looking at using a system with 2+ years out of date mapping.

The TomTom One is non expandable, there is no memory slot, to get one with a memory card expansion capability will probably exceed your budget, if you want to spend a little more look at the x20 range which can be bought at knock down prices due to the recent release of the newer x30 devices - Mike

gtijon · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 17, 2008 Posts: 4

I think perhaps a Tomtom one is the way to go. It's not overly expensive, the maps will be up to date etc. As I've already got a car handsfree and a bluetooth headset, I can't see much point in the extra £50 for a 520 for a couple of extra features. And I could always borrow an EU mapping sat nav.

I get the gist that generally it's not worthwhile updating maps on a satnav? IE, it costs so much that you might as well just buy a new device every couple of years? Am I right in thinking that you get one freebie update for cameras and maps when you buy the device and that's it?

mikealder · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 10:10 am Post subject:

You do get a single map download to ensure your device is loaded with the latest map, if it is supplied with the very latest map then it won't download anything - the map guarantee period is only for 28 days.

The free camera update is a once only and not worth bothering with, by all means trial it, but you should consider the speed camera database from this site, it is considerably better - Mike

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