SiRF STAR III & The TomTom Go Products.

zel · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 30, 2005 Posts: 4

Firstly I'm new around here so please don't shoot me for a stupid question Smile

I've been researching a portable satnav product for some months now and as I drive many different cars (I'm a car dealer) I became quite concerned about the needing of an external aerial to pick up a signal, due to most of the vehicles I drive are mid-top end luxury/sports cars.

To be honest that was the only thing stopping me from buying a TomTom GO 700 (I travel abroad a lot)

Now I was just about to throw caution to the wind and get a TomTom GO in Argos special 20% off sale until I discovered the TomTom One and it's SiRF Star III technology people are reporting that they are getting a much better and quicker satalite lock and some are even mentioning they can get a sat lock in vehicles they could not with the GO product.

So I'm in a bit of a dilema I'm hoping some of you lovely people can help me out with!

Surely if the benefits of the SiRF Star III chipset is that great TomTom will have no choice other than to release the go product with it?

Is that pyshicaly possible do you think? are there any technical reasons why it can't be introduced into the GO Range?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I really don't want the hassle and mess factor of external aerials and need the luxury of street level europe at the touch of a button and not preloading countries onto SD cards all the time.

Thanks.

MarkHewitt

Tosty · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 22, 2005 Posts: 50

You could always consider the Garmin Nuvi 350 which I think comes with full euro maps (better ones as well Wink

). However you would loose the bluetooth hands free calling Sad

.

sgould · Frequent Visitor Joined: Oct 05, 2004 Posts: 1320

I have used my 700 in Europe. It's fine in most cases. Signal lost in some deep valleys in the mountains and on the Paris Periphique (lots of walls and underpasses. Occasional loss of signal in central London.

I would get one. Unless you are in a car with a heat reflecting windscreen (mostly French) you should be OK.

If you get an aerial it boosts the signal even when inside the car, it rarely need putting outside. Even if it did it's small and magnetic so you can take it with you.

The biggest drawback to the aerial is the crap design. It connects via the mounting shoe and that shoe has a metre of cable attached ending in a connector. The aerial is fixed to a further 6 or 7 metres of cable with the other half of the connector attached. What most people need is an aerial that connects directly to the GO with a 2 inch lead.
_________________
TTGO 700 (dead)
iPhone 3GS + TT holder
iPhone 5 (hers!)
Western Europe Map
Eastern Europe Map
Kenwood DNX-4210DAB with Garmin maps

DavidHobbs · Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 5:12 pm Post subject:

zel, if you like the GO 700, I'd go with it. I wouldn't be too concerned about what you mentioned. It seems like it would be a good fit for you.

howie555 · Regular Visitor Joined: Jun 26, 2005 Posts: 99

I use my 700 every week in france using the external arial in side the various hire cars.I looped the arial cable and tied it with cable ties so that i am not trailing meters of wire every where. Also a blob of blue tack to hold it to the dash board if no metal is availble.works brilliantly every where even in the urban canyons.

Eldar · Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:14 pm Post subject:

sgould · Frequent Visitor Joined: Oct 05, 2004 Posts: 1320

OK, 3 inches then :D

How is one supposed to use the GO walking around in London's West End, where you need a aerial to get a signal? I'm not brave enough to walk around the West End with 7 metres of cable wrapped around my body!!! 8O
_________________
TTGO 700 (dead)
iPhone 3GS + TT holder
iPhone 5 (hers!)
Western Europe Map
Eastern Europe Map
Kenwood DNX-4210DAB with Garmin maps

Eldar · Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:23 pm Post subject:

is your body not big enough for that?

zel · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 30, 2005 Posts: 4

Thanks for setting my mind at rest!

After a bit more research today i've noticed Becker have released a portable nav aswell.. Looks quite nice and going by my experience of Becker incar navigation it's always been spot on with its directions.

Has anyone seen a review of it yet?

Eldar · Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 3:20 am Post subject:

no, and we don't care - it's a TT GO forum :-)

zel · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 30, 2005 Posts: 4

good point! Smile

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