Thinking of upgrading - advice greatly appreciated

Jamey · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 31, 2007 Posts: 2

Hello,

Firstly, apologies for starting yet another upgrade thread. As someone who moderates forums elsewhere, I know these threads crop up all the time, but I do feel my situation is a bit different to the norm.

I was an early adopter of Sat Nav and I still use the system I bought all those years ago - a HP Ipaq PDA, running TomTom Navigator 3, sitting in a car cradle with a wired GPS.

It's served me well for a long time but I've recently got stuck in a few traffic jams on long journeys and I think it's time to consider upgrading.

The question is, do I upgrade what I've got or should I start over with a nicer-looking, more modern standalone unit? And if I start over, do I stay faithful to TomTom or do I jump ship to another brand?

What are your thoughts? Who has the best traffic service?

philpugh · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 3:04 pm Post subject:

I didi this at the satrt of this year. I was (and still am) a log time TomTom Navigator on PDA user.

However I was fed up with the hassle of carrying around so many separate units and decided to opt for an "all-in-one". I looked at the TomTom units but didn't like the bulky style of them. SoI went for a GARMIN nuvi 660 - which was on sale for a good price locally. It came with TMC included - but as you will see by reading these forums - it's not all the brilliant in UK due to presumed low signal levels.

TomTom are producing much slimmer units now - so the decision ismore difficult. Best advice is to pop along to a local sore (Halfords in uk) and try them out in your hand, you will be familiar with the TT interface.

Be advised that TT are about to release their Go x20 range - it may be worth waiting for these -even if its only to pick up a 'bargain' x10 unit :D
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Phil

Jamey · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 31, 2007 Posts: 2

Thank you.

I think traffic is the most important thing to me now as most of the manufacturers seem to have cracked the actual navigation itself.

I have been reading up about the RDS-TMC stuff and I've decided I'd rather use my phone (via bluetooth) and don't mind paying a subscription (data charges would be covered by my existing bundle).

So when it comes to traffic updates via the phone, who's got the best information on the travel blackspots? I've read a few comments on here about TomTom's Traffic service leaving something to be desired, but most of the comments seem to be from early 2006.

Has it improved? What's the state of play at the moment?

mikealder · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:19 pm Post subject:

As far as I am aware only TomTom and Route 66 offer TMC information using GPRS via a mobile phone, TomTom did suffer from server outages quite a while back but that sems to be resolved, the bigger issue is the quality of the data provided, I use it as a guide and it has routed me around some nasty hold ups but I also use the Radio and motorway gantry signs to provide information before making the decision to avoid a hold up, the auto setting is just not good enough in terms of reliable data as yet.

As you are an existing PDA user I would take a look at the PDA based phones with integral GPS they work very well with the likes of TomTom or Route 66 installed and there tend to be less problems getting the Bluetooth bit to work reliably, the phone is built in to the PDA as is the GPS so far fewer devices to connect / carry / charge.
Also as the device is a phone you are not likely to leave it in the car for some pratt to steal. Have a look at the HTC Artemis or its derivatives such as the O2 XDA Orbit or T-Mobile MDA Compact - III (this latter device has no WiFi support though, the other two do have it fitted if you need it) one other word of caution though the newer PDA based phones as mentioned above employ a slightly smaller screen tan you moght be used to, only 2.8'' diagonal - Mike

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