Which in Car Nav system should I get?

Freeman82 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 17, 2007 Posts: 5

Hi,
I'm looking to get an in -car sat nav system.
I have a few requirements:

Cheap(ish) - up to £150
Needs to be switched between cars
Preferably NOT charged from the cigarette lighter

I'm not fussed about European maps, I only drive in the UK.

I was looking initially at a Navman F20, but most folks are telling me to go for a TomTom (I assume tomTom One for that price range), but one guy has suggested a Garmin, and someone else has said to look at a Myguide 3100.

So now I'm lost in the woods and needing a guiding light.

thanks.

GJF · Frequent Visitor Joined: Feb 08, 2007 Posts: 894

Freeman82 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 17, 2007 Posts: 5

The reason for my not wantibng to use the cig lighter is twofold.
I have use of several vehicles depending on where I'm going and what I'm doing:
In my Golf using the ciggie lighter is fine.
However the other two vehicles this will get used in are American so have a different sized ciggie lighter socket (and on one of these vehicles said socket doesn't even work).

portman · Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:31 am Post subject:

Don't go for the tomtom ONE as it only lasts 2 hours on its battery, the Garmin Nuvi is a better bet as it will last 4 hours.
_________________
Samsung Mega
Tomtom 500

GJF · Frequent Visitor Joined: Feb 08, 2007 Posts: 894

Freeman82 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 17, 2007 Posts: 5

OK, so at the moment, the Garmin's winning.
the TomTOm One has a 2hr battery
the Navman 4hrs
Acording to satnaveasy.co.uk the Garmin has up to 8 hours. I'm guessing that's optimistic, but it's still miles better than the other two.

So what are thoughts here generally on the Garmin Nuvi 310?
http://www.satnaveasy.co.uk/item.do?item=12&gclid=CK_xkOH1_I0CFQc8EAodphNtNg

mikealder · Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 5:16 pm Post subject:

The 310 is a very capable device if you do go for one make sure it has the latest V9 mapping loaded or available free of charge though, that said I hate the Garmin user interface it simply is no where near as intuative as the HMI TomTom units offer - Mike

old_nick · Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 8:52 pm Post subject:

If you are new to Satnav I would recommend the Navman F20 as it is the easiest I've ever used. The MyGuide has a lot more features than the Tomtom one, but the interface can be very tricky to find your way round. They all use Tele Atlas Mapping.

Garmin uses Navteq mapping and in my opinion make the best Satnav's. I wish i had never got rid of my i3 as it was a great little unit, it would last up to 6 hours on 2 AA NiMH rechargeable batteries, ideal if you need to keep swaping vehicles.

aj2052 · Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 1:39 am Post subject:

Im surprised that pnd versus Pda doesnt come into the equations, i would have thought that the extra database, spreadsheets,word facilities, etc would count for somebody who spends a lot of time on the road given the extra facilities, being a long time user of PDAs i wouldnt decry PNDs because they are improving quite a lot now but PDAs would be my preference because they fulfill my needs precisely.

mikealder · Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:58 am Post subject:

aj, A very good point about PDA units, however with £150 to spend this is going to be a tall order.
I would have a look at your mobile phone supplier and possibly consider something like a T Mobile Compact MDA-III as they are PDA based with the GPS built in to the device and can be obtained for free.
That leaves your budget to be spent on software (£100) and a decent car holder (£50) - then you will have a quality set up that can do considerably more than just the navigation you get with the PNA - Mike

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