One V3 or V4?

[MalB]

Both are on sale at the moment in many dealers like PC World, Currys etc. There is quite a difference in price of up to £50 between the V3 and V4 versions.

Is it worth going for the V3 version and making a decent saving, or are the differences worth the extra for the V4 version? I'm guessing that the maps are newer in the V4 version at least.

[MalB]

Does anyone have any advice on this question?

[Andy_P]

My only advice is to check what you are buying very carefully.
Confusion abounds even on what to call these models - whatever PC World etc. say, they are not "v3" and "v4" so looking up the specs for those units could get you in a right mess.

What you are calling a "v3" is in fact the "TomTom ONE Third Edition" (if it is a Europe-wide model then that means it is actually a v6 and if it is a UK regional model it is a v7).
What you are calling a "v4" is the new "One" (aka. the "One 22 Series") which has the new "Easyport" mount. This is actually a v8.

Furthermore, if your PC world is anything like my local branch, the descriptive labels under the display models are WRONG, and the different boxes are stacked up all jumbled together under signs advertising a different model.
Don't expect the assistants to know the difference either.

Personally, I would try to avoid any model that does not have an SD card slot. Having internal memory only makes updating to larger maps impossible.
I would also miss the widescreen now.
This means your cheapest model would be the original One XL.

If you are really keen on a "One", some people say the loudspeaker on the new 22 series is better, some love the new mount and some hate it.

I think the maps in the series 22 will be v8 so they will have the new lane guidance features built in. Again, some people love this, others think it is a pointless gimmick.
So long as you get a "Latest map guarantee" with the old 3rd Edition, you can update your installed maps to v720, which is exactly the same DATE of mapping as the v805 version.

[MalB]

Thanks for the advice. I am not fixed on any particular unit. I have been waiting for a while to get a sat-nav principally to replace my Talex, so the ability to take the speed cam database is important. Up to date maps seem like a good idea as well (I will check for the latest maps guarantee). Other than that I'm not too bothered about other features.

I had settled on either TomTom or Garmin as they both seem to fit the bill but no particular model, though a wide screen seems like a good feature. There just seem to be so many very similar models or versions of models about and from what you say, the stores don't go about reducing the confusion in any way.

[Andy_P]

My recommendations for TomTom would be:

If you want bells and whistles like hands-free calls, music player and voice instructions that read out street names go for the 520 if you can still get it.

Otherwise the ONE XL (Regional)

Both of those are UK mapping only; if you want Europe, go for the 720 or the One XL (Europe)

[MalB]

I just got the One XL regional classic. The speed cam database is loaded and it seems to be working. My house number doesn't exist even though the house has existed for about 6 years.

Thanks again for the advice.

[Andy_P]

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