Which one to buy...........

nik-nak · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 10, 2006 Posts: 2

Hi all, i've just found and signed up to this forum today, so please excuse any mistakes and errors.

I promised myself a sat nav system for Xmas (and was told i was allowed one... :D ). And having seen the Top Gear review of several system, i was leaning towards the Tom Tom ONE. During the run up to Xmas, i saw that Argos were selling the ONE on their website for £223. But me being me, i thought "no, wait till the sales, it'll be cheaper then....". Was it? No, in fact it went up in price. Typical.

So, i've spent the weeks since, looking around and asking which one to buy. And it doesn't matter who i ask everyone but everyone is pushing the Tom Tom range. So me, being the sceptical person i am, is convinced that the reason no other range/manufacturer is being pushed is because there is more commission to be had on the Tom's. Any thought on this?

The chap in my local Curry's also told me that all the sat navs do tend to be a bit temperamental, and will need the occasional 'reboot', as they tend to 'freeze' sometimes.... is this true?

I have no feelings at all with regards to a dedicated system, or, one of these PDA's. In fact the PDA's look as though they are slightly cheaper, plus have a secondary use. Are they any good at doing things other than navigating? My missus has an ipaq thingy at work, and says it's worse than useless as anything other than a portable diary....... she's not a 'techy' sort of person...... plus it wont 'speak' to her PC (i'm not sure what OS they use there, but we are running XP).

While i have been watching the prices, i cant help but notice how the prices of the top range models have tumbled, and the cheaper ones have stayed static, i.e. the ONE seems to be around the £250 mark still, while the GO700 has fallen to around the £350 bracket. Has this anything to do with new models coming out soon? Or, could it be that Sony have recently launched their new models........ remember when Sega and Nintendo used to dominate the games console market? Are Tom Tom, Navman, and all the others worried that the same may happen here too?

Price? Well, nothing too expensive. I was happy to pay the £225ish for the ONE just before Xmas, but seeing that the GO500 is now around the £325 area, i think i'd be prepared to go that little bit extra, considering the extra features it seems to have.

Any thoughts you can give will be most welcomed. It wont be getting massive usage...... more a case of not having to buy the latest map just before we go on holiday. And even when we do, my 'better half' sitting in the car with her finger following the route on the page, mile-after-mile, and then saying "that's the turning we wanted...." too late..!

Thanks (in advance...)

Nick

mikealder · Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 6:57 pm Post subject:

Welcome Nick, quite a raft of questions, but I will try and at least answer some of them.
TomTom is great at the navigation and some other features such as warning of speed camers etc, there are new devices out soon 510, 710 and 910 (have a look at the link from this sites home page) - this might let you grab a bargain on the older units though.
The freezing you mention can occur but it doesn't happen too often, I quite regulaly drive over 400 miles without this problem, and I use a number of devices from various manufacturers.
The PDA offers additional features via sofware additions OS maps for walking as a typical example, the PDA's use WM2003SE or WM2005 as the opperating system (Ok lets not forget Palm), they all communicate to the PC via supplied software (Active Sync or Hot Sync respectively), but if all you want is a sat nav for the car without the additional costs of PDA/ software/ GPS/ car mount and power cable then stick to the all in one route.
Just to mudde your options further, you could consider TomTom on a mobile phone (smart type or PDA style - very cheap way to get a PDA if taken on contract and far less likely to be left in the car for some low life to steal it), another unit to consider as a standalone GPS unit is the Garmin i3, if Staples still have any, they were selling them for 119:99 last week, great little device - Mike

Aitch2 · Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 7:17 pm Post subject:

Spend £119 (Staples) or £129 (Halfords plus £10 voucher) on the Garmin i3 - and put the remainder towards your Summer Hols...it's all most need.

Aitch
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Find Somewhere Else 090407: www.marillion.com

rjbsec · Lifetime Member Joined: Mar 02, 2006 Posts: 78

nik-nak · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 10, 2006 Posts: 2

Thanks for the replies guys........

I popped up to my local Halfords earlier and asked about the Garmin, again i got the "mmmmhh..... yeah not bad, but, if you could afford a little more the Tom Tom's are well worth a look at".

What is it with salesmen and Tom Tom...?

Also, my local Somerfields were selling the Garmin for £99.99, but they've now sold out.... Sad

and i haven't seen the other model that i've read about Somerfields selling in my local store.

I've also had a bit more of a mooch around this site/forum & kinda like the look of the Navman Pin570....... any comments

Maybe i should be approaching this forum by asking 'Is there anything i should be avoiding...', as by the sounds of things and from what i've been reading, they all do pretty much the same thing, some just have a few more 'bells and whistles' than others.

Nick.

Robin2 · Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 1:45 am Post subject:

I have been using TomTom for several years and currently am very pleased with TomTom5. But last week I bought my wife a Garmin i3 from Halfords for £129.99 (plus a £10 voucher), and although it doesn't have as many bells and whistles as TomTom I am most impressed with it. For the money I think it's unbeatable
Robin
_________________
TomTom One v3 Europe, Navcore 7.903, Western Europe 835.2420
TomTom Go 720 Europe, Navcore 8.351, Western Europe 855.2884
Satmap Active 10
Plus a lot of other PDA GPS kit, seldom used

Aitch2 · Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 5:29 pm Post subject:

1. Walk into Halfords.
2. Ask for an i3 "On Staples Pricematch".
3. Tender £119.99.
4. Navigate Happily Ever After...

8)

Aitch
_________________
Find Somewhere Else 090407: www.marillion.com

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