After a simple + effective GPS for UK and Europe. need help.

[brendons31]

As the title says, I am after a simple and effective system system for UK and Europe at the most cost effective price. I guess I'm after something that will be accurate, with voice instructions. The potential for putting maps of Aus and the US would also be very useful, as would warnings of speed camera's.

I have looked at some new and 2nd hand on the internet, a lot of them say UK and Major Euroe roads, so I assume that is only highways?

Also, would it be a good idea to avoid a refurnished unit?

Is the Garmin Streetpolit C320 any good?

All help is appreciated, my knowledge on GPS systems is very small.

[Border_Collie]

[brendons31]

Thanks for the answer.

Any thoughts on the TomTom Go 700?

[mikealder]

The 700 was a credible device in its day, but the GPS receiver isn't the best chipset compared to more modern devices, also the unit relies upon a hard drive which is not a good idea in a car when subjected to heat and vibration - the original owner would have been OK covered by the two year warranty but I would avoid these to be honest.
Go for a unit that employs solid state memory either in the form of SD card or built in Flash memory, preferably one that will accept a memory card for further expansion of the storage.

What is you budget for the device as the maps you mention will cost considerably more than the purchase price of the device for most systems - Mike

[brendons31]

Thanks for the advice Mike. I will be doing a Euro road trip this summer which will involve quite a bit of driving in Spain in Portugal which will be very hot, and the panel van I have certainly isn;t the smoothest vehicle on the road so it certaily sounds like a device with a hard drive would be a bad idea.

I don;t have a set budget, just after something that will work well for the lowest price. I don;t require the flash features that some seem to have like bluetooth etc, although playing mp3's would be a handy feature. If I could do it for under 100 pounds that would be great, if it costs a bit more for quality then thats ok. So far I have been checking on Ebay, Amazon and Gumtree(where I found the above mentioned units for very cheap).

I'm living in London at the moment, and as mentioned above am doing a Euro road trip soon, so a unit with UK and Europe maps is essential.

With the US and Aus maps, they are not essential, but it is likely I will be in either place in some time in the future, so a unit which allows the option getting maps for these places as well would be useful.

[Scarecrow]

High end units from either Tom Tom or Garmin will have street level maps of both UK and Europe, as well as spoken directions. Camera detection can be made available by subscribing here and downloading the camera database.

Ask which is the best and you'll get answers advocating either in a roughly 50/50 split. Get yourself down to somewhere like Halfords so that you can view the units for yourself, and you may find that you prefer the user interface of one over the other.

Personally I use a Garmin Nuvi 760 which will do all that you ask. Tom Tom have an equivalent unit (sorry can't remember the model number), which will also do all that you ask.

[brendons31]

That one looks good, is the equlivent TomTom model the GO910? it looks pretty similar. I'll have to get into that shop to compare.

[brendons31]

It looks as though the equilivent is the Tomtom GO920 actually.

[richard345]

Amazon and Argos are offering the TomTom One v3 Great Britain for under £100 at the moment:

Amazon.co.uk Was: £106.53
Price: £91.00 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery

Argos TomTom ONE UK and Republic of Ireland.Excluded from the Argos 30 day money back guarantee

* 504/0474
* TomTom ONE UK and Republic of Ireland.
* Free in car adaptor when buying TomTom sat nav.
* Save £30.00
* £99.99
* Was £129.99

and I think John Lewis have a similar offer.

HTH
_________________
Ric - TomTom 520 DEAD - Passed to the great traffic jam in the sky. Now using Maps & Waze on Samsung Galaxy S4 + CamerAlert of course!

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