SAT NAV, Which is best?

[Essexeddie]

Is there a system out there that is caravan friendly.i.e. one that takes you on M or A roads and then B roads?

I had one that was OK solo but took me on roads unsuitable for caravans.

Eddie

 

[Louis_5040937]

Edward

There are a few SatNav systems to choose from and I can only comment on the TomTom Go 300 as it's the one I've got. When calculating your route, you can ask for the 'Quickest' or 'Shortest'. If you choose 'shortest', you may be taken down some pretty unsuitable 'towing' roads. When towing, I always use 'quickest' and it's never let me down.

 

[Matthew_5040954]

Hi Edward

90% of sat nav systems us the same map database from Teleatlas, their main differences are their feature; however, your question was are there any caravan friendly ones, and the answer is no.

I've been using Sat Nav for over 2 years now and am using Tom Tom Navigator on a PDA (just upgraded to version 5), caravanner are not the only ones who have problems with Sat Nav but lorry drivers do (low bridges, weight limits etc) however if you go to www pocketgps.co.uk there's lots of advice including a forum dedicated to sat nav.

Don't take what I said so far as negative, I couldn't live without it now, it great for getting you to places, tells you when to turn advance warning of junctions etc, I spend much more time now watching the road and not road signs, and I can't speak for the other sat nav software but Tom Tom has something called Points of Interests (POI), these are things like post offices petrol stations and caravan sites!! that are displayed on the screen with a small image and you can navigate to them. You can also add extra POIs and there are also tools you can get to create your own for Tom Tom, one of the best ones is Speed cameras Tom Tom (version 5) can be setup to warn you when you aproach one, on the earlier versions there are add ons that do this and can be found at www.pocketgps.co.uk.

Hope this is of help

Matthew

 

[TonyAsh]

The TonTom system appears to be a very useful bit of kit, how much would one expect to pay for this system, are they readily available and are they transferable between different vehicles?

Basic questions, yes, but I would like to know more. Thanks Tony.

 

[Essexeddie]

Edward

There are a few SatNav systems to choose from and I can only comment on the TomTom Go 300 as it's the one I've got. When calculating your route, you can ask for the 'Quickest' or 'Shortest'. If you choose 'shortest', you may be taken down some pretty unsuitable 'towing' roads. When towing, I always use 'quickest' and it's never let me down.

Thanks for the info Louis. Perhaps the Tom Tom is a better unit as I had already tried what you sugested but with no great difference.It looks like the Tom Tom is the best make. Edd.

 

[HomerMarge]

tom tom 300 is around

 

[Essexeddie]

Hi Edward

90% of sat nav systems us the same map database from Teleatlas, their main differences are their feature; however, your question was are there any caravan friendly ones, and the answer is no.

I've been using Sat Nav for over 2 years now and am using Tom Tom Navigator on a PDA (just upgraded to version 5), caravanner are not the only ones who have problems with Sat Nav but lorry drivers do (low bridges, weight limits etc) however if you go to www pocketgps.co.uk there's lots of advice including a forum dedicated to sat nav.

Don't take what I said so far as negative, I couldn't live without it now, it great for getting you to places, tells you when to turn advance warning of junctions etc, I spend much more time now watching the road and not road signs, and I can't speak for the other sat nav software but Tom Tom has something called Points of Interests (POI), these are things like post offices petrol stations and caravan sites!! that are displayed on the screen with a small image and you can navigate to them. You can also add extra POIs and there are also tools you can get to create your own for Tom Tom, one of the best ones is Speed cameras Tom Tom (version 5) can be setup to warn you when you aproach one, on the earlier versions there are add ons that do this and can be found at www.pocketgps.co.uk.

Hope this is of help

Matthew

Hi Matthew.Thanks for your reply.It looks like the TomTom's the

one to buy. I do know that they are good as I have a friend who is a London cabby and he has had a Tom Tom 200 for over a year and swears by it. Edd.

 

[Matthew_5040954]

Just to add, as I said before I use Tom Tom on a PDA as I use the PDA for my office work it syncs with my PC and can be used for appointments email etc, the whole setup of PDA, Sat Nav reciever, cable, memory card and software can cost any from

 

[allan_5039807]

The TonTom system appears to be a very useful bit of kit, how much would one expect to pay for this system, are they readily available and are they transferable between different vehicles?

Basic questions, yes, but I would like to know more. Thanks Tony.

tony, I,ve just bought a Tom Tom 300 GO from Maplin.co.uk and it cost

 

[TonyAsh]

Just to add, as I said before I use Tom Tom on a PDA as I use the PDA for my office work it syncs with my PC and can be used for appointments email etc, the whole setup of PDA, Sat Nav reciever, cable, memory card and software can cost any from

 

[Matthew_5040954]

Hi Tony

Sorry we get so use to using acronyms, PDA stands for Personal Digital Assistant, these are like little handheld computers, there are many makes mine is a Compaq Ipaq and uses a version of windows design for them. They usually have no keyboard but the have a large screen about 4 inches tall by 3.5 inches and the screen is touch sensitive, you can use a small pen (not a proper one but looks the same) to select items on the screen, use a screen keyboard or even handwriting recognition (which is quite good but I find the screen too small).

The main use I find for mine apart from Sat Nav, is the calander, tasks, contacts and email. The PDA usually comes with a docking station, this plugs into your PC at either Work, Home or both and if you use any of the Microsoft Outlook email packages it will synchronise you PDAs Calendar, Task etc with this, so you can better manage them, for instance if I'm at a meeting and arrange another one, I can check my availability on the PDA and enter it on the calendar, once back at my desk I'll plug it into the docking station and it updates my calendar on my PC.

One good thing I've found, if you use Tom Tom Sat Nav, you can use the contacts list on your PDA to navigate to.

As I said previously though the only real down side is the batteries, if they run flat you tend to loss everything and the PDA resets to its default setting, though I understand with the next version of Microsoft Pocket PC this has been resolved.

Hope this has been helpful

Matthew

 

[TonyAsh]

Hi Tony

Sorry we get so use to using acronyms, PDA stands for Personal Digital Assistant, these are like little handheld computers, there are many makes mine is a Compaq Ipaq and uses a version of windows design for them. They usually have no keyboard but the have a large screen about 4 inches tall by 3.5 inches and the screen is touch sensitive, you can use a small pen (not a proper one but looks the same) to select items on the screen, use a screen keyboard or even handwriting recognition (which is quite good but I find the screen too small).

The main use I find for mine apart from Sat Nav, is the calander, tasks, contacts and email. The PDA usually comes with a docking station, this plugs into your PC at either Work, Home or both and if you use any of the Microsoft Outlook email packages it will synchronise you PDAs Calendar, Task etc with this, so you can better manage them, for instance if I'm at a meeting and arrange another one, I can check my availability on the PDA and enter it on the calendar, once back at my desk I'll plug it into the docking station and it updates my calendar on my PC.

One good thing I've found, if you use Tom Tom Sat Nav, you can use the contacts list on your PDA to navigate to.

As I said previously though the only real down side is the batteries, if they run flat you tend to loss everything and the PDA resets to its default setting, though I understand with the next version of Microsoft Pocket PC this has been resolved.

Hope this has been helpful

Matthew

Thanks Matthew, now I understand, cheers Tony

 

[Ian_5040577]

Hi Tony

Sorry we get so use to using acronyms, PDA stands for Personal Digital Assistant, these are like little handheld computers, there are many makes mine is a Compaq Ipaq and uses a version of windows design for them. They usually have no keyboard but the have a large screen about 4 inches tall by 3.5 inches and the screen is touch sensitive, you can use a small pen (not a proper one but looks the same) to select items on the screen, use a screen keyboard or even handwriting recognition (which is quite good but I find the screen too small).

The main use I find for mine apart from Sat Nav, is the calander, tasks, contacts and email. The PDA usually comes with a docking station, this plugs into your PC at either Work, Home or both and if you use any of the Microsoft Outlook email packages it will synchronise you PDAs Calendar, Task etc with this, so you can better manage them, for instance if I'm at a meeting and arrange another one, I can check my availability on the PDA and enter it on the calendar, once back at my desk I'll plug it into the docking station and it updates my calendar on my PC.

One good thing I've found, if you use Tom Tom Sat Nav, you can use the contacts list on your PDA to navigate to.

As I said previously though the only real down side is the batteries, if they run flat you tend to loss everything and the PDA resets to its default setting, though I understand with the next version of Microsoft Pocket PC this has been resolved.

Hope this has been helpful

Matthew

I bought a PDA off Ebay for

 

[RayS]

Suggest when buying you get a demo in store, or test as soon after purchase as possible.

I had two visitors yesterday, both cars fitted with TomTom. Despite checked entries of our post code, both showed locations some 5 miles east, so I supspect the TomTom mapping may have some bugs when used in post code mode.

However this is rural Somerset covered in Ley lines and similar mysterises so perhaps this might be the explanation.

 

[Icemaker]

I have just been looking through the tom tom updates and poi updates on pocket gps and found one that lists low bridges, ive loaded it in to my tom tom and will try it out soon as i know a few low bridges in my area. i expect it will be like the speed camera data base and will not have many of the bridges on yet but its worth having and updating every few weeks.

 

[Icemaker]

RAY, I am led to believe that you must update your tom tom to the latest version 5 software for the post codes to work correctly. tom tom have started charging for this update now but i got it off theire site before they realised it was free to download, i will e-mail the software to any one who wants it.

 

[Damian]

TomTom system upgrades are free, it is only the new mapping which is being charged for.

The postcode search is supposed to work on the new maps, but it has its problems.

A good source of TomTom info is available here:www.expansys.com/forumoverview.asp