SatNavs

[Surfer]

Our Tom Tom Classic is now starting to show its age and we woudl like to upgrade to another tom Tom as we can enter our own POIs etc. While the bluetooth facility is nice, it is abit of a waste unless you plug in the Satnav before every journey and we coudl not be bothered with doing that.
Tom Tom now have 4 models the Go, Via, XL and Start. Not too bothered with Europe as chances of carvanning over there are remote. Which oen of the 4 modesl sio tghe best one to buy?

 

[JonnyG]

Depends how much you want to spend. I have 750 LIVE, the Live bit is what i wanted, so Via or Go have this function. otherwise i am not entirely convinced i would have bought the Tom tom Anyway, and as others too have this function, then my next unit quiet prpoerly wont be a Tom tom.
Buy from your list, then A via or Go that suits your pocket.

 

[Taff]

Hi Surfer

I have just purchased a Pronav 200 from Halfords on a special offer of £199 to include Europe ( £150 for GB and Ireland). It is a Sat Nav for HGV's and caravans and you can put in your vehicle/trailers dimensions to keep you to the main roads. From reviews I have read it is very good but like everything, not 100%. I have only used it once up to now and found it very good. Going to France next month. I have input my routes with stops so hopefully no problems.

Fingers crossed.

 

[Surfer]

At the moment Tom Tom are doing a special where you can trade in your old satnav for a new one and get a £50 discount. Effectively you can buy a decent system for about £130!

 

[Reg]

I have a Tom Tom XXL and am really disappointed with it. It is ssooooo sloooooow!!
It has this liking for tiny narrow roads even when I have asked for the fastest route using motorways. It will take you as far as it can on the motorway and then find every tiny road possible for the final leg
Not good when you are towing.
I now have to study the route and invariably will find bigger roads by leaving the motorway sooner.
The best routing algorithm is "main roads" but then it will avoid motorways altogether.
Grrrrrrrrrr!!!!!
Why don't they give you the choice of using both????
I previously had a Median but the map updates was non existent but routing and speed of working was far superior.
I would have a look at the Pronav 200 if I was buying again it cannot be any worse than the Tom Tom.

 

[JonnyG]

Pronav might be OK on the open roads but the one we have at work,was problematic. One route we put in was to a Chelsea address, which involved loads of driving restriction areas. It simply would not do a full route to the drop, even though the driver was able to get there without breaking any restrictions.
Not a proper fan of the TOM TOMs but given a choice of tom tom Go live or a pronav! Id buy almost anything before the pronav..
Reg what do you expect from a standard sat nav, for it to actually know you are towing? and therefore not go down lanes?
I use my tom tom 750 live with lorries,still a standard sat nav. we deliever everywhere,everyday every week, and the times i have come a cropper, well you could count them on one hand.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

I use my tom tom 750 live with lorries,still a standard sat nav. we deliever everywhere,everyday every week, and the times i have come a cropper, well you could count them on one hand.

hi the S.I.L has a tom tom 750 live it's not a bad bit of kit for the price just don't buy a GARMIN that one of mine want's a map update every 6 months or it throws a wobbly not cheap either @ £40 a time. and it still sends me down farm tracks with the van on the back

 

[JonnyG]

I use my tom tom 750 live with lorries,still a standard sat nav. we deliever everywhere,everyday every week, and the times i have come a cropper, well you could count them on one hand.

hi the S.I.L has a tom tom 750 live it's not a bad bit of kit for the price just don't buy a GARMIN that one of mine want's a map update every 6 months or it throws a wobbly not cheap either @ £40 a time. and it still sends me down farm tracks with the van on the back

There all as bad as each other for that, i keep getting emails from Tom Tom trying to sell me updates! I hear that both Garmin and tom tom do do special offers on these map updates, but i replace my sat nav every two years anyway so i life with a slightly out of date map for a certain period of time anyway.....

 

[Reg]

"Reg what do you expect from a standard sat nav, for it to actually know you are towing? and therefore not go down lanes?"

But it does have the intelligence to avoid lanes with the "Main Roads" option so why not combine the "Fast Routes" (using motorways) with "Main Routes".
I guess I was spoiled by having this facility on the Median.
And why is it so slow to recalculate the route if you have to deviate.

Not happy!!!!

 

[JonnyG]

I actually thought about what you said Reg concerning how it does it mainly when on m/ways, setting my tom tom live, has fastest route eco route, shortest route, avoid m/way walking, bicycle ,and limited speed, which is the one i use.This means it takes the supposedly fastest route.
Now i know better than to say this or that sat nav is better, as they all have glitches but the tom tom using IQ routes and its "live" services has done a good job for me, its showed me routes in areas i know that i would otherwise not have used and used effectively too.
And yet come xmas i properly will look elsewhere....

 

[Woody3]

The thing that all satnavs are missing is a choice of 'optimum' route. If you choose qucikest it will do its best to use motorways; if you choose shortest it will tell you to drive on roads that don't even exist but it thinks do; and optimum would be for it to draw a line from A to B then take the best route using motorways, A-roads, and B-roads intermixed.
There used to a unit called a Pronav which <aplins sold but I think it is no more. It was designed for truck drivers (although the facility could be turned off) so it took account of height, width, length, turning circle, weight, etc. It also had a variation on this theme that suited caravans. However it was took expensive (simplest version over £200) and I believe was a bit unrelaible.

 

[Phil3]

I seem to have been through the mill with most of the GPS units supposedly for caravans. I did originally download the low bridge information onto my TomTom but that only gors so far. I've had two ProNavs and sent them both back - one to Maplin as the GPS went and the other more recently back to lemon digital who were less than helpful. Last week i purchased the Snooper S6000 Ventura and i received two free Caravan Club Europe guides from Satnav warehouse as a bonus. I've given it a thorough test in the car last weekend and it worked like a dream avoiding anything i wouldn't ordinarily be able to fit down but the real test is this weekend when we head to Le Helles!

 

[Taff]

As stated in an earlier post, I purchased a Pro Nav 200 as I wanted one for my trip to Normandy.
Pro's
Excellent when you have pre planned your routes.

Con's
You get commentary when approaching every junction. very annoying.
Very slow when it is calculating your route.
You cannot enter a route when you are not actually on the road like on a camp site as it does not recognise where you are.
If you have to take a detour it either takes ages to find an alternative route or crashes.

Very disappointed.

 

[Surfer]

I seem to have been through the mill with most of the GPS units supposedly for caravans. I did originally download the low bridge information onto my TomTom but that only gors so far. I've had two ProNavs and sent them both back - one to Maplin as the GPS went and the other more recently back to lemon digital who were less than helpful. Last week i purchased the Snooper S6000 Ventura and i received two free Caravan Club Europe guides from Satnav warehouse as a bonus. I've given it a thorough test in the car last weekend and it worked like a dream avoiding anything i wouldn't ordinarily be able to fit down but the real test is this weekend when we head to Le Helles!

I have been told that they are quite good but unfortunately you cannot add your own POI's.

 

[kelvin3]

Surfer

I’ve got a Garmin Nuvi 765, which I think may meet your needs, Accepted that’s it’s a bit more expensive than the TomTom but it as benefits that met my needs.

POI – yes, with on route selection, Max 3 I think
Lane assist – very useful with 5 lanes and you need to get across 4 of them
Radio frequency output – can be tuned into any fm radio
Bluetooth – single click connection to phone for hands free

And

Media player and SD slot – I have a few thousand mp3’s on 3 SD cards (no more cd’s) I use the radio frequency output in the car and in the van!

There are route options, avoid this and that and a trip/eco facility. There is an auto home and a find my car because you can also use it on foot. Although I have never used it there is also a picture viewing facility (not sure if you can down load from phone?). It picks up traffic signals and will auto detour or manual dependant upon your settings. It also does speed variations i.e. traffic control or road works on motorways. It covers all of Europe.

No it don’t make toast!