Which Sat Nav do you recommend?

[mealsonwheels]

A relative has just got himself a new job which will involve considerable motorway and urban driving by car to new places, something he has not had an awful lot of experience of, so we are going to treat him to a Sat Nav. to help him find the routes to the various placess he will have to get to. Cost will not be an issue.
Being dinosaurs, we know absolutely nothing about them. Our relative says he would prefer one with a large screen, with good, clear, easy to follow instructions, but having never used one before, he is finding it a bit of a minefield deciding which make is best. So knowing a lot of forum members use them, we would really value your suggestions and advice as to which make and model you would recommend, including the type to avoid and any other information you can give to help us make an informed decision.
Thanks in anticipation.

 

[DianneT]

We have a Tom Tom and it has been marvellous never let us down. It is getting a bit old now so no good me telling you the model. If you go to Halfords, Comet or other such outlet they will help you whith advice as Tom Tom has many models at various prices.

 

[RogerL]

There's certainly a lot of choice - there are even some that claim to be able to choose routes for caravans (and motorhomes and HGVs) but I've never heard many complaints from caravanners about ordinary ones - many (perhaps all) Tom Tom and Garmin offer map updating services which will keep the purchased unit up-to-date for many years - they generally include locations of fixed speed cameras but few are very good with mobile speed camera locations.
I personally use a Snooper Strabo because it's the best for mobile speed cameras and therefore very important to me - but the map can't be updated so few buy them, it's no issue for me as I've always done my own map reading.

 

[Beehpee]

I used tom Tom for years but company has just bought me a garmin, both excellent but I would say the Tom Tom just about has the edge as slightly easier ( in my opinion ) to use, the other thing I liked about the Tom Tom was you could tell it to avoid a particular part of a route, so if I was heading south and I wanted to go via m40 rather than m1 which always seems to be the way the Tom Tom and the garmin want to take me I could on the Tom Tom just tap in to avoid the m1 and it would then pick next best which was always m40, a small thing I know but still makes the Tom Tom score slightly higher, I do around 40k miles anually and think sat nav is wonderful.

 

[Gafferbill]

……in my opinion this offer is hard to beat at the moment.
The manufacturer has a reputation second to none in navigation equipment and you are not likely to have any problems with the retailer
http://goo.gl/65GGa

 

[Beehpee]

That offer is great, having lifetime free map updates is well worth having, my current one is a nuvi, dunno what number but it's def a nuvi and I'm perfectly happy with it.

 

[JonnyG]

have had both tom tom and garmin, and more. choice is huge, just one think to add free traffic update, as per the link on the post above, and Live services version traffic update are not entirely the same. the choice is yours. Also tom tom has the advantage [if it is an advantage] of tom tom home,and also it takes the data from the users to work out the best route at different times of the day [historically] and added to up to date traffic info. Which they claim is better, who knows how does one check?

 

[DeliDave_]

Garmin nuLink! 1695 LMU Sat Nav UK, ROI & Europe

This one is showing on halfords site at £189.99 with £30 back from Garmin .Has anyone used it would like to know if it has a pedestrian mode.The free updates on the range are very good,Navman charge £99 for one update,thats why I,m looking for a replacement

 

[jaffasdad]

Although not strictly answering the first post, someone out there might be interested in the Nuvi 550. Garmin claim that this piece of kit can be used in the car, on the water and as a hand-held GPS for walking.
The reviews I've read are very positive and I will be researching it further.

 

[Surfer]

We have a TomTomn Classic from 2004 and just keep updating the map every 2 or 3 years. Takes us to the destination okay and easy to use.

 

[mealsonwheels]

Thanks all for your replies. Please keep them coming.

 

[Scouser1]

I have used the tomtom Go230 for some years. you have to be careful whilst caravanning, as if it's set to the shortest route, it will take you the shortest route- even if this means single track roads. Therefore, when planning your caravan holiday, it's important to check all your stages. This is best done at home on the computer, where the screen is easier to manipulate and see. The Go also has the option of HD traffic, which warns you of delays ahead, and if extreme, will prompt a diversion. This is ok if you don't mind the single track roads, so be wary of using it unless you are familiar with the area it's going to take you into. If you have an older version, make sure you buy the updates- 3 point turns in an unfamiliar town centre can be good for the heart rate, but can get you quite sweaty! Overall, I am very pleased- if you are travelling off the motorway and A road network, it is invaluable- saves arguements with your spouse when you go down a dead end. Be careful of rural postcodes- they can relate to a 10 sq mile area- always check the caravan site on Os if possible, and convert grid ref to lat long if unsure-http://www.lamont.me.uk/grid2latlong.php is a good site

 

[mullsy1]

use the TomTom Go520.Good machine although the battery life is really poor.I always use it in conjuntion with a ciggy charger lead

 

[xtrailman]

There's too many to chose from IMO.
I trolled the reviews and picked up a lot of TT owners who had replaced there previous TT and were not happy with the new model, apparently features on the previous models were missing on the new one.
So i decided to buy a garmin 1370T, it has a 4" screen and i use it for walking, cost around £115 last year.
I've also tested it against the xtrail built in sat nav, and find it cant match the built in version, plus the Nissan has a 7" screen.
I would say buy him a car with built in satnav, as you say cost isn't a issue.

 

[otherclive]

I have a built in as well as a portable Garmin 1490T. The Garmin can be programmed on the PC so for caravan routes I can make sure it takes me on the route I want. For about £75 I get unlimited updates. In many respects the Garmin is easier to use and can be used for routes when walking in towns as it has a built in battery.

 

[James_Snooper]

Hi!
Nice to see RogerL recommending Snooper

- the Snooper Indago is a good buy and has picked up some good reviews online (it was Auto Express Magazine's car accessory of the year etc.), it comes with free speed camera locatioin updates and it is possible to purchase map updates as and when you need them from the Snooper website.

 

[TonyG]

last year we purchased the snooper 6000, went over to France, unit kept freezing while on the ring road around paris, had to reboot at least 4 times..it seemed that every time you went under a bridge or underpass the unit froze. The snooper then sent us down a dead end on two occasions. I contacted Snooper to get Camping Cheques sites added to the POI's it was like pulling teeth, full of excuses why it would take ages to do. Still don't know it it has been actioned
I got so p***ed off with the pile of crap that i took it back to the shop, and they exchanged it for a TomTom truck, with no quibble and no extra payment. This unit has all the sites for Caravan Club, CC&C, camping cheque and Acsi.
I would never recommed the Snooper, since having the Tom Tom been to France and Germany and countless Uk sites with no issues at all...

 

[James_Snooper]

Hi TonyG,
First of all, very sorry to hear you've had an issue with Snooper products and customer services.
It's unusual for us to hear of the particular technical issues you're describing and, as you've now returned the unit, we can only apologise for the inconvenience you experienced both using the unit and dealing with our customer services team.
We are constantly looking to improve our service and our products, so we will take your comments very seriously.
Thanks,
James

 

[TonyG]

thanks for the reply james. However my issues are well documented to Ed O'Sullivan at Technical Support. and also Philip Wardale

both based at Cheshire i believe.
but as you say i no longer have the unit. and i am more than delighted with my current Tom Tom. sorry if thats not quite what you want to hear, but hey ho that life, and i am sure you have many happy customers.
And fair play at least you have the bottle to come onto a public forum

 

[anotherDavid]

use the TomTom Go520.Good machine although the battery life is really poor.I always use it in conjuntion with a ciggy charger lead

I was on the point of getting a new satnav due to my TomTom battery giving shorter and shorter life but I found video instructions on utube how to replace it. I paid £15 for a new battery from Amazon +£3 for some tools. The instructions are very good and proceed more or less in real time so you can just copy the actions yourself.
David

 

[mealsonwheels]

Thanks for all your input - we really appreciate it.
After you alerted us to the good deal that Halfords are doing on the new Garmin nuLink 1695 LMU, we took ourselves to Halfords yesterday to take a look at it. The person serving us was extremely helpful and took time showing us various models and never once rolled his eyes at the two dinosaurs standing before him!
First impression we had with the nuLink 1695 LMU was the clarity of the screen, compared with all the others. We were surprised to learn that it operates on mobile phone signals (from 3 main operators) and not by satellite. Traffic Alerts are free for the first year, then £44 a year thereafter. One thing mentioned is that using a Sat Nav with speed camera alerts is now illegal in France, but our relative will only be using it in UK, so no problem there. The regular mapping updates are free for life. We forgot to ask, as one forum member suggested, whether you can modify the route you want to take, as you can with TomTom.
We came away thinking that this is the one to get - UNTIL getting home and reading various reviews and problems some people have had downloading maps with it, including very long waits trying to get through to Garmin customer service to discuss a problem. So we're now in two minds whether this is the one or not!

 

[RogerL]

If it doesn't work from satellite, there's plenty of roads in the country with no mobile signal so no satnav!

 

[RayS]

Just avoid expensive built in units fitted by car maker. These can be years out of date and virtually impossible to update. For the price, you could buy 2 0r 3 free stand units.

 

[mealsonwheels]

We've been back to Halfords with our relative to check out the Garmin NuLink 1695 LMU again, with lots of questions.
They gave us another run through of the system. We misunderstood the first time we were shown it and found out that it uses mobile phone signals for the traffic updates and DOES use satellite, for navigation. Sorry we got that wrong.
We asked if you can modify routes, as you can on TomTom - and you can, by selecting 'via' when setting routes.
It seems that some of the problems stated in reviews, were caused by human error and not a fault with the SatNav.
All in all, our relative was impressed and we decided to take up Halfords special offer and get one for him. He used it for the first time today and he says it's brilliant.
Thanks very much for all your replies, especially the one pointing out this SatNav and the Halfords offer.

 

[otherclive]

I agree the comments about built in satnavs as you cannot update software without new DVDs nor can you take it out and use it as a tourist guide. However if you have a car with such a system Honest John website has links to companies selling updates and Owners Clubs often have pen DVDs for sale as when you get a new car you seem to get inundated with updates. When travelling we have built in, Garmin two gsm/gps phones and two Apple Things but I still enjoy studying a good map and guide book the best!!!