so... what satnav?

[goldilocks]

i have to buy a satnav
it's my dads birthday 16th october, and mum and i are putting in for a satnav
it will be his first one, so i don't really want anything too flash / confusing, unless he hates it / can't use it!

budget: £200 (£150 ish preferable)
wish list: will do satnav-y things (i really have no clue...)

the 'lad' in curries was no help what so ever, and i didn't really find the halfords buyers guide any use either

i was looking at either, tomtom one v3, tomtom one xl, tomtom xl european mapping
mainly because the brand seems to get a lot of respect - but i am open to suggestions

so which do i get?
and any ideas where will be the best place to buy?

thanks in advance :)

[Matblack]

I have TomTom on my phone, its OK.

The best one I have used in the one Pebs has, I'm stuff if I can remember what its called though :/

It has some features you don't get on TomTom unless you fork out for the expensive one, like using a voice synth to have a crack at pronouncing road / user input names. I was also impressed with the view but the relative value of these things are all pretty subjective.


MB

[Feek]

I still much prefer the Garmin system to TomTom having used both. I find the Garmin easier to use and much friendlier to the operator.

[Mark]

I suggested my parents get a Tom Tom, and that has proved to be a good choice for them.

PS - I do like Garmin stuff generally but didn't at the time know what their interface was like so I couldn't recommend them.

[goldilocks]

I still much prefer the Garmin system to TomTom having used both. I find the Garmin easier to use and much friendlier to the operator.

any in particular?
and in what way are they more operator friendly? surely it's all just a case of select your destination and go?

(thanks everyone for the ideas btw)

[LeperousDust]

I'm with the TomTom crowd, and any will do i still use my their first GO, and it does the job wonderfully. Great little A to B device with speed camera warning, great online following of custom speed camera updates etc... can't fault it. There new mapshare or whatever technology looks VERY good. I'd love to own the new TomTom 710, or even better 720. They look great, but not really worth an upgrade in my books yet...

[Daz]

A low end TomTom - job done. My Grandad can work the UI, and he cant program his VCR. Or tune his telly. Every bit of new AV equipment they've bought since I was 9 I've had to set up.

[/off topic]

[Mark]

My Dad can do all the setup stuff (once I've shown him how), but I suspect my Mum just doesn't want to - and it was her I suggested the TomTom to.

[Jasper]

I thought the Garmin UI was a bit crappy - it seemed to have some cool features (known speed cameras), but what I've seen of it, the unit wasn't as robust. Having used a TomTom Go 300 since I knew about GPS, I wouldn't use anything else, and I wouldn't advise using anything else! which is what I said the other day - silly woman :D

[Goose]

I'd want one that shows groundspeed, warns user of possibly no-fly zones and contains a list of radio freqs. :D :cool:

[Feek]

I thought the Garmin UI was a bit crappy - it seemed to have some cool features (known speed cameras), but what I've seen of it, the unit wasn't as robust. Having used a TomTom Go 300 since I knew about GPS, I wouldn't use anything else, and I wouldn't advise using anything else! which is what I said the other day - silly woman :D

It's six of one and half a dozen of the other really. I love the Garmin UI, to me it's naturally easy to use and very straightforward. I think the TomTom one sucks, things aren't where I'd naturally expect them to be and the display isn't any where near as customisable as the Garmin.

But the same thing goes - I've been using Garmin GPS units since 1997 so I'm very used to them.

I'm also not impressed by the map database that TomTom use, from what I've seen of friends units, it's generally about two years out of date which is much older than the Garmin one. I think that's partly why TomTom is so cheap, they use old maps which are cheaper for them to buy.

I do like the TomTom 3D display though which automatically zooms in and out depending on distance to travel (and speed?). I think that's a nice touch and although I know Garmin now do a 3D display, I've not seen it in operation to compare.

I've had Garmin GPS II, GPS IIplus, GPS III, GPS V, Streetpilot, Streetpilot III, eTrex and my current Streetpilot 2600. Ideally my next one would be a 2800 series but I can't justify the cost right now.

[jmc41]

I have the navman 530 or something similar. I love it as I'm absolutely useless and get lost all the time. It directed me around half of W.Sussex a while back when the police closed the A24 (as in the entire SE section of it apparently), directed us into the middle of the countryside, and it got me to where I needed to go with no problems after 5-6 hours on the road (~130miles) and at breaking point.

The only issue I have which is a general navman issue is that it came with 2004 maps (I got it just over a year ago?) and it costs about £100 to upgrade. Considering the entire thing cost about twice that it's a rip off.

It's not a major problem most of the time but in certain city centres such as Cov and Newcastle it directs me into walls. Generally pretty good at getting me where I want to go through. It also doesn't know a 5 mile stretch of the A1 exists around Leeds and kept telling me to find the nearest road, but I digress.

Only advise is I'd steer clear of anything less than 6 digit postcode matching as LE12 is rather a wide area compared to LE12GH (I made that up).

Oh yeah, and get one you can add POIs to, ie: cameras :D