Best Sat Nav? (1 Viewer)

[RollingRog]

Hi All

we are starting to prepare for a few months travelling at the beginning of 2012,( have started the pet passport process using advice from previous replies, thank you all) and have decided to jump into the 21st century and buy sat nav. we usually get by with maps and common sense, but one of the replies to our pet passport question gave us sat nav co ordinates to find a vet in france and we thought it would be a good idea? to invest in one. only problem now, is which one?
which do you think are best?

keep rolling

 

[elamessa]

You will find that the best GPS's on the market are Garmin, TomTom & Snooper.

It is impossible to tell you which one is the best because you will find that those that use TomTom will tell you that they are the best and those that use Garmin will tell you that they are the best and the same with the Snooper.

You just need to see them in operation and find which one suits your needs/price etc.

Sorry I can't be of any more help than that but as I said you will probably be told 3 or 4 different makes, but only you can decide which is best for you.:thumb:

 

[beachcaster]

I did a lot of research and decided on the tomtom XXL europe.

other will prefer Garmin........go to Amazon and read all the reviews
they are all equally loved and hated

But always have maps as backup

barry

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[welshbois]

we use a Garmin and would not touch a Tom Tom but as the previous reports say it is all down to personal preference. I know many who have Tom Tom's and love them.

 

[DESCO]

Have used Garmin, Tom Tom, still can't say which is best, I seem to vary at the moment Tom Tom as it came fitted in new van. It's a personal choice

 

[Taran_Las]

They're all equally good at getting me lost


I use a Tom Tom 1 (Europe).

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[Heyupluv]

Hi All

we are starting to prepare for a few months travelling at the beginning of 2012,( have started the pet passport process using advice from previous replies, thank you all) and have decided to jump into the 21st century and buy sat nav. we usually get by with maps and common sense, but one of the replies to our pet passport question gave us sat nav co ordinates to find a vet in france and we thought it would be a good idea? to invest in one. only problem now, is which one?
which do you think are best?

keep rolling

I have three sat nav's......
1..... Garmin .......was good........but the mapping a bit out of date now.....................

2...... TomTom One go with Europe maps and lane guidance..... (Brill little sat nav):thumb:

3.......TomTom go 1000 live Europe mapping .......just purchased it, it looks good, trying it out tomorrow ???

I must say I do like my TomTom's....

I think both TomTom and Garmin are very good.....I can not answer on the snooper,I find the price is a little on the high side ..... some love them some don't

Quite a few people we have met that have the Garmin nuvi, do not seem to understand them or know how to use them to there full..all they use is the post codes ....but I do find the Garmin manual lacking a bit on information but if you ring Garmin they will give the information you require!! why should you make phone callsoh:

 

[darklord]

A tip for using tomtom (i have two,...dont ask).

If using in a MH, best get the extra ariel, and stick it on the front of the motor, it looks like a square of chocolate with a long thin wire coming out of it for the back of the unit, I think thye are about £20 or less. In trucks and MH's, the surrounding metal and overcab etc can cut down reception an loss of sattelite, expanded on cloudy days and in heavily wooded area's etc.

If you use the postcode bit, when it "looks" make sure that the address it comes up with is tthe one you want, for definate, if it comes up with anything else, forget it. Some companies inparticular, add postcodes to their addresses that are just "near", some have a postcode that is seperated by a river/railway/low bridge etc etc..you need to be sure. If you put a postcode in and it comes back with "unamed road", that may not be a problem, if say...the vets, is on a business park or ind estate etc.

When inputting a normal address, do it slowly, it will sometimes give you options...and there is a "Church st" in every villiage in the UK, some can be quite close. It will always ask for "city" first......this may be London, but it may also be " Wicker in the wold".....if thats where you are going, thats the "city".

This bit does not apply if you are in a car, but only if you are in a MH.
When you have input the addres, and it has set your route,......go to "view route".......then "view as text", you will now have a scroll down directions to your destination with road names and distances on them! Check this with a map ! ! ! !
TomTom will go the fastest or shortest route depending on the preference YOu have put in,.......depending on the time of day, size of your vehicle, time available...you may need to change the route.
Travelling from london to gaydon for instance, teh sat nav will take you across country, through towns and villiages, when YOU may decide that as its saturday afternoon.....that may not be wise, and M4/M5 will be a better run even if its a tad longer.
You also already know, that "B" roads can be a blessing or a bleddy nighmare, especially at the moment with all the farm traffic moving around.

abroad, use the same logic, but double check spellings, and with the map. sat navs are a boon to travelling, but the old grey matter has still yet to be beat, not matter how old it is:thumb:

 

[JeanLuc]

The most popular brands each have their supporters and detractors. Each will do the basic job but the difference is probably in the way the interface works.

I chose Garmin (Nüvi 250W) a few years ago because: Garmin practically invented the SatNav and I trusted their experience; at the time, the TomTom would not accept lat/long coordinates but the Garmin did (no longer a TomTom problem); the man at Halfords where I bought ours said they had many more faulty returns from TomTom.

One thing to bear in mind is that unless you get a special model (e.g. the Garmin Truck version or the Snooper one aimed at caravanners / motorhomers) you will not be able to tell the unit how big the vehicle is. All the standard models will try and take you down lanes that are a bit small for a motorhome, and they will be oblivious to low bridges and weight limits. The only problem is that the Garmin Dezl (truck model) or the Snooper, will set you back quite a lot on money - around £260 for the Snooper and £300 or more for the Garmin.

Also, make sure that whatever you get can accept lat/long inputs. In Europe particularly, postcodes are not specific enough to find small campsites and aires. Better too, if the lat/long input format is switchable (Garmin is, others may be): in the UK the decimal degrees format is common, in Europe quite a few guides specify degrees, minutes and seconds. You really don't want to have to fiddle about converting from one to the other before you can input it to the SatNav.

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