Would like a GPS/SatNav

Ice Rich · 13 Jun 2009 at 14:00

Hi,

I'm in need of a sat nav, i've never owned one before so any help would be very much appreciated.

I'm looking for something that I can just plug in and go and not have to pay any monthly charges etc.

Cheers,

Howard · 13 Jun 2009 at 14:06

The TomTom One devices are about £99 now and they're excellent, they have the best interface IMHO

mejinks · 13 Jun 2009 at 14:12

Howard said:
The TomTom One devices are about £99 now and they're excellent, they have the best interface IMHO

I have a Tomtom XL and its brilliant. They have weekly updates and have quite a following who make things like custom voices etc for it. I'm currently using Joanna Lumley and its brilliant.

My only gripe, and I think its true of all sat navs, is that it can take a few minutes to acquire a signal

Ice Rich · 13 Jun 2009 at 14:37

mejinks said:
I have a Tomtom XL and its brilliant. They have weekly updates and have quite a following who make things like custom voices etc for it. I'm currently using Joanna Lumley and its brilliant.

My only gripe, and I think its true of all sat navs, is that it can take a few minutes to acquire a signal

Thanks guys,

TomtTom1 sounds good. I would not need to register/pay monthly or one off charges though right? It's pretty much plug 'n go?

Howard · 13 Jun 2009 at 14:40

Nope, you only have to pay for map updates, which I think is a bit harsh, but there may or may not be ways around that

mejinks · 13 Jun 2009 at 17:40

Howard said:
Nope, you only have to pay for map updates, which I think is a bit harsh, but there may or may not be ways around that

Yes, there are torrents of free things out there

Janesy B · 13 Jun 2009 at 17:41

But we can't possibly suggest that the OP does this

bobert50 · 13 Jun 2009 at 17:49

I'd agree with the others here saying to go for a tomtom and preferably the widescreen ones as they're much easier to read on the go.

mejinks · 13 Jun 2009 at 17:54

Janesy B said:
But we can't possibly suggest that the OP does this

does what?

TripleT · 13 Jun 2009 at 18:01

I'd go against the grain here and say that I much prefer the Garmin units over the TomTom's. But I gues for value for money a TomTom One is pretty good

Perywinkle · 13 Jun 2009 at 18:02

Got the tom tom xl here too, seems to be very good in my limited experiance.

Ice Rich · 13 Jun 2009 at 18:06

Cheers for replies again guys,

It's likely i'll get a tomtom1 then.

I actually have a HX220 IPAQ (quite old I know), is it worth messing around with trying to get GPS or should I just go for the TomTom?

snowdog · 13 Jun 2009 at 18:07

Tomtom 1 XL.

What I find funny is nobody here in motors forums moans about someone suggesting torrents to grab things then you get to game forums and all kinds of idiots start moaning about it and the mods remove even mentioning it even though it has nothing to do with linking/helping someone to download it :confused:

.

But yeah, tomtom one XL and grab map updates from regular places once a year or so.

mejinks · 13 Jun 2009 at 18:09

snowdog said:
Tomtom 1 XL.

What I find funny is nobody here in motors forums moans about someone suggesting torrents to grab things then you get to game forums and all kinds of idiots start moaning about it and the mods remove even mentioning it even though it has nothing to do with linking/helping someone to download it .

But yeah, tomtom one XL and grab map updates from regular places once a year or so.

Who is suggesting torrents? I just said there was a torrent of stuff that could be downloaded.

Besides, newsgroups are better
/hides

snowdog · 13 Jun 2009 at 18:11

mejinks said:
Who is suggesting torrents? I just said there was a torrent of stuff that could be downloaded.

Besides, newsgroups are better
/hides

Ah yes sorry I misread

.

On of the PC games mods though for example would start threatening you for posting that in the pc games forum. Along with several regular posters crying about it.

InvaderGIR · 13 Jun 2009 at 18:14

Ice Rich said:
I actually have a HX220 IPAQ (quite old I know), is it worth messing around with trying to get GPS or should I just go for the TomTom?

It is possible, I have it installed on my HTC Touch, and a friend has it installed on his Acer palm unit thingy. There is a version of TomTom that installs onto Windows Mobile based devices. You can buy it from TT, which would give you all the software you need, and a BT GPS unit.

Personally though, if I was to be buying a new unit I'd get one of the TT1s or something as they are very good units, nice and compact and versatile, whereas having it installed on a palm/phone is actually just an annoyance. You also get everything you need in one unit, GPS is built in etc. and in the box you get everything you need to have it in the car. Whereas with the palm option you have to buy a cradle, car charger, BT unit etc.

Ice Rich · 13 Jun 2009 at 18:21

InvaderGIR said:
It is possible, I have it installed on my HTC Touch, and a friend has it installed on his Acer palm unit thingy. There is a version of TomTom that installs onto Windows Mobile based devices. You can buy it from TT, which would give you all the software you need, and a BT GPS unit.

Personally though, if I was to be buying a new unit I'd get one of the TT1s or something as they are very good units, nice and compact and versatile, whereas having it installed on a palm/phone is actually just an annoyance. You also get everything you need in one unit, GPS is built in etc. and in the box you get everything you need to have it in the car. Whereas with the palm option you have to buy a cradle, car charger, BT unit etc.

Thanks for that, i'm glad in a way. I'll give the IPAQ away now, would have just seemed a bit of a waste buying a tomtom if the IPAQ could do the job equally as well. But seems like the units have improved a lot since this IPAQ was around.

I was meaning to ask about the signal receiver, does these new tomtoms have everything built in - like a mobile. No signal box needed at all?

InvaderGIR · 13 Jun 2009 at 18:23

Yup it's all built in, but the battery on them is pants, so you do need the car charger.

Howard · 13 Jun 2009 at 18:34

The battery on my TomTom One V3 lasts a good couple of hours

InvaderGIR · 13 Jun 2009 at 18:36

As I said, pants.

I normally do 2-3 hour journeys, so need the unit on for ages, my phone lasts about 6 hours when running it, which is handy, but I always have it plugged in anyway.