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Ned Needs a New Sat Nav


Ned Swift

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Posted

Ned needs a new Sat Nav that needs to do the following:

 

1. Work in the UK and Europe

2. Be updatetable - possibly via USB to PC link

3. Be under £150

4. Be easy to fit

5. Speak in a Female Yorkshire accent

 

What would you suggest?

 

Ned

Posted
try ebuyer, they have some great offers on at present. Not sure about the yorkshire accent though. What I do with mine is to sett her to speak in france. My french is coming along great,
Posted

Hi Ned

 

I have been using a TomTom Go 740 for some years now without any major problems both here and in europe. Very expensive at the time but it offered some of the things that weren't on all models like a built in hard disc, for instance, so that I didn't have to change over SD Cards to get to another map.

 

However, one problem that most satnav users come across at some time is being routed inappropriately for the size of vehicle. Page 203 of the latest (December) MMM has a satnav new to the market with the latest mapping which can take note of vehicle dimensions and route appropriately. It is a ProNav with 4.3 touch screen, UK postcode search, UK mapping with european mapping expected to be available by September 2008, POI's, bluetooth and handsfree calling. Price is given as around £200 including delivery and it is only available through Maplin's.

 

For more details see:

 

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=224464&C=61872

 

Regards, David

Posted

Howddlydoddly Nedy!!!!

 

Contacted maplins they dont have any in stock the guy thinks they have been with drawn as they were still waiting for the Europe ProNav to come out.

 

I have the tom tom europe 1 dead simple no blue tooth or Mp3 player. used it in France and England.

 

But like other tom tom sat navs does not know how big you are. I wonder why tom tom dont/wont to do the size thing?????

Posted

The Pro Nav from Maplins was discussed on an earlier thread and the general opinion (including links to other sites that were slating it) was that it was not very good, then Maplins withdrew it from sale. Apparently the large vehicle setting only routed down motorways and major roads but didn't account for low bridges and width restrictions etc. so not very appropriate but typical of Maplins 'talking up' some of their offerings.

Tom Tom have stated that the available information from the mapping does not alow them to offer a respectable 'Large vehicle' option that they would trust and as TomTom is aimed at the car market rather than the large vehicle market it is not a high priority for them but will consider it as a future development should sufficient reliable mapping information be available.

Personally I have never had any problems whatsoever with the routing on our Go 720 but then I do still use my own brain and judgement and if I see a low bridge or width restriction warning on a road sign then I turn off and allow the Tom Tom to re-route.

 

Bas

 

P.S Yes you can enter your co-ordinates if you wish.

Posted

Or you could try this link.  Haven't seen it, far less tried it.  However, it claims to have Tele Atlas mapping, which is what TomTom uses, and has a facility for entering the size of your vehicle, up to full articulated truck size.  May be worth giving them a ring. 

They told me the main drawback is that there is less reliable information on road widths and clearances within the current mainland European mapping than in UK.  However, Tele Atlas are refining the database continually, and (limited) free mapping updates are included in the price.  A bit on the expensive side, but not so much so if the cost of updating maps on other systems is taken into account.

http://tinyurl.com/6l3x2j

Posted

Hi Ned

I have a Tom Tom One XL. having had Tom Tom on a PDA for many years which I have used all over Europe. Very happy with Tom tom and the One XL is a bigger screen and so you can see the printing better. You can navigate with Latitude and Longitude inputs, plus being able to input your own itinerary which is a great help if you want to avoid low bridges which you identify with your truckers atlas

Cannot help with yorkshire accent but you can have John Cleese and choice of othres.

Got mine from totalpda.co.uk cost me £129.18 including carry case with european maps.

If you want any m.ore info e-mail me

 

Doug

Posted

Bought Tom Tom One XL Europe in June. Worked really well for a couple of months but then after an on-line update it failed to connect to the PC again. TT Tech support was useless, just trolled through what appeared to a be a familiar routine to them - all by the mandatory, impersonal e-mail "service". In the end they suggested using an alternative PC - er so I have to buy another PC? Not helpful.

 

Seems from the internet that it is a known problem and some work, some don't. I will have to go back to Halfords and ask for an alternative.

 

A relative has the TT Go730 and waxes lyrical about it so looks like I bought the wrong model.

 

Bob

Posted
Usinmyknaus - 2008-12-02 11:12 AM

 

Bought Tom Tom One XL Europe in June. Worked really well for a couple of months but then after an on-line update it failed to connect to the PC again. TT Tech support was useless, just trolled through what appeared to a be a familiar routine to them - all by the mandatory, impersonal e-mail "service". In the end they suggested using an alternative PC - er so I have to buy another PC? Not helpful.

 

Seems from the internet that it is a known problem and some work, some don't. I will have to go back to Halfords and ask for an alternative.

 

A relative has the TT Go730 and waxes lyrical about it so looks like I bought the wrong model.

 

Bob

 

Although I didn't have this problem (PC not recognising TT) I do know of others that did after a Navcore update ( I believe it was V8.0(?)) however Tom Tom have released a further Navcore update last week that appears to have cured the problem on the ones I know of.

 

When I first had ours I had a problem with downloading the 'latest map guarantee' (it was still downloading after five hours!!!) so had the need to contact support, I must say they were most helpful and the end result was an apology as they advised me that it was their problem as they were having server difficulties due to an increasingly large number of users accessing at the same time and they were upgrading and increasing the number of servers at that time, I have since had no further problem updating. They also made me the offer of a free years safety camera updates for my trouble, which they did not need to do, but clearly it has made me feel that they valued me as a customer.

The only point of me relaying this is that in the dealings that I have had with TomTom they have been top notch, no complaints from me at all. I only had to contact Garmin once when I had an early model and at that time they were good as well.

When I compare that to the complete opposite that I had with Navman who appear to want your money and then don't give a damn about updates or aftersales, I guess it is possible you may have bad experiences whatever you buy.

At the end of the day 'you pay your money and take your choice' but I would advise sticking to the two best know brands i.e. TomTom or Garmin (though Brians problems may make me revise that opinion as well!).

 

Bas

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