Which Satnav should I buy?

[MOTH]

I hope somebody has an answer for this......

I have a cheap satnav and have recently borrowed my sisters tomTom, but she now wants it back.

Therefore I am looking to upgrade my Satnav with a newer one and cannot decide which one to go for. Iwould rather seek answers from fellow Motorcaravanners than the kids at Halfords.

 

I need

 

1.A fairly large screen

2.Speed camera locations

3.One which lets you program out tiny roads, eg in Devon (I had a nasty experience last summer!)

3. Caravan Club locations. Sites and CLs??

4. GB coverage with option to upload Europe.

5. Possibly height limits??but not essential.

 

 

Any ideas or comments? Thanks

[colin]

Never used one, but this looks interesting, maybe someone has got one and will let you know.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=31541&ra=true

[snudgy]

Ive used a garmin 650 nuvi home and abroad for the past three years would not be with out it, just set the parameters IE No Tolls etc ,I allway set my self as a truck when I towed a caravan because of weight restrictions. I pick up my first motorhome up in March so I will still be set as a truck

[spospe]

We have a Tom Tom 730 (current model is the 750) and it does all that you ask. There are reams and reams of POI that you can add to the original list and speed cameras are a cost option to keep updated (from memory you get the first lot for free, including overseas if you get the Western Europe maps).

[Mickt]

I have a TomTom 700 which i have put many poi,s on . Camp sites , UK /abroad, low bridges , speed cams ect.Although the screen is smaller than the newer ones it seems to be very reliable

[CAB]

Putting on my "grumpy old man" hat - I have never seen the point of "widescreen" satnavs - can someone who uses one explain?

My previous satnav was on a PDA which had a 16:9 "widescreen" display but could be used in vertical orientation. I therefore had a view of the road for a good distance ahead and the textual information on the bottom of the screen didn't impinge significantly on the map.

Current widescreen models from TomTom operate in a "horizontal" mode. Who on earth wants to view the scenery on either side of the road?

I bought a standard 4:3 TomTom model and am very satisfied. I believe it gives as good a view of the road ahead as the more expensive widscreen models (and uses the same software, POIs etc).

I would save your money, or buy the European version of the smaller satnav for about the same price as the UK "XL" version.

Others may disagree...

Clive

[lennyhb]

I've got a Navman S90i, the wide screen has the advantage of having more information on screen without interfering with the map, but it tries to send me down narrow lanes far to often for my liking.

 

Abroad always use it in conjunction with Autoroute running on my Netbook with a GPS receiver. With Autoroute I can easily change the route to use the roads I want to use. I also have a portable printer so never without a streetmap when walking around towns.

 

 

[monty the motorhome]

we recently bought a pronav with the europe option added, around £250 and does all you ask too :-D

[gadjo]

I'v got a tom tom 1 europe down loaded all the pois and it's great but does not take into account the dimesions of the van!!!

 

Tom Tom do a truck go 7000 a bit pricey at the mo about £450 but if it's as good as the 1 I'd consider a purchase (lol)

[catinou]

gadjo - 2010-01-08 3:13 PM

 

I'v got a tom tom 1 europe down loaded all the pois and it's great but does not take into account the dimesions of the van!!!

 

Tom Tom do a truck go 7000 a bit pricey at the mo about £450 but if it's as good as the 1 I'd consider a purchase (lol)

 

Yes, it's pricey but we got an ex-display (it had been on show, not on all the time, for one week) at a slightly reduced price from a motorway shop just before we went to the Christmas market in Aachen Germany. It is great! :-D We are able to program in height, weight, (total and by axle) and width and specify what our preferred speed is (60mph for us makes sense). We had our older (slightly ) TomTom running at the same time and we certainly were sent down several different roads on more than one occasion. No narrow streets that time! We found it even calculated different speed limits at certain places as we are just over 4,000kg max weight and the new satnav was now aware of this......

 

Highly recommended, (!)

[Basil]

We use a Tom Tom Go720 and have been highly satisfied with it. It will certainly do all the POI's you want and provided you remember it is a 'tool' and continue to use your brain we have never gone down a road that was not suitable.

I would most definately get a 'widescreen' version of whatever you go for as it allows you to place the information bars in the wide portion of the screen so not impinging on the map display particularly important if you use an RDS version for traffic information, as we do, as this places an extra bar on the screen.

I would thoroughly recommend Tom Tom if only for their map update service which gives you the most up to date maps available throughout the year and the user map updates which correct the maps on a daily basis.

 

Bas

[Big Momma]

Take a look at the Snooper Ventura range for Caravans & Motorhomes. It has all the bases covered for my liking including pre-loaded ACSI European campsites and Caravan Club as well as Camping & Caravanning Club sites. Bit pricey but if it does the job ?

[MOTH]

Well chaps, I have purchased a ProNav PNN-200 as the box says it does all I require and at £180, was the cheapest.

 

It took over an hour of communicating with Pronav helpdesk to load it up with updates and speed camera info, so not the best start in the world! My daughter leaned over my shoulder and said "should've got a TomTom".

Huh, younger generation don't know nothin'.

 

Anyhow, I'll update this thread when I've properly roadtested it. :-S

[Basil]

What a very wise daughter you have! :-D :-D :-D

[MOTH]

Well, I said that I would update this thread to assist future purchasers of ProNav Satnavs, so, here goes.

I have not yet tried a long distance trip as it is still too cold to venture out for too long, but have used it on several shorter trips around Northants.

1. The speaker is set up so that you need it on max. volume to be able to hear it and the speaker then becomes very tinny and dalekky.

2. Advance instructions of junctions is inferior to both my previous cheap satnavs.

3. It doesn't seem to show other details, such as rivers, as my previous satnavs did. I find this a pleasant detail to have. (maybe it will show bigger rivers than the large ditch which is the River Nene near to where I live!)

4. It tried to send me up a street within 100 yds of my house, where I would not take my van anyway, as it is too narrow! AArgh......A BAD START.

 

5. Will I still use it. Reluctantly...yes.

6. Would I buy another .......NEVER.

 

This is difficult to say, but, it really does not have a "trust me factor" that I have felt with other satnavs. Maybe I'll warm to it. Maybe thats a good thing :$

[Porky]

I agree with your daughter my TT 740 is brilliant. Yes it did get confused around Motril in Spain but then the new road system had only opened two days before*-)

It took me all through Spain driving on my own and it certainly allows you to concentrate on the road and not looking around for signs (like around Granada) It took a while to gain confidance with it and I would never trust it implicitly (keep the brain engaged and not in neutral)(lol)

[MOTH]

It did not even recognise NEC postcode!!!!!!!!

[Brian Kirby]

MOTH - 2010-01-07 8:14 ............I need 1.A fairly large screen 2.Speed camera locations 3.One which lets you program out tiny roads, eg in Devon (I had a nasty experience last summer!) 3. Caravan Club locations. Sites and CLs?? 4. GB coverage with option to upload Europe. 5. Possibly height limits??but not essential. Any ideas or comments? Thanks

1.  Most have largish screens.  You'll have to decide how large you need.  Have a look in Halfords to see which seem reasonable.  Note the model number, then have a look at that maker's website.  They tend to run in families, so there will almost invariably be others of similar size but with more/less gizmos, maps etc.

2.  So far as I know, most now have these as standard.  However, the databases become out of date.  I suggest looking at the makers' websites to see exactly what is included with which.  Their offers change every five nanoseconds!

3.  So far as I know none can do this, because actual road widths are not yet part of the mapping databases.  Several have the data on width restrictions, which is not the same thing, as they will happily direct you down very narrow roads that don't have actual restrictions.  Maps, and common sense, are still needed to monitor the sat nav.

3.  These are available as downloads (Points of Interest, or POIs) you can add to (so far as I know) all the automotive TomTom and Garmin models, and quite a few of the others.

4. Price wise, you'll probably be better off getting one with full Europe maps pre-installed.  Trying to add Europe later may cause memory problems (they carry the maps in flash memory), leading you to need an SD card as well, and the cost of the maps pre-installed is quite a lot cheaper than trying to buy them later to add on.

The market leaders are Garmin (mapping by NavTeq [Nokkia owned])) and TomTom (mapping by TeleAtlas [TomTom owned]).  Each has its adherents, both are good quality units.  The main point to watch with either is that most maps, at the point of sale, are out of date.  You should get one free update included in the price, both companies offer flavours of updates thereafter. Varying entitlements at varying prices.

From my own experience, those units that transmit the directions to your "car" radio are pretty useless, because they have to use an empty waveband slot, and the wavebands in use change as you travel around so, at some point (usually just where the going gets complex :-)) your directions will turn into local radio!

Oh yes, and my spell checker reads sat nav as Satan!  Be afraid, be very afraid!!  :-D

[Stewart Hendry]

Have just picked up on this subject as I am at the stage of ditching my Navman as I can't get map updates for the 3 year old system. I have been looking at the Tom toms (european maps) but what I would like to know is: Can you put in post codes, map grid refs as well as street addresses?

Any upto date recomendations on suitable model no's without breaking the bank would be most welcome.

 

Many thanks

 

[Basil]

The answer to your question is yes on all counts, you can even talk the addresses in to the units with speech recognition.

If you go on to the TomTom site they are/ were offering factory refurbished units at a lot less a price than normal. If you get one that uses the latest mapping (i.e. IQ routes and ALG Advanced Lane Guidance) it will be supplied with the latest mapping and facilities for that unit and will be little different to the current models in terms of operation just with slightly different facilities.

Good way of getting the latest maps etc. but at a smaller price.

It is quite possible also that some online companies may be offering the latest models at very competative prices.

 

Bas

 

P.S. I ditched my Navman for the same reason as you and that was why I went down the Tom Tom route as they guarantee future proofing.

[Big Momma]

Can recall posting this but cannot remember which thread :$ I have recently purchased the Ventura Snooper S7000 with 7" LCD touch screen. It is not a cheap unit to purchase and depending on where you purchase them from the price can vary by as much as £100 (?)

 

Have not road tested it in the Motorhome as yet but have used it several times in the car and it is simple to use (has to be for non techy me) and the instructions both verbal and on screen are very good.

 

It automatically defaults when powered up to Motorhome/Caravan but their is an option to tick the box for 'Car' and then it starts up. It has up to date mapping, at last the roundabout that was taken away from the A419 is finally not shown :-D

 

It has the ACSI Europe campsites pre-loaded, although for those who have the DVD it is not as good as that but on saying that, it does list all the sites. It also shows the majority (but not all) of the Caravan Club and the C&CC sites. For anyone who has the 'Bord Atlas' from vicarious books you will be pleased to hear that there are also a lot of these entries as well.

 

I am not that impressed with the Bluetooth function, it does not automatically download your phonebook data and when you do make a call there is no way to enter a name just the number. Don't know about anyone else but I certainly cannot remember all the numbers on my mobile phone and who they all relate to, so for me this is a big negative.

 

live TMC is brilliant, shows up only on screen where there is activity, in black if not on your specified route, in red if on your specified route.

 

Gives all the Speed Camera locations and identifies what type they are.

 

You can enter destinations by 7 digit postcode, street address or GPS co-ordinates and you can make multi-routes (handy for my summer Motorhome tours. I have actually already pre-programmed my route and stops for the Scotland trip this summer).

 

Obviously need to test it in the Motorhome to see how good it really is at keeping me away from non-motorhome freindly routes. I have entered the height, width, length and axle weight in to the system but don't get the new van for another 5 weeks :-( But be assured I will report on how he system did or did not perform.

[flicka]

For ability to enter van height, length, width & weight have a look at

http://www.roadpro.co.uk/retail/product_detail.aspx?prod=PRONAV+GPS+NAVIGATION+SYSTEM&id=1295

 

For large screen (7") + ACSI Europe campsites, have a look at

http://www.roadpro.co.uk/retail/product_detail.aspx?prod=CAMOS+CN-790+GPS+NAVIGATION+SYSTEM&id=1241

[Stewart Hendry]

Thanks Basil, will get it sorted out now.

 

 

[Stewart Hendry]

Thanks Flicka & Big Momma, very helpful I will now get sorted.

 

Stewart

[bigal]

I have a Becker Traffic Assist Pro 7916 with Navteq technology that I have found to be indespensable on trips through to Poland and general touring in Europe. Up-dates are available direct from Navteq. My CI Cipro is programmed in as a truck and the sat-nav is fully portable and can be used as a pedestrian when out walking. The screen is 4.3inches display. It can be programmed in many different ways and can also play MP3 music. I am well satisfied ! Alan (lol)