Charles Chodkowski Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Our Garmin 660 Europe has finally given up and is now due for replacement but what should we buy? Have spoken to Garmin who have offered to transfer our lifetime map updates (which we purcased separately) to any new unit of thiers, but is Garmin the best to buy now. We need full European mapping and maybe a larger screen. Any recommendations please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 I would stick with Garmin as I always find them very good to deal with. the mapping is supposed to be for life of unit, so this is a a very fair offer... its more difficult determining what new unit to buy, as the choice is extensive. Best to go on a dedicated GPS forum like pocket gps and have a look on there. Just be careful as the specification on some can be useless to motorhomers, by example, with some new models you cant add your own POI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna miller Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 It depends what you expect for your money, I have just bought a generic Sat-Nav with a 7" screen, full European mapping with free lifetime updates to maps for the princely sum of £48, it comes with a 4gb card and is installed with windows CE along with a host of other features including an e-reader. The Sat-Nav is excellent and gives a voice warning if you stray over the speed limit for that stretch of road. You can buy the version that caters for HGV and coaches for £85 as opposed to Garmin and TomTom versions costing many £100s. A lot people knock cheap Japanese or Chinese goods, but if it only lasts 2 years @ £48, I can buy 2 or 3 for the price of a 'branded' unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Babe..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Chodkowski Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 Hello Donna So what is it and where did you buy it from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Charles Chodkowski - 2012-06-12 2:03 PM Hello Donna So what is it and where did you buy it from? again...do your homework on a gps forum, these generic units get very poor reviews Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Chodkowski Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 Hello Judge What gps forum do you recommend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 I did mention it above.:-D pocket gps world.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteCheyenneMan Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Our Garmin nuLink! 1695 has been worrying us of late. All the settings are correct but it insists on routing us down lanes running parallel to main roads.On a recent trip to Scotland it should have routed us around Glasgow, but it took us through the west end of the city. At the end of our trip there was severe congestion on the M6 approaching Cheshire and we were heading for Chester. So we accepted it's traffic routing onto the M61, through Wigan and Warrington onto the M6. We must have used excess fuel because the route was a mass of traffic lights (most with long queues) and roundabouts. When we joined the M56 and then bypassed Chester City for the A55, we finally caught up with the truck and trailer that we had followed until we left the M6!!Throughout this trip I regularly re-routed us because I was familiar enough with the area to know that the Garmin's routing was ridiculous.New TomTom should be here by the end of the week (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna miller Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Charles Chodkowski - 2012-06-12 2:03 PM Hello Donna So what is it and where did you buy it from? This is the truck version with a 2 year warranty from a UK seller.......... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7-inch-Truck-GPS-SAT-NAV-MP4-Lorry-Coach-Bluetooth-Free-Update-SpeedCam-POI-L18-/260911359316?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item3cbf876554 Sorry I don't know how to shorten the link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 I have a Tom Tom XL and its tried to kill us several times in Spain....... 8-)..........in France its ok.......in the UK ok ish.........although at times confused as I use it for deliveries in areas I know like the back of my hand *-)........and try's to take me the strangest of routes :-S I reckon its possessed by my ex wife who is trying to kill me.............third time lucky eh 8-) 8-) 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicka Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Hi Charles One point to consider (especially with Tom Tom) manyof the current models do not have a SD Card & rely on in-built memory. This can be a problem if you want to update maps or add your own POI's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteCheyenneMan Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 flicka - 2012-06-12 9:57 PMHi Charles One point to consider (especially with Tom Tom) manyof the current models do not have a SD Card & rely on in-built memory. This can be a problem if you want to update maps or add your own POI's.My new TomTom (due this week) is the Camper and Caravan device which does have an SD Card slot and updated maps available on SD Cards. I've had so much trouble with downloading updates on a slow Broadband connection that the use of cards is a key point for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syd Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 flicka - 2012-06-12 9:57 PM Hi Charles One point to consider (especially with Tom Tom) manyof the current models do not have a SD Card & rely on in-built memory. This can be a problem if you want to update maps or add your own POI's. Hi Charles To support Flicka's point about the memory, we have a TomTom Go 740 Live, came to update the maps and find that the memory is 2GB and the map updates are bigger than 2GB so cannot update the maps. Not a happy chappie about that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteCheyenneMan Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Hi CharlesTo support Flicka's point about the memory, we have a TomTom Go 740 Live, came to update the maps and find that the memory is 2GB and the map updates are bigger than 2GB so cannot update the maps.Not a happy chappie about thatAnother reason, perhaps, for getting a device that can be updated by SD Card? Of course, many of these are fairly new, or a new format, so many existing owners will be forced to make do or purchase a new device. Ahaa! Clever bit of marketing there methinks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Chodkowski Posted June 13, 2012 Author Share Posted June 13, 2012 Our old Garmin Nuvi 660 had a sd slot and this was certainly needed for the latest updates. I am really looking for something similar with full European mapping and need some personal recommendations. The one that Donno metions looks interesting and may be well worth a punt at only £85 but am i throwing my money away when I can buy a Garmin 465T for £189 from Amazon. Dooes anyone have one of these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Syd - 2012-06-13 12:00 AM flicka - 2012-06-12 9:57 PM Hi Charles One point to consider (especially with Tom Tom) manyof the current models do not have a SD Card & rely on in-built memory. This can be a problem if you want to update maps or add your own POI's. Hi Charles To support Flicka's point about the memory, we have a TomTom Go 740 Live, came to update the maps and find that the memory is 2GB and the map updates are bigger than 2GB so cannot update the maps. Not a happy chappie about that Syd, don't Tomtom chop up the maps into chunks if you can't get it all on the device. I think you keep all the parts on your PC (or memory stick?) and load the appropriate bit for where you are heading - shouldnt need changing that often bet latest maps have much more detail hence larger size. I'm still deciding on whether to update my old, but reliable, Tomtom One V3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna miller Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 To answer Charles's questions in his message to me earlier: I had a play around with the unit earlier and you can enter your destination as either an address, a postcode or you can enter GPS co-ordinates. Once destination is set, you can then save it as a POI and name it. There are pre-set groups, restaurants, fuel stations, etc. and you can add and name your own groups like campsites, cinemas, lap dancing clubs.... When your destination shows up on the map, it also lists all POI's within a mile or so, including businesses, banks, shops etc. When you enter destination it will ask first for country, then city, you enter city or postcode, if you are manually entering address it will predict and show options.. You can save destinations as favourites for quick reference. The European mapping looks good, and all maps can be shown in 2 or 3D. All map updates are free at a supplied website. As I said, I didn't bother with the truck/bus version as this one was for the car, but it comes with a 2 year warranty as does the truck version. You are always going to get people saying that cheaper generic sat-navs are rubbish, but that's mainly because they are still really a relatively new piece of kit and the likes of TomTom, Garmin and a couple of others have dominated the market for years with vastly overpriced units, there simply wasn't the option until a couple of years ago to buy outside the major brands and the sceptics are the ones that bought theirs when there was relatively little choice, but still at a high price, they are stuck with units where they have to pay for map updates or one where they cannot expand the mapping because of lack of memory or no SD card. Never fear though, because now there is that option with China and other Eastern countries making superior units for a fraction of the price, Alas old timers, dearer doesn't always mean better. As a comparable example, cast your mind back 18-20 years when DVD players came on to the market, they cost upwards of £200-300 and were basic, only played region 2 discs etc.etc. over the years they have reduced in price to the extent that you can buy them in Asda for less than £20 and they are every bit as good as the £300 units of years ago. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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