Garmin Nuvi 310 D

[John NG5]

I was given a demonstration of this item at my local Halfords store recently and up until now had been considering either Navman or Tom Tom. The salesman informed me that his store do not stock Navman or T T because they only provide about 45 % coverage in Ireland !! I was very impressed by the Garmin and am now almost sold on it. Does anyone own or have experience of this model and can give me their views, good or bad ? It appears to do everything except make toast!!! ATB John 8-)

[docted]

John why don't you try a dealer other than Halfords. Thye will be able to give you an unbalanced view on all the products that they sell unlike Halfords who can only give a view on the one they sell exclusively. Docted

[John NG5]

Cheers Docted, Sorry to say that there are not too many outlets that carry a good range of satnav equipment where I live. Travelling to Edinburgh soon, so may be able to find alternatives there. In mean time can you suggest anything off the top of your head? Thankyou for swift reply, John 8-)

[Dave Newell]

John, the mapping is provided by either Navtech or TeleAtlas and the hardware is completely independent of the mapping coverage. So don't be persuaded to buy one brand because of better coverae. D.

[david lloyd]

Hi John I have been using TomTom on my PDA for some time now and it has proved very good. We were in France for four weeks earlier this year and had no major problems even though we avoided motorways. However, there are some things I would change: My version does not allow input of Lat/Long - although I believe there is a download for this. It does not allow me to except very minor roads where some do have a choice for buses/lorries. Although it has 7 digit postcode input there is no facility for searching on the name of a property - rural postcodes can coveran awful big distance and many properties when looking for somewhere with a name rather than street/number. I do have the CC sites and CL's loaded as POI's and even the french aires which helped tremendously. Finally, although I use a powered PDA mount (which incorporates the aeriel and allows me to use it in the car) it is cumbersome and cannot be used in pedestrian mode. The mount is also windscreen mounted and has to be removed before I can close the remis blinds - a bit of a bind every night when touring the aires. I have been considering replacement in the future and my preference at this time would be the Garmin Nuvi 350 which offers all the above with full europe mapping on a hard disc (my europe maps have to be downloaded separately onto SD cards) but not the property name index which I am not sure exists on any format. Have to see what santa has in store. Regards, david

[Globetrotter]

We have been VERY pleased with a Mitac Mio 710 we bought earlier this year. It allows lat/long input and vehicle selection and has FULL european mapping preloaded onto its hard drive. It also comes with a complete mounting kit (Including bicycle mount!) and has traffic reports, bluetooth and safety camera alerts also. It also comes in a fair bit cheaper than other makes, with no quality issues found so far. I really can recommend it!

[John NG5]

Nothing beats the voice of experience and I thank you all for your input so far. All the little tit bits come together and help to make a better informed decision. I will let you know in due course which system I buy and unfortunately Santa does not call at my home any more!!!! ATB John 8-)