Newbie SAT NAV PDA/laptop/standalone

[Guest liz]

am urgently considering purchase - read tons of reviews - more confused than ever. cant afford to make mistake. Limited loading PCtransfer skills. NEED full postcode?(to find addresses on unclassified roads prob.)automatic re-route, ability to change route, if see something want to visit, loud enough to hear over diesel engine, ability to add my own points of interest, in addition to hopefully downloading those available by kind caravanning peole.prefer not to get separate GPS receiver, due extra wires. not interested in hotels, restaurants, garages and campsites, etc. already included in programme (those having registered!)is there anything coming up takes OS grid references? Will need loads of help judging by the queries on various gps message boards... appeal for HELP please - to make my confusion clearer

[Guest Ian Stewart]

Been there, done that and still made a mistake ! I bought a PDA/SatNav "bundle". A palmOne Zire 72 and Kirrio/Via Michelin navigation for the UK. I was working on the basis that Michelin were probably the best bet for European mapping. It worked, but I didn't like the set-up very much and when it came to the point of buying the European maps, I decided to bite the bullet and change to a dedicated GPS system. It's probably worth mentioning that I didn't really want, or use, any of the other PDA features. I bought a Garmin c330. One wire (to the cigarette lighter), one small unit with all of Western Europe pre-loaded and the ability to add your own destinations by address. It doesn't have the full singing and dancing features that the top of the range units have but, at less than £500 . . . We're just back from two weeks in Germany and Belgium and it performed flawlessly. Hope that's of some help.

[Guest liz]

it was the suggestion that at least if you do not like the system you install on your PDA that you can change to another system. Would not really use PDA/laptop in many uses, though obtaining emails, etc. later could be useful. It will principally be for UK, though to do Eire, requires european mapping. understand there are prob.only two mapping sources anyway, Teleatlas and Navtec??? Just what can one add to if one gets a dedicated portable system.....given one could not change the actual system - hence the hesitancy. guess eventually the one the emergency services use will be available, which also pinpoint where you are......let us hope so anyway, as the difficulty actually getting to out of the way properties on unclassified roads, when one needs to urgently, leaves a feeling of panic. How will an ambulance be able to find you in future, if you do not have an available post-code or grid reference. the way things are going, with regional emergency service call centres, then maybe overseas overseas call centres, unless we live in easily found places, with a street name and number, we will probably 'fry'.

[Guest Paul Wells]

Hi Liz I know what you are going through, It would be nice if you could try out different packages. I have just been through what you are going through, I got very frustrated at the lack of information available on each product. I have recently bought a system with AA navigator software because I wanted to be sure that it gives full 7 digit postcode locations. All packages seem to claim postcode function but some only use the first 3 or 4 digits. This link should give you a demo to see whether the AA system is for you:- http://www.aanavigator.com/aanavigator-ppc-demo-int.htm I have been been quite pleased with it although it does sometimes try to take me down bridleways. But not more so than most route planning packages or websites. I bought mine to operate on a PDA with a Bluetooth receiver, as my main justification to purchase it was to upgrade my PDA, the GPS is only for occasional use. If you intend to use the GPS a lot then I suggest you get a dedicated GPS unit, as the PDA is quiet, and requires to be plugged into the charger when on a long journey. best of luck Paul

[Guest BILL BINNEY]

hello i would recommend navigator 4 from action replay it covers the whole of europe inc.ireland.you download it onto your laptop which is so easy. i have used 2 years now and find it easy to use and for £135.00 its a bargain.please mail me if you want more info.

[Guest Mel B]

I've got round the problem of PDA's being quiet and hard to hear when driving (when else do you want Sat Nav????!!!). We've bought a 'hands free' mobile phone kit which is basically a sprung clip that you would normally attached to the speaker on your mobile phone with a 12v lead that has a speaker mounted on the plug end. Ours has a volume control on the side and a light on the speaker so we know when it's on. It's simple to use - you just clip it on the PDA speaker as you would the mobile phone - but be careful not to catch the buttons at the bottom of the PDA - then plug it in to the cigarette lighter socket. The PDA is plugged into the other 12v socket (Fiats have 2 but you could run the PDA on it's own battery if you want) and away you go. The cost was only £1.00 from a car boot sale but to buy them new is only about £3.00 or so for a basic speaker and that is all that is needed.

[Guest petej]

I know exactlty what you're going through, I've been trying to decide which satnav to get for the past few months. Main points for me were...must be easy to use, must have full european mapping, must have the ability to download my own POI's (aires etc), finally, mustn't cost the earth! Discarded tomtom700, too expensive, toyed with the mitac mio 269, great spec with hard drive, but no option to upload POI's (otherwise I would have definately bought this one), eventually decided on navman icn520 premium with full euro mapping @ £404 delivered via totalda.com Great service from them and they have an internet 'ring back' service for advice on which to buy if youre in a dilemma and you can barter a little bit on the price. Well pleased with their service and hopefully get the product tommorrow. I'd give them a try.... pete pete.

[Guest liz]

I really need to know if a freestanding unit, what I can add, not only in way of European mapping, but loads of MY OWN and other individuals downloads, speed camera alerts, TMC, french aires, CC and CCC sites, etc., which are available, just dont know if all this extra information can be put on a stand alone unit, or even whether it needs a fair capacity on PDA, which cards are which, which are most common, which are most easily compatible with other gadgets....dont have digital camera yet, am hoping to get compatible stuff.....or can one do loads of stuff with card readers - change details from one type of card to another.....know a lot of stuff can be available from friends and relatives, but being of a certain age, most of my friends are more IT illiterate than I am, but have better budgets.....me, just had my bike nicked, and cant afford to replace that and get sat nav. so will be a bike from a car boot sale for £10 for me, and cross my fingers for a resolution to my sat nav. problems

[Guest Ian Stewart]

Going back to the Garmin c330. I just got an e-mail (last night) saying there was now a POI Loader available for the c-series units. So I can't comment on how good that is as yet. You can input individual addresses and save them as "Favourites". I've added several Stellplatze, dealers etc that way. Sitting in a location, campsites, aires etc, you can also add that to your list of "Favourites". If you've put a location in before leaving home and you don't like the place on arrival, you just delete it rather than have it take up memory. If you want info on the Garmin, drop me an e-mail. ian-stewart@dsl.pipex.com

[Guest BillT]

To Bill Binney (3) Very interested in your suggestion – especially at £135!! Where did you buy it from?

[Guest bill binney]

hi i bought my navigator from a company called action replay the guys name is doug antill and his phone no. is 0870 1994737 we go to france a lot in our motorhome and find it invaluble (stops all the arguments about map reading ) best of luck

[Guest Mel E]

I too have the Laptop system from Action Replay and Bill Anthill is very knowledgable and helpful. But there are one or two problems with it: - where to put the laptop - it is not easy to fit in place and impossible to reach on the floor to re-program when necessary. Wherever you put it, it's a potentially dangerous missile in a crash! - it has very occassional mapping problems when it goes into what is known as 'deadly contention' with certain routes - I found one from near Agde to Isle d'Oleron - when it just goes to sleep - you cannot route yourself via places. It does have waypoints but insists you actually go there: if you do not do so, it then continuously recalculates your route back to the last, missed waypoint. - the maps have too MUCH detail; they include farm tracks, etc., and you have to set very slow speeds on certain types of road to avoid silly routings. The maps require 7GB (that's gigabytes) of disc space for the whole of Europe. All in all, I could not recommend this solution unless you are good with PCs and PC software. I have used Garmins for flying for 15 years and they are easy to use and reliable.