Best Sat Nav for Open top Sports Car

[bus_ter]

Hi,

I'm looking for a Sat Nav unit that will work well in an open top sports car. It will therefore need to be visible in Direct Sunlight and also loud enough to hear above considerable Road and Wind noise at speed.

I know some unit have the facility to increase the volume as speed increases which might be very useful.

I've also heard the Tom Tom series (apart from the one) have good loud speakers and good anti-glare screens? Are they the best bet?

Cheers
Buster

[CombeMarshal]

Good question!
I don't know how loud it is, but TomTom do a Rider version now with a little visor!
But Most TomTom's now have Bluetooth so you could use a headset

[Devils Advocate]

That's what I'm looking for (see Quest II thread www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=243143&f=153&h=0 )

My main problem with the Tomtom Go units is their bulk, as I'd have to take it with me when I leave the car.

Also I don't think the tomtoms are waterproof whereas the Quest II is.

As for sound/visibility, I plan to use the Bike mounting kit for the quest, that has an audio (earphone) out socket that I can connect to the Autocom (or an earphone) - I don't think the TomToms have that connection either??

[kippax]

I have a HP Ipaq PDA with Tom Tom 5 software on it. The cradle I use has built in speaker & is very loud (I only have it on 60% even with the Tuscan's roof off) plus as it is a PDA it is slim & easy to carry around not to mention being able to do other things except sat nav (e-mail , word etc)


This is where I bought mine from www.handtec.co.uk/product.php?xProd=132&xSec=5&jssCart=29efcbb578b26510865b152b5edc385a


And this is the cradle I stongly recommend (had a different one & it was crap!)
www.handtec.co.uk/product.php?xProd=73&xSec=37

Thanks
Howard.

[Myobb]

Dont buy (as I did) a Mio 168 PDA with CoPilot Live. The unit is crap!. With the top down on my Convertible & the sun up the screen becomes unreadable & I cant hear the instructions. Total waste of money.

[Gazzab]

garmin i3. Small, clear, loud, effective, cheap (£99 !)

[nubbin]

I used a Tom Tom Go 700 for Eurohoon last year. I bought a fabric hood which clips inside the removable face of the TTgo, and shades the screen from direct sunlight - I found it on E-Bay from a guy in USA - I think he called himself Stomp-Stomp! He also sent me some anti-reflective plastic sheets to apply to the screen, and they are very good. In fact I've just Googled it and this is the same one - Visor

I went all round Europe with the roof down, and the speaker was loud enough over wind and engine noise to at least draw your attention to the device and that's all you need - if I could hear it over a TVR at 90mph then it's loud enough!

Waterproofing wasn't an issue - being in the lee of the windscreen means it only gets a few drops of water on it should it rain, and I would imagine if the device is getting wet enough to get you worried about the electrics, then you probably need to put the roof up!

[Tripps]

Gazzab said:

garmin i3. Small, clear, loud, effective, cheap (£99 !)

I'd agree with that, at full volume I can hear it with the windows down at around 120 (on an Autobahn of course) and my Cerb isn't the quietest of cars.

But, you could also likely wire something into some stereo head units I'd imagine, using the phone mute facility and aux input.

Alternatively PDA cradles with speakers are quite good, I used one for my Toshiba PDA as it had a tinny speaker, not not the prettiest installation, but it could be heard.

[430 Spider]

I do struggle to hear mine in the 430 under load, but then it is very loud.

[John_W]

Tried my TT1 last week in the Elan on the annual 900 mile return trip to Donington Lotus show. Volume of instructions and warnings was fine so long as the radio was at reasonable levels. If anything critical was coming up I just turned the MP3 off.

J

[bad company]

I have had the Garmin Nuvi 350 recommended www.garmin.com/uk/automotive/nuvi/nuvi350/. It looks great but very expensive