Garmin City Navigator (Europe) - Good or Bad
Discussion
Anyone use or tried this... I was looking at some of their other software but have been informed that it didnt give voice commands for direction etc which for me is pretty pointless whilst Im trying to negotiate some of these mad Belgian roads/junctions...
I'd appreciate some feedback from anyone who has the City Navigator stuff installed.
Ta
Dom
I'd appreciate some feedback from anyone who has the City Navigator stuff installed.
Ta
Dom
Voice guidance on Garmin units differs depending on unit. The cheaper ones will give a direction like 'turn left in 100 feet'. The units that have Text To Speech (TTS) will say 'turn left on Piston Street'
I have a Nuvi 360 which I've used in France, and directions have been fine, though the pronunciation of some of the street names has been a bit comical.
I have a Nuvi 360 which I've used in France, and directions have been fine, though the pronunciation of some of the street names has been a bit comical.
lambochick said:
Voice guidance on Garmin units differs depending on unit. The cheaper ones will give a direction like 'turn left in 100 feet'. The units that have Text To Speech (TTS) will say 'turn left on Piston Street'
I have a Nuvi 360 which I've used in France, and directions have been fine, though the pronunciation of some of the street names has been a bit comical.
I have a Nuvi 360 which I've used in France, and directions have been fine, though the pronunciation of some of the street names has been a bit comical.
I can imagine...
I only need the 'at the roundabout take the second exit' type of instruction, and Im sure thats all my unit could manage anyway. But Ive been told that the disc for the maps only is an additional 140 pounds...!!! Thats half the cost of the unit again!!! Not exactly what I was hoping...
If all else fails I may have to learn how to read a map instead
A911DOM said:
Anyone use or tried this... I was looking at some of their other software but have been informed that it didnt give voice commands for direction etc which for me is pretty pointless whilst Im trying to negotiate some of these mad Belgian roads/junctions...
I'd appreciate some feedback from anyone who has the City Navigator stuff installed.
Ta
Dom
I'd appreciate some feedback from anyone who has the City Navigator stuff installed.
Ta
Dom
Which Garmin Unit have you got or want it to work in ??
K 4 TRV
Hi Lambochick!
I think I've narrowed my SatNav search down to the Nuvi 360. Tell me, do you use the Bluetooth feature with your mobile and how well does it work? What kind of battery life are you getting and, lastly, are the speed camera locations directional (or you have to wait and see which side of the road the camera is on)?
I think I've narrowed my SatNav search down to the Nuvi 360. Tell me, do you use the Bluetooth feature with your mobile and how well does it work? What kind of battery life are you getting and, lastly, are the speed camera locations directional (or you have to wait and see which side of the road the camera is on)?
Bluetooth works fine, though if you have a noisy car, it might be an idea to use one of those cassette convertor things and play the audio through your car stereo. The camera database I use is downloaded from pocketgpsworld.com It doesn't appear to be directional, which hasn't proved to be too much of a problem. The site also offers a downloadable utility which allows you to customise the distances at which you start to get the warnings. One slightly annoying thing is the amount of mobile camera sites listed in the database. You get warnings for these, but of course they are not always present. Just something you learn to live with I guess.
Battery life isn't too bad, if you set the screen backlight to off. However, it is easier to use with the backlight on, so I always use the cigarette lighter plug to provide the power and which keeps the battery topped up for those occasions when you want to run on battery power alone.
Have used mine in France and Italy and it hasn't let me down yet.
Be aware though, that it can sometimes be a bit over fond of sending you down minor roads/country lanes if it thinks it will save you time/distance, even when there is a perfectly good major road alternative. Hasn't caused me a problem in my every day car, but it may have done if I'd been in my Lambo on a couple of occasions. Again it's a quirk you make allowances for and learn to live with.
Battery life isn't too bad, if you set the screen backlight to off. However, it is easier to use with the backlight on, so I always use the cigarette lighter plug to provide the power and which keeps the battery topped up for those occasions when you want to run on battery power alone.
Have used mine in France and Italy and it hasn't let me down yet.
Be aware though, that it can sometimes be a bit over fond of sending you down minor roads/country lanes if it thinks it will save you time/distance, even when there is a perfectly good major road alternative. Hasn't caused me a problem in my every day car, but it may have done if I'd been in my Lambo on a couple of occasions. Again it's a quirk you make allowances for and learn to live with.
Edited by lambochick on Sunday 3rd December 13:40
I've got a Garmin 276 loaded with City Nav europe v8 and Tomtom Europe (v5.odd) on a PDA. Contrary to what you expect but Tomtom seems to have more local detail in its maps. I've noticed this in both the UK and spain.
However the Garmin seems to have the most intelligent routing capabilities but its not perfect and can still chose inappropriate roads that on numbers along appear to be faster, ie national speed limit roads that are single track with zero visibility (high hedges fences etc). The poor routing seems to happen mostly in shortest route mode so local knowledge always wins out over computer calculation in those cases.
As to voice prompts I prefer the garmin as the PDA often gets in a knot trying to work out what it should do 1st, dedicated tomtom units are likely better, that and the garmin sat lock seems faster.
However the Garmin seems to have the most intelligent routing capabilities but its not perfect and can still chose inappropriate roads that on numbers along appear to be faster, ie national speed limit roads that are single track with zero visibility (high hedges fences etc). The poor routing seems to happen mostly in shortest route mode so local knowledge always wins out over computer calculation in those cases.
As to voice prompts I prefer the garmin as the PDA often gets in a knot trying to work out what it should do 1st, dedicated tomtom units are likely better, that and the garmin sat lock seems faster.
snorky said:
I've just bought the 310Deluxe from Halfwits which comes with TMC free , bluetooth and speedcameras too....all europe too ( but you have to load it from DVD ) £299
Ah, tell me snorky, what is the TMC - is it software only because Garmin supply an external FM traffic alert receiver at around £150. I think what this does is allow you to run the traffic alerts (and MP3 music) through your radio?
My query is if your TMC is a software download then how can the Nuvi know where live traffic problems are day-to-day?
Also, I see they've now launched a 610 & 660 model - bigger screen with the FM traffic unit built-in. Decisions, decisions!
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