Sat nav maze - help!
Discussion
Hi
I've had to start a new role at work which means I can't sit in front of a PC and talk my other half around town when she's lost - and I've tired of trying to plot her location from descriptions like 'there's a tall building behind me...' - so it's time to invest in satnav.
I have some requirements:
It must be totally portable as we swap cars between us, with no sign of a fixed install if possible which means a decent battery life
It needs to work from either a street name or a postcode
It needs to be easy to use
I'd like it to have a speed display (147 black dials difficult to read...) and a camera database.
I'm not cost constrained - well, within reason anyway - and would appreciate anyones views on relative merits of different systems (as opposed to reading all the bumpf...).
cheers
Tim
I've had to start a new role at work which means I can't sit in front of a PC and talk my other half around town when she's lost - and I've tired of trying to plot her location from descriptions like 'there's a tall building behind me...' - so it's time to invest in satnav.
I have some requirements:
It must be totally portable as we swap cars between us, with no sign of a fixed install if possible which means a decent battery life
It needs to work from either a street name or a postcode
It needs to be easy to use
I'd like it to have a speed display (147 black dials difficult to read...) and a camera database.
I'm not cost constrained - well, within reason anyway - and would appreciate anyones views on relative merits of different systems (as opposed to reading all the bumpf...).
cheers
Tim
Garmin nüvi 660!
Slightly larger than a pack of playing cards, but easy to put into a jacket pocket, or lady's handbag. It has a 16:9 screen, but if you want a smaller 4:3 screen, there is also the nüvi 360 which is slightly smaller.
It must be totally portable as we swap cars between us, with no sign of a fixed install if possible which means a decent battery life
Yes - the mounting bracket is simply a very effective windscreen mount. Or you can attach a special disc to the dashboard and use the same 'windscreen' mount on that. Battery life was sufficient for a 5 hour drive the other day - or you can plug it into the fag plug socket with the supplied cable. The 660's cable also includes a TMC receiver to warn of traffic jams; the 360 has separate TMC and power cables.
It needs to work from either a street name or a postcode
Yes - city name or postcode entry, then number and street. Or you can use lat/long co-ordinates.
It needs to be easy to use
Dead easy. One of the best features is a 'go home' option, to navigate you from wherever you are to your user-defined 'home' address.
I'd like it to have a speed display (147 black dials difficult to read...) and a camera database
It has both. There is a digital speed display if you're just using the map for orientation, rather than for navigating from A to B. Otherwise you just press one of the screen icons to view your speed. You get a free 90-day scamera database which can be updated using the supplied USB cable and your PC. Very easy to do. Unit software upgrades can be downloaded in a similar manner,
And it also looks SO much nicer than other makes/models!
Slightly larger than a pack of playing cards, but easy to put into a jacket pocket, or lady's handbag. It has a 16:9 screen, but if you want a smaller 4:3 screen, there is also the nüvi 360 which is slightly smaller.
It must be totally portable as we swap cars between us, with no sign of a fixed install if possible which means a decent battery life
Yes - the mounting bracket is simply a very effective windscreen mount. Or you can attach a special disc to the dashboard and use the same 'windscreen' mount on that. Battery life was sufficient for a 5 hour drive the other day - or you can plug it into the fag plug socket with the supplied cable. The 660's cable also includes a TMC receiver to warn of traffic jams; the 360 has separate TMC and power cables.
It needs to work from either a street name or a postcode
Yes - city name or postcode entry, then number and street. Or you can use lat/long co-ordinates.
It needs to be easy to use
Dead easy. One of the best features is a 'go home' option, to navigate you from wherever you are to your user-defined 'home' address.
I'd like it to have a speed display (147 black dials difficult to read...) and a camera database
It has both. There is a digital speed display if you're just using the map for orientation, rather than for navigating from A to B. Otherwise you just press one of the screen icons to view your speed. You get a free 90-day scamera database which can be updated using the supplied USB cable and your PC. Very easy to do. Unit software upgrades can be downloaded in a similar manner,
And it also looks SO much nicer than other makes/models!
Edited by nickwilcock on Friday 2nd February 09:19
My gf just got a TomTom ONE regional with just the UK & Ireland maps. I think if you shop around there around £150-180 or so, borrowed it today and although not out of the box, you can upload a speed camera database onto it. Mount wise, again it's the horrible windscreen mounts that leave nasty circles on your windscreen and you have to remove all the time otherwise some hooligan will break into your car, that said I think you can buy alternative mounts that clip onto air vents in the car etc. Battery life seems okay, would probably last 5 hours... If not it has the trusty car charger.
The best thing is it's dead easy to use, pretty tidy little unit all in all.
The best thing is it's dead easy to use, pretty tidy little unit all in all.
looking at them atm, work m8 swears by the garmin, lifetime traffic master updates, get the impression that they don'#t nee a phone, unlike tom tom which needs a bluetooth phone for the updates to work
want camera database, point to point maps, voice would be good and speed checks, sometiomes go at 40 in a 30 when i don't know the area or it has dropped from 40 to 30 and the only signs are the street lamps
want camera database, point to point maps, voice would be good and speed checks, sometiomes go at 40 in a 30 when i don't know the area or it has dropped from 40 to 30 and the only signs are the street lamps
nickwilcock said:
Garmin nüvi 660!
Slightly larger than a pack of playing cards, but easy to put into a jacket pocket, or lady's handbag. It has a 16:9 screen, but if you want a smaller 4:3 screen, there is also the nüvi 360 which is slightly smaller.
It must be totally portable as we swap cars between us, with no sign of a fixed install if possible which means a decent battery life
Yes - the mounting bracket is simply a very effective windscreen mount. Or you can attach a special disc to the dashboard and use the same 'windscreen' mount on that. Battery life was sufficient for a 5 hour drive the other day - or you can plug it into the fag plug socket with the supplied cable. The 660's cable also includes a TMC receiver to warn of traffic jams; the 360 has separate TMC and power cables.
It needs to work from either a street name or a postcode
Yes - city name or postcode entry, then number and street. Or you can use lat/long co-ordinates.
It needs to be easy to use
Dead easy. One of the best features is a 'go home' option, to navigate you from wherever you are to your user-defined 'home' address.
I'd like it to have a speed display (147 black dials difficult to read...) and a camera database
It has both. There is a digital speed display if you're just using the map for orientation, rather than for navigating from A to B. Otherwise you just press one of the screen icons to view your speed. You get a free 90-day scamera database which can be updated using the supplied USB cable and your PC. Very easy to do. Unit software upgrades can be downloaded in a similar manner,
And it also looks SO much nicer than other makes/models!
Slightly larger than a pack of playing cards, but easy to put into a jacket pocket, or lady's handbag. It has a 16:9 screen, but if you want a smaller 4:3 screen, there is also the nüvi 360 which is slightly smaller.
It must be totally portable as we swap cars between us, with no sign of a fixed install if possible which means a decent battery life
Yes - the mounting bracket is simply a very effective windscreen mount. Or you can attach a special disc to the dashboard and use the same 'windscreen' mount on that. Battery life was sufficient for a 5 hour drive the other day - or you can plug it into the fag plug socket with the supplied cable. The 660's cable also includes a TMC receiver to warn of traffic jams; the 360 has separate TMC and power cables.
It needs to work from either a street name or a postcode
Yes - city name or postcode entry, then number and street. Or you can use lat/long co-ordinates.
It needs to be easy to use
Dead easy. One of the best features is a 'go home' option, to navigate you from wherever you are to your user-defined 'home' address.
I'd like it to have a speed display (147 black dials difficult to read...) and a camera database
It has both. There is a digital speed display if you're just using the map for orientation, rather than for navigating from A to B. Otherwise you just press one of the screen icons to view your speed. You get a free 90-day scamera database which can be updated using the supplied USB cable and your PC. Very easy to do. Unit software upgrades can be downloaded in a similar manner,
And it also looks SO much nicer than other makes/models!
Edited by nickwilcock on Friday 2nd February 09:19
Agree with Nickwilcock - the Garmin Nuvi 660 is well worth a look - very impressive piece of kit.
A question though - sometimes my speed is displayed in the bottom LH corner of the map and sometimes it isn't - I'd find it useful to view all the time whilst moving - any ideas?
Speed is only displayed in the lower left corner when NOT navigating to user-entered waypoints - i.e. in 'Ready to Navigate' mode. When it's actually navigating, the lower left display changes to 'Arrive' time.
To see the speed in 'navigate' mode, you have to press the lower left display area to bring up the digital dashboard.
But I wish they'd kept the 'north' arrow which was there on the 360 - trying to orientate yourself in the dark on back lanes is awkward without it!
To see the speed in 'navigate' mode, you have to press the lower left display area to bring up the digital dashboard.
But I wish they'd kept the 'north' arrow which was there on the 360 - trying to orientate yourself in the dark on back lanes is awkward without it!
Edited by nickwilcock on Monday 5th February 11:28
An update...
Went for a 660 (cheers Nick) and it's so far so good.
Haven't tried any long distance stuff so far but around here it's fine - although it seems to love roundabouts and there's at least one scamera missing from it's database.
It's also intuitive enough for my wife to get from A to B (without going to D via Z) with about 10 secs worth of tuition, and it looks like I can fix the sticky disk to the cup holder to hide any signs of it's presence and still get a satellite fix.
(We did go to Halfords to take a look at both, but the 'satnav expert' we spoke to kept having to ask his colleague questions, and both appeared desperate to be elsewhere instead of trying to make a sale of £400... Our local car radio shop spent 30 mins going through the whole Garmin range making sure we really did need the 660!)
Went for a 660 (cheers Nick) and it's so far so good.
Haven't tried any long distance stuff so far but around here it's fine - although it seems to love roundabouts and there's at least one scamera missing from it's database.
It's also intuitive enough for my wife to get from A to B (without going to D via Z) with about 10 secs worth of tuition, and it looks like I can fix the sticky disk to the cup holder to hide any signs of it's presence and still get a satellite fix.
(We did go to Halfords to take a look at both, but the 'satnav expert' we spoke to kept having to ask his colleague questions, and both appeared desperate to be elsewhere instead of trying to make a sale of £400... Our local car radio shop spent 30 mins going through the whole Garmin range making sure we really did need the 660!)
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