Can anyone advise me on sat nav from recent personal experience, as there seem to be a lot of new and/or reduced price stuff on the market?
I had 1200 quids worth of OEM sat nav in the Merc and it was as much use as mud flaps on a tortoise, so I don't want to go there again.
I'm looking for a smallish portable unit with camera info and preferable with Spain/France mapping.
I've heard good things about the Garmin Nuvi 310D, TomTom1 and Snooper Syrius, but I can't find anywhere I can actually get hands on and play - all the units in Halfords seem to get wrecked before I visit!
I don't need lots of features (although I thought the Porsche Logo jpeg I saw used as a start up screen on a Nuvi was pretty cool!).
I've also heard that some car windscreens can prevent good satellite reception due to various integral elements - any problems with the Cayman?
Cheers
Dave

Hi Dave,

I swear by the Navman I use in my Cayman S - there are no problems regarding the windscreen - always a good signal strength and it is slim and light so does not vibrate / wobble on it's mount - and as it is slim can be stored in the door pockets. TomTom cannot be slipped in there....

The (I think mine is a N60) has a large screen and full European mapping on an integral hard disk, as well as an updateable off the internet, 'safety camera' database which can give a 1000 metre warning when using the Cayman to it's full potential!

The mapping and instructions are better than most integral mapping systems - the precision of position is unbelievable for such a small unit. also the 3D forward view is very realistic when getting to complex junctions..... yes I know it is a bit 'girly' but I never use the Plan View Map presentation any more.....

I don't know where you can try SatNavs out, I just took a chance on a system that seemed good (and was small with a big display) and have not been disappointed. It has taken me all over Europe and never let me down. (I bought extra mounts and transfer the unit from car to car....)

Hope this helps.

Cheers Karel

I got the TomTom 710 for a present at Christmas and I am well pleased with that so far, easy to hear and simple to use but perhaps not the cheapest out there.

What I like about it and would think is important if I was out looking for one myself is the internal battery life. In an ideal world I wouldn't really want anything 'suckered' onto my screen and it would be integrated but as you say the results of OEM Sat Nav are not always great (post code searching I believe isn't fully there on the PCM - or on my mates Boxster, unless he's not working it correctly!) and I object to the OEM prices the manufacturers tend to charge. That said I'm not a fan of wires trailing around the dash to connect to devices, the TomTom seems to have a solid battery life and will do 'most' of my journeys on a single charge (taking the charger with me just in case).

It's simple to attach to the screen and is solid mounted. Also, it came with a western europe so any planned trips to the 'ring in the spring will be handled nicely.

I didn't do the research myself on it so can't offer anything on the cheaper/alternative units that are around, as an alternative how about Sat Nav on a PDA with either built-in GPS like the HP iPAQ HW6900 series (you get phone, WiFi and other PDA functions as well) or a lower cost PDA and external (match box sized) bluetooth GPS receiver... choices choices.

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Cheers,
Richard.

Cayman S, Delivered July 06.

I bought my wife a Tom Tom one (UK version) as a present, these being now widely available for £179. It is a truly astounding bit of kit for the money, and I would not hesitate to recommend it.

JH

The SS7 family have a Nuvi 310D. Its been very good so far, the only downside is that the battery life isn't good, so its usually powered up from the lead.

The big advantage is that it has European maps (you load them from the CD). As a result it happily managed last Autumn's trip to the Nurburgring!

SS7

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Carrara white pauper's 2.7
Snickers wrapper in the door bin
Flies on the number plate
Church's scuffs on the kickplate
'Goodwood' umbrella in the back

Everyone seems to have their own preferences!

I've always used Garmin. Their more expensive but are a lot sturdier and can be transferred to a motorbike, as they're waterproof. The 2610 is good value though. If you got a 2Gig Compact Flash card for it, you can have the whole of Europe on there! Ebay's a good place for used models for not a lot of money. Their new 2820 is very good, but as it's new, it's lots of money!

I used the 2610 on a motorbike in blazing hot sun and 30 degrees, then torrential floods, then -3 degrees whilst riding round the alps for 3200 miles in 2 weeks. Never once went wrong!! Don't think the Tom Tom could quite put up with that. But down to what you're using it for I suppose.

I also use their GPS20CS for walking and offroad motorcycling.

tomtom one europe for me. great bit of kit.
then go to pocketgps web site and download all the static/mobile speed cameras onto your machine for £2.00 !
fantastic !

Thanks Karel, this is the information I was looking for. I'm looking at the Navman F50 which isn't as big as the N60i which is wider and has a camera.

I'm a bit worried about the battery life of 2.5 hours at best. Have any of you guys looked into hooking the power up directly rather than via the cigarette lighter?

Been using a Garmin Nuvi 360 for a year now and very pleased. Only annoyance has been the suction cup which falls off the windscreen occasionally.

If only the damn dealers didn't use SatNav as an excuse to knock 1000 pounds off the resale price. What a load of bollocks - we should all boycot PCM just because of that!

I also have the Tom Tom One - great, god value and very quick and easy to setup, easy to use, good suction to screen (on the Honda S2000 at the moment)

TomTom is by far the best IMO but avoid the tomtom one XL, the mount is terrible and keeps falling off the screen during every trip.

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Lordpercy
London, England