i am in the market for a sat nav system but am not too clued up on them any recomondations plese?
do you want just satnav or do you want the device to do more
didn’t know they could do more am a bit techno phobic any advice would be good
Worth looking at www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk which is where I got mine from. Two real choices, either a dedicated SATNAV system such as TomTom GO or go for a PDA with integrated GPS (which you can also run Tom Tom 5 on).
If you only want to use it as a GPS then probably best to go for a dedicated unit. I have used a PDA for years and I find it useful to have my diary / address book and whatever else I choose to load onto it at hand. In my case I have a Mio 168 which comes with Windscreen mount and a 10-30v adaptor so it is truck friendly !!
Finally, software wise I would go for TomTom - since I have found it pretty good as an electronic map as well - some software does not let you browse the map nearly as easily and it can be handy when you are checking your route out !!
G
I use tomtom and think it is briiliant, since january the only map i look at is London A to Z, whatever you choose always check the route it gives you, remember it is made for cars not trucks you just have to use your brain
if you got the pocketpc route have a look at alturirion available from www.easydevices.com
theres 3 ways you can go
1 pda personal digital assistant either running windows pocket pc or palm os
such as the hp ipaq reange or palm tungsten range the advantag eof these is that if you dont get on with a particular piece of software then you can change it
2 pna personal navigation device such as the tomtom go or navman icn it only does navigation and you stuck to the software
3 mobile phone with phine like the orange spv, tmobile sda and the motorrola mpx etc running windows then you could use tomtom or copilot with these phones
or you could go with nokia usually anythig from the 6600 upwards will do tomtom and navicore are only available for these
there the sony erricson p910 tomtom is making a version for this but its not yet relased
hope this helps you anyquestions give me a shout
Try the link below.
There’s a member of this forum who is a mod on that site.
Ken.
I’m thinking of upgrading my phone to a ‘smartphone’ and buying the satnav program for it. As I dont use maps that often I can’t justify 3- 400 quid on a dedicated system. As the phone would be ‘free’ on contract this seems to be the cheapest way of getting satnav.
Anyone else gone down this route and any drawbacks??
I was thinking about a smartphone before I got my pda, doesn’t it cost a lot for connect time ?
I purchased the MIO 168 for a little over £200 inc a few bits and bobs… Money well spent if you ask me.
it depends which system you are going for david i use copilot live on my sda and its not bad though the routing isnt that good but id go for tomtom as you can use full postcodes with it
tom tom 500 or 700
I have used and can reccommend the MIO 268…its now available at Halfords for £270…and includes the uk maps…there is a free upgrade as well…for european maps…you can buy the smart card…or buy the MIO 269 which has everything but at a higher price…
I personally use the Navman iCN510 Premium. Which comes with UK map preloaded and European maps on CD.
See pocketgps.co.uk/uksafetycameras.php you can upload the sat nav with all known UK speed traps.
Hubby uses Co-Pilot on a T-Mobile SDA - contract is about £30 a month which includes 200 anytime/any network minutes and 100 texts. The Co-Pilot thingy came free with the phone. Since he’s had it (last two months) he hasn’t got lost once (apart from driving around Iver in circles as Co-Pilot didn’t “know” his truck was over 7.5 tonnes so kept trying to direct him down weight-limited roads. He’s finding his driving times are improving, getting to jobs quicker which means more work, and if he’s willing to pay the GPRS data costs (which are not included on the contract) I can log into the Co-Pilot website with a username/password and “see” where he is!
Katie.
katie:
and if he’s willing to pay the GPRS data costs (which are not included on the contract) I can log into the Co-Pilot website with a username/password and “see” where he is!Katie.
Bet he don’t pay them teeheeheee
TheBear:
katie:
and if he’s willing to pay the GPRS data costs (which are not included on the contract) I can log into the Co-Pilot website with a username/password and “see” where he is!Katie.
Bet he don’t pay them teeheeheee
Er, yes, he does, unfortunately! The GPRS charges are on top of the monthly contract. Theory being he has 200 mins/100 txts so if he doesn’t go over that then the monthly cost is static, and GPRS costs will be extra. Seeing as those lovely T-Mobile people are very good at charging for every 1kb he can’t get out of paying. What he needs is for a GPRS package on his contract (eg £5 for 3MB data) or for me to stop being a control freak. 
Katie.
kaitie put him up to 12mb per month ortherwise hell get stung and tell him to put the timer for the tracking to 30mins or an hour that will lessen it
alix776:
kaitie put him up to 12mb per month ortherwise hell get stung and tell him to put the timer for the tracking to 30mins or an hour that will lessen it
Yep, when it is on then it’s set to update only once an hour to keep costs down. Anyhow, have been surviving without it for the past week, I know his routes, where he picks up and drops off, I am his travel info service for when he’s truckless (finish at one site, ‘hitch’ to the next - he calls me for train/bus/b&b details all over the UK) so I’ve normally got a good idea where he is
But that’s sidetracking, Co-Pilot, in our experience, is absolutely fantastic. But yes there are other good Satnav programs out there.
Katie.
I was using a Dell Axim X5 with Tom Tom on, but recently upgraded my Mobile to a free Nokia 6680.
I had to invest £35 on a 512 mb storage card then I Loaded Tom Tom 5 onto that and invested another £50 on a bluetooth reciever off Ebay and hey presto a pocket sized Satnav System for the sake of £85.00 and much smaller than the Dell Axim,
The handy thing is that you can also use it just to pull up a street level map of a specific area without the GPS reciever operating. 
I use a HP Ipaq 2110 running TomTom 5 software and would certainly recommend it. It has full UK postcode lookup and the mapping is good. I upgraded from Tom Tom 3 and found that the maps are still virtually the same except for the addition of the M6 toll.
Like all these things there are a few discrepancies so you need to make sure you are not being directed down a one way street, cart track or into Jaguars plant as mine tried to do today!!
If this should happen, the software is very quick to recalculate and will sort out your route withing seconds.
It certainly beats driving round with the A-Z on the steering wheel.
Calv