Sat Nav

[Rob555]

I am looking to buy a Sat Nav to use in my C4 has anyone had any problems with reception?

I need to have Europe street mapping included.

Which make and model , Can anyone help?

[wozza]

Have a little problem getting a reception in mine takes a while to get a signal. Can be fixed by using an external aerial though.

 

And TOM TOM seems to be the best way to go if you want one you can take out otherwise it will cost a bit more upwards of the £1000 mark to get a decent aftermarket headunit with satnav in it.

[jryan]

Hello,

 

I would go for the Tom Tom 510. This is very good and gives you europe! But it is a bit pricey.

 

I use the road angels new sat nav and safty camera GPS and the reception is very good.

[Rob555]

Wozza what make and model have you got, and thanks Jryan for your feedback

[Ciaran2903]

I use the Tom Tom Go 300, i dont think that it has Europe street mapping included, but i think that you can buy a memory stick that has Europe on it.

 

The Tom Tom 500 has Europe on it, but is more.

Not sure which option would work out cheaper.

I think that the equivalent widescreen models are more expensive.

 

I did not have any reception problems with the 300.

I think that the VTR spec is the highest that does not have a heat reflective windscreen, so if you have a higher model then you may have reception isuues (as you would with all units) as Wozza said.

 

I also think that TOM TOM is the way to go,

but it is up to you, i know that the asthetics was the main issue when i picked sat navs because all the makes had almost exactly the same specs.

[wozza]

Cant remember the exact one i have and its lost somewhere in boxes from my house move recently will have to find it and dig it out quite old now had it a while was only cheap as well but bit slow and maps are a bit out of date was fun finding my cousins new house in scotand it said i was in the middle of no where.

 

Also has problems with spirited driving where it couldnt work out where i was as entering into a corner at rather crazy speeds it calculated that i would end up in the river at the side of the road. :rolleyes:

 

And yep heat reflective screen is the cause of my reception issues.

[Safety Engineer]

Have got a Garmin StreetPilot C330 and found it to be a good unit, the C3xx series are being replaced with the C5xx series, pretty much the same but with a SIRF III 20 channel reciever instead of the 12 channel in the C3xx series. In the countryside I can get a good signal with my friends C520 without an additional ariel, it does suffer in town though.

 

The other change in the C5xx series is that you can buy a TMC reciever for £150 for traffic info in England,Scotland & Wales. No subscription fees, just plug and go.

 

Older GPS used a 12 channel system, look for a 20 channel system SIRF III chipset is the most common if it is WAAS or EGNOS enabled it will be fairly future proof

[C4VTS]

If you have the heat reflective windscreen, then you really need something that uses an external or seperate Bluetooth GPS receiver, as you will struggle to get a GPS signal.

[Welshguy]

Make sure you use Ebay if you are in no rush to buy one - I got my Tom Tom 300 off ebay for £170 plus £25 petrol going to Wolverhampton to get it (from Cardiff) - was priced at £299 at the time.

 

Bargin :D

[Mat]

I have a Nokia N70 smart mobile phone, and have a bluetooth GPS. I use TomTom for satnav in the car. When walking or cycling (yes, i have satnav on my bike!!) i use multimap if in the Lakes (i only have some maps) and GPhone2Earth for tracking. Then i can upload my waypoints and view them in 3d on GoogleEarth. I also have loads of other apps.

 

Effectively i have Tomtom with loads more. I feel my setup is better than having a separate Tomtom unit that can only do one job.

 

Also, because the GPS is bluetooth, i can place it anywhere in my car with good line of sight of the sky, though i find the dashboard perfectly fine, except when its very cloudy. I had a hire car last week for work, which had heated windscreen. GPS wouldnt work through it, so i gaffer taped my GPS behind the rearview mirror, where the windscreen wasnt heated - worked perfectly.

[ham's c4vts]

ive got a TomTom One and find its good works in my VTS stuck to front window, but not got europeain maps yet. now you can get it for £199.99 at pc world, currys etc.

[sammys hdi vts]

I bought the new Navman icn 530 and its great. It picks up a signal indoors and in the car in under a minute, creates a new route if you make a wrong turn, comes with the whole of europe inclided on cd, (need a £20 1gb sd card to load them on) clear screen, quick buttons for the nearst petrol station and car park, and its touch screen, i love it. Picked it up on offer rom the navman store for £209 a month ago!

[moggy]

AA road maps, cant go wrong. :P

[C4VTS]

AA road maps, cant go wrong. :D

It's a bit awkward, dangerous, and illegal to read a map and drive at the same time :P

[wozza]

So tehnically sat nav is illegal by deffinition as i read the map rather than following the womans directions she just pisses me off.

 

Think i will upgrade my phone to an N80 though and get the tom tom software on there instead need a new upgrade anyways.

[C4VTS]

 

Think i will upgrade my phone to an N80 though and get the tom tom software on there instead need a new upgrade anyways.

The N80 does not work with TomTom.

 

Only the Series 60 ones listed below work.

 

 

3230, 6260, 6600, 6630, 6670, 6680, 6681, 7610, N70, N90

 

I use an old 6630 just for TomTom

[wozza]

The N80 uses a symbian series 60 3rd edition OS so i can not see the problem.

 

The N80 is fairly new tom tom's site probably just not had it added yet same as the N91 isnt added all the phones use pretty much the same OS though.

[moggy]

AA road maps, cant go wrong. :D

It's a bit awkward, dangerous, and illegal to read a map and drive at the same time :P

point taken,

 

just gotta plan. :D

[C4VTS]

The N80 uses a symbian series 60 3rd edition OS so i can not see the problem.

 

The N80 is fairly new tom tom's site probably just not had it added yet same as the N91 isnt added all the phones use pretty much the same OS though.

http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?...ewtopic&t=40804

 

"It runs Symbian OS 9.1 with Nokia's third edition of Series 60 User Interface. This version of Symbian has some big changes to security and so TT5 in it's current form does not work on the latest phones."

 

 

 

N80 and 91 definitely do not work

[wozza]

Ah fair enough.

 

WIll just have ot wait for an updated version of TomTom for it. Its either the N80 or the K800i im getting just the N80 has all the smartphone features id make use of but i like the SE phones more than Nokias.

[Z3M Roadster]

I have the K800i and can thoroughly recommend it.

[wozza]

well i have had the K700 and K750 so like the phones its just a shame theres no smart phone the SE have out now that isnt a big brick like thing.

[fuelguage]

I bought the new Navman icn 530 and its great. It picks up a signal indoors and in the car in under a minute, creates a new route if you make a wrong turn, comes with the whole of europe inclided on cd, (need a £20 1gb sd card to load them on) clear screen, quick buttons for the nearst petrol station and car park, and its touch screen, i love it. Picked it up on offer rom the navman store for £209 a month ago!

After reading your note and other recommendations I have just orderd a ICN 530

I understand it has an internal memory. Can you install say France or Italy from the CD and do you need to delete a country first. I am not sure after reading the on line manual if there is enough memory inside the unit to take more than one country at a time.

Any information would be a help.

Thanks

Jack