GPS newbie. Advice needed please.

Henry Ford III

I borrowed a Tom Tom 720 (I think) GPS unit for a classic car run last w/e, and was very impressed. So much so that I'm thinking of buying one.

The voice prompts, mapping, and warnings were all very useful, and it had bluetooth so linked up with my mobile, giving me a handsfree facility, and it even read out text messages. Incredible.

So what should I buy? I wouldn't expect to use it too often tbh, but my priorities are:-

1/. Usability. Ireland & UK maps at least.
2/. Ease of updating (convenience and cost)
3/. Bluetooth
4/. Price and value

Any suggestions on what to buy and where would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Henry Ford III

Friendly helpful bunch here

MeWantBroadband

Yes we are.

I just bought my first GPS - Garmin Nuvi 250.

The main point is you can get it for €139 online from Elara.ie (€10 delivery if you don't want to picket up at their warehouse during business hours Mon-Fri). You can buy it in Currys/Dixons/PC World (all the same company btw) for €169.

- I don't know if the UI is as good, better, or worse than the TomTom. It is ok, not great.
- However people recommend the Garmins for Ireland because they use Navtech maps which have better mapping of the non-urban areas of Ireland.

stapeler

I have the TomTom720 and cant find fault with it. Haven't updated maps yet so can't comment on updating. Mine cost around €260 on EBay. If your classic car is a convertable then the weather reports could be useful in deciding whether or not to drop the roof

Lex Luthor

I would recommend the TT....I just prefer them a lot more than the Garmin for everything...with the latest maps its just as good as garmin here now (map wise)

mondeo

TomTom's are more fun to use, nice and colourful. I'm gonna get a TomTom 720 at end of summer and scrap my Nuvi

blindsider

Just picked up a Garmin 610. IRL & UK maps, Bluetooth, Picture viewer, music player etc etc. Very pleased with it. Got it for €200, the new 710 is €300 and the features don't seem any better.

If you can find a 610 (they're in short supply), it's a good deal at €200-€230.

Cyrus

710 is 250 at elara

blindsider

That's a good price - and delivery is €10. Good to see they're coming down in price!

I was surprised at the number of cars on UK m-ways at the w/e that had satnavs. I reckon at least 50% of cars had a satnav on the windscreen - and that doesn't include the factory fitted units on the Mercs, BMW's etc.

I guess they'll be as common here within 18 months.

mossie

Lex Luthor wrote: »

I would recommend the TT....I just prefer them a lot more than the Garmin for everything...with the latest maps its just as good as garmin here now (map wise)

Definitely not. The new 7.20 maps are awful outside of the cities. Rural areas are hopeless, no townlands, every road is "unnamed". The GO 720 is a great unit let down by awful maps.

neacy69

I am a sat nav noob so maybe you more experienced folk can answer a couple of questions for me:

A friend of mine has a Garmin sat nav which I have used around Ireland and find very easy to use. He has offered to lend it to me when I go to portugal next month...

- I think I will need to update the maps on this to use it in portugal is that correct?
- If i was to get the maps online is it just a matter of putting them onto an SD card and popping the SD card into the unit?

whiterebel

neacy69 wrote: »

I am a sat nav noob so maybe you more experienced folk can answer a couple of questions for me:

A friend of mine has a Garmin sat nav which I have used around Ireland and find very easy to use. He has offered to lend it to me when I go to portugal next month...

- I think I will need to update the maps on this to use it in portugal is that correct?
- If i was to get the maps online is it just a matter of putting them onto an SD card and popping the SD card into the unit?

You need to find out which maps are currently on it first. Model number would help with this.

Lex Luthor

neacy69 wrote: »

I am a sat nav noob so maybe you more experienced folk can answer a couple of questions for me:

A friend of mine has a Garmin sat nav which I have used around Ireland and find very easy to use. He has offered to lend it to me when I go to portugal next month...

- I think I will need to update the maps on this to use it in portugal is that correct?
- If i was to get the maps online is it just a matter of putting them onto an SD card and popping the SD card into the unit?

your friend should know if the garmin has europe maps in it. If it doesn't, you would need them to buy them using the serial number of the machine. You normally have 2 options....buying a file for downloading and then uploading to the unit or buying maps on a memory card and using that if the unit has a SD slot.
For the price of a base model these days with europe maps, you'd be better off buying your own. You might have to pay about 80eur for the maps alone when you could get a base Garmin or TomTom with europe maps for about 200eur. Halfords are doing a huge sale on sat navs this weekend so worth checking them out

neacy69

Lex Luthor wrote: »

your friend should know if the garmin has europe maps in it. If it doesn't, you would need them to buy them using the serial number of the machine. You normally have 2 options....buying a file for downloading and then uploading to the unit or buying maps on a memory card and using that if the unit has a SD slot.
For the price of a base model these days with europe maps, you'd be better off buying your own. You might have to pay about 80eur for the maps alone when you could get a base Garmin or TomTom with europe maps for about 200eur. Halfords are doing a huge sale on sat navs this weekend so worth checking them out

According to my mate it is a garmin nuvi 200 and has an SD slot on the back which came pre-loaded with Ireland/UK maps...

So according to your advice I can download the maps online to an SD card and slot in the SD card and the device should be able to read them?

Do-more

neacy69 wrote: »

According to my mate it is a garmin nuvi 200 and has an SD slot on the back which came pre-loaded with Ireland/UK maps...

So according to your advice I can download the maps online to an SD card and slot in the SD card and the device should be able to read them?

You then have to unlock the maps, the unlock code is specific to the serial number of the sat-nav, so if you decide to buy your own satnav in the future it's not just a case of transferring the SD card!