Which portable dedicated satnav?

[Max...]

Would welcome recommendations as I have never had one - looking for a dedicated portable (car) satnav (not iPhone app). I need a decent clear touchscreen, reliability and ease of use. Budget say £150 max, mainly UK but western EU would be useful - don't want to pay sub fees each year but guessing live traffic updates are desirable....

[Chris Caton]

Garmin or TomTom, both excellent, good deals on halfords online which the shops will match

[TomKat]

I have an older (5 years) Garmin which is OK (gets me round Europe in my camper) but rented a TOM TOM lately for a trip to the USA and its excellent. Get as big a screen as you can, also had one in a rental car in Switzerland and the live thing was class, took me past some jams. Prob cant go wrong with either, some include free updates for ever. Amazon has some good offers.

[Trailer Guy]

yup, another one for TomTom. Used them for donkey's years. Very good in my opinion. I think it's the intuitive design - it's all just kinda obvious, if you know what I mean?

[Pikey Dave]

I've got both TomTom & Garmin. For the car, TomTom wins hands down. Walking, hiking, Geocaching then the Garmin comes into its own. You can look here for loads of interesting stuff for both

[Max...]

Thanks for the replies chaps - seems Garmin and TomTom have a monopoly on these but the Amazon reviews on TomToms are mostly very unsatisfactory and the latest units seem inherently flawed?! The memory/software etc is not capable enough. I always take Amazon reviews with a pinch of salt but when so many have rated only 1 star and report the same issues it's worrying!:

Amazon.co.uk: Customer Reviews: TomTom XXL Classic 5" Sat Nav with Western Europe Maps (22 Countries)


Amazon.co.uk: Customer Reviews: TomTom Start 25 5" Sat Nav with Europe Maps (45 countries)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-revi...owViewpoints=0

[Doug Stormforce]

I've had a couple if Tom Toms and think they are great, however after being broken into twice and having them nicked I now use the iPhone.

[Max...]

After my post above I looked into the reviews above more for other TT and Garmin models but still for every 10 good reviews 2 or 3 people consider them a useless piece of junk! I use an iPod Touch at home (wifi) and love google maps, may hold out for the rumoured iPhone 5 this winter. Is there a satnav app that uses google maps or which iPhone app is considered the best?

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Max...

After my post above I looked into the reviews above more for other TT and Garmin models but still for every 10 good reviews 2 or 3 people consider them a useless piece of junk! I use an iPod Touch at home (wifi) and love google maps, may hold out for the rumoured iPhone 5 this winter. Is there a satnav app that uses google maps or which iPhone app is considered the best?

AFAIK Apple have dropped Google maps from the next Ios, they are introducing their own proprietory maps. You can get the TomTom app for Iphone but I've no idea how good(or bad) it is. Personally I'd go for 2 separate devices.

[Doug Stormforce]

There is a Tom Tom App for iPhone, I've been using it for about 3 yrs

[Max...]

Cheers guys, looking on the app store Skobblers gps navigation 2 at £1.49 looks a fantastic bargain with excellent reviews...

[Fenlander]

Max,

I've used both stand-alone Garmin, Tom-Tom, phone aps and (in my current car) integral sat-nav.

Phone apps are not for me and I don't see huge differences between Garmin and TT. The Mrs has a Garmin which was our choice after lots of research, it's updated OK and had no glitches.

For me they are all an aid to navigation so you do have to be on the lookout for the odd issue in routing.

My car integral has traffic on it and that is mostly brilliant but does sometimes warn of jams that aren't there.

My daughter is just learning to drive and if she passed her test tomorrow I'd buy her this for under £50...

Halfords | Garmin Nuvi 1300 Sat Nav - UK & ROI


David

[Max...]

Thanks all.