Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Dusty on 28 December 2008, 15:57:48
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I have to admit that I do not have the best sense of direction while in my miggy.
Mr Dusty has therefore offered to buy me a after market sat nav system.He has put aside £150 for me ,as a late Christmas present.
I would like one that is ...
1. accurate.
2.Easy to understand and operate.
3.Clear and easy to read.
How good are modern sat nav systems,and are their some that I
should steer clear of.
Thanks for any advice.
Dusty. :-* :-* :-*
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Hi Dusty....I use a Tomtom XL which I have been very pleased with..seems pretty accurate and being a slightly larger display than some on market makes life easier for "dodgy eyes"..I also see Halfords are doing an offer on them after christmas so its also good value at the moment..I paid £175 ish mid year.
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I have to admit that I do not have the best sense of direction while in my miggy.
Mr Dusty has therefore offered to buy me a after market sat nav system.He has put aside £150 for me ,as a late Christmas present.
I would like one that is ...
1. accurate.
2.Easy to understand and operate.
3.Clear and easy to read.
How good are modern sat nav systems,and are their some that I
should steer clear of.
Thanks for any advice.
Dusty. :-* :-* :-*
Tomtom all the way for me. Plus with the POI and Camera addons makes life a bit easier out on a run.
Allways go for the wide screen. On the Tomtom one the wide screen is the XL.
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http://www.tomtom.com/products/category.php?ID=0&Language=1
Looks like it's called the Regional Assist. Worth a read up on them all.
Do a Google search on price, Halfords normally the cheapest, and with the change you may well get some other Tomtom goodies. :y :y :y
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Are the aftermarket sat navs as good as the factory fit ones (which probably cost 5 times as much).
I tried a factory sat nav in a X-Type diesel recently ,but it seemed to miss out a lot of islands ,and turnings etc . I was not impressed with it.
Possibly me ..not using it properly. :-* :-* :-*
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Aftermarket units are normaly better than most factory fitted units as they are really built at a price just to have an extra bolt on to add to the list of accesories fitted..my advise would still be Tomtom and you will get one for your budget.
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Are the aftermarket sat navs as good as the factory fit ones (which probably cost 5 times as much).
I tried a factory sat nav in a X-Type diesel recently ,but it seemed to miss out a lot of islands ,and turnings etc . I was not impressed with it.
Possibly me ..not using it properly. :-* :-* :-*
Tomtom are far superior to the Standard one fitted in my Elite.
At the end of the day you have to look at the idea of you get what you pay for.
A £150 Tomtom wont be a good as a built in £2000 7" screen option, at least display wise anyway.
I have never had any issues with the Tomtoms I have used as a unit, on my phone or my PDA.
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Are the aftermarket sat navs as good as the factory fit ones (which probably cost 5 times as much).
I tried a factory sat nav in a X-Type diesel recently ,but it seemed to miss out a lot of islands ,and turnings etc . I was not impressed with it.
Possibly me ..not using it properly. :-* :-* :-*
Probably the car needs the map updating, which i think usually means buying the latest disc? Where as tomtom just needs plugging into a lap top for an update. The car however will probably find satellites fairly immediately, as does the system in my omega, on the other hand tomtom can take a couple of minutes, but has a far simpler and more thorough operateing system.
Tomtom all they way for me, get as wide a screen as you can for your money ar it helps the screen pan round for roundabout exits and give you a better chance of taking the right one. Hth. :-)
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Thank you all.
I have just been looking at the link that Skruntie posted.
Looks like I can buy a Tom Tom XL with 4.3 inch screen for about £127.
It makes no mentoin of voice command. have I got that right.
The very expensive Tom Tom look like they have smaller screens ,which I don't want. :-* :-*
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Hi Dusty....I use a Tomtom XL which I have been very pleased with..seems pretty accurate and being a slightly larger display than some on market makes life easier for "dodgy eyes"..I also see Halfords are doing an offer on them after christmas so its also good value at the moment..I paid £175 ish mid year.
Thanks Amba.Hopefully I can improve on that price.
Time to price compare I think. :-* :-*
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Are the aftermarket sat navs as good as the factory fit ones (which probably cost 5 times as much).
I tried a factory sat nav in a X-Type diesel recently ,but it seemed to miss out a lot of islands ,and turnings etc . I was not impressed with it.
Possibly me ..not using it properly. :-* :-* :-*
Tomtom are far superior to the Standard one fitted in my Elite.
At the end of the day you have to look at the idea of you get what you pay for.
A £150 Tomtom wont be a good as a built in £2000 7" screen option, at least display wise anyway.
I have never had any issues with the Tomtoms I have used as a unit, on my phone or my PDA.
Not what Dave DND says :y Far newer technology maybe, but not 'better' ;D :y :y :y
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Dusty...Halfords are selling Tomtom XL for £129=99 online,so that is a very good price IMO. I needed a satnav in a hurry midyear as needed to get round Paris in one piece and opted for the XL .It worked a treat and even with my old eyes it was clear/accurate and concise,with the addition of the French add on SMS card.Don,t think you would go far wrong with that unit.
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Are the aftermarket sat navs as good as the factory fit ones (which probably cost 5 times as much).
I tried a factory sat nav in a X-Type diesel recently ,but it seemed to miss out a lot of islands ,and turnings etc . I was not impressed with it.
Possibly me ..not using it properly. :-* :-* :-*
Tomtom are far superior to the Standard one fitted in my Elite.
At the end of the day you have to look at the idea of you get what you pay for.
A £150 Tomtom wont be a good as a built in £2000 7" screen option, at least display wise anyway.
I have never had any issues with the Tomtoms I have used as a unit, on my phone or my PDA.
Not what Dave DND says :y Far newer technology maybe, but not 'better' ;D :y :y :y
In my experience the car gps system is very accurate and quick, will recalculate well. But the software is very limited compared to tomtom, no traffic, no speed cameras, basic address functions, limited poi, and the keyboard via the scroll wheel, although predictive, is slow to use. It has no alternative route command and if it did have traffic i dont see how you could tell the system to navigate round it. To be fare i am using an 03 disc but dont see the point in paying 80 quid for the latest disc given the above and we have a tomtom each already. The ideal, for me, would be to use tomtom software in the car system but dont think thats possible.
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I've used TomTom for years on PDAs and phones - never had a standalone unit, but software is the same - and recommend it as great to use.
That said, I now have a hp unit as I fancied 3D mapping for the one journey a year that i may need it ::)
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Are the aftermarket sat navs as good as the factory fit ones (which probably cost 5 times as much).
I tried a factory sat nav in a X-Type diesel recently ,but it seemed to miss out a lot of islands ,and turnings etc . I was not impressed with it.
Possibly me ..not using it properly. :-* :-* :-*
Tomtom are far superior to the Standard one fitted in my Elite.
At the end of the day you have to look at the idea of you get what you pay for.
A £150 Tomtom wont be a good as a built in £2000 7" screen option, at least display wise anyway.
I have never had any issues with the Tomtoms I have used as a unit, on my phone or my PDA.
Not what Dave DND says :y Far newer technology maybe, but not 'better' ;D :y :y :y
Mines a 99 Elite, with the mini screen screen next to the CRT700, If you are about later models then I have no idea.
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Do all aftermarket systems use the post code for accurate directions.
Do all systems have voice command.
As you can tell ,I am not an authority on sat nav systems. :'( :-* :-*
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Do all aftermarket systems use the post code for accurate directions.
Do all systems have voice command.
As you can tell ,I am not an authority on sat nav systems. :'( :-* :-*
Not tried them all, but i would think they would not sell otherwise. Most have numerous voices to choose from. Post codes come with the map, so yes.
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£9.99 should get you a really good map, learn to read it and is more reliable than any sat nav, :y :y :y Keep reminding myself that every time the Halfords Add comes on the TC............. ;D
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Personally i would go for tomtom.....i have a 510....think its be superseeded now with 520.....but i like the tomtoms.....mind you i havent tried others....so a bit biased.
My Merc Viano has a built in one.......tho i dont use it.....its a £2k option to have it when new :o The DVD for it is 4 years old......so outa date......from merc dealer new DVD are around £800 :o Tho i have searched the net and could get one for around £200, but whats the point......when i have my tomtom and map updates for that are usually around £30 mark......when tomtom puts them on offer :y :y ;)
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Do all aftermarket systems use the post code for accurate directions.
Do all systems have voice command.
As you can tell ,I am not an authority on sat nav systems. :'( :-* :-*
Nope and nope ;)
Entering street and house no......is usually more acurate than postcode....
Not all sat nav systems are voice command......
Mate of mine tried to show me his sat nav voice command.....it couldnt understand his irish accent ;D ;D ::)
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Tom Tom is by far the best of the many different units I have tried... As for Postcode... With Tom Tom you can input full 7 figure postcodes and house number... I find that it's normally accurate to about 20 meters max :y :y :y :y
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Check that it does full 7 digit post code - not all of them do (TomTom does) but at TD says, full address is usually better.
With all SatNavs the maps are always out of date as they take about 2 years to compile...I've been using TomTom for about 5 years now and have learnt its little "quirks" (they all have them). Use a little common sense with them and you'll be fine. Don't follow them as if you were blind (no offence to anyone partially sighted) and remember that when it calculates a route, it's following a set of internal rules (a lot of which you can change). If it thinks going through a town centre or overgrown lane is 30 seconds quicker, then it will suggest that route.
When you ask it to figure out a route you can always look at it first and see if it includes the infamous "Un-named Road"...
If you choose to ignore its instructions, it will relent and recalculate another route - just might take a mile or so before it stops saying "turn around where possible" (usually down a single track road..).
Best bet is to use it on familiar routes first to see what it does...you'll get to understand it when the time comes!
Forgot to add - my dad's house apparently doesn't exist yet its been there for over 30 years (the house numbers don't go that high according to all the SatNavs i've tried so far)
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You pays yer money and takes yer chances......
http://www.which.co.uk/reviews/sat-navs?
HTH :y
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the key with sat nav is to never take them as a solidly accurate instruction!!
use some initiative, look at the map on screen and if you dont think you can get a certain way, see if you can approach your location from another street down so to speak
you're more likely to get lost when you're just a few hundred metres away from where you want to be!!
my sat nav says that where a side street meets my street as a T junction, its as if its not there, and there's just dead ends from each side of the junctions, but its never been like that in the 23 years i've lived here!
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I use my Tom Tom all over the UK and Europe and it rarely fails to take me to the door..It did not find an address in Madrid last week but i was only 100 yards a way...
This was not the fault of the satnav as it took me to the street but the company decided to build a complex at the bottom of a lane and it didnt look as if anything was down there...
I have a very cheap navigo for UK use and put Tom Tom on it and its never failed anywhere in the uk yet..
How i found some of the places in Europe with a map before still baffles me..Best thing i ever bought was my satnavs.. :y
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Ive recently been given a Binatone carrera a350 which i must say is superb,came with 12 months speed camera alerts,car charger and usb charger and windowscreen mount.
Ok its not a TomTom but then the price reflects that (believe it was £80 ish new)...ive used the supplied software which as far as im concerned is great.
But the good thing is as it has a SD card slot you can load any sat nav software you like...TomTom or Route66... ;D
Oh and its a slim one...not sure if all modern sat nav"s are...sure mates TomTom is like a box.
Its going on Ebay if anyone is interested as i dont go anywhere too need it really.
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i got a navman sat nav system last year also got the traffic master module aswell. tells you if theres a jam up front and automatically re-plots your route for you. only paid about £130 iirc.
also has camera, poi, and speed camera alerts.
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Of the portables, TomTom seems to be pretty good, better and easier than Navman and Garmin's I've used.
Factory fit will be better normally, though TomTom does have the useful speed camera warnings.
All portables suffer the same problem of being screwed if no/poor gps signal (cities, woods etc), which factory fit overcome. Many portables can take a while to get a sat fix as well, which is annoying. Worst of all, the thieves look for the telltale round marks on windscreen, then smash the windows to check your glovebox. These issues have made me revert from my trusty tomtom back to factory fit.
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£9.99 should get you a really good map, learn to read it and is more reliable than any sat nav, :y :y :y Keep reminding myself that every time the Halfords Add comes on the TC............. ;D
Couldn't agree more Mike, having done a million miles without the aid of anything else than my maps, brain and sixth sense that has always got me quickly to were I had to go around the country. 8-) 8-)
Still I'm old fashioned in some ways, and it will take me a little while longer before I adopt the new technology......probably in time for my first zimmer frame!! ;D ;D ;D ;)
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£9.99 should get you a really good map, learn to read it and is more reliable than any sat nav, :y :y :y Keep reminding myself that every time the Halfords Add comes on the TC............. ;D
Couldn't agree more Mike, having done a million miles without the aid of anything else than my maps, brain and sixth sense that has always got me quickly to were I had to go around the country. 8-) 8-)
Still I'm old fashioned in some ways, and it will take me a little while longer before I adopt the new technology......probably in time for my first zimmer frame!! ;D ;D ;D ;)
I was going to write a sacastic comment ,but thought better of it,as its the time of year of goodwill to all men and women ;DBut then i also thought if I ever met lizzie she might bash the living daylights out of me with her handbag ;D ;D ;D
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£9.99 should get you a really good map, learn to read it and is more reliable than any sat nav, :y :y :y Keep reminding myself that every time the Halfords Add comes on the TC............. ;D
Couldn't agree more Mike, having done a million miles without the aid of anything else than my maps, brain and sixth sense that has always got me quickly to were I had to go around the country. 8-) 8-)
Still I'm old fashioned in some ways, and it will take me a little while longer before I adopt the new technology......probably in time for my first zimmer frame!! ;D ;D ;D ;)
I was going to write a sacastic comment ,but thought better of it,as its the time of year of goodwill to all men and women ;DBut then i also thought if I ever met lizzie she might bash the living daylights out of me with her handbag ;D ;D ;D
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Or her zimmer frame .......I understand she has had one for years. ::) ::) :y....Oops sorry Lizzie. ;) ;) ;)
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£9.99 should get you a really good map, learn to read it and is more reliable than any sat nav, :y :y :y Keep reminding myself that every time the Halfords Add comes on the TC............. ;D
Couldn't agree more Mike, having done a million miles without the aid of anything else than my maps, brain and sixth sense that has always got me quickly to were I had to go around the country. 8-) 8-)
Still I'm old fashioned in some ways, and it will take me a little while longer before I adopt the new technology......probably in time for my first zimmer frame!! ;D ;D ;D ;)
two ways of putting it, either,
BS for dont know how it works so cant be anygood
Or politer version,
Whatever works for you... ;)
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I spent 10yrs on the road, usually without even a map, trying to find obscure addresses. Been there, done that, too old now.
Satnav makes you lazy - whack it in, and obey...
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I spent 10yrs on the road, usually without even a map, trying to find obscure addresses. Been there, done that, too old now.
Satnav makes you lazy - whack it in, and obey...
Meanwhile, without navigation to worry about, you can concentrate on giving the car a "proper workout" ;D.
Kevin
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I spent 10yrs on the road, usually without even a map, trying to find obscure addresses. Been there, done that, too old now.
Satnav makes you lazy - whack it in, and obey...
Meanwhile, without navigation to worry about, you can concentrate on giving the car a "proper workout" ;D.
Kevin
I'm a model road user ::) - ask Mrs TheBoy who is still frosty over an incident earlier where much rubber was wasted in a fit of youthful exubrience....
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I'm a model road user ::) - ask Mrs TheBoy who is still frosty over an incident earlier where much rubber was wasted in a fit of youthful exubrience....
Quite by coincidence... Got a bit frustrated trying to find something to reach the handbrake adjuster on the Omega today and decided to take a break and go for a little drive in the Westfield. Air temperature of -1.5 ensured plenty of power - and not much grip. Turned out of our road and I think I was in 3rd gear and approaching 60 before I took off all the opposite lock. ::)
Mental note to wait until I'm out of Mrs. KW's earshot next time. :-[ :-[
Kevin
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I'm a model road user ::) - ask Mrs TheBoy who is still frosty over an incident earlier where much rubber was wasted in a fit of youthful exubrience....
Quite by coincidence... Got a bit frustrated trying to find something to reach the handbrake adjuster on the Omega today and decided to take a break and go for a little drive in the Westfield. Air temperature of -1.5 ensured plenty of power - and not much grip. Turned out of our road and I think I was in 3rd gear and approaching 60 before I took off all the opposite lock. ::)
Mental note to wait until I'm out of Mrs. KW's earshot next time. :-[ :-[
Kevin
Women, they don't understand the frustration us blokes have to endure....
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Don't bother with the RAC own brand, just OK at best.
Surprisingly good little unit is the MyGuide (now around £50). No Safety Camera info, but as far as getting from A to B, it's excellent.
Can never understand SatNavs with wide screens, Why ?
And as for ones that play mp3's and mp4's, show pictures etc. Get a life !
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Bought a Navigon SY895 GPS [old now] from Ebuyer £49.00 inc del.
came with Nav software called Tubo Dog which was Dog Sh1t.
Runs in Win CE5 - Next step CEregedit - now runs any Nav software I care to buy and put on the SD card.
Warning - Mess up with CE regedit - you have a brick.
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Can never understand SatNavs with wide screens, Why ?
And as for ones that play mp3's and mp4's, show pictures etc. Get a life !
Widerscreen is usefull, for instance large multi exit roundabouts, its possible to take the wrong exit due to the slight gps delay in calculating and the exit suddenly appearing from the side of a narrow screen, widescreen gives more warning to get the right exit, so less laps of the roundabout, thus saving tires and my left ear. :-)
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widescreen needed if you use that silly 3d display that tomtom defaults to...
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Ive aways rated and used Becker, Last one I bought was in the Halfords Half Price Sale, cant remember the Model number without going to the Car but spec: was something like this:
£129 (half price), Wide Screen, Full Post Code, Speed Camera warning, All of Europe Maps already in the Unit, Motorway Lane Control, TMC rerouting (UK?), nice slim design (fits nicely in your pocket) MP4 Video and MP3 Audio Player and a JPEG picture viewer (if your in to that sort of thing).
And the Bit I really like is the 12v Cigar Plug sensor, it switches itself off with the Ing. sense and then straight back on again with the same route when jump back in. :y
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Right, so a Widescreen jobbie doesn't just stretch the map already viewable on a std screen. Isn't the same achievable by zooming out a click or two ?
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Right, so a Widescreen jobbie doesn't just stretch the map already viewable on a std screen. Isn't the same achievable by zooming out a click or two ?
No, no stretching, that would be the same as watching a non widescreen programme on a widescreen tv. The point is to get more info to the driver in easy to view format. Zooming out would mean less info, and also the zoom resets back to default setting and is one less thing for the driver to do while driveing.
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Well, ya live 'n' learn ! :y
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I spent 10yrs on the road, usually without even a map, trying to find obscure addresses. Been there, done that, too old now.
Satnav makes you lazy - whack it in, and obey...
Meanwhile, without navigation to worry about, you can concentrate on giving the car a "proper workout" ;D.
Kevin
I'm a model road user ::) - ask Mrs TheBoy who is still frosty over an incident earlier where much rubber was wasted in a fit of youthful exubrience....
Scaletrix, Hot Wheels or Matchbox?