What Sat Nav?

[vickietots]

Can anyone advise me?? I am looking into buying a satellite navigation unit and I am stuck between a Garmin Streetpilot i3 and a Tom Tom One. Has anyone got any experience of either, pros and cons?

I originally looked at the Garmin as it is small and I have find it for a really good price and portable for when I travel with work. But then someone mentioned the Tom Tom, this costs a lot more, but is still portable and seems to have a few more features.

Please help!!

Cheers,
Vicks

[Richy777]

I have used them both, The Tom Tom is slighly better both both are good. It depnds if you want small or bigger? You can see the Tom Tom better but it is harder to carry / hide in your car. If you are only going to use it now and again I would get the Garmin

[Lucky Dave]

The garmin it would be for me, Have you seen the Becker traffic assist? thinner and very good.

[Madeira Jon]

I have TomTom with Ipaq,and find it really excellant. Even the "Major Roads of Europe" actually inlcude many side roads which are just little squiggles on the maps. TomTom got me right down to the south of France through Paris with not a hitch at all!

[JohnWB]

I have the Garmin I3 and it is just great. it cost £129 from Halfords and works realy well. It is so simple to use. You can also add speed cameras if you wamt. I think for someone who just wants a Sat Nav with no bells & whistles it cannot be beaten

[marlin]

Buying it will be easy, keeping it may be harder

[dietcokeplease]

Depends on your budget. The i3 is cheep cheep at the moment. I bought one for my wife to use in her Honda Jazz. It fits the bill perfectly for her - idiot-wife proof, small footprint on the dash and a good screen despite its size.

My brother has a Tom Tom One and if your budget will stretch to it then get this over the i3 as touch screen is a better method of input.

[venox22]

TomTom Go imho, non of this ipaq cinfig business, just simple and easy slap on ur screen/dash and off ya go, saw the top of the range TomTom Go 700 for £325 at curry's

[DSapseid]

Quote: Originally Posted by venox22

TomTom Go imho, non of this ipaq cinfig business, just simple and easy slap on ur screen/dash and off ya go, saw the top of the range TomTom Go 700 for £325 at curry's

they have slashed the prices of current tomtoms as new models are due out soon. But imho get the tomtom go 300

[Redwytch]

For ease of use then you cant beat the Tom Tom range, and if going into Europe then the current TomTom 700 on offer at £350 at Halfords is a bargain! But the next generation Tom Tom's also look very good, wider screen, easier computer synch, preinstalled speed camera database and still easy to use.

If price is an object, then go for the Garmin i3, only £129.99 from Halfords atm, easy to use and very capable unit!

BTW I was speaking to one of the bods from Halfords Auto development a couple of months ago, seems like we are going to be doing MINI specific Mats at a good price, plus some other MINI specific accessories, will keep you updated when I have more info! :-)

[harrop]

I had a tom tom until 2 weeks ago when it became no more. as did my drivers window.

word of advice: don't leave the cradle on show. my TomTom was in the passenger footless, they saw the cradle and broke in

[Redwytch]

Not just the cradle, make sure you check if there is a ring mark left by the sucker on the cradle on the windscreen, if so ensure you clean it off before leaving the car! Thievin gits are breaking into cars to see if the Tom Tom has been put in the glovebox if there is even a hint of a windscreen mark!!

[Jon Chalk]

Does anyone have experience of using dash-mounted TomTom (or whatever else) with a heated front windscreen? I borrowed my brother-in-laws briefly at weekend & seemed OK for 2-mile test, but have read that signal strength is significantly reduced by heater element?

[Redwytch]

Try and mount the unit as close to the corner of the screen, or get yourself an external antenna and mount this in the corner of the dash, The heated windscreen elements dont go right into the cornerz, as to do so could cause stress fractures when it is set to heat. You can get an external antenna through tom tom's website or your local Halfords :-)

[Jon Chalk]

OK - thanks. Now added to birthday wish-list from the Missus.