Advice needed on GPS with odd requirements

[peak1]

Hi all,

After an ill fated attempt to use a Navman ICN 610, I'm looking for a new GPS again. One thing that the Navman did allow me to do though was refine my requirements:

1. TMC so that I can reroute automatically away from jams without needing to pay additional fees.
2. Full postcode search.
3. A loud speaker so that I can hear it with the top down on the car.
4. Needs to be able to be hardwired because there are no cigarette lighters in the front of the car.
5. Ability to route to the nearest POI.
6. Need to be able to import POIs.
7. Initially UK maps, but Europe wide coverage would be useful for a planned summer trip.

With that in mind I've been doing some research and I seem to have 2 options:

1. Garmin Nuvi 350 with the TMC adapter looks like a interesting option but a little on the expensive side, or:
2. Go the PDA route (would like to go Palm route but this seems to be out) with the GNS 2843 Bluetooth TMC/GPS receiver and software such as Navignon/Destinator/CoPilot and a powered mount on the windscreen. This has the advantage that I can wire a cigarette lighter into the boot and run the GPS module there and hide most things at the dashboard end.

What would be the better option? I think 2 would be cheaper but which PDA and software to go for? Also are there any other options open to me given the requirements?

Thanks for taking the time to read this long winded post.

Mark

[lbendlin]

think for the PDA route only Navigon would work. But don't they have licensing issues with TMC?
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Lutz

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[peak1]

Thanks for that. Just checked the Navignon site and yes they seem to have problems with the UK (at least that's what the FAQ says). Although Destinator and CoPilot both seem to have TMC support. Looking further it would seem that CoPilot would seem to be the better of the two, so that would seem to be a possible route.

So the question now is which PDA to run CoPilot 6 and the GNS Bluetooth receiver? Is this a better route than the Nuvi which will work out about the same price (depending on PDA)?

Thanks,

Mark

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