£180 budget,buy now or wait? Nuvi 310 any good?

Chef_uk

Hi all, new here and totally new to the satnav market. Having only passed my DT in April, i have not needed a satnav but having been driving now for a couple of months, i have found the need to print off routes on various occasions, even as little as a 29 mile route.

I have set aside a budget, which was orignially £100-£150. I can now go up to £180 but pretty much thats it.

I don't actually need a satnav until November when i will be driving from Lincoln to Belfast via scotland. This is what has prompted me to look into the satnav market.

Now what i do and don't need will hopefully help in deciding whats best for my budget.

What I need/would like:

Speed camera listings - I am finding it really easy to creep over the limit, mainly due to not having my eyes constantly on the speedo. Obviously i want to keep a clean licence but live in fear i will get caught out. After doing some research i see most GPS systems offer a yearly subscription for this info. On here i see you offer the same/similer albeit for a vastly reduced cost. Is there any GPS within my budget that offers free safety camera updates? OR is it not worth it due to losing out on other features with a GPS that would only cost an extra £2 from here?

Street names, not just left or right - Is this feature just on the newer models? Or is their a satnav for £180 or less that utilises this feature?

Custom voice add-on ability - Just because it seems like fun, obviously i can live without this feature though ;)

What I Don't really need:

Europe or Rest of the world - I know i say this now, but having just had our first baby arrive, holidaying in Europe isn't an option for the foreseeable future.

MP3 player, jpeg viewer - I really don't have any use for either of these but by the looks of it they seem to come as standard on a £150 system. If some savings could be had from not having these then i'm interested.

Bluetooth Hands Free - I say i don't need this because i only went out last month and brought the wireless ear dongle for £40 and i will hate to see me not get my monies worth from it.

The Nuvi 310 can be brought for £178 below:

http://www.globalgizmos.co.uk/product_detail.php?pid=143

Whilst i have never heard of the company before, i note the same device is £225 on amazon.

Finally, should i wait? Is there a price crash due with in a month or two? Is any £250-£300 systems likely to fall below the £200 by October say?

Thanks in advanced. I appreciate any help, advice, and/or further questions.

mikealder · Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:44 pm Post subject:

To be honest the only issue in suggesting a device that meets your shopping list is the reading out of street names, this feature is known as Text To Speech and is generally only found on the high end devices, you certainly won't get this feature within your revised budget figure.

The 310 certainly will get you for A to B without a problem and accept the speed camera database from this site. I would also consider a TomTom One which is more intuative in terms of usage and slightly cheeper, no Text To Speech but you can alter more to tailor the device to you needs and it supports the speed camera database from this site - Mike

Chef_uk · Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:04 pm Post subject:

Ok thanks. So from the tomtom one range, which one should i go for?

TomTom ONE Western Europe Travel - £185
TomTom ONE Europe v2 - £184
TomTom ONE XL Great Britain - £189

They are all relatively priced together. If the only difference on the XL is the larger screen, then common sense suggests i should get the Europe one. If thats the case, then whats the difference between the two Euro ones?

mikealder · Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:53 am Post subject:

To be honest I would look at the UK version as you wont be needing the Europe maps for a few years, when the Europe trips start you could allways upgrade the device with a newer map that covers Europe.

Purchasing a UK only version will save you some cash or get the XL for the larger screen, by the way non of the devices you list will read out street names - Mike

Chef_uk · Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:34 pm Post subject:

Yep i know, as was said above, my price range won't allow any TTS ones to become available for me. Thats ok, As long as i get my monies worth from whichever i choose, then i can't complain.

Border_Collie · Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 8:42 pm Post subject:

Compare THIS Nice mapping and voice instructions. Latest maps. The street you are in is shown on screen plus the Street you are to turn into.

Chef_uk · Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 11:16 pm Post subject:

Could of done with having that posted a little earlier. As it is i went for the TomTom One XL Great Britain. I've also brought a 2GB SD card to use in it. If it can't be used then i still have my digi cam to put use to it.

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