S70, S80 or S90i? Various prices... Best bang for buck?

[LavaChild]

Hey,

Long of the short, replacing another sat nav... Had looked and don't like Garmin... Cannot afford a TomTom (Well not a GO - Or anything half specced)... And so the remaining of the big three is Navman! Dad had a Navman and I think his is sterling (His is an old F20).

Having looked it seems I have the following options:

S70 3D & TMC Cradle - £101.57 (+ £20 vouchers I have, + delivery)
S80 Deluxe (Therefore S80 & TMC Cradle & Leather Case) - £139.99
S90i £131.97 (+ £20 vouchers I have, + delivery)

It seems to me that all are the same apart from (Eg, what they have but the others don't):

S70 3D - Has 3D maps
S80 - Has TTS & Case
S90i - Has integrated TTS & Camera

Do these extra features justify additional cost? Especially when the cheapest option (S70 3D) has a feature none of the others do (3D mode).

Any suggestions? Which would you opt for at those prices? Please feel free to suggest an alternate if you believe this to be a better idea.

Cheers.

[DaveMatthews]

I'd go for the S90i purely because TMC is built-in - therefore less hardware to have to faff about with. Also the TTS is a real boon, particularly in towns and cities that you're unfamiliar with. In fact it's easily the unit's best feature. You don't get the leather case but you do get a little drawstring bag which, although hardly luxurious, will protect the screen from scratches. I've never used the built-in camera myself but I'm sure it would be handy for taking occasional casual snapshots.

To be honest the entire range is pretty crap in many ways when compared to TomTom, Garmin and Navigon and hence the reason for the prices crashes it has undergone (the S90i was originally £300!!) but for £150 (bet you can pick it up for less than that if you look around), it's arguably worth tolerating its faults and shortcomings, particularly if you're happy to accept a short- or medium-term throwaway solution until something better comes along.

--

Cheers,


Dave

[CaptainDrift]

Lava Child,
Just to let you know the S80 doesnt have Text to speech. Only the Australian S80 has TTS, the UK unit does not.
The S70 3D and S80 have the TA 2007.10 maps the s90i has 2007.04
They all have 3d Map view the S70 3D has 3D POI`s,

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