Advice needed for which Sat Nav with European coverage

BritishBeef · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 08, 2006 Posts: 12

Hi there,
I am looking to buy a new Sat Nav that covers Europe. I'd love to have text-to-speach but I think that's out of my price range. I have been looking at the Garmin Nuvi 250TW or perhaps the Navman S90i.

Are there any other units I should be looking at. My budget is approx. £180 but would rather spend much less! The Nuvi is £124.99 on Amazon so if there is something else out there that's recommended it will have to be special considering the cheap price of the Nuvi.

Any advice you can give me or recommendations appreciated.

john877 · Lifetime Member Joined: Mar 16, 2007 Posts: 468

The Tomtom 720 has been up and down like a yo-yo price wise !! if you are prepared to wait it may come down again to clear out stocks to make way for the X30 range but whether there is much stock left I do not know

They have been as low as £159

I think the Tomtom 720 would have the features you want ( Text to speech, European maps )regarding which sat nav I would look at the Tomtom or Garmin range

You can pick one up a Tomtom 720 for £190 at the moment

Andy_P · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:03 pm Post subject:

I would recommend the Go720 if you can run to it. Otherwise the TT One XL is very good (but no TTS on that).
Try to get to look at the actual navigation display of all three brands before you choose. Certainly the TT and Garmin are able to perform a Demo of a route to show what the maps really look like on the road.

BritishBeef · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 08, 2006 Posts: 12

Thanks for the replies. What has the TT 720 got that makes it worth getting over and above the two I mentioned in my OP bearing in mind that one of them is a lot cheaper than the £200 TT which is more than I want to spend. I have read revies on the 720 and quite a few people have reliability issues and the voice volume is poor compares to other TT's so I'm not convinced that it's a better option.

Andy_P · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 10:47 am Post subject:

TomTom didn't get to be brand leader for no reason....

And don't forget you always get a skewed opinion on forums, you very rarely hear about the positives!

I'm sure you'll be happy with whichever you choose, but you really DO need to get a good play with them first. People have different preferences. I love my Go720 to bits, but I always assumed the Garmins would be very similar.
However, having played with two models a lot recently (the Nuvi300 and the Nuvi 610 - admittedly neither current models) I was constantly surprised by how difficult it was to do simple things and generally "naff" they felt in comparison.
I hated the slow screen update and the "driving" map view on the Garmin, but PREFERRED it to the TT when zoomed out in 2D.

I've no experience of Navman, I'm afraid.

DaveMatthews · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 25, 2004 Posts: 221

The NavMan S90i looks very tempting, doesn't it?! Especially as you can pick 'em up for £160 - almost half its original price. However, as the Green Cross Code man used to say, "Stop, Look and Listen... for I won't be there when you buy a SatNav system!"....

There are number of reasons for the the S90i's apparent bargain state. Most "experienced" SatNav owners find it implements certain features poorly - eg it lacks a full traffic information feed, setting up multi-stop trips is clumsily handled, manoeuvring around the map display and going from one map view to another is extremely cumbersome, using an external TMC aerial - as you will almost certainly need to - results in the spoken instructions from the unit being muted. Also the unit does not come with a mains charger - you have to buy that separately (for about a tenner, I think).

The most serious problem is its tendency to crash - we think this may be related to having numerous POI ("Points of Interest") categories enabled. Also, if you want to enable the various Speed... ahem.. "Safety" Camera POI categories, the unit can't handle more than 12,000 sites - there are far more than this in the UK.

A recent downloadable Service Pack *may* have cured the crashing problem. But NavMan have made no attempt to improve upon the other
niggles. Indeed the level of support has been almost non-existent.

On the plus side, the display clarity, audio volume, Text-to-Speech and windscreen mount are all excellent and arguably better than rivals. One of the reasons I bought mine was that as a truly all-in-one unit, other than the TMC aerial, you don't need a mass of cables sprouting from it on the dashboard.

I think I'm right in saying that the S90i is unique in being supplied with an integrated digital camera - the idea being that you can save Favourite destinations by taking a photo of them... I've no use for that myself but some people might like it.

But overall I certainly could NOT recommend an S90i to experienced SatNav users as its shortcomings outweigh its positive aspects (I got so fed up with mine, I threw it into the loft). SatNav "learner drivers", however, may find it perfectly pleasant. It's definitely worth £160 - but the fact that it was originally £300 is significant. Wink

--

Cheers,

Dave

polygon99 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 26, 2007 Posts: 12

Hi

maybe I'm a Satnav 'learner' in that I don't use my Navman S90i that often. However I have found nothing to fault it - does all I ask of it. Full of features and available for around £160.

I previously had a Navman 520 (now obsolete) that cost about the same. This is infinitely superior. Never tried a TomTom but I use a Garmin at work sometimes. I definitely prefer the Navman.

The POI limit issue is a bit annoying though.

Incidentally my unit doesn't mute when using a TMC aerial.

polygon99 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 26, 2007 Posts: 12

(don't know why it says my post above was 4.33am. I've just done it and its 7.35pm)

CrispyUK · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 9:06 pm Post subject:

BritishBeef · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 08, 2006 Posts: 12

Thanks very much for all the replies and excellent advice, especially Dave Matthews - it's appreciated!

I decided to go for the Garmin Nuvi 250 widescreen in the end. However, just my luck, I had seen it on Amazon this morning for £124.99 but this evening when I went to place an order it is no longer available so it must have sold out Sad

DaveMatthews · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 25, 2004 Posts: 221

topcat25 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 21, 2007 Posts: 12

My first unit failed only days after receipt, it was replaced. The second one failed and was sent for repair, when it was return to me it wouldn't even start up! This was then replaced. Now on my thrird unit in 6 months, this has also started the same problem as all the others, it reboots at random. Throughout these problems Navman support have been less than useless, one guy even said that "..these things are bound to have some problems..." Pity they didn't say that BEFORE I bought it!
My advice: stay well clear of this unit, & Navman! Mad

BritishBeef · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 08, 2006 Posts: 12

I bought the Garmin 250W in the end and used it extensively during a trip to Spain last week. It worked flawlessly. Very, very happy with the unit!

IanInHolland · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 27, 2008 Posts: 1

Hi,

My first posting on this forum.

There's lots of discussion of whether a Tomtom is better or worse than a Garmin etc; I only have experience with 2 systems - Tomtom and the latest wide screen built in system from Toyota in my 2008 Avensis.

The screen on the Toyota's system is really nice, but that's where the advantages over Tomtom stop. beyond that, give me the Tomtom every time. I can't comment on the Garmins etc, no experience of them.

On the way to a destination using the Toyota system, you want to change your mind and head somewhere else? No problem - just stop the car and put the handbrake on to be able to access the set destination menus.
Every time you start the engine, just press the "I promise to drive safely, honestly" button on the screen.
Extremely complicated, lots of features, most of which you probably won't use, and a several hundred page manual without which you're stuck.

I had the Tomtom first, never used the manual, just started using it - totally intuitive (to me, at least).

Anyway, I've found the ultimate solution - my expensive Toyota satnav screen now has a big rubber sucker in the middle of it, which holds my old Tomtom (a One XL HD Traffic). I must have the only Tomtom with electronic tilt...

Ian

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