which is best for me. 500 or 700?

[oisky]

OK so I really want the handsfree phone option. That means that I must get either the 500 or 700. OK, so far, so good.
Now I really don't care about a remote control. (what the hell use is a remote control in a car???) But I do plan to travel very occasionally through Europe so I need the street level maps of Europe.
Score 1 for the 700.
But 99% of the time I will be travelling in the UK.
Score 1 for the 500.
I guess basically that I need to get the 500 with full maps of Europe (Is this even possible) or the 700. Does anyone know if it will be more to get the 500 and buy additional maps, or just get the 700? I already have additional SD cards, so they would not be an extra cost. The other thing I'm a tad concerened about is calculation speeds of both units. If I'm mostly travelling in the UK do you think that it will take the 700 more time to calculate (and re-calculate) routes considering it has to work its way through data for the whole of Europe? I know it has a faster processor, but I'm still concerened that on a comparison test (routing only in the UK) that it will be slower than the 500?

Anyone know?
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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice !

[Darren]

From what you say I would go for the 500 and buy the MWE (Maps of Western europe) Mapset. You can then change maps by swapping the SD cards.

Should you wish to, you can always buy the remote as an accessory anyway.
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Darren Griffin

[oisky]

OK, but if I buy the maps of Europe will they come like the ones I have for my current tomtom navigator 3? ie in countries, because I had to plot from country to country which was akward, whereas Im guessing that with the 700 I could plan from UK to Italy (for example) at street level all in one go which is a function that I would like. Also if buying the 500 and the maps comes to the same money as just buying the 700 wouldn't I be better off buying the 700?

Cheers
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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice !

[MikeB]

They will come in countries, but with the major roads of the rest of Europe included. This will have the advantage of getting you to your destination country on the main roads whilst having full detail for you destination.

The 700 will have fully connected maps of Europe to street level.

Now we havent managed to get our hands on either a 500 or a 700 yet, but the implications of having all the Europe roads could be longer planning and re-routing times.

Roll on the end of May when hopefully we will be able to test them.
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Mike Barrett

[MikeDJ]

I have the same dilemma. My original thought was to go for the 700, on the basis that it has the best specification - so I get some degree of future proofing against the ever increasing demands of new software versions.

Also, the price comparision with the 500 is compelling, i.e. only £80 more, whereas buying the 500 and adding even one detailed map (France probably), plus larger SD card will easily eat up that price difference, and the remote control would be more again (not sure it would be useful though).

HOWEVER, I take the point about response time for route planning and re-routing. I certainly don't want delays in these functions (it is a GO after all !) so do you suppose that after backing up the entire hard disk, I could remove detailed map data for regions I am not interested in, thus improving the search times. In the event I needed such data in the future, I could simple restore it - or is the map data truly seamless, i.e. you cannot remove bits of it selectively ?

Anyone any ideas

[Darren]

Well the Go 700 has more on-board memory, presumably provided to improve the route calculation times.
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Darren Griffin

[MikeB]

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