Advice

[Damo1176]

I have been looking into sat nav for sometime now and the same qwuestion must have been asked a million times but really looking for some pointers....

I want something that is not just GPS so a Windows PDA too. I want something that has good maps, Europe not important but a bonus and also something that can log places of interest and aslo speed camera info too.

Price range, not looking to pay much over £500 if possible.

What sort of kit should I be looking at?

[Damo1176]

Am I to assume that people have got fed up wheeling out the usual info as they have done it so may times, 26 views and no replies :-(

[Mullet]

[peterc10]

Damo

the problem is your choices are endless. You want a PDA based unit, of which there are lots, with sat nav software, which there are several, a BT receiver, of which there are lots and a car mount, which there are also lots.

Your budget is enough to be able to give you a huge amount of choice, so you need to start being a bit more specific, otherwise you will get lots of posts saying "well I use xxxxx and it is good", without knowing if it will be good for YOU.

Start by deciding what software you want - go into some shops and try some out to see what is most convenient for you. All the leading ones support Points of Interest and the camera database from this site, so the real issues are do they map the country(s) you want and, what do you find easiest to use.

Then choose a PDA that will run your software - Pocket PC 2003, Windows Mobile 2005, Symbian (for smartphones) or Palm??? Again look at them and see which you like the look of and which you find easist to use. Make sure you get one with bluetooth. Also you may want to get one with a built in phone - I did because it means I only have to carry around one bit of kit that does PDA phone and sat nav.

Then choose a BT sat nav receiver - the only important point is that you should have one that is Sirf Star 3 compliant. If you have a PDA with phone you can get a combined car phone kit and sat nav receiver as I did so you can put both phone and sat nav instructions through the car audio system. Trouble with that is that it isnt portable and it will probably be above your budget.

Lastly choose a mount to hold the PDA in the car - could be one with power charging only (like mine) or combined power charging and amplifier and speaker (so you can hear the sat nav instructions better) or combined power charger, amp and speaker and sat nav receiver (in which case you wont need the seperate BT sat nav receiver)

So plenty of choice for you, and it gets more complicated because you can get offers with all or some of these components bundled together. It needs some legwork I am afraid if you are going to get something that is right for you, rather than somebody else.
_________________
Peter
HTC Sensation
Sygic GPS for Europe (No more TT "support"!)
Copilot for USA
Bury CC9060 bluetooth car kit & Brodit mount

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