 Poster: A snowHead
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I have viewed these sat nav things as very suspect for a long time (sorry i am luddite!), but after getting off the A40 in the summer due to a huge traffic jam and navigating with a map for about 2 hours, which went ok, but was a bit stressful. I wondered the other evening driving home in the pouring rain what it would have been like if we could not see the signs very well etc. So maybe sat nav is a thought.........
So opinions on best value one and where to get it (it will need to be web purchased) would be very useful, don't need bells and whistles it just needs to do its job.
It would need to work in the uk as well as we probably get much more lost when we come to the uk than in france!
thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Last time this appeared, the vast majority said tom tom.
Personally I've got the 730T which is very good - the only thing I don't like about it is the mounting bracket but I fixed that by buying a brodit bracket from mountonus.com - brodit are the brackets used exclusively by the copppers in sweden and obviously they don't want radios, sat navs flying around patrol cars..
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Yeh as above, this has been done a few times and only a couple suggested alternatives to a TomTom, think one was Garmin.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Also they are pretty much idiot proof.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Tomtom One (a quite old one) has been fine for us both in the UK and in France/Germany/Switzerland. The only thing is you don't get free updates to the map. so when roads are altered it will show you driving across fields! I find it is always worthwhile to check approximately where you're going with a map and after setting a route I always "view route" to make sure that I have selected the destination I intended and not one with a similar name and to get a broad idea of where I am headed and check it has not selected some daft route. Having said that it selects pretty sensible routes unless you ask for the shortest option - that can get interesting!
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Sun 23-11-08 23:04; edited 1 time in total
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Tom Tom One Europe. about £134.
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Tom Tom from Halfrauds is probably your best bet
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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are you in carroz?
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Halfords is not the place to buy! Shop around!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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marcellus, not until mid december....can't wait.............
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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you can probably get them from amazon.fr
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TomTom One Europe....best by far 
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You know it makes sense.
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A friend works in the hifi dept of the local Halfords. Tom Tom are the most returned units for faults (generaly random crashes or system hang ups).
On his advice I bought a Garmin 265WT last week. It gets free traffic info over a built in radio and re-routes you around it. Includes westren Europe detailed maps and canera databases.
The Halfords web deal was down from 219 to 179 and you get a 20 pounds Halfords voucher too.
The Garmin 265WT only came out last week.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I'm a newbie at satnavs. My brother in law has used several and said that he thought the display was better - clearer and more obvious - on the Tomtom. We got the satnav because OH is not good at maps (to put it mildly). The tomtom one displays look quite small, but in practice are very clear and easy to read.
One thing I've not thought about yet is whether the system is going to be illegal in Switzerland with the camera info. Anybody know whether Tomtom have excluded Swiss cameras from the database?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Hmmm... What is it with technology that makes peeps cling onto brands with such evangelism? If someone asked which car to buy would you say oh, get a Ford, definitely? And what is it with satnavs in particular that makes peeps suggest just one brand? Something to do with the power of advertising perhaps.
I have a Garmin StreetPilot C330 and my partner has a TomTom Go500. Quite similar products that behave quite similarly. At some things one is better and, at other times, the advantage goes to the other. One thing that the Garmin is much better for is free updates. The firmware can be freely updated for ever and the mapping can be updated, for free, for twelve months after it is first registered with Garmin. Also, as part of the mapping updates, I got free City Navigator software so that I could plan routes and manage POIs on my PC.
For some real advice try:
http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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altis, buy a mac 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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pocketgpsworld is the best place to get your camera database updates.
The whole of Europe is £19.99 a year.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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To check it, ask it to get you from Geneva to Tignes in winter.
If it recommends the Mont Blanc tunnel & Grand Bernard pass don't buy it. 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Does the tunnel really get that bad?
I'm taking the car over at New Year and don't need to use the tunnel as staying at Cham but may have gone to 3Vals for a day using it. I take it this is to be avoided.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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bar shaker, I think kenzie means that the grand bernard pass is shut in winter. To get to 3v you need to go via albertville.
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Kenzie, what info do satnavs have about the opening of passes. Some are always shut (eg cormet de roseland) some are sometimes shut (eg from Chamonix over to Martigny, can never remember it's name). I don't think the opening and closing dates are always known far in advance - how would a satnav know?
I've only had mine two weeks so have not yet given up using my brain when working out routes.
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Tom Tom One Europe is what I use, and apart from being a bit late with the voice directions sometimes hasn't failed me so far, no village duck pond or unexpected river events to report.
There are some that do dual purpose at not much more expense (I mean walking as well as driving) and carroz have you explored maps on your mobile phone?,
Garmin and Tom Tom are the Which best buys, with a couple from Snooper and one from Mio
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Martin Nicholas, I've just got that one, for some reason it's insisting that I travel Folkestone to Calais when I want to go from Dover (that's what my ticket says anyway). I've tried telling it to go via Dover (just sends me there before Folkestone) and even putting a via marker in the Dover-Calais shipping lane (send me to Folkestone, to Calais then back to Dover!!!). Any ideas?
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Martin Nicholas, No not tried maps on my mobile, apparently it can do that after looking at the instruction book for the first time! I had not though of which, will have a look at what they say, a mate gets it, so will give him a call. Amazon have the tom tom for under £100 which looks good value (and vat free as well  )
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Swirly wrote: |
| Martin Nicholas, I've just got that one, for some reason it's insisting that I travel Folkestone to Calais when I want to go from Dover (that's what my ticket says anyway). I've tried telling it to go via Dover (just sends me there before Folkestone) and even putting a via marker in the Dover-Calais shipping lane (send me to Folkestone, to Calais then back to Dover!!!). Any ideas? |
Swirly
Well once you're on the M20 if you can't find dover and the ferry terminal you've got no hope of finding LDA with or without Sat Nav
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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bertie bassett, if I'm on the M20 then I'm not heading to Dover! A2/M2 from here straight into the docks. Unless I can work out what to do I'll just program it on the boat as there's a couple of diversions I need to put in anyway.
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| Swirly wrote: |
| bertie bassett, if I'm on the M20 then I'm not heading to Dover! A2/M2 from here straight into the docks. Unless I can work out what to do I'll just program it on the boat as there's a couple of diversions I need to put in anyway. |
My 730t is very good a reminding me to drive on the wrong side, but I didn't / couldn't figure out how to flick it into KMs as the measurement of choice. The bit that's strange is that it knows you're now in europe but it doesn't give you the option on first power on 'abroad' to tweak settings to KM and adjust the time..
If you find that bit out then post it up please
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You know it makes sense.
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bertie bassett, mines in set preferences screen 5 different model though but should be in roughly the same place.
I didn't know that, just happen to have it next to me
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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How about going for a top of the range Tomtom 910 on an auction site.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Sat Navs will always choose Le Shuttle as its quicker. Un-tick Ferries in the 'Avoids' screen or set.the ferry terminal as a waypoint and let it recalculate when pulling into Calais.
Why would you want distances in km?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Alun Williams wrote: |
| How about going for a top of the range Tomtom 910 on an auction site. |
Because the 730 and the 930 have a number of enhancements over the '10 models, namely the 'lane view' which is quite handy at a motorway junction - e.g. going from M40 to M25 and then not sure whether going north around or south around, but more importantly the IQ routes - which really are quite clever. Last week for example at 6pm at night it routed me from bicester to oxford via the back roads rather than the couple of junctions down the m40 you might do at 2 in the afternoon..
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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The new '30 models are also much slimmer than the '10 models. I have a 910 for occasional use and it does a good job, but if I was looking for a new one I'd go for something slightly more compact.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Before buying a "basic" model like the One consider whether you might need other functions such as bluetooth handsfree - it's very handy to have all this stuff in one device. I have a 930 which I bought in Schiphol (most of my use for a portable unit is in hire cars in Europe) - it came with the "HD routes" feature but that hadn't been activated in the UK when I bought it and I haven't had a chance to use it here yet  There is a SIM card in the 12V adaptor plug which should pick up routing info independent of a cellphone - it's supposed to be an advance on the IQ routes system. Anyone tried it yet?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| The new '30 models are also much slimmer than the '10 models. I have a 910 for occasional use and it does a good job, but if I was looking for a new one I'd go for something slightly more compact. |
I'd second that view, another 910 user here (and a slightly miffed one too as the promised car integration kits never materialised and the FM transmitter mount was a piece of poo too).
One other annoying feature is the maps are so up to date they feature new road junctions not even built yet  Now it's not a big problem for me at a junction I know, but it could be at a complex junction I'm not familiar with.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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carroz, A map!  sat Nav is notoriously unreliable in the mountains - don't risk it.
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arv,
Is it about to rain???? 
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| easiski wrote: |
| sat Nav is notoriously unreliable in the mountains - don't risk it. |
Not in my experience. The modern GPS receivers seem to do a pretty good job of hanging on to the satellite signals even if the sky is partially obscured by mountains or skyscrapers.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I've found the same - the new chips/receivers are very much more sensitive than the earlier generations. Only thing I've had to watch out for is closed passes as already mentioned above - but I've had that problem with paper maps as well
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| Yoda wrote: |
| I've found the same - the new chips/receivers are very much more sensitive than the earlier generations. Only thing I've had to watch out for is closed passes |
That's 'user error' rather than a problem with the technology
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FAQ
so it will have to be 
