Gps Navigation

[Guest salty_monk]

My 79 year old grandad wants Sat Nav.....

 

So - bearing in mind that he struggles to program the video & is still working out the trip computer etc on his Signum it must be very simple to use, not in Microdot as I think he uses different glasses for reading & driving & preferably reasonably cheap.

 

UK is the priority but France would be a bonus in case he goes for a day trip to Calais or somewhere.

 

The Tom Tom seems ideal as the screen is a reasonable size, the maps seem very simple to understand & I know that they shout at you too if you ask them too... The model the Vauxhall garage tried to sell him is the GO 300 for £370..

 

Any thoughts? I've not used any apart from the odd one built into hire cars I've had so all thoughts appreciated...

 

I guess my other cheaper option is just to get him a phucarwi badge

[Guest Tony Tank]

Hi

Macro have the newer version of my sat nav it is a Medion 95500 for £250 all in and it is complete with European maps , a 256 meg card and loads of accessories.

 

Hope this helps

Tank

Ps even the phucarwi tribe are using them now

[Guest Battery Bill]

Dan

This Is what we have and its very good we can show you at Barkston.

I will also send you a PM about this

[Guest Tony Tank]

Bill

The mio 168 is the same machine rebadged as Medion.

But you get more for your money with the free extras

 

Tank

[Guest salty_monk]

Tony,

 

What else comes bundled other than the software?? I have a Macro card & a local store so just wondered if it's worth my time & the extra £30 (is that 250 incl VAT??) to get one from there rather than to order from Bill's link.

 

As this is pocket PC based is there a chance that it will be less reliable (i.e. does it crash cause it Windows) & is the menu system difficult to get lost in as presumably it does word processing & loads of other stuff as well??

 

Bear in mind my grandad has never used a PC before and struggles with the Nokia menu system on his mobile phone..

 

Price seems pretty good though...

[Guest megablade]

I have been using Tomtom on my PDA for 3 years now and it is very easy to use.

 

The only downside, which I guess is the case with the others, is that not every road is named but the majority are. Now with the full postcode input system, you can get within 100 yds anyway.

 

One very useful feature is the ability to store an infinate amount of points of interest (POI). Hence when you get to your destination, you 'memorize' the position and call it 'brothal' or whatever. Next time you just press 3 buttons and it will take you there.

 

I would recomend Tomtom, but in your grandad's case I would steer clear of a PDA based system, as if he is like mine, copious amounts of button pushing can lock the system up for a while! The 'Go' looks the best compromise IMO.

 

Ask yourself one question, how often do you want a phone call?

[Guest SteveL]

As this is pocket PC based is there a chance that it will be less reliable (i.e. does it crash cause it Windows) & is the menu system difficult to get lost in as presumably it does word processing & loads of other stuff as well??

 

Bear in mind my grandad has never used a PC before and struggles with the Nokia menu system on his mobile phone..

In that case, don't even consider a PDA based solution!

 

I've used TomTom Navigator on a Dell Axim for a couple of years, and it does hang, or crash occasionally. If he can't use a Nokia phone, then the PDA would be far too confusing!

 

I'd definitely thyink about the TomTom Go 300. The software is the same as TomTom Navigator, which I can thoroughly recommend. Look at the forums at Pocket GPS World (LINK) for more information about TomTom Go and lots of other GPS based navigation systems.

 

All you'd need to do would be to configure the favourites list with all the places he's likely to go to regularly, and then he'll be set. Simply navigate to the appropriate favourite (3 touches of the screen) and he's sorted. Also, if he's a speedy grandad, you could load the speed camera warning database for him, so he knows where all the Gatso's are!

 

Steve

[Guest Tony Tank]

Not sure if that's with vat .

But has the others have said the Tom Tom go is just a sat nav with very little button pressing but it's £350 and does not come with europe that will be extra.

Tony

[Guest salty_monk]

Actually the speed camera locations might be handy... His car is a 2.2 16v (155 BHP) http://www.carpages.co.uk/guide/vauxhall/v...t-elite-5dr.asp & I wouldn't call him a slow driver.....

 

I thought that may be the case with the PDA's so.... anyone know where the cheapest place to get a "Go" is??

[Guest SteveL]

Well, they're all around £350 in the shops.

 

There's one on ebay at the moment (LINK) which if you read the auction can be got for £319.99, which is a bit of a bargain.

 

If you're anti-ebay, how about R-points? (LINK) If you register and go through their link to Currys (LINK), you can get R-points worth 5% of the total cost, so that's £361 minus 5%, or £342.

 

One more thing. Does the Signum have any sort of heat reflective windscreen? I've had a quick look on the Vauxhall site, and that doesn't say that it does. If it does, you'll probably need an external antenna for the Tomtom Go, 'cause it stops the GPS signals from reaching the unit. My father-in-law's 02 reg Scenic has one (which we didn't realise) and it completely stopped my GPS receiver from getting any signal at all. If you do need an external antenna, that's around another £50.

 

Steve

[Guest lardy-fatboy]

Salty.

I have the NAVMAN 510 totaly portable very slim and easy to use.no wiring in just a cradle on the windscreen.

 

link : NAVMAN 510

 

hunt around i got mine for £325 new.

 

cant fault it.male or female voice-european maps included (or downloaded)

camera & gatso positions downloadable free

 

excellent toy.and gives your speed within 2-3 mph.

 

hope it helps ,

 

duncan

[Guest G.Man]

I am running tom-tom 5 on my PDA and I would say its about as good as sat-nav gets...

 

Far superior to earler versions and the speed cam database is a free download...

 

I have an alpine system in my daily motor and use the tom-tom 5 instead... its faster, more reliable, more up to date, and the maps can be downloaded rather than more expensive methods...

 

The PDA is an Orange SPV M1000 ppc phone...

 

[Guest rusty]

if you havn't already bought one I would go for the tomtom go 300 I have been using one for two or three different addresses every day no problem, I have used it a couple of times in the spec no sat location problems the speed cameras are excellent and updated every month. I have the euro maps but you will need a bigger card for those.

[Guest salty_monk]

Yes, used Drewsus Tom Tom Go at the weekend, have now borrowed it for a day or two to see how Grandad copes... wish me luck

[Guest Battery Bill]

This Is what we have and its very good

 

I would just like to change my plea on this one :gdit: :gdit:

 

Recently we have been having problems charging the PDA, It worked faultlessly when we drove down to Rizlas the other day on the Saturday it needed charging so we left it at his house when we went to Brands, when we got back it was showing a very odd mess on the screen, something was definately wrong with it.

I contacted the Global positioning people the only way you can with problems (By Email) plenty of phones for sales but nothing for anything else. :gdit: :gdit:

I posted it to them as requested, it was then forwarded to Holland where I recieved an email saying it was "Customer Induced Damage" and I had to pay 180 Euros

 

No I would not recommend using this lot to get your Sat Nav, pay a bit more and get a decent service elsewhere :angry: :angry: :angry: