OH had the Tom Tom One - very good, then I bought him the Tom Tom XL - even better. Can't comment on any other makes but haven't really heard anyone say any of them are awful.
we have the Tom Tom XL which we bought last year specially for our trip to France and Spain and up till about a couple of months ago we've had no problems with it apart from turning itself on lol. For the last couple of months we've had problems turning it on, the start up screen loads in and then that's it, so have to turn it off and re-turn it back on again. We're hoping it just needs connecting to pc to update it, so need to find the wires for it, fingers crossed
------------- -x- Diane -x-
May 13 - Cala Gogo, St Cyprien (didn't go, hubby too ill to travel)
May 14 Ranc Davaine
August 14 Les Sablons
August 13 - Camping Playa Brava, Pals
Driving for my job I have tried most of the sat navs. Loved navigon for the layout, functionality and map looks, but it randomly deleted my favourites, bought a tomtom with live services and would not trade back, also have navigon on my android phone as a backup, if you fly or sail get a garmin, if you drive casually get anything, if you drive professional (no not round a track) get tomtom, if you tow a caravan or drive a motor home, get a truck nav I.e.tomtom with truck maps, but none of these will replace your brain, if you know the route locally don't use your sat nav, they are for places you don't know.
And please don't follow it blindly, read road signs.
...I keep having this conversation with my grown-up daughters..
"..but dad,I get free calls/ txts/photo messaging with my phone.."..blah blah..
No you don' t!..you're paying 'em £30-40+ a month,on an 18 month contract!
yes you do, you pa your line renal for the line rental, any additional freebies on top are exactly that, of course they are in the business of making profit, but when you research mobile phones and their tariffs it is quite possible to find two identical phones, on the same tariff one with unlimited data usage, free texts, free minutes and another with no data usage, very few texts and very few minutes, in those circumstances it is very difficult to call the better deal anything other than operator offering incentives to attract customers, those incentives are usually in the form of freebies which you say re not free.
Additionally, when you consider the cost of a land line, suitable only for voice calls using a handset incapable of anything other than voice calls, then it is easy to see the cost effectiveness and feature rich abilities of mobile communications.
Vic, I am on t-mobile, 12 mth contract, £30 a month with unlimited data usage (3gb fup), as explained impossible to hit that level of usage even watching streaming tv and downloading apps while syncing calendars and emails etc, there literally aren't enough hours in a day to use 3gb a month on a mobile phone, I can't stress enough how hard you would have to hit it to come close to 3gigs.
To buy the phone sim free would have cost more than the contract costs, as you can see, you most definitely do get freebies with mobile phone operators.
Business models are changing all the time, the days of the end user exchanging cash for goods and services is disappearing, just look at google, microsoft charge literally hundreds of pounds for the very same services google provide free at point of use.
I have migrated fully from microsoft outlook and now let google's free services organise my life, what's more, it is easier to set up and works every time.
The minute google release a fully formed office package, which they will in time, then microsoft need to start worrying, as they are already losing a lot of business to google who provide business grade services for a fraction of the costs.
Shop smarter, it pays off if you keep an open mind.
Quote: Originally posted by brianconwy on 01/8/2010
I wish I could get my phone for free - they insist on me paying them every month.
are you not aware that operators subsidise the costs of the hardware?
I am paying for the line service, the same as I pay for my land line rental, I pay more for my mobile line service than land line, but of course, I also get more, both hardware and services.
Of course they subsidise everything thats why mobile phone operators never make profits. As for downloads, I was talking to BT the other day as we were thinking of swapping to talk talk and their £6.99 package. They said the most downloads we had done in a month was £3.04 Gb until June when it shot up to 35Gb and the same for July. This happened to be when my stepson came home for the summer. Of course it doesn't matter because it really is unlimited.
Broadband is rarely good on a mobile as the signal strength varies so much. If people want to spend £30 on a mobile phone contract then thats fine. I just think the companies are crafty conning them that its free. People will do anything for these status symbols and don't have to justify them, but they tend to anyway.
I regularly exceed 100gb a month on my home broadband.
I am talking about data downloads on a mobile, although to be fair with hsdpa I have recorded 7megs download rate, but to hit 3gb a month on a mobile would be seriously difficult to do, there just isn't the usage for it, even streaming media from bbc iplayer doesn't chew it up in a month.
As explained, it is possible to get a handset on contract for less than the non contract non sim equivalent, effectively that means you are getting either the hardware at a reduced rate and conveniently paid for monthly at 0% apr over a year and receiving all services for free, or you are receiving the handset free of charge and paying for the services.
I can clearly see why you think nothing is free, and I have never denied businesses exist to make a profit, but I can assure you, some things re to the end user (domestic end user at least), google is the perfect example of this.
When any of the SatNav firms start giving Height and Width as a standard feature they will be of more use to Caravanners and Motorhome drivers: Until then, you have to find another £50 to £60 for the add on software
I have a nokia n95 on pay as you go which has ovi maps on it. It does get very confused sometimes. We were on our way back from Basingstoke and the SatNav wanted to take us in the opposite direction of where the signpost said. Also when reception is poor or non existant it doesn't work and it has a habit of changing the stored information. But saying that it has got us to lots of places with no problems
The Android apps are being funded to a large extent by ads, so while they are given to the consumer, Google is still making money by receiving advertising revenue from restaurants, hotels etc, that form the thousands of "points of interest" on the maps. I've been offered a phone upgrade and am considering the Samsung Galaxy S that has the Android operating system, but I'm kind of thinking I'll still use TomTom XL Live for satnav......I don't like the idea of too many eggs in one basket, and the TomTom is so easy to use with its nice big screen at arm's length, and clear lane indications, and live traffic updates that have kept me moving instead of sitting in traffic.
When you use your mobile phone instead of a dedicated SatNav you will get lost if you are in an area where there is no mobile signal as happened to my bro when he went to a wedding near Eastbourne recently. He got lost as the signal was patchy in that area.
Perhaps he had the GPS switched off on his phone as the phone should use signal from satellite not mobile phone transmitter. The gps antenna on phones are possibly not as good as dedicated satnav ones and may need more careful positioning in the car window. The best antenna of all is a patch antenna placed on the car roof, as they can acquire signal from all of the sky available without any attenuation from car roof or windscreen.
can happen with mobiles as some use the cell towers for what they call assisted gps to help get when getting a fix. The a-gps does involve a data connection which your carrier will charge for - that is their business model. I have had 'phones in the past with this feature but usually switch it off.
AFAIK google maps navigation on Android does cache the route information to the 'phone so you can use your home network/wi-fi to calculate the route before you set off and so shouldn't need a data connection once you are on your way.
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: The Best SatNav Make
