I need a sat.nav.!!!!!!!!!!!

Here in Wales if you get lost you are seriously lost!!!!!!!!!! Just looooooong country lanes that seem to go on forever, hardly any road signs and nowhere to stop easily and ask!!
I need a sat. nav, never used one before, need something fairly easy, recommendations please!!!!

Val

 

The Tom Tom sat nav is easy to use and reasonably priced. I've got the first gen one and it's great, easy to update too.

 

I use my mobile phone, running Google's Navigation app. Its pretty good, and because it downloads the map data straight from the interweb as it needs it, it means there's no issues with out of date maps.

My phone is the HTC Desire HD, but most phones do it these days.

 

i got this tomtom from Halfords (can prob buy cheaper elsewhere)

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_780765_langId_-1_categoryId_165685

then I paid £7 for Brian Blessed

 

I'm old fashion and use a map and remeber where i've been

 

Val honey like you said we are in wales ......... dont bother with sat nav they will get you more lost than you were, google before you leave and like jiffy says buy a local map, clueless i agree the phone apps are much more accurate than the tom toms etc

 

"remeber where i've been".... it wont last..honest..there will come the day.

 

Whats the costs involved with continuos map download as you are on the move?

 

I love my sat nav. Love it even more when I'm headed to work to a big factory and it dumps me in the middle of a nice posh housing estate with the cheerful pronouncement "You have reached your destination". Er, no I have NOT, you dumbo! This is not an industrial trading estate.

Another time I set off to Edinburgh, to the Hyatt Hotel which most of you will know is generally 5 star hotels. I got the message and looked around ............. at a group of huge, rusting corrugated iron barns in the middle of typical muddy farm yards and thought to myself "God, I hope NOT!"

Moral of this story, always do your route planning on Google maps, print off the locality to be double sure and only trust the sat nav about 75%

 

Forgoten allready
Time before there were sat nav, when doing lots of driving, we some times got some good address ie: the fifth rounderbout Swindon, The hay barn on the left
What would a sat nav do????

 

It depends on your contract. I get 500MB data per month included in my contract, which is more than enough for occasional use as a satnav. It is something that I'd advise people to check though, because if you don't have any data allowance in your contract, the pay as you go rates can be quite expensive. I pay £31 per month. You can get cheaper deals than that but mine is always a bit more pricey because I'm a bit old fashioned in that I prefer to speak to people rather than text them, and nowadays all the cheap contracts are aimed at avid texters rather than people like me that like to talk.

I borrowed a sat nav for the first time I drove down to Cornwall. Because a lot of the roads seemed to be narrow country lanes, I didn't think anything was up when it directed me down a single track road (tarmac'ed, not a dirt track). As we proceeded under the guidance of the sat nav, I started to doubt it was telling the truth. The road had got narrower and had become more of a track, and we were right in the middle of a farm. The sat nav lady cheerfully announced that we were here. Apparently the town of Mevagissey is actually just a farmer's field.

 

I find the AA Route Finder more accurate than google

 

Don't they work then?????

Val

 

Yes they do work very well, if you travel for a living and are constantley going to new locations you will get your money back in 1 month or less, saving on fuel. Like any machine they are not perfect, they were developed for the military originaly and hence they include dirt tracks in their memory and not all this data was deleted when they were sold on the open market, hence they can take you on some strange roads. Just use common sense and they are fantastic. I have just replaced one of our Garmins with a new one for £89.00. thats less than a tank of fuel and the old one lasted over 6 years.
It is a no brainer!!

 

I got this Tom Tom http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_793561_langId_-1_categoryId_165685 last year as I went to work in Germany. It has never let me down once and I travel a lot.It links to google for searching and notifies of live traffic jams and roadworks. Also has accident blackspots listed with the speed limit at that blackspot. Highly recommended.
It will be going to Spain with me in 3 weeks time and am certain it will perform well.