Confused of Luton!

[Susieque]

Not strictly a bike topic but sort of!

Rennie & I are driving to Spain for 2 week holiday in July and are considering getting a SatNav for the trickier parts of the journey.

We're looking for a decent but not too expensive SatNav that will be suitable for both bike and car and that covers UK and Europe and we'd like some advice from anyone who has one.

I've tried looking on comparison sites but still none the wiser!

[Guest]

I wont suggest the sat nav i have Susie....it got us to Heindoven then decided it wanted us to go back to Calais,

Which may have been a good idea.................P***ed it down most of the weekend in Germany!

My buddy has a Zumo 550,,he says it great,,but expensive.

[Susieque]

Thanks Fred but it would be good to hear which ones people WOULDN'T reccomend too - just so we don't buy them!

[Guest]

Sue,

Tom Tom's are good. I have used em all over the place. Not really many car ones that will transfer to bikes though...

So, a bike one will set you back £400 notes.......

A car one £100 .... then buy the givi sat nav thing for the bike for £40 and have the same satnav on the bike. You just won't be able to hear it!!

Cannot comment on Garmin, never used one.

[Susieque]

Thanks Dan - thats what we thought we'd do. Don't want to pay for bike one but if we can put a car one in the tank bag then thats good!

Ian had heard Tom Tom are better. Another question cos I know nothing about them - can you use any device abroad?

[Guest]

I have a Navisure 3000i...dont think its on the market anymore.

I put it in a Givi sat nav bag fitted to the handlebars.

Its not that bad, but it has some moments of "Doh!".

[Guest]

Thanks Dan - thats what we thought we'd do. Don't want to pay for bike one but if we can put a car one in the tank bag then thats good!

Ian had heard Tom Tom are better. Another question cos I know nothing about them - can you use any device abroad?

 

Yep, I have used mine in Florida, Ireland and Switzerland. Just need the right maps.

The only thing I would say, if you turn it on, miles and miles away from it previous location, they can take a while to position themselves again. Only like a couple of minutes, but can seem an age when you don't know where you are!!

I would imagine you would use it more often in the car anyway .. so getting the speed camera locations is useful.

And as for on the bike, you need to be able to see it. Can be problematic in a tank bag, cos you have to look so far down with a helmet on. I did that on the way to MFN last year. Not an ideal set up, but possible. The bike ones are bulit to withstand far more vibration hence the price difference. And generally issue instructions through a headset via bluetooth, as they have no speaker. I know there are car ones WITH bluetooth, just dunno if they can issue instructions this way or not.

[Guest]

Mine has a earphone jack...plug it into a set of MP3 headphones...works for me.

As said my sat nav has moments of "Doh!"

It would not direct us from Torremolinos to Gibraltar,. just a blank screen (good job i knew the way)

But it showed us the way back, with every little detail...

Edited January 24, 2010 by Guest

[Susieque]

Thats really helpful, thanks Both!

So if we bought one that says UK coverage do you then buy add-ons for the additional maps you need?

[Guest]

You can. Depends what the original maps are. Obviously some are sold with just the UK and Northeren Ireland, some with Europe included. But you can expand as much as you'd like. You will probably find though, buying one with Europe already included, is cheaper than buying Europe maps after ...

[Guest]

Mine has most of Europe pre loaded...but only the MAIN streets/roads through Europe,

No little side streets.

mine has a slot for a SD card, but none are available to fit it!.

[Paul]

Thats really helpful, thanks Both!

So if we bought one that says UK coverage do you then buy add-ons for the additional maps you need?

 

You would need a memory card with the maps on it although it is much easier and less of a deal if you don't know about these things if you bought one with UK and Europe maps already on it.

The one I have in my car has cd's that you change when you go to a different country. (it is five years old now and was 2k when new) Got a load of discs here for all over europe, some are more detailed then others too for some reason. All you do is change the disc when you go abroad. You wouldn't however have to do this if you had UK and Europe as standard but you will pay a few quid more for that.

Best thing would be to go to Halfords and get one of the people there to show and explain what they can do and take it from there.

This one is £100, it is less than half price in the sale they have at the moment. It has Europe maps on it and is the cheapest I have seen but do bear in mind it has £150 off. Well worth considering. http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_732755_langId_-1_categoryId_165685

Here is the FAQ from the Halfords website http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/FAQDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=14551&categoryId=173000&acCategory=true#g173013

[rennie]

cheers all looks like a trip to halfords is on the cards then!

[Guest]

For a cheaper option take a look at this one.....

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161002

I bought a similar one a year or more back and upgraded the software to Tomtom7 for 'free'.

The original Turbo dog software is ok but it will confuse itself and take time to sort itself out if you take a couple of turns it didn't suggest. TT7 is faster and easier to use.

When I received mine the first two guy's to see it at work ordered them as well! Houdini borrowed mine for his solo week in Scotland and it led him everywhere he wanted to go, suffice to say he then bought his own and installed TT7 on it.

I stick it in a tank bag and listen to instructions through earplugs it's not so immportant to see it really but if I ever see the givi bag thingy I'm sure I'll be tempted to buy it.

A satnav with TT7 for under 50 quid works in car or with earplugs on the bike, can't be bad

[Roadtorque]

Like Dan I use Tom Tom, but only for car use, seems to be better than most,

but even this has its little quirks, will take you from A to B but never

seems to bring you back from B to A the same route as going (strange),,

Sat Nav gets you there, but not always the quickest route,

[Susieque]

Thanks so much for all your help guys!

Have saved your recommendation to my favourites Jota - that looks a very good option! I'm assuming you can get the TomTom software online for the upgrade??

[Guest]

read the reviews........ all will be explained there

there's a site dedicated to helping with these 'upgrades'. the forum on the site explain all you'll need to know from.... 'click here to download TT7' to 'download instructions to help you install TT7'.

There are fairly easy step by step instructions to make the machine work with TT7, took me a couple of goes to crack it but it really is quite simple.

[rennie]

thanks jota! i think i'm going to order 1 of them!

[cypek]

This one is £100, it is less than half price in the sale they have at the moment. It has Europe maps on it and is the cheapest I have seen but do bear in mind it has £150 off. Well worth considering. http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_732755_langId_-1_categoryId_165685

Here is the FAQ from the Halfords website http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/FAQDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=14551&categoryId=173000&acCategory=true#g173013

 

I use this Navigon. It is really good. I went to Poland and back a few months ago without any problems. It was even better than my previous trip with Tomtom. Only annoying thing about it when battery goes flat it then takes AGES to get sattelite signal. But other than that its just great and for £100 got full Europe maps, speed cameras, roadworks and traffic updates

[rennie]

i've ordered the 1 in jota's link now

thanks for all the help!

i always said i'd never get 1!

am just going to use it to get round paris then turn it off!

well, maybe barcelona too

[rennie]

sat nav arrived fri!

used it to get to hull and back over the weekend,

still with the standard software, a few little hic-ups

but not bad at all