sat navs

ASTRACLUB

Hager
answer to yor questions
Yes, Sony has all of it and you could even download more language from site (There are 37 langauage preloaded at the moment)

dowtchaboy, i agree 250w is one of the best and actually it was my choice also and i could not found a negative thing in it and thats why i bought it, though when i saw SONY, i just fell in love with the shape and overall features. The blue tooth features and calling directly from the map was the best (For example, you find a garage on map, you can dial it directly)
Also, Sony has 5 settings for route (Standard car, Truck, long car, foot, bike) so it will tell you the desired route.
the maps as you have already mentioned are already 1 year old and that is understandable. For example, my map does not recognise the new bridge in front of ardboyne hotel in Navan :-)So i think both set are OKAY and its upto an individual to buy as per the need,
I would recommend both 250W and Sony U93
but my recommendation, Please see both hand to hand in Argos or Peats before buy,,,must se before buy...

I have tested mine and all harsh Europe conditions and very happy with it, i actually checked it in Venice Ferry also and it worked for water ways too :-)

For radar i have got a TMC wire and 1 year free updates, i have not touched it yet, will check it tomorrow and let you know. Also i have not used anything from box yet, all was pre-loaded and i just went Europe with it.

ASTRACLUB

Just found this even cheaper €338 at pixmania
http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/648976/art/sony/nv-u93-gps-europe.html

and a new one from Blaupunkt
http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/575654/art/blaupunkt/lucca-5-2-gps-europe.html#fichetechnique it seems cool too as plays MP3 and video also

dowtchaboy

ASTRACLUB wrote: »

I have tested mine and all harsh Europe conditions and very happy with it, i actually checked it in Venice Ferry also and it worked for water ways too :-)

Cool! Wonder how they mapped the Venice waterways, and did they set a wide/non-aggressive "rubberband" for them?
On the subject of water - one possible avenue I am exploring is to see if marine navaids can be "obtained" from somewhere and downloaded to nuvi's - this would make them even more useful to me (and other impoverished ummmm... sailing folk - not "yachties" - they already have every GPS goodie known to Man).
db.

dowtchaboy

Hagar wrote: »

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.
[noob mistake]I'll check out the search before I ask anything else[/noob mistake]

Sorry Hagar - I didn't mean to sound like a d**khead there - if you had asked those same questions in the GPS Forum, well then there might have been a reason point out how MANY times etc., but all I meant was to let you know that (a) there is a forum dedicated to GPS and (b) that the Garmin map update question gets a lot of coverage there. db.

Hagar

No apology necessary. I look in on this forum all the time as I'm interested to see what boardies might be down my way as I live in southern France. It never even occurred to me to look for a GPS forum I just jumped into the topic without thinking. I've been looking at various units for a while now but all the technical info is in French and I'm afraid that I might misinterpret something and end up spending my cash on the wrong thing. For instance this week they have Silvercrest units in Lidl for €179. I know Silvercrest is fine for DVD players etc but they are a bit of an unknown to me otherwise. I know of the Garmin and TomTom brands and I have absolute faith in anything Sony has ever produced. It's a minefield and I'm really appreciative for the helpful posts.

ASTRACLUB

my advise:--
Never buy GPS from Lidl or ALDI,
Good to see this thread with so positive information.
Waiting for more positive information.