Help me choose a Sat Nav please

jos28

I'm buying a Sat Nav for my son for Christmas and the more I look, the more confused I get. I am looking for Ireland and UK mapping, widescreen and preferably touch screen. I was looking at Garmins today but the very 'helpful' staff in Halfords couldn't tell me how one unit differed from the next. Any tips please ?

Alanstrainor

Moved from Motors.

Overheal

Tech store reps are typically misinformed/uninformed and shouldnt be your only impression of a product.

Frankly Garmin can barely tell what the differences are. Theres a lot of discrepancies on their own price specs half the time. eg. the Nuvi260w is not meant to have Where Am I? functionality, but mine does. When I asked them about it they said it was because it was a later generation 260w, and got a firmware update @ the factory, etc etc.

Speaking of the 260w though I like it a bunch and the maps are damn accurate. The only thing they dont do is map Private Property (parking lots) not that I think many if any do. The only other oddity is when I needed a rain wiper last night, it dawned upon me, that I can pick Fast Food; Hospitals; Gas; Clothing Stores; but there were no Points of Interest for Automotive stores - which I just found incredibly strange.

I'd give the unit 4.5/5 anyway. Garmin as far as mapping goes, is pretty damned Pro and they do a lot of aother applications, like Commercial Trucking Nav's, Naval and Aerospace navs, and Government contracts. Should check out there website.

If thats not your thing you can always get a TomTom, and have the voice of Snoop Dogg lead you home (No Joke)

This model here is pretty Boss looking though, and kicks the 260s ass by a mile. Which can only be a good thing: lifetime FM traffic; Lane Directions ("Merge to Left Lane", etc) and Speed Limit indication. It is Very Feature Rich.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11492864&search=garmin&Mo=8&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=garmin&Ntt=garmin&No=4&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

jos28

Thanks for all the info Overheal,
I couldn't find the 260W but I found the 265W for €193 on this site http://www.mysatnav.ie/garmin
Have you heard of them ?

mrmac

I'm a Garmin fan, no dis-respect to TomTom, I just prefer Garmin.
If you're trying to compare different Garmin units, try this link, it may help.

It really doesn't matter which manufacturer you choose, so long as it's Garmin or TomTom, they're both great. For the same money, TomTom may offer more features, but I find Garmin have better maps. All automotive Sat Navs have touchscreen now, so that's not a worry. I would advise getting a widescreen model, sometimes indicated by a "W" at the end of the model number. Also, don't worry about the age of maps that are on a Sat Nav, as you'll be entitled to a free update to the latest maps.

As for features! Well that depends on price

One feature that sales people try to push, is called Traffic updates. This is a receiver that plugs into the unit, and acts like an aerial to pickup radio signals, telling the unit of any traffic delays on your route. This feature doesn't work in Ireland, so don't pay extra for it.

Some features are more gimmick, than actually useful, so try to decide what you think you'll actually find useful.

The guys in Halfords can be helpful, but are somewhat expensive. Have you tried looking online? Amazon.co.uk now offer free shipping to Ireland, and are keenly priced. For example, the 265W is £125 inc. shipping, or about €137.

One thing to note about using Amazon is that the price you see will change if you buy it! That's because they will charge you the Irish VAT rate, so expect to pay an extra £5 approx.

Let us know what you decide.

jos28

Thanks Mrmac and Overheal,
Definitely decided on a Garmin even though the idea of Snoop Dogg telling me where to go is very tempting:D. When I started looking, I was overwhelmed by the range and all the options available. Thanks to yourselves I have narrowed it down to one of the Garmin widescreens. I am amazed at how the prices vary. I found the 255W in Argos for €199, mysatnav.ie for €173 and Komplett for €139 !
I might go for that one, it has all the functions he is looking for and at that price I will get him the accessory pack from Halfords. It has a home charger, case and usb lead for €28.
Thanks again for all your help.

worded

jos28 wrote: »

Thanks for all the info Overheal,
I couldn't find the 260W but I found the 265W for €193 on this site http://www.mysatnav.ie/garmin
Have you heard of them ?

I bought off them (collected fom their office by arrangement) and later got a spare part off them. Highly recommend them. Like if something goes wrong at least you can bing it back to the place.

Garmin maps ae the best IMO

101sean

Garmin use Navteq mapping, they have better mapping for Ireland than TeleAtlas that Tomtom use

mrmac

You should have no problems with the 255w, it's a solid unit. I had a 250w for 6 months, and it was very handy.

The cheapest price I could find for the 255w is £110stg, inc. delivery from the Uk, so €139 from Komplett is not bad.

Hope it goes well.