gizze Posted June 23, 2005 Report Share Posted June 23, 2005 I sold our cabriolet on Tuesday and replaced it with an A2, now the cab had the DVD Nav+ fitted as did the cars I have had before including the A3 (RNS-E), A4 Avant (CD Nav+), Merc ML (comand), BMW 3 series Touring (Widescreen Nav). So I have become reliant on having Nav, didn't want to go back to the older CD based Nav+ after using the new RNS-E and that is the only choice for the A2, also I am only using the A2 all the time until I get a replacement car, so going through all the hassle of adapting the faceplate of say an A6 RNS-E for the A2 seemd to much trouble. So having decided on a dedicated unit, rather than say a pda, I stated to have a look round at the various options. It came down to either a NavMan all-in-one unit or a Tom-Tom. I used a mates TT for a couple of days and it is a nice unit, it has full postcode search, decent voice instruction volume and the maps actually are a pretty good representaion of the road ahead. Seperate audiable warnings for Points Of Interest (great for just having camera alerts on) I then borrowed a mates Navman iCN510 for a day or two, it is a really neat design, and it fits in your shirt pocket really well when getting out of the car meaning you could take it with you on a train or plane easily which I would not do with the TT. The set up allows alot of flexibility regarding route choice, which the TT did not. It also seemed to know exactly where I was on the road where as the TT was always a few metres behind, which could be anooying when there were 2 or 3 streets right next to each other. So all in all there were plus and minus points for both units, but I went for the Navman iCN510, mainly because it looks so much neater in the car and I can take it away with me too without excess bulk on me (the TT is an awkard shape). It cost me £329 from PCworld which is pretty good, and overall I am very happy with it, full set of European maps are €149 which I would get when we go away so for around £400 total I think it is a good buy, oh, and it saved me getting points yesterday, coming off the M11 onto the A14 it warned me of a camera I didn't know was there and I was doing 90+ mph at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted June 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2005 In the A2..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a4tdi130 Posted June 23, 2005 Report Share Posted June 23, 2005 Very nice I literally was minutes away from ordering one of these a couple of months ago and then I head the new TomTom range was coming out, and having used their software in the past thought I would hold out for one. My TomTom Go 700 has been posted out today and will be with me tomorrow, so it'll be interested to see how it performs. The one thing that's bothering me is the screen size... 3.6". On the Nav+ in my Audi it was something like 6.5"? All of the portable satnavs seem to have the same small screens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted June 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2005 That was a worry for me, but it really isn't a problem you can see it just fine. I will look forward to your view up on the 700 Russ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apreading Posted June 27, 2005 Report Share Posted June 27, 2005 Considering this myself. Toss up between this and the TomTom 700. The handsfree would be nice in the TomTom, as would the hard disk although this is not a biggie. Against the TomTom is the stoopid huge mounting kit and the somewhat higher price. No experience with Sat Nav, so tempted to go for the cheaper NavMan which seems to get good writeups and see how well it works. If I later want the TomTom then the wife could keep the NavMan in her car rather than a single unit swapped between the two. Particularly interested in battery life - as I am tempted to run on the battery in the car when we go down to Cornwall in a few days. The kids will have a DVD player plugged in the power socket so I would have to get a doubler and there would also be alot more wires etc. Would just be tidier if I could use the battery and charge up when I get there. Do you reckon it would last a 4 hour journey though? Actually I suppose I dont need it until I come off the M5 - Can you program in a journey in advance, then just switch the unit on when you come off the motorway and have it pick up the directions? interested in any other thoughts - If I buy one it may be in the next 24hours so quick response is more useful than an in depth one. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a4tdi130 Posted June 27, 2005 Report Share Posted June 27, 2005 Don't let the the mounting kit of the TomTom put you off! You can buy 3rd party brackets, and also you can modify the mount so it looks like this one below (this is a picture of my install). The power connection comes up from inside the dashboard and it clips in to and out of the bracket just by pushing the button on the front so it's very easily removable. My install! Some more photos and a short review from me are HERE The battery life on the TomTom is quoted as 4 hours. If you dim the screen / turn the volume down, you would probably get even more out of it. I'm not being biased to the TomTom, it's just it's the one I own so I can't offer any advice or reviews about the NavMan. Don't rule out the TomTom 500, or the 300 if you don't need the phone, and the hard-drive is a bit pointless for me aswell as I will probably only ever use it in France, once, to buy beer from the ferry terminal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apreading Posted June 27, 2005 Report Share Posted June 27, 2005 Yeah - saw your install and it works very neatly, but the A4 doesnt have anywhere I could modify as easily as your handily placed speaker grille. My instinct tells me the TomTom is the better unit to use, but price and practicality go against it. I would actually really like the RNS-E, but I couldnt then lend it to the wife, and it would be much more expensive, and you cant add POIs like speed cameras I believe, plus I would want a CD changer in the glove box which would mean a new glove box and it doesnt seem to do the bluetooth phone thing like the TomTom (or at least not as well). In the end I may not bother with anything, but if I then get points because I have missed a speed camera I would be kicking myself - not to mention it would avoid some of the inevitable arguements with the Navigator during our holiday...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a4tdi130 Posted June 27, 2005 Report Share Posted June 27, 2005 They really are worth the £££ for the "no arguing about wrong turns" factor alone Being able to customise it is great, not just POI's but the voices. My wife didn't like the fact that my Audi used to have another womans voice telling me what to do! In the TomTom, I now have Yoda announcing "In 300 yards, left you must turn". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted June 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2005 [ QUOTE ] They really are worth the £££ for the "no arguing about wrong turns" factor alone Being able to customise it is great, not just POI's but the voices. My wife didn't like the fact that my Audi used to have another womans voice telling me what to do! In the TomTom, I now have Yoda announcing "In 300 yards, left you must turn". [/ QUOTE ] Haha Yoda, superb! As Russ said it is worth the money just for an easy life. I was in the car all day with it the other day from 7am, obviously stopping occasionally, and didn't get home till around 8pm after 480 miles and the battery was fine. The speed camera database is excellent and something you don't get on the RNS-E, and I have not bothered fitting the Micro Road Pilot in this car now I have this which is one less thing to have on the dash. They are both good units, the iCN510 is £329 (go onto pcworld website and buy at that price and rather than deliver choose to collect from store) if you want to add Europe it is another £149 and you would need to buy a 1gig SD card for about £45 if you don't want to swap cards. (not sure if the maps are floating around the net?) One of the reasons and in fact the only reason I went for the Navman was because I can position it to the right of the cluster and get a full signal keeping it looking neat, where as I could only get a signal with the TomTom with it on the left of the cluster which I didn't want. The fact I can buy the European maps (or maybe download them) as and when I need them is a bonus too, means I didn't have to bung out for them now if I never need them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apreading Posted June 27, 2005 Report Share Posted June 27, 2005 Took an executive decision at lunchtime - and got the NavMan from PC world as suggested. I had already worked out how to get the web only price in the way you suggested. Top tip - I owe you a pint for alerting me to the PC World price as I would not have looked there for it! In the end I figured that I would rather risk making a mistake with £330 than risk making a mistake with £560. If I want better later then I could get a TomTom and either flog this or give it to the wife permanently. The mounting was the biggest negative for the TomTom as I couldnt see a way to fashion a tidy mount in the A4, and wasnt persuaded that it was really worth the extra for my very limited usage - It is not very often that I travel into unknown areas, and I dont do that many miles so it is a bit of a luxury to start with. Albeit one which will be worth its weight if it saves me from any dreaded Gatsos...! Cheers to all, was sorely tempted with the TomTom - a flip of a coin took me to the NavMan though. Will post how I got on after my holiday... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted June 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2005 Remember to add the camera database, you will be surprised how many it picks up on that are not visable! http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=13041 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apreading Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Had a play last night and found it a bit frustrating at first. Had a helluva job trying to get it to use the route I wanted to work, and the only way seemed to be to plot loads of points on that route - the problem is that if I deviate from the route because of traffic, it would presumably route me back to the points I had added merely to get the default route how I wanted. I really wish you could add points to your trip which were used for initial route calculation but not mandatory if you deviate and have gone past them already. A would also like full postcode lookup, and ideally would like to set up my journeys on a PC (in something like mappoint or autoroute) and download them to the device. Was impressed that it easily picked up satellites indoors. Anyways, this morning plugged the device into the car. Fits really well, and size is fine. The 3d map display is really great. I decided just to set the 2 points I needed for the journey, let it calculate the route I didnt want, and see how well it coped when I went a different way. The answer was fabulously! Recalcs were quick and you almost didnt realise it was doing them. I was surprised it didnt warn me when I went off route - could end up taking me on an obscure route when really it might have told me to turn around, but then I guess the alternative would be constantly being told to turn around. Perhaps just a ping or something to let me know? Voice instructions were clear, good and very accurate in all but one instance. Approaching a roundabout it told me to turn left, when in fact I should be going straight on. This particular junction had a left turn just before and almost on the roundabout which is a no through road, and had I not known where I was and just followed the voice I would have gone down there. Put the speed camera database in last night, and shell stations. Very good, unit told me at just the right time when the data was right, but I think there are some slight innacuracies in the locations in the database which meant one camera I was warned about as I was passing it. BTW, this is a great resource for extra POIs. Different sounds for different POIs would be Extremely useful if you have more than just GATSOs on display. Thats it for now. I am sure the newer TomToms are slightly better (the faster refresh would be very nice, as would the handsfree option), but this is much cheaper and I am quite happy for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted June 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 [ QUOTE ] Had a play last night and found it a bit frustrating at first. Had a helluva job trying to get it to use the route I wanted to work, and the only way seemed to be to plot loads of points on that route... [/ QUOTE ] You can adjust whether you prefer motorways or not etc. in the route settings menu, after a few goes it works out what sort of driving you like and doesn't always try and keep you on a motorway etc. They are talking about adding different sounds for POI. Good link for the POI's, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a4tdi130 Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 I always wonder why people complain that a GPS doesn't take them down the route they would have gone. The point of a GPS is to get you to places that you don't know how to get to! If you are going somewhere you know, don't use the GPS... or if you know 99% of the route but are unsure of the last bit, let it recalculate as you go along. Reading the above I'm glad I chose the TomTom over the NavMan as it does seem to do all the things you've said the NavMan doesn't, such as different audible alerts for different POI's and initially telling you to turn round before recalculating after you ignore it a couple of times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apreading Posted July 11, 2005 Report Share Posted July 11, 2005 Just wanted to post a quick update: Well pleased with the NavMan - saved tens of minutes on some fairly short journeys by using country lanes I wouldnt have been brave enough to use without very good maps and navigator. Never put a foot wrong, and battery lasted about four and a quarter hours (In car DVD was using the 12V socket). Fantastic drive compared to last year - Sat Nav, Speed Camera warnings, In Car DVD to keep the kids quiet, and cruise control to stop my legs getting stiff. Felt so much better afterwards! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted July 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2005 I only realised the pther day that when you press the cursor up whilst viewing the map it makes it more 3D. I am really impressed with mone too, great little unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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