SatNav

RobM. · Nov 25, 2005

TomTon go 300. Seems great!

Incidentally if anyone wants a cradle for same, I have a spare one. I was given two, bit daft as there's only me at home so will swap for anything interesting, SUFC or not. PM if interested.

RobM.

Taunton_Shrimp · Nov 25, 2005

whats your opinion of it then, i take it you can do post code & street name searches etc? whats the battery life like too?

Firestorm · Nov 25, 2005

[b said:
Quote[/b] (Yeovil_Shrimper @ Nov. 25 2005,13:49)]whats your opinion of it then, i take it you can do post code & street name searches etc? whats the battery life like too?

Battery life has never really been tested as we run ours off the ciggy lighter

its excellent, had it a year and rarely go past the end of our drive with out it.

Its too bulky to use on the Motorbike though, looking at using Tom Tom Mobile on my 6680 Nokia when I can get a memory card for it (is that what you have Milky ?)

One word of advice, TAKE THE CRADLE OUT WHEN LEAVING THE CAR....
Obviously you don't want to leave x hundered quids worth of gear in the car so that comes out but we always left the cradle stuck to the windscreen, Until Grimsby earlier this year and some scum broke into the car (via a window, glass everywhere, except in the window) and ransacked the motor on , what we (and OB) think was a search just in cash we had left the sat nav in the car.

palexander · Nov 27, 2005

[b said:
Quote[/b] (Firestorm @ Nov. 25 2005,14:05)]

[b said:

Quote[/b] (Yeovil_Shrimper @ Nov. 25 2005,13:49)]whats your opinion of it then, i take it you can do post code & street name searches etc? whats the battery life like too?

Click to expand...

Battery life has never really been tested as we run ours off the ciggy lighter

its excellent, had it a year and rarely go past the end of our drive with out it.

Its too bulky to use on the Motorbike though, looking at using Tom Tom Mobile on my 6680 Nokia when I can get a memory card for it (is that what you have Milky ?)

One word of advice, TAKE THE CRADLE OUT WHEN LEAVING THE CAR....
Obviously you don't want to leave x hundered quids worth of gear in the car so that comes out but we always left the cradle stuck to the windscreen, Until Grimsby earlier this year and some scum broke into the car (via a window, glass everywhere, except in the window) and ransacked the motor on , what we (and OB) think was a search just in cash we had left the sat nav in the car.

We are looking at getting one at XMas.

Do you have to pay a monthly sub for using it?

Apart from that, the 300 sounds good - tho lots of people say the support from Tom-Tom sucks...

Its Only A Game · Nov 28, 2005

I got one and used it for Nottingham and it was excellent. Especially when you park down a load of side roads, you just press navigate to home, and it guides you back to the main roads. £300 well spent

the tom tom 500 model does bluetooth to your phone and a bit of europe but the 300 was fine for me.

no monthly subs but i guess after a few years a new map card might be needed for new roads.

RobM. · Nov 28, 2005

You can pay £50 a year for automatic updates of traffic and weather.

Battery life is said to be 10 hours from charged to flat although I keep it connected to the car.

You can plan walking routes as well, I walk at 3 mph and jog at 9 mph apparently.

One tip, don't start moving until you have switched it on and have a good signal (takes a few seconds).

Yes, I'd recommend one, it covers the UK and you can buy a card for France for £89.99 although I'm sure the price (like with all new toys) will drop.

Updates can be downloaded from the internet I believe although that's a bit techie for me at the moment.

jstallan · Nov 28, 2005

I use an Orange SPV C500 smartphone that runs TomTom Mobile via a Bluetooth GPS reciever. By putting a larger memory card (512mb) in the phone, I can now listen to my MP3s via the car stereo (using a £3 cassette adapter).

Previously I used a USB GPS device plugged into a laptop running Autoroute. Although this didn't give turn-by-turn speech directions, it did allow you to create a 'snail trail' on the Autoroute map. Managed a holiday all around the south of France this year using this and although it's a bit bulky having a laptop in the front of the car (well, on the wife lap!) it did mean much less stress in the old map reading department!

So a few months back I got the current setup and we are very impressed with what it can do (especially the wife, as it means no burnt lap!!!

). The route refresh rate on TT Mobile is very good (much better than the old laptop version) and the recalculation (when u go wrong) is also very good.

The phone is the size of a , well, phone and the GPS reciever is slightly bigger than a match box.... All fits neatly in the pocket

The Flying Scotsman · Nov 28, 2005

Sounds like a very expensive mapbook to me. I think I'll stick to my RAC road map, bought for £3 last year, and multimap printouts (free). With the change I'll buy 120 pints of lager.