Portable satellite-nav

Any info on the 'best' dedicated sat-nav systems <= £1k ... Primarily for 'in-car' use? Not necessarily 'pocket sized'.

A little research turned up 'Navman iCN 510 GPS Navigation System with UK & Ireland Maps Preloaded'. Circa £350-£400 This was 'best buy' from AutoExpress Any thoughts?

Do all products show for example, current velocity (not mentioned in the '510' PDF brochure) ?

I've had a Garmin StreetPilot III for a few years. I have tried a couple of factory-fit GPS's, but I would say they didn't come close to the performance of the Garmin.

The biggest difference in quality between GPS in my experience is user annoyance. Seriously. For instance, the Toyota Avensis GPS has a tendency of taking you off the motorway, a couple of miles down the road, round a roundabout and then back on to the motorway AT THE SAME JUNCTION!!! And if you decide "Hey, I know that turning left here isn't the quickest way", it won't recalculate it's route but will instead insist you turn back to where you left off. After a few minutes I was contemplating driving the car into a tree just in the hope it would turn the GPS off

But, my Garmin has never done that, and recalculates routes on the fly. The only problem I have had with it was when I tapped in the address, was given several options and picked the wrong postcode. Ended up at the wrong end of Bristol.

Looking at the features of the one you suggest, compared to the similarly-priced Garmin... I would choose the Garmin. Reasons being:

1) It includes maps of Europe as well (the Navman only includes UK & Eire)
2) The Navman groups houses in bunches of 60, but my Garmin will take you straight to the correct house (and even tells you what number you are currently driving past if you want!)
3) My Garmin (and presumably this one) includes lists of various things such as hotels, hospitals, petrol stations, restaurants and cinemas. Very useful if you are in an unfamiliar place and find yourself hungry/in need of entertainment/very very sick.

I believe all of them will show you current speed (Garmin is to an accuracy of 0.1mph and resolution of 3 s.f.) and have a rudimentary trip computer. My Garmin includes

Total driving time
Moving driving time
Max speed (hehe)
Average speed
Average driving speed
Total distance

Presumably the new Garmins include the same stuff as my old one, plus more.

I think you better try them out, and see what you think before shelling out.

.... there is no internal battery, the system has to be restarted after every turn of the ignition. Offering top quality at a high price, the Garmin is our Recommended choice...

Click to expand...

Sounds good.
Regarding the 'Garmin Street Pilot 2620', would the lack of internal power pose a problem? Or are we just talking switch on and recall planned route?
Just been on Gamin web site ... 2720 is latest 'Street Pilot' .

I bought a tomtom 700 couple of weeks ago, I have used nothing else to compare it with but will say that I'm totally impressed by it's accuracy.

When disconnected from a power supply it runs for up to 4 hours on it's built in batteries and comes with a small carry pouch with a wrist cord.

It cost £550 and is preloaded with info to street level for western europe.

Only down side, I have been told the after sales in useless but am yet to find out if this is true.

Coming around to the idea of built in battery power -- Could use when walking (streets that is..)
It seems that a new iCN is being released for August too.
decisions, decisions !

Definitely an advantage. My Streetpilot is about the size (and weight!) of a housebrick. When you park up somewhere you feel obliged to take it with you (GPS were all £1000+ when I got it!). I once used it to locate the car after parking in a big field at a show, but something smaller would be more convenient.

Don't fall for the trap of a PDA-based one though, I have been in friends' cars when they are using one and they seem to be a bit basic.

My Streetpilot has battery back-up so couldn't comment on the batteryless one!

I think you should really get down to a car hifi specialist or Halfords and try a few out. See what you like. An important issue to try to find specs on is "cold start" time.

Not sure how much GPS experience you have, but the satellites continuously download an "almanac" of satellite locations. This has a limited lifespan, so if you are cold-starting you need to download almanac data, and this can add a couple of minutes to boot up time. Different systems take different lengths of time to report a location.

Also, check if Galileo is going to affect anything. Some might be compatible, some might not.

Missed this, but Adam, does it actually 'run' off it's internal battery? As in cart it down the street (wheelbarrow) and watch your on screen position?
I think this was the battery thing ... Am thinking could set up on battery, in home, take to car plug n' play !! Already warm and locked in... Maybe?

My one takes 6 (I think) AA batteries. I have wandered down the street with it, but unless you have rechargables I wouldn't recommend running it purely off battery power. An hour or two running time, big colour screen is a heavy draw on power.

I think I might eat my words about the PDA-based ones. A colleague was showing me his PDA-based one today, seemed a lot better than the last one I saw. He has a bluetooth GPS module that he keeps in the car, and the PDA talks to it wirelessly. The software he uses is free off the net, apparently. He reckons it is great as he can sit at home planning the route, then jump in the car. Mine has the advantage that it seems to have better route-planning algorithms but I still only do it once the engine is fired up and the GPS is running off car power. So, might be worth trying the PDA ones out too.

AND you can run the Monkey Island games on many newer PDAs

i use my mobile phone.

its a nokia 6600, newer versions are 6680 etc.

I just bought a Bluetooth GPS receiver and a larger memory card to store the Sat Nav software.

Stuck TomTom Mobile 5 on it. and its fantastic. cost me about £70 as i already had the mobile phone.

HTH.

Carry on like this and twill be advent of the first 'live in Mobile phone' ... You thought it had taken over your life??? .... IT HAS NOW ! (JC style)

as already said...nokia 6600 or suitable phone with tomtom mobile 5..use one myself..has speed camera database on it as well...