Looking for a portable sat nav, advices welcomed.

As the gf is getting more and more miles in our 206 also known as Puggy Pallendorf III (she called her Peggy, actually), sooner than later she will start driving alone. Presently I'm always in the car with her, as Italian driving schools are good only at allowing you to get your license, not very useful if the very next day you start working at 40 km from your place.

As we are both not from Modena (and not from Europe in her case), we aren't that familiar with the roads just outside downtown as we never had the necessity to drive on, or even a car to do that mind you.

Last week I got to take a long detour because of a lorry which flipped over on the road to the place where she works. There were no signs telling the road, and being in the middle of countryside not so many people to ask to for help. Most drivers were just going back, so they weren't going to help either.

Eventually I managed to get back on the right road, but that underlined how that was just lucky and how much more difficult it could have been for her as I had my license some 8 years ago and I'm much more accustomed to driving.

So here comes the moment where I considered a portable sat nav, a Garmin or a TomTom. We used her mother's Garmin Nuvi 265 during last Christmas holidays, but found it pretty much slow over here. Being a US model brought to Europe with a not exactly legally downloaded map I guess that was sort of predictable.

I've heard TomToms are not as good as Garmin products, but that's where my knowledge on the matter ends.

I'm baised toward Garmin mainly because of their awesome Christmas commercials.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf9vtZI_n8E&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf9vtZI_n8E&feature=related[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P1YOFfNYXg&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P1YOFfNYXg&feature=related[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcPk6KKyfVE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcPk6KKyfVE[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJix8G_98qg&NR=1"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJix8G_98qg&NR=1[/ame]



I don't have a specific idea on the price I'm willing to face, I guess something below 100 € would be great but I could spend a bit more if it's really worth it, like much faster or with a better screen.

Any advice, personal experience and all would be appreciated :)

EDIT: I need a mod to fix the title, thanks :P

In UK TomTom are way ahead of Garmin.
I think a lot has to do with map update frequency and support for community updates on maps and speed traps locations.

I think even the cheapest are now "good" and you start paying for "flash features" - like do you really need to be beeped when you are within a mile of a museum ? :) or even worse to get your directions from Brian Blessed !! [url="http://brianblessed.tomtom.com/index-brianblessed.php?Lid=1"]Brian Blessed voice now available for TomTom devices[/url]

some humour surrounding the man ..... esp for those who once owned a Palm Pilot !
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLLIl63IvwQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLLIl63IvwQ[/ame]

Personally I woudl always go with a recommendation of locals to where you plan to use it as bad maps and bad routing software will soon get talked about :)

I binned mine 2 years ago and move on to the free Nokia maps and it's great having only one device in the car to worry about ! Worth also checking if her phone has mapping available. Not any cheaper ( unless Nokia free :) ) BUT the convenience means you are more likely to use it more often. Sister's Garmin sits in her glovebox and she admits she'll often only pull it out on the third attempt of failing to find a place, just because of the hassle.

Her phone should have mapping, but the screen is not so big and she doesn't need/have to pay attention to the phone while driving.

It's a Samsung Corby of some sort, with WiFi, BT, touchscreen and sliding full keyboard, plus other stuff I'm too obsolete to use.

That would also mean I'd need her phone if I was the one to use the satnav...

The Garmin we used wasn't bad, just slow on getting the initial connection over here, but was pretty much OK in California iirc.

In that last Garmin ad, you can see that the Knight is driving in a station wagon. In the background, you see the CN Tower and an odd cube house.

I did deliveries around there quite a bunch in the past.

I had a TomTom, it was pretty great. Got me through four capital cities here no worries, even with a few wrong turns.

I have owned a Garmin, Tomtom, and Magellan. I only recommend the Tomtom if you can get it at a big discount. The interface is really lousy. The battery drains quickly while off so I can't count on using the device on batteries unless it was justed charged. The only thing about the TT I like is the mount.

The Magellan and Garmin both have good points. Ultimately the Garmin won because you can really dim the display at night.

I only ran the TT on power.. the battery was too lousy to even consider the possibility of potentially bothering with. I liked the interface, but I've never used anything else.

Leon, the Galaxy screen is same resolution as the low end TTs and other satnavs and not a lot smaller :(

Also, I tend to say that if somene needs to be looking at the satnav then they are a danger. Use it with audio guidance :) Less things in the cabin being looked at == safer :)
with TT you can get "celebrity guides" :)

I see that TT is now only for iPhone and Windows smartphone :(

That's why I'd like something with a big bright screen rather than a bazillion functions I won't care about. If I have to look at the screen I want it to be clear.

Which is the Galaxy btw?!:confused:

I too am confused at the offerings of sat navs. I have no idea what to get if we were to get one too.

Thing is, we don't go far enough away to warrant a sat nav.

Therefore, we currently use one of these.

I'm afraid there is no decent road map for Modena's countryside...

If you just want basic nav I recommend little beyond getting text to speech. My dedicated GPSs don't have it by my Andriod phone does. It's nice to have. Having a screen that really goes dim at night is great if you, like me, don't like bright gauges and lighting in your car at night. A good points of interest database is nice but now that I have a smart phone I don't care as much. I like that the Garmin (and I think my Magellan) auto powered on when plugged in. The Tomtom doesn't do that. This is a consideration if you want to leave the unit in the car. It sure is nice to have it start up automatically rather than once I realize I want to map something.

I would like to have a unit that lets me track a route or download a route from my computer. That would be cool just so I can find/remember cool roads. None of my cheap models will do that.

I have to day that we (family) set the Croma's screen (must be something like 7"?) at the brightest level, and we are fine even at night.

I was considering this one:
[url="http://www.tomtom.com/it_it/products/car-navigation/xxl-iq-routes-colorado-europe/#tab:highlights"]XXL IQ Routes Colorado Europa - Navigazione per auto - TomTom [/url]

Found it at a local shop for 160 €
5" screen is a good point, and so detailed lanes.

If at all possible try to get a chance to play with them in the store. There are two "features" I hate about the Tomtoms. The first is you can't quickly pan around on the map. With the Garmin if you want to manually pan the map you touch the screen then drag the map around. If you were in "route up" vs North up the unit will revert to north up. This can be a bit distracting if you aren't heading mostly north at the time. The Magellan was great. If you were heading south the screen kept "south up" as you panned around. It also, via the cross hairs on the screen, showed how far you had panned from your location. Both models zoomed in and out via buttons. The Garmin lost detail in panning mode which I hated but since the magellan lost detail rather quickly (secondary roads would vanish as you zoomed out... not great in the countryside) the Garmin still had more detail.

The Tomtom was lousy in this regard. To pan you touched the screen. You then had to click next menu screen then the view map icon. In the view map mode the map was cropped on two sides. The zoom control was a slider that was clearly designed by someone who either hated Tomtom customers or perhaps Tomtom management. It sucks. It's VERY easy to either over or under shoot. Mine has no option for to zoom in just one step. I think they rectified this STUPID design flaw in later models. It's still an overly complex way to get to the map browser.

The other big software dislike is that the Tomtom thinks it knows best when it comes to the level of zoom while driving. All the models zoom in when you are nearing a freeway interchange and zoom out afterwards. However, the Tomtom refuses to keep a manually set level of zoom (say 100km across the screen vs 20km). When I'm driving between towns I prefer the more zoomed out view. The TT not only won't let me stick with say 100km/screen but I can't zoom out any more than a rather limited level. I don't know the exact amount but the TT simply can't zoom out that much. For instance if I drive between two towns 400miles appear I want to zoom out to see the whole route. Too bad.

The TT may have funny voices but it seems the design team didn't spend any time thinking about the user interface beyond having funny voices.

[quote=LeonOfTheDead;965427]I'm afraid there is no decent road map for Modena's countryside...[/quote]
I'm hoping my Nokia will be good enough when I'm over :)

Map detail .... [URL]http://maps.ovi.com/#|44.6380587|10.9416489|12|0|0|normal.day[/URL]?

Please tell me it's got the good roads :)

( Youngest coming to work in Italy for 3 months, so will just HAVE to drive over to see she's OK and then visit a few roads and places :)
Plan in via Stelvio and out via Col Di Torini :) )

Seems like a good map, really.
And the itinerary sound great.

Stelvio's better side is east by the way. I'd fine a good excuse to drive back in case you accidentally forget something, so that you can skip the other side...

[quote=culver;965434]If at all possible try to get a chance to play with them in the store. There are two "features" I hate about the Tomtoms. The first is you can't quickly pan around on the map. With the Garmin if you want to manually pan the map you touch the screen then drag the map around. If you were in "route up" vs North up the unit will revert to north up. This can be a bit distracting if you aren't heading mostly north at the time. The Magellan was great. If you were heading south the screen kept "south up" as you panned around. It also, via the cross hairs on the screen, showed how far you had panned from your location. Both models zoomed in and out via buttons. The Garmin lost detail in panning mode which I hated but since the magellan lost detail rather quickly (secondary roads would vanish as you zoomed out... not great in the countryside) the Garmin still had more detail.

The Tomtom was lousy in this regard. To pan you touched the screen. You then had to click next menu screen then the view map icon. In the view map mode the map was cropped on two sides. [B][I]The zoom control was a slider that was clearly designed by someone who either hated Tomtom customers or perhaps Tomtom management. It sucks. [/I][/B] It's VERY easy to either over or under shoot. Mine has no option for to zoom in just one step. I think they rectified this STUPID design flaw in later models. It's still an overly complex way to get to the map browser.

The other big software dislike is that the Tomtom thinks it knows best when it comes to the level of zoom while driving. All the models zoom in when you are nearing a freeway interchange and zoom out afterwards. However, the Tomtom refuses to keep a manually set level of zoom (say 100km across the screen vs 20km). When I'm driving between towns I prefer the more zoomed out view. The TT not only won't let me stick with say 100km/screen but I can't zoom out any more than a rather limited level. I don't know the exact amount but the TT simply can't zoom out that much. For instance if I drive between two towns 400miles appear I want to zoom out to see the whole route. Too bad.

The TT may have funny voices but it seems the design team didn't spend any time thinking about the user interface beyond having funny voices.[/quote]

LOL :D

Thanks for the reviews, will keep them in mind at the store. I've indeed appreciated the pan option on the Garmin, simple and intuitive.
And I do like to decide the level of zoom and, guess what, stick to it.

[quote=LeonOfTheDead;965437]Seems like a good map, really.
And the itinerary sound great.

Stelvio's better side is east by the way. I'd fine a good excuse to drive back in case you accidentally forget something, so that you can skip the other side...[/quote]
Was intending to leave time to drive the pass couple of times each way :)

CLoser to the time will be picking your brains for the more "out of the way" less well known motor places to visit :)

I'm probably going for the Garmin Nuvi 1350, found it at 120 € and gave it a try this afternoon.

[url="http://gpstracklog.com/2009/07/garmin-nuvi-1350-review.html#reviews"]Garmin nuvi 1350 review | GPS Tracklog[/url]

The device is pretty fast both while navigating through the menus and creating an itinerary. It was the faster unit to process the addresses I was typing in, seemingly displaying what I was typing while other units seemed to suffer some sort of an annoying lag.

Lane Assist seems a feature I could really use, even more the gf. Too bad the enhanced version, called Junction View isn't available. To my understanding both features fail to help as they are not always available, though I guess that may have something to do with th accuracy of the map.

Speaking of which, this offer a full enlarged European amp with some 40 or more countries, contrary to some other units with just Italy and Greece (vacation GPS I guess).

I also found the Garmin's interface easier to use, even if I have to admit I already tried it in the past so I was quite accustomed with it.

TT devices were priced over the proposed budget, or were simply providing features I wasn't interested into for a premium I wasn't willing to pay.