Need a bit of quick help here people

I’ve just got myself a new job (IT tek support stuff & starting tomorrow) and after getting lost trying to get to the interview and knowing I’ll be driving from school to school think maybe a GPS would be a good idea.

What should I be looking for?

A nice big screen maybe, one that shouts rather than talks, one that's not going to dump me in the Tyne, one that's easy to put destination into????????????? Do I have to pay over £300 (no would be nice)

Advice people, what reasonable price GPS should I get???

I have the Tom Tom software on my Palm PDA and have found this software to be very good. I think a couple of years ago they were the best but the others have closed the gap a bit now. Just googled Tom Tom and the Tom Tom One is about £120.

Jason 

Little bit of advise, never leave the GPS on display in your car even if you think you will only be gone a few minutes and your car is somewhere safe.

Jason 

The best value for money PND at the moment is probably the TomTom GO 720XL running Navicore V7.1 or above. It's got a large widescreen, and most of the features of the flagship 920 model. The chances of getting dumped in the Tyne are reduced as the 720 has more information than many of the older, lower-end, ones. This includes MapShare, which allows you to make your own temporary or permanent changes to the maps to take account of roadworks etc.

I got an O2 XDA orbit phone that came with satnav as a free add on!!!!

But i'll bow to the GPS Guru's suggestion , all hail the Satnav King Mycroft

I have the TomTom Navigator software.

It's installed on my PDA, and my wife's Nokia phone.

The PDA has built in GPS, so I also have Anquet on it (all of GB at 1:50000) too.

My wife uses a bluetooth GPS.

Never had any problems.

I've got a Tom Tom go 520 and it has a large screen and is very easy to use.  Never led me astray yet and connecting to the internet it gets regular updates.

Although I don't know how much one will cost now because mine came with my job.

On advice note, don't leave it in the car at all and be careful because the little sucky thing leaves a nice mark on your windscreen so all know you have one.

Whichever one you go for check out the speed camera and traffic monitoring options. Many, including TomTom, offer TMC for traffic monitoring as well/instead of GPSM. TMC is wonderful in mainland Europe where there's good reception and lots of stations broadcasting the data. IN the UK, though, there's very few radio stations and hardly any cover. You're far better off switching to a GPSM/Bluetooth data link if traffic monitoring is important.

 For speed cameras the best database is the one from www.pocketgpsworld.com . It costs the equivalent of £2 a month and is constantly updated by a massive user base. Most of the leading PNDs and PDA based solutions can use the PGPSW database.

Hi Dave long time no see

Thanks people for the advice, don’t leave visible in car, preferably don’t leave in car at all & watch your ring

I’d rather get a dedicated device than put it on my mobile and plug in a gps receiver

That's not the cheapest thing you’re recommended Dave, but you are the guru – far too much technology in this world for me to become an expert on another device- just want plug and play.
So up to now I’m looking at you recommendation. The ‘XL’ bit I’m having trouble finding but I’m assuming it’s the latest model code – is this it. Do like the sound of the built FM transmitter ~ almost a pun

I’m finding quite a range of price for what appears to be the same thing?? If that link isn't what you’re on about Dave any chance you can dig up a link – please

Hi Graham

It's always hard reccommending one particular model as it all depends on how much the features that differentiate the models will get used. The price difference bewteen the 520 and 720 is so small it's worth the extra, especially for features like having street names read out to you as well as road numbers. The £100 difference up to the 920 is a lot more difficult a leap to justify.

Don't worry about the XL bit, it was the original designation but it only designated the widescreen. Now they're all widescreen format they're back to the standard 720 or 720T (Traffic). The other thing to check is whether the device comes with UK & Ireland or Western Europe maping, and if so whether the price differential is justifiable. Sat Navs is a real cut throat market at the moment so you will find prices vary by quite a lot - just make sure you're comparing like for like.

You can compare diferent TomTom models here then look for the best price online.

Graham,

I have just bought a Sony Nav-U53 unit, reviewed here: - http://technical-itch.co.uk/2007/11/09/sony-nav-u-nv-u53-sat-nav-review/

you can get them for about £120.

It's widescreen, and gives voice directions. Some units you can choose from a range of voices but this just has one voice - female - but what a voice! I'm thinking of running away with it so we can start a better life together.

 I do a lot of travelling and it works for me. A bargain at the price I'd say.

I want one of those ones from the USA where you can change the voice over to a celebrity character like Arnie's Terminator giving you the directions, or even better the Dirty Harry voiced one!

"Turn left or go ahead and make my day, punk!"

"Did I take six turns or only five?"

"Ask yourself a question about actualy getting even near to your destination! Do you feel lucky? Well do ya, punk?"

THIS IS NOT A JOKE THAT I MADE UP HERE! MY OLD BOSS HAS ONE OF THESE IN HIS CAR NOW! HE PLAYED IT TO ME ON HIS CAR PHONE!! HE LIVES IN CHICAGO THOUGH-AND THEY HAVE BEEN SELLING THESE OUT THERE FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS OR SO! APPARENTLY THERE IS EVEN A STAR TREK SERIES COMMANDS ONE! YOU CAN SET IT TO CAPTAIN KIRK, SPOCK, SCOTTY OR JEAN-LUKE PICCARD STYLE AUTHENTIC SOUNDING VOICES!

Funny you should say that Trevor as my daughter is called Skye and as some of you know my wife is Thai and the Thai word for baby is (sounds like) Luke oh and we are a family of walkers.

Kate I've already bought a Paramo Windproof one.

John Cleese is on my TomTom.

A word of caution:  TomTom and John Cleese do not like Derby or Burton Upon Trent.

(Neither do I) 

We've got a Tom-Tom and Paul put Yoda on to it... Brilliant.... "at the roundabout left you must turn"... for about 2 minutes and then you want to kill the thing. We leave the voice stuff off mostly.

Beth