Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

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Sat 6 Dec 2014 12:57

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - Wackyracer

I want to buy a sat nav for a relative, So my question is what is the best bang for buck device in the upto £150 price range.

I've been looking at the Tomtom XL IQ 2.

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Sat 6 Dec 2014 21:43

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - Big John

Look at the Tomtom Go 400.Latest software with lifetime European maps and lifetime traffic (not just RDS-TMC - its the Tomtom high density stuff) . Links to your phone using lowish bandwidth for traffic updates

I have a more expensive version (Go 5000) which has built in sim - and the traffic is brilliant. I always use for my journey to and from work to avoid regular snarl ups

Many sites have the 400 for less than £140

Edited by Big John on 06/12/2014 at 21:53

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Sat 6 Dec 2014 22:03

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - daveyjp

Tom tom or Garmin.

Coke or Pepsi.

I have had two Garmins in 12 years, but like all technology what I bought 5 years ago will now be very old technology. £150 will be a substantial budget. £100 gets something which is more than adequate and has lifetime maps etc.

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Sun 7 Dec 2014 16:06

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - Wackyracer

Thanks for the replies, I was Looking at the Garmin offerings but, Not sure the split screen thing is ideal. Unless it has options to switch it off.

The Tomtom's look OK but, I've yet to find out what the definition of Lifetime maps or indeed the deemed lifetime of the device is either.

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Sun 7 Dec 2014 17:09

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - quizman

I had a tom tom and then got a garmin for my birthday. The garmin was useless in Sicily this June, it didn't know which way to go.It was worse than my wife's map reading!

If I was buying another I would get a tom tom.

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Sun 7 Dec 2014 22:03

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - Avant

I looked at this last year, and at the time Garmin provided free map updates and Tomtom didn't: I've had Tomtoms and they seem forever to be asking for more money.

Bu that may have changed and you should check it out. I never got one as it was only £500, rather than the usual £1,200 or so, to have it factory-fitted in my new Octavia.

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Sun 7 Dec 2014 22:24

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - Wackyracer

My own sat nav is a no brand cheapo which I bought about 5 years ago and it came with turbo dog software, I later change the software and I don't use it much at all. TBH.

The one I intend to buy only needs UK maps as the person concerned is never going to be driving abroad. Ideally a 5" screen and something which is very clear to understand and simple to use.

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Sun 7 Dec 2014 22:25

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - gordonbennet

My Garmin is now a few years old, and only really used once every couple of months if i'm on the road after Friday lunchtime, to help avoid the accidents the lemmings manage every time.

It's proved reliable enough and i would buy one of theirs again, SWMBO has a smaller Garmin and she gets on with that fine too, again no probs.

Suggest you go into one of the sheds that sells them and have a play around to find out which is user friendly, the Garmin is easy to use for me, i used an older TT of my mates and that was simplcity itself, but they changed the system and when my neighbour asked for help wth his new one couple of years ago i'm blowed if i could work the thing, not intuitive at all.

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Sun 7 Dec 2014 23:15

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - Ethan Edwards

Imo the days of the stand alone personal navigation device are coming to an end. Smartphone apps are making them obsolete. I give it no more than five years myself.

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Mon 8 Dec 2014 09:44

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - dadbif

With the current rate of road building in UK, I am amazed that there is anything to update on digital maps.
I personally use TomTom Western Europe on my iPhone, free updates and you can drive all over the EU, cheaper than a standalone TomTom and much better than a Garmin, never let me down.

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Mon 8 Dec 2014 23:10

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - focussed

I've got a TomTom and a Garmin- the TT software and routing is better but the hardware is a bit fragile to say the least. The Garmin is not what you need when negotiating strange routes, the lane guidance and advice for roundabouts is given far too late to be of any use on busy roundabouts.

Go for a TomTom.

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Tue 9 Dec 2014 09:12

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - piggy

My vote goes to the TT XXL. I depend on this a lot to find obscure addresses since I do a lot of ambulance transport taking patients to and from hospitals. It does have the occasional glitch but is straightforward to use and has a nice large screen with lots of information. I did borrow a Garmin a few months ago and decided the TT is much better. By the way,the newer TTs do not get a good press on Amazon reviews. The XXL also does most of Europe. As for using a mobile to navigate,try using one in Wales or Scotland and you will find them useless due to lack of a decent signal. CoPilot is OK as it`s downloaded to a mobile from a wi fi connection and therefore does not need a good signal.

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Tue 9 Dec 2014 09:25

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - catsdad

I am interested in the comparative comments re Garmin and TomTom and wonder if these are comparing current models or not? In my own case I had an old TomTom 1 (around ten years old ) and only recently changed to Garmin as I needed Euro mapping. I bought a nuvi 2569LMTD for about £180. Apart from the extra features such as traffic info the main differences I find are in the Garmin approach to forward info. For example it tells you to stay on current road for x miles and is clearer about its instructions before you reach a roundabout for example. However it doesnt then give you a "take the exit" message just before you reach your exit, this was useful feature on my Tomtom. An oddity of the Garmin is that it is much poorer than the Tomtom at distinguishing bends from turns. You get used to it but it can be confusing. Overall I prefer my Garmin but I am comparing products for years apart and a current Tomtom may well be as good. Finally I read lots of reviews before buying but they were confusing with wide ranges of opinions. My conclusion is that the preference on satnavs is personal. As you can't effectively try them out in the shop it's best to borrow one if you can before you buy.

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Tue 9 Dec 2014 11:54

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - dadbif

. As for using a mobile to navigate,try using one in Wales or Scotland and you will find them useless due to lack of a decent signal.

You don't need a phone signal, it works using GPS

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Tue 9 Dec 2014 15:48

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - hla

Yes, they do use GPS but most need a phone signal to download thae appropriate map.

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Tue 9 Dec 2014 16:52

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - Wackyracer

I tried using my phone that has navigation software a while back when I was looking for a cottage in some village that I'd never been to before. For some reason I could not get it to work and I do believe it was because there was no 3G available in the area.

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Wed 10 Dec 2014 10:07

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - Alanovich

For Android phones, Sygic is a satnav app which does not need a phone/3G connection. Download maps over wifi to start with, then it only needs the GPS signal to work.

I have it on my Sony phone and it's very good. Cost 30 quid I seem to remember, lifetime free upgrades.

I went for this as I drive in France every now and again and didn't want to be stuck with Google maps and its need for a 3G data connection to work.

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Wed 10 Dec 2014 12:49

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - alan1302

For Android phones, Sygic is a satnav app which does not need a phone/3G connection. Download maps over wifi to start with, then it only needs the GPS signal to work.

I have it on my Sony phone and it's very good. Cost 30 quid I seem to remember, lifetime free upgrades.

I went for this as I drive in France every now and again and didn't want to be stuck with Google maps and its need for a 3G data connection to work.

Navfree is the same - it downloads the maps so you don't need a phone signal

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Tue 9 Dec 2014 17:18

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - Manatee

. As for using a mobile to navigate,try using one in Wales or Scotland and you will find them useless due to lack of a decent signal. You don't need a phone signal, it works using GPS

I have 'Here' maps installed on my Nokia 1020 Windows phone; the maps you choose to install are stored on the phone. I haven't checked to see if similar apps are available for Android/iPhone.

You'd need sufficient memory to install the maps of course.

I still prefer a dedicated sat nav. I bought a Garmin Nuvi 1390 (now superseded) in March 2011 with lifetime map updates. It is still working, and the battery is good ( the battery on our older Tom Tom One didn't last long at all, though my wife still uses it, plugged in).

I have just ordered her a new one for Christmas, a "Garmin nuvi 2597LMT 5" Sat Nav with UK and Full Europe Maps, Free Lifetime Map Updates, Free Lifetime Traffic Alerts and Bluetooth". £115 from Amazon at the moment. It's the exact equivalent of the 1390 but for a slightly larger 5" screen on the 2597.

I don't know if it's the same traffic system as the 1390 - that has a special lead with the traffic receiver in it. It will reroute for traffic, but not always successfully - reason being I think that traffic is not available for all roads so sometimes it will reroute around a jam it knows about, into one it doesn't know about.

The bluetooth for the phone is frankly a bit feeble, but better than nothing if you have no alternative. I hope that is better on the 2597 but it's not a dealbreaker for us.

The Garmin PC interface for the map updates is clunky and not very intuitive (Tom Tom's was about as bad last lime I used it, and seems to have more trouble "finding" the connected device).

In use, the Tom Tom is I would say a bit more intuitive and my wife prefers it (but I am comparing two older devices). I'm buying her a Garmin because it's a great deal with the free map updates, and I think the user screens will be OK for either once you have learnt them.

If you copy and paste the description in bold above into google the result should point you to the one I have described, should you be interested.

The permanent page link for the parent page (there are lots of variants with different screen sizes, with and without bluetooth/lifetime maps/lifetime traffic) is

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00B3SELA8

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Wed 10 Dec 2014 18:38

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - Manatee

The 2597LMT came today. The slightly larger screen is nice, compared with the 1390. Traffic is built in and I think it must be coded for the lifetime map updates - I bought a separate card with a code on it for the 1390. The Garmin Express software recognised it straight away. It tells me I need to update with 5.something GB of maps, so I'll do that at my daughter's next week as our connection here would take about a day to do that.

It appears to have a bigger speaker. Not used in anger yet. It found the satellites from inside the house in seconds, and updated its time shortly after. Start up was very fast compared with the 1390, which takes a minute or two like all the other ones I have had before.

If it proves reliable, I'd say it will have been a bargain at £115.

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Wed 10 Dec 2014 21:59

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - Hamsafar

With the current rate of road building in UK, I am amazed that there is anything to update on digital maps.

It's all the updates for closures, one ways, pedestrian zones, no right turns and other restrictions that are updated in the UK - oh, and filling stations that are now hand carwashes or rabbit hutch 'luxury city living'.

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Thu 11 Dec 2014 00:17

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - Wackyracer

I've had a look at it online, Looks very interesting. Would be interesting to know what you think of it when you get to use it.

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Mon 22 Dec 2014 23:58

Best sat nav in the upto £150 price bracket. - Murielson

May not be any use for your needs but have a look at the Navfree app and a decent sized, well priced tablet.

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