Rather than bore you all with the "shall I shan't we, ooh, which one" questions - you may be interested to know we have just bought the new Sony Nav-U70T system without forum consultation on Friday last.
I DID go to my room and think about what I've done, but now I've done that I'll let you know what it's like, as I couldn't find much in the way of reviews or other user reports, it being a new unit. So this is by way of a two day mini-first impression review, in case anyone is considering one.
We preferred it to the Tom Tom unit. The screen was clearer somehow, and it's a nice looker. It probably doesn't have quite so many features as TomTom but to my mind that's an advantage. It also has TMC out of the box, which, it turns out, works very well indeed. Basically, as you drive, if there's any traffic problems on your route it throws up a message with the option to evade or ignore them - and a recommendation as to which you should do. Nice, simple, works a treat.
Voice is clear, although even at full volume is lost in the car we used over the weekend. Not surprising as it's a very noisy car. In one of the others it will be fine no doubt. It's a small point, but the voice is polite and pleasant. The Mercedes and Audi units always sound a bit imperative to me. My Lexus satnav lady is much more natural and pleasant, and this one is too. A plus.
The screen is sharp and updates very quickly. Recalculation of the route if you go wrong happens VERY fast - a turn onto the motorway (in fact deliberate) resulted in a new route being worked out by the end of the slip road. It also doesn't do that irritating thing of trying to re-route you back to the original for miles after it's obvious a new route is better (a la Lexus I'm afraid)
Three D map zooms in and out automatically as you approach junctions nicely, and there's a two D one too that shows points of interest etc. There seem to be about a billion of those.
We haven't yet worked out if anything can be done with speed cameras - not built in as poi. Not sure also about displaying points of interest on the 3d display. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. A setting somewhere I think.
Other features like waypoints, unexpected roadblocks and "find my nearest bank" or "find me a restarant in Cambridge" type things too, as you might expect. Ability to save itineraries under a name. Well designed menus mean you never have to press more than four or five buttons at max to achieve anything.
Finally, the cradle it comes with is rock solid. We had a four hour journey on Saturday and the battery was still going strong - we didn't use the in car charger at all, although it comes with it as well as a mains charger - it automatically dims at night, the screen is a good but unobtrusive size and it feels like a top quality unit.
Has all of Europe in, so is comparable to Tomtom7. Costs a bit more but does have the traffic stuff straight way, no subscriptions or anything.
Cost £430, worth every penny so far. You can get a cheaper unit that is the same but just has the UK in it if you prefer. Prices will no doubt fall.
Lovely little gadget.
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