Which system is best for my needs? Any ideas? Forums

Bluenote

Thanks for the tip HelenB, I`ll avoid totalpda, mind you it does seem to be like that most everywhere now.
Hi Paulway, I`m going to have another search around the net for the Tomtom 5 pricing, but if no joy I`ll go with the SmartST v3 that I found on the expansys site, before that is no longer available. .
I do hate the worlds way of squeezing more cash out of you if they possibly can. Making good profits whilst providing good value would be considered a sin to most businesses, and someone would probably get the sack for not maximising profits. I think its more insidious when people can get into some expandable system such as sat nav without being able to compare the prices accurately with others. Or are we supposed to just cotton on to the fact that the prices will all be similarly inflated across the board. Ah enough of that.

J/A/White, my guitar playing stands up mate, and what I find really amusing is the thought of you being a judge of my sense of humour Wink

Sorry I should`nt I know Twisted Evil

Cheers Martin

Bluenote

Hi, Sorry I`ve been so busy preparing for fulltiming (a couple of weeks away) I have`nt had much of a chance to get online, other than for ordering some of the bits and pieces we need.
We`ve finally ordered our sat nav package. The items bought are as follows:-

Dell Axim X30 PDA (£196)

Navman SmartST Ver.3 (£145.95)

Pretec Bluetooth GPS Mini Receiver (£91.42)

The total cost being £433.37, though we`ll need to add an memory card, but not sure what size we need.( I`d like to get all maps on one card)
I`m very happy with the price of the overall set-up as it meets our wireless requirements.
Sorry its taken so long to get back with this, but as I said its been very hectic and we have only just ordered it over the last week or so. In fact we have`nt yet received the order confirmation from Dell, let alone the PDA itself, so we have`nt been able to test it.
I`ll let you know how it works out when it does.
Cheers Martin.

Phil905

Hi all, I have a MIO269 which cost less than £400, has all the maps of Europe to street level included, no need to unlock any of them, I recently had a 2 month holiday touring Austria and my trip included parts of Belgium, Germany and Italy. It performed throughout well in excess of my expectations. It runs off its own battery or the cigarette lighter or the mains. Its built in aerial was quite able to acquire the satellites except occasionally when in the Alps surrounded by very tall mountains it lost contact for a short time. It is provided with an external aerial which can be plugged in for use under similar adverse circumstances but I did not find it necessary as it very quickly locked on after a few seconds and continued its navigation instructions. The voice level is sufficient even against the noise of my ancient diesel, though I have fitted a couple of small battery operated computer speakers either side of the dashboard to increase the sound quality of the instructions.
Phil.

HymerJim

Hi
Like others i can reccomend navigator 4 on the laptop took us through Edinborough and London last month and the older version all round Europe last year.
You just need to forget the sign posts and maps and have total confidence in it.
If you wanted to add a small screen (£50) as an external monitor situated by your steering wheel the laptop could be out of sight.
My brother in law has a full setup for sale, he bought it a month ago before his new company car arrived with built in satnav. It is the newest version of Navigator Uk and Europe 4.3 and it is the plus version which can warn of speed cameras etc and also import poi's.It also has a car pc mode with very reduced on screen info and large icons for small screen use. It comes with a compact flash fitting receiver that has a pcmcia adapter to fit in the side of your laptop. There is also an external aerial if it is out of sight of the sky. The software alone cost £90 +p&p and I know he is open to offers around £100 for the lot. If anyone is interest please contact me before he puts it on ebay.
James