In car sat nav ?

[RobStubbs]

I'm toying with the idea of getting an in car sat nav (tom tom 300). I believe it comes with the UK maps installed but does anyone know where you can get extra maps (eg Europe) ? They seem damn expensive on the tom tom site and I was just wondering if anyone knew alternative sources of them for slightly more realistic prices.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Rob.

[jeepster]

i use tomtom on my PDA (orange spv m2000) which was free, the software was free, the maps were free, all i paid for was the gps receiver and a cradle, £40 max. i do have to pay line rental on the pda phone though, but i need an extra phone so that's no problem. i think most people would agree tomtom is among the best sat navs. and the 300s and the new tomtom 1 are great value for money, and i have to say, a bit more convenient than my phone, cradle, gps unit etc etc!

[Paul_D]

Not sure where you can get them cheaper. I bought the 700 because I would be driving around Europe and roads are all pre-installed on the hard drive.

 

One word of warning.....keep the thing out of sight when you're not in the motor. I had my drivers side window smashed and the TomTom nicked last Tuesday (I was 30 seconds from the motor peering into a street chamber but they were looking out from their stolen car for suction mounts and in and gone in seconds)

[melpen]

I have the Tom Tom version 5.00 on my HP pocket PC, all the maps that came with the last upgrade ie:- version 4.00 to version 5.00 including Europe are included, only thing is i need to upgrade my memory card from 256mB to 512mB to fit them on.

 

But your buying the Tom Tom 300, no idea how that works.

Edited January 16, 2006 by melpen

[RobStubbs]

Thanks for the replies. I did consider the PDA route but I'd need to upgrade mine and the 300 seems to be slightly cheaper - albeit not a lot. If the Europe maps are all included that may swing the balance in favour of the PDA (????)

 

Rob.

[Guest Ferret1959]

Thanks for the replies. I did consider the PDA route but I'd need to upgrade mine and the 300 seems to be slightly cheaper - albeit not a lot. If the Europe maps are all included that may swing the balance in favour of the PDA (????)

 

Rob.

 

 

Have a look round Ebay.

Loads of err 'back up' software on there.

[Steve Walker]

SWMBO got me a TomTom 1 for Xmas. It's brilliant.

[argyll]

Had a Tom Tom Go for about a year. Would be lost without it As someone has pointed out, the extra european software can be found on Ebay, or you can either buy the 700 with it all fitted or buy the seperate disc from Tom Tom online. Google them for details.

[Elton]

I hardly travel anywhere, but the Tom Tom is top of my current list of 'wants'

[RobStubbs]

OK I'm coming back at this one becuase my PDA has become very tempramental. It looses all programs and settings if the battery runs low (which it often does). I'm on the 3rd retry now after it crashing and it no longer seems to accept the GPS unit. That is to say it connects via bluetooth fine and the data connection indicators are both green but no data is transferred and the tomtom software reports 'no GPS signal'

 

I'm now considering getting a 710 unit since it covers Europe, which I need and about 1/2 the world, some of which I also need. This model is also portable which means I can fly with it and just plug it into various hire cars.

 

The only pain is that I've wasted a couple of hundred quid on the PDA which doesn't seem to be working properly. I can't send it back because I can't remember who I bought it from . On the plus side, at least the software didn't break the bank

 

Rob.