RobG wrote on 01. Jun 2009 at 15:56:

With regard to accuracy - there are 2 mapping companies, which all satnav providers have to use:

Navteq
Teleatlas

These are broadly similar in mapping accuracy, expect to find minor errors with both, not normally a problem.

Reliability from a 'stop working' point of view, again in my experience, similar. All are build to a cost, and suffer equal unreliability. You may buy a tomtom unit and it lasts 5yrs, next person buys the same one and it lasts 13 months.  To be honest, map updates are not far off the cost of a new unit, so probably cheaper to replace the unit every 1.5-2yrs than update the mapping.

As to satellite reception, all work reasonably well unless you have heated screens or that metalised windows that reduces the signal.  All portable units WILL let you down in cities and in woods, none of them will provide the resilience and accuracy of a built in system in 'difficult' areas.

Portable ones also leave the tell-tale signs on the windscreen, ensuring your car will get broken into (regardless of whether you take the unit with you or leave in glovebox)

So, assuming you can't afford or don't want built in, go for what matches your needs - tomtom and navman often have larger screens than garmin etc.

I, personally, use the A-Z paper navigation system It's never let me down

Quote:


Ive allways used Becker, found them relieable and good value.

Don't ever buy a Mio. They are crap
I've had a Tomtom One for 13 months & it's been very good

Navman, had nothing but troubles with all 3 tomtoms, One, Go 520, Go 530.
Got a Navman S100 now and it's brilliant and the S90 I had before was brilliant too. 

Del Boy wrote on 01. Jun 2009 at 19:36:

had no end of hassles with navmans, particularly touch screen going out of sync all the time.

luck of the drawer. personally i'd go for tomtom, even though they are the scum of the earth

I have a TT 700 that is well over 5 years old.. and still going strong, running a map that covers the whole of Western Europe in serious detail 

(and if TB is looking away ..... it is running an operating system software that TT say will not work on it with the very latest maps - I won't discuss how but it can be done)

Officially, new maps are about £75 each and come out once a quarter. OS upgrades are usually free but are limited to what TT say your device can run.

Things like speed cameras, points of interest etc etc are available from many sources, so IMHO tomtom is the best option.

It is scertainly easier to use and more up-to-date than the built in one in the miggy