Car Navigation Units

Blackpete · Post by **Blackpete** » Wed May 16, 2007 8:30 am

Hi all,
I'm considering the purchase of a car nav unit and wanted to ask what your experiances are; what brands do you find are the best, what shortcomings should I look for, how do they go in the big cities ETC.

Pete.

Dave.223 · Post by **Dave.223** » Wed May 16, 2007 8:49 am

Geez Pete, can't say I've been impressed so far. We have one at work and it can show some strange ways to get where we want to go. I really like the idea of them but they are not as straight forward as looking in the directory and seeing the best way to get somewhere.

There was a funny case recently of a lady who took the directions suggested by the GPS and ended up having to call the local police to find her, then a local farmer in a tractor had to rescue her car from then boggy dirt road!

Another point is you have to take your eyes off the road to much.

chris thomas · Post by **chris thomas** » Wed May 16, 2007 10:06 am

I have one and it's a pain in the Arse. They can take you some silly directions at time's.

God knows why i bought it.

Chris

Post by **kjd** » Wed May 16, 2007 10:53 am

Pete if you want a good one stay away from Navman.

I have a tomtom and it has been invaluable and I feel it was a great investment. I suggest the tomtom Go 710 which is the same model as mine.
tomtom is heads above the rest IMO.
I did a spreadsheet when I was buying it that listed the performance of them and tomtom was the most powerful.
The way I see it is that if I know how to get somewhere I don't use it. If I have no clue where I am going it comes into its own. I don't care if it takes me a longer way as long as it gets me there and it will 99.99% of the time.

http://www.tomtom.com/products/product. ... ry=0&Lid=8

Blackpete · Post by **Blackpete** » Wed May 16, 2007 2:08 pm

Thanks for your thoughts gentlemen,
I to have heard some horror stories about these units and thats why I thought I'd ask around, anyone else who has an opinion on these things please voice it as I think the more comments I get the better decision I can make.

Keith, how long ago did you get yours and what other brands did you consider.

Pete.

Post by **kjd** » Wed May 16, 2007 3:00 pm

I looked at the road angel and the Navmans and I couldn't find anything that even matched the TomTom.

17hmr · Post by **17hmr** » Wed May 16, 2007 4:30 pm

i too have a tomtom one, great little unit, easy to use, and yeh, helped me out on more than a few occassions.

Blackpete · Post by **Blackpete** » Wed May 16, 2007 9:11 pm

Sounds like the Tom Toms are pretty good, has anyone looked at the Garmins ETC.

Pete.

jb747 · Post by **jb747** » Fri May 18, 2007 4:58 am

You get what you pay for. Buy something like an Eclipse AVN6000 and you'll love it (plus you get a really good sound/video system).

Blackpete · Post by **Blackpete** » Fri May 18, 2007 9:00 am

JB, what can I say mate, I just spent half an hour reading the 157 page manual on that Eclipse AVN6000.

Those 157 pages were just for the navigation part of the unit, the audio visual part had a whole different section.

I couldn't believe the number of functions this thing had, man what a unit. The only problem with it is the price, some $3500.00.

At the moment It looks like the Tom Tom or Garmin will be purchased, however, I want to wait a bit longer to see what other comments come up on this thread, thanks for your input and when I win the lotto I'll be getting the Eclipse AVN6000.

Pete.

Kenny · Post by **Kenny** » Fri May 18, 2007 10:22 am

Blackfeet

I have only had experience with a Navman....though a fairly up market one.....not owned by me...it seems to work just fine at finding places, though sometimes it does take the long way around and when your in the middle of no-where and the wench say's......."turn left now".... I am sure it's just for our bloody amusement after hours of ...nothing......

It always resets itself anyway and redirects you if the roads have changed...thats probably the secret to them all....updated/current maps

KY

Blackpete · Post by **Blackpete** » Sun May 20, 2007 1:02 pm

Hi all, done some more research today and its look'in like the Tom Tom One or Garmin C510 at this stage. Its bloody hard to find anyone that knows what their talk'in about in these shops, there like pollitions, they can't give you a straight answer.

Pete.

Post by **kjd** » Sun May 20, 2007 2:38 pm

Just get the tomtom GO710 mate it wont fail you!

malcolm · Post by **malcolm** » Sun May 20, 2007 7:46 pm

Blackpete, I purchased a Mio 168 a couple of years ago with the Co-Pilot software. It was an early version and yes, it too had some very roundabout ways of getting from "A" to "B".
The novelty wore off this gadjet real quick.
The only place to purchase any GPS gadjet is "GPS Oz". Brian Somerville is great. He is the nicest bloke. He does all the caravan shows, camping shows and 4WD shows. He runs courses on everything GPS, including Ozi Explorer. Try his website http://www.GPSOZ.com.au.
His website has comparisons of most of the units
Malcolm

jeffk · Post by **jeffk** » Sun May 20, 2007 8:49 pm

I have an old TomTom Go 500, which has been used for years in the UK, US and now here....overall I've been very pleased with it, and at the time it was easily the best of what was available. If I were to buy now, I'd get a 910 (But a 710 would be fine if you didn't need the hard disk space for other maps).

They don't replace common sense though - with the amount or road building going on round here, an up to date street map and an idea of which direction you're going in advance is a help. To get you to a house in an unfamiliar suburb, they are invaluable.

AusVarmint

Car Navigation Units

Car Navigation Units