want a good but cheap GPS/sat nav
RE: want a good but cheap GPS/sat nav
Quote:
do they also give traffic warnings and detours to take avoiding them
You would have to pay a subscription for those services, more than likely a different hardware package required as well.
I quite like the Helpdesk people in a benevolent (as opposed to malevolent) way as they do some valuable work in preventing us being inundated by every halfwit who can work a phone.
Quote:
Have I got this right, for example I would need
i) Traffic Master subscription - Freeway(annually)
ii) Medion Sat Nav (and occasional updates)
iii)And installation
??? Thanks Niteowl
Depends what you want. You can buy expensive Trafficmaster systems well into the hundreds of £`s. The Freeway is a small standalone unit, no display screen, just gives a voice announcement of traffic holdups within 10 miles / two motorway junctions. This is £80 and includes one years subscription in the price. Renewal subsrciption are £30 a year (only gone up from £24 over the last eight yr or so, so not bad). That is only just over 50p a week, so if you`re on the road a lot you should save that cost if it stops you burning fuel sat in a traffic jam.
Personally, if you only want one thing, I find the Pocket PC SatNav much more useful. It really is worth it, especially if like me you have a Mrs who is map illiterate...lol. I`m great with maps, you can`t drive and navigate at the same time, and there`s often nowhere to stop to check a map.
Aldi should be due to do their offer again soon I should think, or Halfords have one on offer at the moment for £350, but its a lower specced Pocket PC, and more expensve than the Aldi ones, even with Halfords offer.
As for installation, the Pocket PC just plugs into yout cigarette lighter to power the PC and GPS receiver, nothing really to install. The Freeway is just powered by batteries, and can be taken anywhere, from vehicle to vehicle.
I think the thing you might be talking about is Trafficmasters own SatNav and Traffic unit which is all combined, which needs installing. But do you really need something that expensive, and possibly less versatile than the two seperate units I`m talking about...both can easily be moved from car to car. :)
edit:
Just watched the demo of the Trafficmaster SmartNav. I can`t see it does anything extra that the combination of a Freeway unit and seperate Pocket PC SatNav will do. The voice commands on the Navtech software (that the Medion Pocket PC uses), are very clear, and it automatically re-calulates the route should you stray off the route it has you on.
You can input postcodes just the same to find your destination. I did that to find Mary Kings Close on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh on Friday while we were on holiday. It took us right to the street all the way from Ayr. I hate driving in city centres, there`s no way I would have driven in the centre without it, it`s a lot like London, cars and buses flying everywhere. It even tells you if you need to veer to a left of right lane if a road splits, take 3rd exit from roundabout in 200yds etc, that sort of thing.
I`d say if you wait for Aldis next offer it`ll probably be around £250, so with a Freeway too you should be looking at about £350 for both units, or slightly less. This is a photo of the Freeway, they don`t show it on the Traficmaster site now for some reason. Maybe to push people towards buying the more expensive products. You`d be best phoning up and asking for one, if you want one.
This item was edited on Sunday, 22nd May 2005, 14:58
