Why do so few of them show what the map display actually looks like in use? :@
Almost all of them just show the same standard promo pics, or pictures of the menu, which I don't give a shit about. I want to see what the display looks like for 90% of the time I'll be using it.
RAAGAHGH :@
Also, can anyone suggest a good satnav? This one is apparently quite good but I'm not fond of TomTom map displays - they seem a bit cluttered and fussy to me.
tomtom works fine for me. I'm kinda switching to using the google nav on my phone these days, but I've not fully committed to it yet. It's got free traffic routing and info plus gives you a street view shot when you arrive... but it's not as clear about info and making diversions to avoid stuff as Tomtom is.
It *is* funnier though, because the text is computer-speak instead of recorded, and comes up with some excellent pronunciation of roads.
The Garmin ones do look quite nice, especially the fancy ones, but the pronunciation of road names like A5132 would annoy me constantly - the Garmins pronounce that "Ay five thousand one hundred thirty-two", which is just wrong. They do have nice map displays though, although still not as clear as my old (and broken) Navman S50.
Can't do the phone thing either, as I don't have a nice phone :(
Consensus seems to be TomTom (and from what I've been reading, the GO LIVE 1000 appears to be well-liked) so I'll give it a go - maybe there's an option to change the map colour scheme, or maybe I'll (!) just get used to it.
Yeah, it's the US version, with outdated maps, but it comes with iGo 8 and the maps are easily obtained. I replaced that with iGo Primo 1.2 and it works really well. I also enjoyed fannying around with various CE applications and addons.
If you find the right files, iGo will accept either Navteq or TeleAtlas maps, supports terrain elevation files (for 3D maps), configurable POIs, replaceable voice files (including Text to Speech for reading out street names).
The only real downside is that the screen is hard to see in bright sunshine, and the battery only really lasts for around 2 hours unless its plugged in. Still, it's only around £50.
And what's the map display like in use? Can you provide pictures? :D Is it smooth? My Navman was kinda jerky, but the video review of the TomTom GO LIVE 1000 showed that one as being pretty smooth. I bet these things would look much nicer with some actual 3D hardware, but hey.
Not really bothered about battery life tbh, as it's only really gonna get used in the car.
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