Sat Nav - to include Europe..recommenddations please

[AnonymousBird]

We've never had a sat nav, no real need for one. On the odd occasion I go somewhere I don't know the way I either use a map (if I have a mapreader in the car) or Google Maps if I am alone which I find brilliant.

However, we are going away a bit more now and I will need to do quite a lot of driving in France on my own for one of our holidays (DH is en velo) and when I looked at hiring a sat nav with our car hire, it will cost me nearly £80 for a week!

So, I thought, we should perhaps buy one that we can use at home plus have western european countries included in the price (france and switzerland in particular) on it for when we go away.

Any recommendations please? Basic A-B functionality required, not too worried about fancy gizmos, just reliable and good maps and directions.

TIA

recommendations that should be!
Thanks xx

We've got a TomTom big screen. It is fantastic and came, I think, with maps loaded. Very useful for those of us who just can't read maps.
Currently, it is loaded with SE Asia which freaks me out a little bit. how can it know so much knowledge?
The only problem we've ever encountered with Blod (as she is known) was a little bit of hesitation when I'd left her plugged in and a metro and a half of snow was dumped on the car.
It seemed to take her a good ten minutes with the heater on before she sorted herself out.

we have a tomtom with a big screen. we paid to upload usa maps before going to florida and it was fantastic. you need to see them "in the flesh" to decide what one is the right size for you and your car. have to say i was very sceptical about them before we got one and now we have it has proved its worth not just in the usa but here - getting to a wedding finding a friends house in birmingham etc.

I've got a Garmin Nuvi - not used it in Europe but have been completely happy with it in the UK. IT has got me to and from many places with no hassle whatsoever.

I agree that you need to go nd look at them to see which you like. I am a big Garmin fan as I use their hand held PS units too.

My family bought my dh a TomTom sat nav for his 40th 4 years ago, as we go to France for our hols frequently. It has never let us down. Ever

His is the one for western europe rather than the whole of Europe/other parts of Europe, so it depends on where you are going.

We got the bigger screen out of the 2, so we can see it better and feel we made the right choice. Hth

God, I'm crap at this, I never read the full thread before replying, d'oh.

Yes, I see now you are travelling to France, so I would say the western Europe satnav is the one you need. They will have probably changed/updated them since dh got his, so have a look in the flesh.

Cannot advise on which make to buy as we've only had a TomTom, so its up to you. Like I say, its never let us down

me again..ours had maps already in. If I remember we plugged it into our pc, think we installed the tomtom stuff from disc, then uploaded maps that existed.
We find it easy enough to use

Thank you you lovely people!! Have now done a bit of digging and I found these ones, some of which near the top of the page are Tom Tom with Western Europe, and on the face of it at least seems to fit the bill. Prices vary quite a lot though, and I do see that the screen sizes vary (bigger does sound good!)

Do you recognize any of these ones near the top as the one you have any of you at all?

Thanks so much. xx

www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_12?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=tomtom+europe+and+uk&sprefix=tomtom+europ%2Celectronics%2C286

Hi ours is the TomTom one XL, but it is 4.5 years old now, so it probably will have been updated by now. I can't remember the price, but it wasn't on the cheap end of the range, more middle.
Hope that helps. Enjoy your trip to France if you haven't been already

Ours is XL too. It is worth paying extra for the bigger screen. My mum has a garmin something or other. TBH, the reason we didn't go for that was the exasperated voice telling you she was recalculating.
I used to take DD skiing for a week. It meant driving up and down a windy snowy road. On a lot of days, the fog was ludicrous. Blod allowed me to 'see' the road on her screen even if I couldn't see it in real life.

we drove to France with a Garmin a few years ago & it was fab

then we flew to Italy with a TomTom & it had a nervous breakdown - honestly - I had paid extra before we went for various map upgrades & whatnot but when we landed in Pisa & I turned it on it was in hysterics, showing bits of London, Manchester & I forget what else all at once

we ended up muddling through with an actual paper map

I have read a few reviews suggesting that this is quite common with TomTom & will be sticking with Garmin from now on

HTH

NB I now have a newer Garmin & only use it with the sound turned off

\link{http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00421BLRO/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1\current Garmin is this one} - took it to Spain last summer & it was fab. The house we stayed at was up a back back back street, which google streetview didn't go near, & it took us to the door, after dark. Fantastic!

Brilliant, you lovely posters, I now have lots to go on. Don't want to spend more than £100, but it does look like I should get something good for that money.

Ta, all.