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Original poster

Someone talk to me about Satellite Navigation systems....please!

12 replies

DANCESwithnewlytannedlegs · 29/05/2007 19:26

Do you have one? Is it good? Do you just pay for the system or do you have to pay an ongoing monthly payment/subscription? How does it all work. TELL ME! I think they are fab but I need to persuade dh to get one

OP posts:

theprecious · 29/05/2007 20:14

we have a TomTom, it is fab. I was sceptical when dh said he was getting one (at £200) but as I don't drive I didn't argue.

Best £200 spent for a while! It's brill when you are going places you don't know, takes most of the stress out of it. We did two weeks in scotland with it and it saved us so many arguments.

You can download travel info for a monthly fee and speedcamera info, we haven't done this but my colleague has and says it's great - the tomtom just re-sdirects you away from the traffic.

Oh and it tells you when you are due to arrive which is nice. It's very easy to use.

Expensive but worth it.

tribpot · 29/05/2007 20:17

We've got a TomTom, the 910 (which dh insisted we need for our frequent road trips around Western Europe ). It is great. We don't have the subscription as we don't drive often enough in rush hour traffic or anything, I'd definitely get that if I drove for work a lot.

So simple to use, and if you miss a turning, it just figures a new route out for you to get you back on track (I gave a friend a lift to the airport on Friday and she was stunned by this feature).

Also useful for things like "I'm in a strange town and I need to find a supermarket, where's the nearest one?".

Well worth the money. If there was a downside, it's that you can find yourself unable to navigate even to the corner shop without TomTom as you have become completely dependent on being told which way to drive

wulfricsmummy · 29/05/2007 20:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Rubyslippers · 29/05/2007 20:31

me and DH both have tom toms - i wouldn't be without mine. I have the tom tom 1 and it is great - its best function is being able to avoid a roadblock - if you are coming up to a load of congestion or a road closure you can ask the tom tom to re-navigate your route to avoid it
if you take a wrong turning it will re-calculate your route

tribpot · 29/05/2007 20:32

wulfrics - yes, I know what you mean. We are always careful to take the TomTom out with us but leave the mounting in the car, so not just a telltale mark but actually the thing it sits on. We very rarely park in a public place or carpark though - so far have been lucky

PrincessButtercup · 29/05/2007 20:36

We also have a TomTom and love it. No need for pre-journey route planning; no need for mid-journey map reading (especially useful when doing a trip on your own with kids in the back). I found ours really came into its own when we used it in France last year. The routes that it suggested were often not the ones we would have chosen on the map/signposted and as a result, our journey was 10 times more scenic, efficient and (because neither DH or I were navigating) argument free!

Do it!

onlyjoking9329 · 29/05/2007 20:40

another vote for TomTom , i have one and it is fab.

tribpot · 29/05/2007 20:44

Princess - yes, agreed. You can decide on a whim to go somewhere you don't really know, without hours of painstaking planning and then the inevitable "you said go left at the roundabout" type arguments.

Particularly invaluable for us, as dh isn't able to drive any distance now and finds mapreading/navigating (particularly planning new routes on the spur of the moment) too difficult because of his illness. He also finds it difficult to be able to remember how to get to places locally, so whilst I wouldn't dream of using it to get the station, he does, so he doesn't have to worry he might forget on the way.

dyzzidi · 29/05/2007 20:44

I will vote for the tom tom as well. My new car has built in sat nav but the tom tom is much better. I don't worry about going anywhere by myself with no one to map read etc.

Milliways · 29/05/2007 20:47

We have a TomTom plus a built in Sat Nav in our Volvo (we love them that much.

Great for getting around the Paris Periphique on holiday, and all around Europe without having to try & pretend you understand when asking for directions

Last weekend I led a whole convoy of bedraggled campers to a safe haven to avoid the rain & back again - It's fab.

Original poster

DANCESwithnewlytannedlegs · 29/05/2007 21:53

Blimey, glowing reviews of tom tom all round then! Right, time to print off this thread and leave it lying around somewhere dh will see it. Thanks everybody

OP posts:

macmama73 · 29/05/2007 22:02

Sat nav has saved us loads of arguments, mainly because I am no use at all at mapreading and get left and right muddled. My DH started asking if I mean left or girlie-left (ie. right) when I told him to turn left.

We have been all around Europe and only get lost when DH disagrees with satnav.

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