Sat Navs and POI's

[+Geoki]

Please excuse my ignorance. Currently we use our Garmin GPS, and when in the car, my PDA has a copy of tomtom on it. But there is a glitch somewhere in the programme and it'll bin out [quite frequently]. So having got myself a part time job, and promising the kids that not only would i take them to the Mega event, but then on down to Somerset after it [they argue on the 12 miles to Aberdeen god help me!!], i'm going to treat myself to a 'real' sat nav.

 

Now here's the question, i know that there is a bit on the PQ to upload the poi's to tomtom, if i wanted to buy a different model [i.e the garmin] is it still possible to upload the poi's to it? Also which satnav would people recommend?

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited May 17, 2008 by geoki

[+HazelS]

I'd get a stand alone Tom Tom 1 GB every time....

 

AND it's easy peasy to upload POI's and she never "bins out!"

(Just remember to speak nicely to her, and always say - Thanks Jane when you've finished!!!!)

[+Bear and Ragged]

Use the TomTom Go300.

Would certainly consider another TomTom if/when upgrading/replacing.

[+SidAndBob]

Currently we use our Garmin GPS, and when in the car, my PDA has a copy of tomtom on it. But there is a glitch somewhere in the programme and it'll bin out [quite frequently].

I doubt it's the program, but more likely the O/S on your PDA. I have no problems with TT on WM6.

[+The Blorenges]

Never had problems with my TomTom One (ancient model... nearly two years old now!!). I reckon its the PDA playing up. If you don't want to spend too much shop around on the 'net for the current TT One - it can be got for about £120.... but I can't tell you where from!

Chris

[+uk89camaro]

as above comments really. TT one for £120. Although I've just gone posh with a GO730, as my daughter wanted my old one. (I have even done a couple of caches with it)

 

i have a garmin etrex venture HC, but my sister has a basic etrex H, which does exactly the same job (£65 new) in black and white.

 

I have a gps pocketpc, and whilst it'll run TT6 no problem, it's fairly useless as a cache tool if it hasn't got a clear view. so I use it for downloading cache pages and spoliers. i got fed up with all the paper and planning.

 

So I have a PoI file on tomtom with 14,000 caches on it, set to"boing" if there's a cache within 800 yards. Get the ppc to read the page, then the garmin to find it. It's a bit of a faff when you consider some phones will do all of that for you, but I aquired them all over time for different reasons, and i don't see a lot of sense in ditching them until they're broken.

[+kbootb]

I have TT on my HP iPAQ PDA and it fails fairly often. Worst with the Compact Flash GPS plugged in directly and better with the bluetooth receiver but still crashes, usually when I get near the destination and don't know where I am.

 

I played with a few other dedicated units but didn't really like the interfaces and the info given to the driver, so ended up getting a dedicated TT. Never had it crash on me. POI upload a doddle. I use GSAK and upload my entire database.

 

No idea about uploading to other makes as I didn't own them.

[+purple_pineapple]

don't know if this helps, but my TT on the mio used to freeze fairly frequently (like every 10 minutes, demanding a soft reset). Its a while ago now, but I'm almost certain I solved it with a better quality memory card - i was using generic and now I have a Kingston 1Gb, and it hasn't crashed since! My suspicion is that the card wasn't fast enough...

 

This might be worth trying - if you can get your PDA to use TT happily, then there's no real need for an upgrade unless the road maps are hideously out of date in Aberdeen!

 

Dave

 

PS - i used to have a Garmin unit, which apart from being slower to recalculate and not as nice a screen, didn't have such a nice POI loader - although this may have changed in the last few years!

[+purple_pineapple]

don't know if this helps, but my TT on the mio used to freeze fairly frequently (like every 10 minutes, demanding a soft reset). Its a while ago now, but I'm almost certain I solved it with a better quality memory card - i was using generic and now I have a Kingston 1Gb, and it hasn't crashed since! My suspicion is that the card wasn't fast enough...

 

This might be worth trying - if you can get your PDA to use TT happily, then there's no real need for an upgrade unless the road maps are hideously out of date in Aberdeen!

 

Dave

 

PS - i used to have a Garmin unit, which apart from being slower to recalculate and not as nice a screen, didn't have such a nice POI loader - although this may have changed in the last few years!

[+*mouse*]

I own a TomTom but have a Garmin for work so have experience of both. The TT wins everytime for me.... I find it more user friendly and POI's are a doddle to load. The most iritating thing about the Garmin is that it always seems to be telling me off for for something - TT's voices are much more polite!