GPS for your Car

[Cormac]

Hi,
Does anyone have a GPS thingy installed in their car?
I bought my first car last week and I'm considering getting GPS Sat Nav in the coming weeks.

I have a horrible sense of direction. It is truly woeful.

Any recommendations? The ones on Komplett are fairly pricey.

I would consider upgrading my phone instead of getting a stand-alone GPS system if the phone has a GPS add-on.

 

[davidbehan]

I have route 66 ( www.66.com ) on my n73 and a bluetooth gps receiver (search for bt-77 on ebay - about 50 yoyos) and I've been using that for a few years now. I've had different phones (all series 60 platform) and I just install the route 66 on it. Map coverage for Ireland is excellent. Plus I have a car kit so when the lovely lady tells me directions, it knocks out the radio and stuff! Well worth it.

 

[robfitz]

Aldi and Lidl both have GPS navigation systems as offers at the moment for 200 euro. Which might be worth checking out if they have good Irish maps, etc.

 

[d-tour]

I have a phone/pda with gps on it. XDA mini s from o2. You can pick one up on ebay brand new for about 250Euro, or if you want to splash out get the XDA orbit.

I would not get a stand alone GPS and the PDA has wifi + bluetooth etc and you also take your GPS everywhere you go (handy for finding restaurants or anything on holidays)

 

[mneylon]

Which Nokias have builtin GPS?

I really don't want another device to lose

 

[davidbehan]

I think the n95 is the only nokia with gps built in but check the reviews on it. From what I hear the battery is crap... a few hours max without wifi, gps, etc. turned on. My next phone is going to be the XDA orbit but I'm buying it on ebay. Much cheaper!

 

[mneylon]

What's so good about the XDA Orbit?

 

[Cormac]

I posted up a similar thread on the GPS forum on boards (a forum for GPS, yeah, that's right!)...anyway. Only three people replied but they recommended the Garmin 350

 

[mneylon]

I posted up a similar thread on the GPS forum on boards (a forum for GPS, yeah, that's right!)...anyway. Only three people replied but they recommended the Garmin 350

One of our suppliers has been trying to flog me one for the last couple of weeks

While it probably is a really nice piece of kit I still take issue with the idea of yet another bloody device !

 

[lostie]

If you're going for the mobile phone add on (by far the cheapest option), check out GPS Navigation - buy online from L8Shop, they have a every type of accessory for every phone, and are very reliable and cheap too (although theyre based in the UK), i've bought from them before. I was considering getting a gps add on for my phone too, but it would really only be for show, I'd never use it.

 

[Mike]

I got the Garmin Nuvi as you mentioned above. It's really good and simple to use. Sticks to your window with a sucker on a rotatable ball joint (as they probably all do?). *Very* simple menu system with predictive typing to auto-finish your addresses. I don't know much about other brands but the directions so far have been spot-on, and I mean the kind of sanity based directions as distinct from getting a ferry to the UK if your travelling between Dundrum and Stillorgan type of thing! The unit comes with a cigarette lighter charge cable and a slim instruction book which you won't need.

I'm not a fan of multi-solution devices blacknight as I *always* lose stuff and then if I lose my phone I've also lost my pda, gps, coffee machine etc. you know what I mean? Anyway, I also suffer from non-existent sense of direction (which is the only excuse you need to justify buying a GPS) and I find the Garmin great. I just select 'Go to', put in the address and this nice lady tells me when to turn etc.

cheers,

Mike

 

[bucks]

I have a route 66 device for my car, fantastic bit of kit. Drove a car back from the east of England with it and it made the drive a breeze.

The Garmin devices would be the top of the range when it comes to GPS but more expensive for this reason.

Whatever device you go for make sure it has the Navteq mapping system, this is regarded as the best.