Which Sat Nav?????

[Redbeard]

I'm trying to work out what Sat Nav to buy and losing the will to live

Any advice based on fellow Tossers personal experience would be good and help in the deferral of a pending nervous breakdown. I'm of finding what I think is the best unit for my purposes, only to find operation/reliability issues or the lack of a useful feature. I'm as confused as a shithouse rat!

I'm looking for a unit with the following features:

Reliability
Good screen size
The ability to program a route on A roads, B roads, and unclassified roads
Bluetooth headset compatibility
Cost including RAM mount and any mapping software under £500
Not likely to be obsolete as soon as I've bought the thing

Mp3 and phone compatibility features don't matter as they won't get used.

I had thought the Garmin Zumo 350LM would do the job, but for every 2 good reviews I see 1 that says the unit locks up or crashes.

My other choice was the Montana 600 but this is a bit pricey with maps and I can't find out if its bluetooth compatible or not?

Any useful advice would be welcome.

 

[Rusty]

Garmin Zumo 660 .. had it for 2 years now and utterly brilliant !

 

[Katnip]

sat nav

I have had my Zumo 550 since 2007 and never been a problem. I realise that now it is the 660 but they both do all you require.
My mates both use the Tom Tom Rider and they are quite happy with that as well!

 

[1130cc]

I've been using a TomTom Rider 2 since they came out.
It is a great bit of kit, but I would rather have a Garmin.

My old Garmin Quest II just seemed more versatile, with brilliant mapping facility, TrackBac, a compass, and other stuff.
I appreciate that it didn't have the maps, but if it did.

If I could justify a 660, I would buy one now!

 

[Ash]

Never had a problem with my 350 LM

 

[Redbeard]

Looks like I'll be going for the 350LM as I can't justify the cost of the 660.

The 350LM has the features I'm looking for and I'm biased towards Garmin as I currently have an ancient and obsolete street pilot that has served me well enough for the last 6 or 7 years.

I was just concerned about reputedly poor back-up and some of the poor reviews of the 350LM on Amazon regarding reliability. At the end of the day some of these could be down to the monkey operating the unit and not the Sat Nav itself I suppose.

Looking on the bright side, getting a bit lost due to an occasional Sat Nav malfunction isn't the end of the world, and I might just come across somewhere/something interesting by accident After all, the point of travelling isn't only to arrive.

Thanks for the input guys

 

[sven]

I've had Garmin and Tomtom units and TT wins hands down for logical routing and a user friendly interface

The Urban Rider (TT Rider V3) can be picked up very cheaply too.

 

[Exile]

Garmin Zumo 350 LM, robust, great screen, easy to use, lifetime updates, what else do you need?

 

[illustratedman]

I had thought the Garmin Zumo 350LM would do the job, but for every 2 good reviews I see 1 that says the unit locks up or crashes.

My other choice was the Montana 600 but this is a bit pricey with maps and I can't find out if its bluetooth compatible or not?

Any useful advice would be welcome.

Zumo 350 crashes and locks have been sorted by the latest firmware upgrade
Montana has no bluetooth built in but you can plug a bluetooth adapter into the audio lead on the rugged mount .

 

[Straydog]

Rider 5 is nice, allows Bluetooth to helmet and your phone. The 350 doesn't.

Routing wise both the garmin and tomtom have their issues. Depends on how blindly you wish to follow a GPS.. They will both lead you wrong eventually.

I always favored garmin for the car, and other activities but for the bike the winding roads option makes the tomtom stand out.

 

[Redbeard]

350LM bought,

Just need to wire it in before the weekend and get to grips with Basecamp , then its off to the wilds of Wales at the weekend to see how it performs.

Reckon I'll pack the trusty OS map and compass just in case .