Been looking around for my first sat nav but can't decide whether to go for a Garmin or TomTom and was wondering what other drivers use/prefer and why. Just looking for something that's easy to use/setup and has the lifetime map updates. Any advice on what to go for and links would be appreciated, cheers in advance.

Tomtom every time


Sent from my iPhone

I've always chosen TomTom they have the best maps and by that I mean the most accurate, you can also chose to accept other users updates which will include sitings of speed vans at certain locations aswell as places of interest and temperary changes to road speeds for example where the section of road is under maintenance.  

I bought a new sat nav January this year to replace my previous 2009 model...and I've gotta say I'm really disappointed with it!  My old one was a TomTom One IQ Routes, not bad but small screen and it became internally corrupted, would no longer update and was struggling to wake up if I got lost and needed it urgently.  So I 'upgraded' to a Via 52, mid range one with a slightly bigger screen and lifetime maps. 

With all the tech that we have in phones now, I expected a modern sat nav to be like them, but it isn't, its really slow to wake up, the touch screen is still poor compared to a phone screen, TomTom MyDrive is useless, won't work at all on my laptop and is temperamental on the desktop, takes literally hours to update and hates a wifi signal, if the signal drops even for a couple of seconds (say I walk in front of the router) it crashes and has to be started again.  I also chose one with live traffic through my phone...which is great unless you're in town...or in the countryside...  It only seems to work on motorways, and even then it's too slow to be effective and can cost a lot in data depending how often it's used.

I haven't tried a garmin to compare.  I was recommended to just use my phone and an app instead, I think that might have been the better way to go!  

 

@LIAMSAFC sorry to take away from the topic but can I ask what the SAFC stands for ? 

Do you work for Sigma-Aldrich Fine Chemicals ? 

I do 😅 well it's Merck now 

@Lenny Just to do with the the area i'm from and my affiliation with my local footy team  Sunderland AFC.

55 minutes ago, LIAMSAFC said:

@Lenny Just to do with the the area i'm from and my affiliation with my local footy team  Sunderland AFC.

Ow rite, 

I thought it was to do with your job 😅