Your experience with GPS

Just wondering if you have experience good or bad on your GPS device.

My now venerable Tomtom 910 was bought in Dec 2006 ( wow 7 years ago) It still works and has served us well. While driving in Ireland I only use it for city driving - Dublin, Belfast or Cork. It has served me well in France, Spain and Portugal and England. I have also loaned it to family members from time to time.

Once I understood what a GPS device is good at and what its limitations are I was happy with it and it proved to be reliable.

The maps need to be updated again and Tomtom will charge €80 for this. I am considering buying a new device with up to date mapping instead of updating a seven year old device.

My problem is in picking out a new one. Lots of bad reviews out there!. Stuff like devices failing after a short time. Also difficulty in updating the "free map updates" especially on Garmin and poor support from the companies involved.

Just wondering about your experience - especially if you have had difficulty in updating the maps or your observation on customer support from Tomtom or Garmin

Thanks

I am on my second Garmin satnav.

This one has lifetime updates which are very easy to install. When an update is available a notification appears on the system tray of your computer screen. Plug in the device and select update. It does the rest.

I know what you mean about being aware of its limitations. We keep ours on if we know our destination and have it set but turn the volume down to very low until the last 20 minutes or so. We really only use it to take us into a location we have not been to before.

It is easy to add an address or co-ordinates.
Works well across Europe although it gets most of its use in France.

I meant to reply to this a few days ago!

I have a Garmin Dezl, find it great! but although I can input the size of the Motorhome to avoid bridges etc, it will still direct me down the road with the "low bridge" or "unsuitable for lorries" warnings and then warn me once I am on the that road instead of re-directing me.

Other than that it's brilliant.

They will never be ideal until they can learn and remember

True

Although they were close - if only we had of went another 100 yards

Good choice. I'm a fan of garmin.

I've had a Garmin nuvi 200 since 2006 and it hasn't missed a beat in that time! Carol bought a Garmin Nuvi 1490t for me last year as I really didn't want to pay €115 to update my maps on the old nuvi 200 unit.

The 1490t is nice. It has some nice features such as eco-route, bluetooth and exit imaging (where it flashes up images of major junctions as you approach your exit). I also like the 5" screen, it makes it easier to read on the move.

I've re-tasked the old nuvi 200 to occasional use on the motorbikes so it hasn't been retired just yet. Plenty of choices for handlebar mounts for the nuvi 200. A simple ziploc bag makes it waterpoof. Even though the maps are now 8 years old, it can still get me from A-B regardless so it still does the job.

"Free" lifetime maps is a good move from Garmin.