Well, having read the other reviews I doubt I can top them, very thorough, however there are some things I saw that I can fill in on.
At the end of the day, if you have £250 to spend on Sat Nav, either you will be looking at Tom Tom One and Navman ICN520. The difference between the two is that the Tom Tom One uses 20 Channel GPS compared to the Navman which has 12, and that the Tom Tom One has 7 digit post code finder.
So looking at the black and white, the Tom Tom One wins.... well actually not for me. Hence my title, "Friends" see, there is software out there that can make the Navman search for 7 digit postcodes. Not only that, but as the Navman runs on Windows CE and the Tom Tom One doesn't, it can also be turned into a PDA with a touch senstive screen. That means you can listen to music on it, play games and use other PDA software! This from what I can tell is something the Tom Tom One can't do.
Furthermore, I have a motorbike and hence no cigarette lighter DC power!!, no problem, the Navman has a battery that when fully charged can last up to 10 hours, and with the headphone socket I can hear via headphones where i need to go!! The Tom Tom One's battery lasts an hour to two at best. Other makes don't even have batteries and or headphone sockets.
Continuing with the friends theme, when you get the device it is straight out of the box, warm up and works! Great, but when you need additional maps the costs go up. Navman software can be found on an auction website (not mentioning any names) and are fairly cheap, not so easy to find for the Tom Tom, and again if you buy from supplier, what you get for the money, Navman is cheaper.
What tipped it for me is that Navman are huge, I knew them from sailing, they have a long history of providing excellent navigation at sea. Tom Tom I could find no history on, albeit maybe they are another company in different cloths, but something about the history of Navman made me buy it.
So what are you looking at, £250 for Sat Nav, you can spend upwards of £400 and get live news feeds, and all the other toys you can imagine. If you want to know how to get somewhere and have a radio with a TI (Traffic Information) button on it, and not scared of using a computer to enhance the device, then I can do nothing but advise you to buy the Navman ICN520.
4 months on and mine works fine, I left the original safety plastic cover on the screen which is protecting it fine! And ok, typing in an address can be a pain with the slightly small touch sensitive buttons, but they give you a stylus to help. Finally the 12 compared to 20 channel difference... urh no idea, but i have never lost signal when above ground.
P.S.
If you have a heat reflecting windscreen, you will need an external antenna; either buy it from Navman, or an auction website!!
If I haven't cover something you wanted to know, trust me one of the other reviews will have!!!
18.03.2006 18:14
I'm planning on getting my hubby satnav gizmo for his birthday. This one sounds just the job, so thanks for the info. Pat.t x
18.03.2006 17:50
Thx for the review. I will be getting satnav after I get my new(ish) car - had been between the TomTom ang the newer IPAQ PDA with voice satnav ... this is an extra one for consideration and seeing demo'd