I bought my ex wife a Sat Nav System for her broomstick, she didn't appreciate it.

i agree with Bob, tomtom is great gps software - ok, its not entirely accurate, my wife sometimes argues thats itas not always the quickest route, but it gets you there - normally the most efficent route, and if you subscribe to the service, you can get live traffic reports which will update your map calculation and re route you if necessary.

Ant

I just bought the tomtom 910 about 2 weeks ago and although it is quite expensive i think it is justified. It just came on the market about 1 month ago and also doubles as an mp3 player (about 12 gig left of 20 gig for mp3's) The main benefits of this device over others.....

1. It actually speaks street names instead of just 'turn right' or 'next exit' etc. I find this invaluable and this text-to-speech feature is only available in latest tom tom and garmin models.

2. It has maps of USA, Canada and Europe preloaded (with older models you had to mess around with SD cards for different maps).

3. Has integrated bluetooth so you can use it as your hands free device for your mobile phone.

4. It is portable and battery lasts over 4 hours.

The garmin nuvi 350 is the same price but does not have a 20 gig drive and only has a 3inch screen as opposed to tomtom's 4inch.

I cant live without my tomtom and it will last me a long time!

Tom Tom now has a very fast processor in their 510,710, 910 models. Also uses the latest sirfIII GPS (does depend on where you live though).

The most impressive thing is that it recalculates routes very fast if you take a wrong turn. The issue with older slower GPS systems would be slow recalculations which never get resolved unless you come to a practical standstill!

I am far from a expert on these devices (tomtom 910 was my first) but i think it would be worth paying the extra money for essential features of satellite lock and fast recalculations

We bought the garmin 2710 (I think) off ebay, was nice and cheap. We been using it for our honeymoon, got us all the way from new york to key west.. spot on and as we are still in florida is spot on for finding anything we need (chinese, supermarkets etc).

Been using it for our one and a half month honeymoon (common AOS!!) without problem. Wouldn't leave home without it in NY - all looks the same to me

I like the garmin as its so easy to take in and out of the car, just plug into the ciggy lighter and bang - no additional gps blocks to glue on ya dash etc. I've used a few gps systems and would def get this one everytime.

Hope that helps

Thank you all so much for the replies and advice. After spending another day finding roads with identical names and dead ends I think I'm gonna save up and get a system. I did find some of the other online direction stuff better than mapquest.

Next problem, while my sister was over from UK she tried to charge her phone using my cigarette lighter, now it doesnt work, any idea if it could be as simple as a fuse or do they have a shelf life? its a fairly old car.

Thanks again

The phone or the lighter?

she may have broken the socket but easy to check the fuse. Usually a flap of plastic under the stearing column/just above the footwell, pull it down or off. This should expose the fuses.There should be a guide in the cover (if not your handbook) to which fuse it is (probably shared with something else) but find it and pull it out.

Hold it up to the light and see if the connection is broken. If it is,you're gonna need a newen

best of luck!

Thank You

Sorry I wasnt very clear was I? the ciggie lighter now that I think I may need one!
think I will check the fuse thing as Andy suggested

UPDATE

I got the fuse changed in the cigarette lighter and that worked...and I have just bought a Garmin Nuvi, overall it gave me best deal and seemed to suit my needs, cost me two arms and a leg (well I am only short) Just went around the block with British speaking Emily and she got me back OK.
I will keep you posted...

Does Emily smoke then?

Knowing my luck...

Good to hear you got it working! Nuvi looks nice

Does yours do it a Scunthorpe accent?