£100 budget
Don’t want to use my smart phone.
What is good and what isn’t?

Go!

Tom Tom better than Garmin IMO. I’d say don’t get the biggest screen – gets in the way. Mid sized screen Tom Tom.

My TomTom would regularly cut out as I got close to my destination, or take forever to pick up satellites. I got a Garmin NuviSat, 18 months ago rarely drops out, much faster pick up.

Agree with tom about screensize though, you need to be able to see out of the windscreen.

Look for whatever fit your price with a 5″ screen, lifetime updates, Western Europe (or full europe) if you intend to take the car over.

then choose between tomtom and garmin interfaces.

Never touching tom tom again. It seems to pick extremely stupid routes. Garmin is much better on this front. No problems with garmin. Tho I use Google maps on my phone now.

Plus Garmin often have the free updates for life thing, which is very useful.

My ancient Tom Tom has just burbled back into life after a poke up the reset hole.

Thanks for the advice though.

I just bought a Garmin Nuvi, £99.99 half price, so they say, in Argos. 5″ screen, western Europe included and free lifetime upgrades. Gets it first try tomorrow. Had no particular allegiance for Garmin over Tomtom, free upgrades swung it.

TomTom all the way for ease of use. Garmin have better hardware but their software is nowhere near as intuitive to use as TomTom’s plus Garmin sat navs pick strange routes. TomTom routes are also easy to modify by asking the unit to calculate an alternative or telling it to miss out certain roads. I couldn’t find a way of doing either of these things with the Garmin I had.

have had both garmin and tom tom. after 14months with the garmin the routes it planed would make you cry.
halfords swapped it for a small charge to a tom tom 1005..
i use it 9hrs a day 5days a week route planning is always good, the traffic function is good at first i would do it my way know i just follow the directions as i cannot get there quicker
i always get weekly updates
i still miss some of the garmins features like route planning but it just dose the job day in day out for the last 12months
i would buy again

£100 budget
Don’t want to use my smart phone.

Why not?

Some of us don’t…..

I’m still with the Tom Tom when I occasionally need it for some simple reasons
I like my phone charged when I arrive somewhere
I prefer not to see texts or emails flashing on the screen while I drive
I like the bigger screen
I use it in other countries where data rates are huge and dumping the whole of Oz & NZ maps onto my phone isn’t practical
I use it out of phone signal – a lot
If somebody else is driving I can still use m phone

I use google maps Nav at times but prefer the proper sat nav.

I like my phone charged when I arrive somewhere
I prefer not to see texts or emails flashing on the screen while I drive
I like the bigger screen
I use it in other countries where data rates are huge and dumping the whole of Oz & NZ maps onto my phone isn’t practical
I use it out of phone signal – a lot
If somebody else is driving I can still use m phone

Mine’s always charged when I get to my destination, it’s plugged into my car stereo.
When using the sat nav, you don’t get texts or emails
Mine gets used plenty of places where there’s no phone signal data
You can download maps for Aus and NZ for $37, and they’re device native, no network necessary, maps are stored on the phone, just like a regular satnav.
That’s using CoPilot Live, which is cheaper, and, AFAIK, just as good as TomTom.
It’s also less likely to get stolen through being left in the car, ‘cos you’re more likely to take it with you.
And you can use the phone as well, although if you use the phone a lot, then a separate unit might be better, but by and large, pretty much every one of your points is answered by using one device with CoPilot Live, or TomTom installed, along with whatever maps you need.
That’s iOS and Android.

I tried a few and texts and email notifications still come through, it still doesn’t get round the fact my phone then gets tied up as sat nav when I’m not driving – Not sure how I can use the phone for e-mail, text or internet while somebody else is using it to follow directions on the screen??
As my phone (and battery) gets older it doesn’t charge quite as quick as it used to so drains a little over time using GPS/Full screen all the time.
I reckon it gets to about 75% of the things I want/need from a sat nav close and probably good enough but I prefer the separate unit in reality. We don’t all fit into one box.

Why not?

Because I don’t want to. I want(ed) another Sat Nav.

Not sure how I can use the phone for e-mail, text or internet while somebody else is using it to follow directions on the screen??

… you’re a passenger, presumably?

it doesn’t charge quite as quick as it used to so drains a little over time using GPS/Full screen all the time.

That sounds more like a “cheap charger” issue than a problem with the phone to me.

Got TomTom on my iPhone and the integration is excellent, calls are no problem, siri handles texts if I need to reply and it mutes music if you have the voice directions on. Phone sits in a cradle so always charged up (although I do add/remove the charge lead on the longer journeys to prevent screwing the battery) and once you get out there is nothing left in the car to nick and no sucker marks on the windscreen. Also comes in handy if you are a passenger with someone without a nav kit. Once used it on my bike as well to get back to civilisation when I got lost.

Had copilot and loathed it. random lock-ups and terrible GPS acquisition.

Bought a top end Garmin nuvi a couple of years ago as I got sick of Copilot. Everything about it is brilliant apart from two fundamental things.

1 the routing can be nuts. Taking me down tiny lanes or miles out of the way (and I’ve tried the various routing options.)

2 the updates process is a mare. I have lifetime maps and travel, but the unit runs out of space so won’t upgrade. Lots of coverage of this on the Garmin forums.