Having Trouble Choosing

[foxtrot_mike]

Im having trouble deciding on a Satnav, the Tom Tom website doesn't seem to be very good at comparing or summarizing the different models.

What I need is the following

Vias / Multi Stops
Advanced Lane Guidance
UK Maps

But perhaps more specific I need to know if any of the Tom Tom units allow you to enter a UK OS National Grid Reference as I seem to need to be able to find these more than a postcode entry.

A bit wooly I guess but do any of them have a Scenic routes option, or the ability to turn off certain roads.

I think a Large screen would be beneficial to me as i seem to interpret visual better than spoken directions.

 

[alfie67]

Hi and welcome to TTF!

See [https://www.tomtomforums.com/genera...el-feature-reference-updated-8-20-2011-a.html ] for a comprehensive comparison listing.

 

[canderson]

I don't know of any automotive units that will manage the National Grid (although some handhelds do). They're all running WGS84 these days - your choice of dd.ddddd or dd mm.mmm or dd mm ss.

All the rest of what you hope to achieve can still be found in the trusty old XXL540 unit (known there as the "XXL IQRoutes Europe", I believe). It's stable, has the full menu system missing on some models, and is more flexible than recent units, and not expensive.

 

[mikealder]

My Garmin 3790T supports:

Decimal Degrees
Degrees, Decimal Minutes
Degrees, Minutes, Seconds
US National Grid

I used to use an earlier Garmin road based Nuvi that did accept UK OS Grid coords. None of the TomTom products will accept anything other than the first three items listed above, some of the more basic models won't even offer lat/ long.

One other issue you need to be aware of is when entering coordinates the GPS might not be able to calculate a route to it due to the location being some considerable distance away from the road network. If you know where all these locations are I would create a POI file on the computer and use that on the device, the locations could be set at the end of the nearest road so the device will produce a planned route - Mike

 

[canderson]

My Garmin 3790T supports:

...
US National Grid

On your UK unit? That's a surprise. US Grid is VERY RARELY used here by your average bloke. I'd venture to say that most GPS users here haven't even heard of it. Did your unit come with U.S. maps?

I'm surprised that they don't support the UK grid instead. At least it's more commonly used.

The 37XX manual talks about "Changing The Map Coordinate Format", but doesn't mention what options are available.

 

[mikealder]

Yup that US National Grid option is what is shown on screen when I select the options, seemed strange to me considering its a European device, I actually fired the device up to check it before making the above reply! - Mike