back to article TomTom Start 20 satnav

TomTom’s entry level Start satnavs have long been the default choice for anyone wanting a reliable but basic PND. Now the range has been given a wash and brush up with the release of some new 4.3in screen devices with prices starting at £130. TomTom Start 20 Baby driver: TomTom's Start 20 The design of the Start 20 …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Anonymous IV
    Thumb Down

    Suction ring marks

    Satnav users clean the suction ring marks off the windscreen to encourage miscreants to believe that the driver doesn't use a satnav, so there is no point breaking into the car to try to find it.

    Sticking a plastic disk on the dashboard gives definitive proof that a satnav is used. Surely rates a d'oh, at least?

  2. FanMan

    Traffic info

    It is well worth coughing up another £100 for the Go 1005. This does have traffic info and automatically adjusts your route on-the-fly. It makes driving a pleasure which will continue long after the hurt of payment has faded.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Customer Support

      I got a Go 1005 and have sent it back as live traffic wouldn't work and customer support "couldn't offer a solution to this challange" - some long threads on the TomTom forums about this and a couple of other features - think TomTom developers have lost it somewhere recently

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Unhappy

      The latest tomtoms

      are crud.

      I bought a 1005 the otherday and returned it 12 hours later.

      For a flagship product its sorely lacking even basic features.

      1. No itinary planing

      2. utter shite bluetooth compatability, bluetooths' a fucking standard!!!!!

      3. shite software through a crap interface most of which doesnt work anyway.

      So i bought a garmin 3790t a FAR superior device in almost every single way....

      I have used tomtoms since day dot...Yesterday, i became an ex tomtom owner...1 step forward, 2 steps back...

  3. uncle sjohie
    Thumb Up

    Dashboard holder

    @ Alun Taylor. If you really want an uncluttered view, try a Tetrax Fixway. With that little gem, you can mount any PND on a ventilation grille of your choice. That way, there is nothing on top of the dashboard blocking your view of the road, or creating a blind spot.

    It doesn't come cheap, but it held our 4.3" Navigon in place, even when we were rattling about on the Tuscan dust trails. And you get a few extra metal "knobs", so you can use it to mount different things on the holder, like an mp3 player.

  4. Kakes
    FAIL

    Score

    "But at £130 the absence of traffic data seems poor value"

    So we'll give it a 70% score ?

    Directions / traffic information are core to getting you to your destination. Phone numbers of points of interest are not. Lack of traffic information (and the option to even to subscribe to one additional cost) should have meant this product was given a 65% or lower mark IMHO.

  5. Al Taylor
    Holmes

    @ Anon V

    I'd defy any light fingered urban youth walking by to spot a black mounting disc stuck to a black dash. And once seen it may not be recognized for what it is.

    I'd also take issue with the claim that satnav users polish their suction marks away - I don't know any who do that on a regular basis.

    1. xenny
      Happy

      Sadly this doesn't count as meeting someone.

      GPS lives wrapped in a microfibre cloth in the glove box. Said cloth is used to wipe the windscreen before being wrapped around the GPS. Easy.

  6. Jim 59

    Traffic info

    Halfords do occasional satnav bundles. I picked up a Navigon 4350 max for £99 in Dec 2010, with free lifetime TMC and 2 years of map updates for £16. The TMC seems to be accurate and I have had 2 map updates so far.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mounting

    "you need to cough up £5 for a pack of two self-adhesive mounting rings but as long as there is a convenient flat surface, you don’t actually need them."

    And how common is a flat area on the dash? Most cars have curved dash tops and have had for years. I can't remember the last car I owned that had any flat surface on top of the dash. I'm sure it must be more than 20 years since I owned a car like that. As such the mounting rings should be included, not an add on for a fiver.

    You'd think by now there would be a standard mount fitted to every car.

    1. mdava

      "You'd think by now there would be a standard mount fitted to every car."

      +1

      Surely the only reason that there isn't is protectionism = spec a £1000 sat-nav option rather than buy a £130 TomTom!

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just use your phone.

    There are Nokia phones with international offline mapping for the same price as this. Just saying.

  9. Mark Jan

    Just use your phone.

    I was just thinking the same!

    My N8 (OK, I'm ready for apple flambe!) is always in my pocket and whether I'm in the UK or abroad, quickly gets me to my location. Free map updates although admittedly, no TMC.

    Whilst the N8 costs more than the TomTom, like AC said, there are Nokia phones with the same sat nav functionality for the same price as the Smart 20.

    I'd have thought that the days of standalone sat navs must surely be numbered...as are probably the days of Nokia phones once MS has eaten them up and spat them out...

    1. Insane Reindeer
      Happy

      Well it may not be TMC...

      But the Traffic info update function works very very well indeed on my N8 using Ovi Maps v3.06 11wk10b01. I have it set to update every 5 minutes and automatically reroute.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Choice

      Some people like a choice.

      Personally I can't be arsed with a smartphone of any type. A phone is what I make phone calls with. Anything else costs too much.

      Sat Nav? I use a Binatone one I got for £50 from Asda, loaded iGo onto it and it's great. All in it cost a sight less than that silly Tom Tom thing. A friend has already sent his back because it kept insisting on sending him up dirt byways and private roads, it seems Tom Tom are useless in a rural setting. Tom Tom's curious answer was that he should update the maps himself* when he came accross these problems luckilly he bought it from a retailler with a no quibble 28 day refund policy.

      I haven't tried Nokia's mapping, but I have tried it on a certain smartphone they gave me at work. It was frankly crap, which made the convenenience of having satnav on your phone somewhat moot.

      * Can you imagine the OS trying that? "This landranger is innaccurate." "That's your problem sir. Just get your felt pens out and update it."

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like