Saturday, October 21, 2006

Don’t buy a Navman F20 if you live in NI

An update on winning a sat nav unit - the first action was to choose one under the agreed value, and order it!

I picked up a parcel on Friday night. Out of the box popped a Navman F20 GPS. Bit of a disappointment to discover the small coverage map printed on the side of the packaging.

The small coverage map points out the … small coverage … in Ireland, north and south.

Despite the lack of mention on Navman’s website or on Amazon UK's product page, the unit has woeful coverage outside of Belfast.

Big mistake. Time to call Amazon’s customer service number first thing on Monday morning to arrange a return and refund either under the seven-working-day cooling-off period or because they accept that it’s not fit for purpose and mis-described (or perhaps under-described).

And time to order the TomTom ONE Europe instead.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've heard the same thing on a GPS message board, that the new ONE maps have the best coverage of north and south, and in general the TT ONE is better for maps of backroads.

Alan in Belfast (Alan Meban) said...

I should have posted back a resolution before now. But in case anyone stumbles across this posting while Googling for an answer ...

If you're in Northern Ireland, but a Garmin, or a TomRom One EUROPE. Both use Navteq maps which include detailed maps of NI roads (in fact, Ireland - north and south). (The TomTom One UK/GB maps are not Navteq.)

I got a TomTom One Europe and it works well. Must compile a list of map corrections though - but that would be the case across the UK. It's not perfect. But it's faster than a map on your lap.

Anonymous said...

Don't buy a NavMan, I bought a iCN 550 with traffic last year for use in the UK. The maps were out of date when i received it. I was promised an upgrade later in the year, now I have been told my unit is obsolete in only 11 months. Now I can only plan journeys on a map that is now two years out of date.

Navman claim to support their products but you have no guarantee!

Anonymous said...

I wish I had followed through when i threatened to send back my MIO C210 which I later found out uses the now infamous teleatlas map software.
I have commented that the MIO C210 as a product is absolutely a fine piece of equipment but seriously let down by the mapping software. I e-mailed teleatlas with my views and disappointment at how "door to door navigation" as advertised in a catalogue was not possible using their maps in Northern Ireland, the reply i received was courteous but totally lacking any useful information that i could pass on to you except that apparently they are iso9002 registered which means according to their e-mail they don't change anything without checking it out themselves, thereby saying that other mapping companies are not as good as they are?????.
After pressing again with another e-mail i was told that the maps would be upgraded by July 2007 but considering how long it will take to "update" by presumably "checking it all themselves" i estimate I will be dead long before I will see any benefit.
I noted with a little chuckle to myself that they have just announced a "new" service, you've guessed it!!! users can now report updates to the website, missing roads etc.... maybe they just ditched their ISO registration :), what do you think?.
When i dispose of my satnav I will puchase the first 1 that can guarantee "door to door navigation in Northern Ireland".

Anonymous said...

the best is garmim, im a tesco driver in dungannon, all drivers use GARMIN, u can find everything. tomtom is not nice, and navman is worst