Road Angel vs TomTom
Discussion
Apologies if this has been covered before, but never had a sat nav before, and want to buy one. I currently have a Road Angel 2 camera detector, and find it superb. Ideally I want one unit that does the camera’s and sat nav, with occasional European sat nav use. On the RA front, been looking at the 7000 & 9000 series, obviously good on the camera side, but heard a few question marks over their sat nav side as being a bit slow etc, is this still the case with the later model 7000/9000 models ?. On the TomTom side, been looking at the ONE Europe and ONE T Europe (Traffic) models. I've never used a sat nav system before, but the TomTom "seems" to be the general favourite. Any advice/recommendations would be welcome. Lastly, I assume the TomTom updates are via a USB/PC connection, for both sat nav & camera updates ?. Thanks again.
Interesting.
I've got a road angel compact which throws a wobbly in bright sunlight, accusingly pointing the finger at non existant lasers.
My updates have just run out so I was considering a new device.
The road angel Adventurer looks promising, especially as I have a full compliment of memory map maps. It's waterproof and has rechargable batteries as well so could be used on my motorbike.
Anyone used one?
I've got a road angel compact which throws a wobbly in bright sunlight, accusingly pointing the finger at non existant lasers.
My updates have just run out so I was considering a new device.
The road angel Adventurer looks promising, especially as I have a full compliment of memory map maps. It's waterproof and has rechargable batteries as well so could be used on my motorbike.
Anyone used one?
There is a forum specifically for this kind of debate:
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/forum.asp?h=0...
You'll probably find it's been answered before.
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/forum.asp?h=0...
You'll probably find it's been answered before.
can't offer an opinion about RA systems, but i rate the TT system very highly. i got the one xl europe, which hooks in to your pc for updates and downloads, but can use the 3G or GPRS connection from your mobile (via bluetooth) to update as your driving along. this is particularly useful if you subscribe to the traffic service.
i used to have a navman, which was good considering it was a pretty early satnav system, but the maps were never updated for the version, you had to buy the new cd when released. the tomtom map corrections can be downloaded every time you connect to your pc or phone.
TT is easy to use too, even my inlaws can use it. trust me, that says a lot!
i used to have a navman, which was good considering it was a pretty early satnav system, but the maps were never updated for the version, you had to buy the new cd when released. the tomtom map corrections can be downloaded every time you connect to your pc or phone.
TT is easy to use too, even my inlaws can use it. trust me, that says a lot!
Edited by tamore on Friday 16th November 13:28
Can only offer you advice on the Road Angel Navigator - the original one. DONT BUY IT! I've had mine for a about two years, and I'm currently on my sixth set of software due to freezing and crashing! (fatally) I've just updated to the 2007 mapping software - and returned it and obtained a refund. The software took me to a postcode, and when it said I was at my destination, I was in the wrong village altogether. When I got to the right village using the dark art of map reading, the Road Angel still insisted I was 4.1 miles from my destination. Has also never worked out where I live, still tells me to turn right across a central reservation on a carriageway when my turning is on the left! The hardware is excellent though! My mates all use Tom Toms, and haven't heard a moan!
Got the Tom Tom 710 and its great. Picked up all the speed cameras going to Italy, worth paying the money to get cameras updated.
As we travel in Europe each year worth the extra over the 510 to get full European mapping. I have a mate who got the 510 which was great until he went to France and then he realised that only having the main roads wasn't so great.
Many other usefull features incl bluetooth handsfree so I can use it in the Tiv for the phone (have a handsfree built in in the tin top).
Tom Tom Home has just been updated and is now good although until a few weeks ago I thought it was cr*p.
The Tom Tom 720 looks superb with its voice activation.
I have had no reliability issues
As we travel in Europe each year worth the extra over the 510 to get full European mapping. I have a mate who got the 510 which was great until he went to France and then he realised that only having the main roads wasn't so great.
Many other usefull features incl bluetooth handsfree so I can use it in the Tiv for the phone (have a handsfree built in in the tin top).
Tom Tom Home has just been updated and is now good although until a few weeks ago I thought it was cr*p.
The Tom Tom 720 looks superb with its voice activation.
I have had no reliability issues
Herald5.7 said:
Can only offer you advice on the Road Angel Navigator - the original one. DONT BUY IT! I've had mine for a about two years, and I'm currently on my sixth set of software due to freezing and crashing! (fatally) I've just updated to the 2007 mapping software - and returned it and obtained a refund. The software took me to a postcode, and when it said I was at my destination, I was in the wrong village altogether. When I got to the right village using the dark art of map reading, the Road Angel still insisted I was 4.1 miles from my destination. Has also never worked out where I live, still tells me to turn right across a central reservation on a carriageway when my turning is on the left! The hardware is excellent though! My mates all use Tom Toms, and haven't heard a moan!
Funny that. Ive had my RA Nav for over 2 years. It was a nightmare for the first couple of weeks, until I updated it with the later(latest?) software and since then, apart from the occassional system freeze requiring a reboot, its performed perfectly both here and in Europe. 2 of my brothers and my sister have TTs (a 510 and a 910 and a TT GO) and they have all had to get replacement units due to failure. Also, the camera warning on the TT arent (or at least werent) directional. The RA unit is (or was, havent seen a current TT closely) much slimmer and fits in your breast/inside coat pocket.I also much prefer the camara database update system on the RA unit over the TT. Much more straightforward and 'plug n go'.
Main gripe is that the screen can be difficult to read in direct sunlight (polarized sunglasses probably dont help much
). Is it the same with the TTs?FUBAR said:
[quote=Herald5.Main gripe is that the screen can be difficult to read in direct sunlight (polarized sunglasses probably dont help much ). Is it the same with the TTs?
Interesting that you should say that, I put a post on PH "satnav" forum back in the summer. Didn't get any replies and thought it was only me. We made a makeshift sunshade for it out of a bit of card and some gaffa tape and it made a big difference. And this was in a Passat, it would have been an even better improvement in the Chim with the roof off, although in the sun it's not unreadable, just a bit difficult.). Is it the same with the TTs?I'm sure that there is an opportunity out there for some enterprising person to market such a thing. I think it could be made to easily clip onto the body of the TT. I'd buy one.
I think that this problem is one that applies to SAT nav in general rather than one specific make/model.
Anyone else have this problem ?
We had an original Road Angel Navigator, and choose that partly because of the performance of my camera detector.
However, we have since sold that on Ebay and have bought a Tom Tom One Europe.
If we had to buy again, I would choose the Tom Tom everyday of the week and twice on Sundays.
Childs play to use comparef to the RA. GPS reception is superb, the RA would sometimes struggle to find it's way out of a paper bag, leave alone find satelites...
However, we have since sold that on Ebay and have bought a Tom Tom One Europe.
If we had to buy again, I would choose the Tom Tom everyday of the week and twice on Sundays.
Childs play to use comparef to the RA. GPS reception is superb, the RA would sometimes struggle to find it's way out of a paper bag, leave alone find satelites...
I wrote a long review of my Road Angel Navigator 9000 - take a look here:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Many thanks
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Many thanks
As I have said on the link posted above .... RA stuff is really great for speed cameras - the screen with your speed in a speed limit 'sign' is IMO superb. The Sat Nav side is at the other end of the scale and is 100% c**p!
It repeatedly tried to direct me in the wrong direction either via the 'voice' (when the map actually showed the correct route!) or just taking completely the wrong route.
Much as I loved the speed camera bit I gave up on the Sat Nav and sold it last week to a colleague who mainly wanted it for the camera database. I have bought a Garmin.
IMO the Tom Tom with Talex speed camera stuff loaded on - the wife has it and it beats the Garmin easily for mobile camera van locations .... something the Garmin Database doesn't seem to think exist in my area !!
It repeatedly tried to direct me in the wrong direction either via the 'voice' (when the map actually showed the correct route!) or just taking completely the wrong route.
Much as I loved the speed camera bit I gave up on the Sat Nav and sold it last week to a colleague who mainly wanted it for the camera database. I have bought a Garmin.
IMO the Tom Tom with Talex speed camera stuff loaded on - the wife has it and it beats the Garmin easily for mobile camera van locations .... something the Garmin Database doesn't seem to think exist in my area !!
FUBAR said:
John57 said:
The Sat Nav side is at the other end of the scale and is 100% c**p!
Ive just returned from a faultless 1000 mile trip to Disneyland Paris and back 
Even when I was within sight of the High Street it was telling me to go right - the wrong direction ....
I have had two other seriously strange and perverse experiences with the RA 6000 - and that led to it getting sold ! i.e. one of them being the A312 to Hampton when looking at the A316 roundabout .... the route is hardly via Hounslow .....which is where it was sending me - completely in the wrong direction.
Maybe my one didn't like me but that's my experiences FWIW.
I got the RA 6000, hopeing it would be camera guard and sat nav in one, as has been said brilliant on cameras of all types, inc van locations. Absolutely useless as a sat nav, now have RA and TT mounted on windscreen.
TT useless on cameras, it even misses some of the gantry cameras on the
heatheow part of M25 that have been there for years, why cannot they get their act together ?
TT useless on cameras, it even misses some of the gantry cameras on the
heatheow part of M25 that have been there for years, why cannot they get their act together ?
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