Does the Navigon 4350 offer the best value at the moment?

sea surfer · 10-09-2009, 7:32 AM

Hi, looking at buying a sat nav, from what I have been reading so far I am swaying towards the Navigon 4350, does it offer the best value at the moment in your opinions, what's the reliability like with them?

Scott_Mac · 10-09-2009, 1:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sea surfer

Hi, looking at buying a sat nav, from what I have been reading so far I am swaying towards the Navigon 4350, does it offer the best value at the moment in your opinions, what's the reliability like with them?

Most owners seem pretty happy with them, and they're certainly extremely well specced for the money.... do you need all of the features though?

There are still some great deals to be found on the just replaced Garmin range, you get free map updates when first purchased so that bits all ok.

My personal favourite is still the Garmin 765T, though it has had a few reliability issues (my personal experiences have been of 100% reliability however!)

Garmin Nuvi 765 Traffic Widescreen Satellite Navigation: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo - £212!

mrash · 10-09-2009, 2:17 PM

I have a 4350, and I don't use the Bluetooth or need the European maps that it comes with, but I swapped my 3300 for one as there is only £40 between them, and to buy the premium tmc for the 3300 was £40. You also get 2 years of map updates for £17 with the 4350 but not with the 3300. You get so much more for the extra over the 3300 rather than just the excellent tmc so it's a no brainer really. It's also been faultless, no crashing, locking up, or problems with locking on to satelites

sea surfer · 16-09-2009, 8:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrash

I have a 4350, and I don't use the Bluetooth or need the European maps that it comes with, but I swapped my 3300 for one as there is only £40 between them, and to buy the premium tmc for the 3300 was £40. You also get 2 years of map updates for £17 with the 4350 but not with the 3300. You get so much more for the extra over the 3300 rather than just the excellent tmc so it's a no brainer really. It's also been faultless, no crashing, locking up, or problems with locking on to satelites

Can you tell me if the 4350 comes with dashboard mounting software? I think I am just going to buy this in the next few days

Tfish · 19-09-2009, 5:03 PM

do u mean dashboard mounting HARDware? if so it comes with the usual sucker thingy its pretty naff

stierney · 20-09-2009, 4:45 PM

I am also looking for a decent mid-range sat-nav and i came to the conclusion that the 4350 was the best device for my budget.

I havent been out and bought it yet, so if anyone has a recomendation or has any alternative that i could investigate then let me know

mrash · 21-09-2009, 2:06 PM

I guess the Navman 100T would be comparible spec wise, but i found it shockingly poor when i had a play around with it.
Price wise the garmin has the 1340, but it has no traffic, and getting alternative routes is a ball ache of going through around 5 menus and settings, where as the Navigon gives you 3 routes instantly.
The tomtom IQ XL also doesnt have bluetooth or traffic. The nearest comparible garmin with traffic is £180 (1300t) but no EU maps, or the tomtom XL live EU at £190. But then you have to pay a monthly subscription for the traffic. So in short, yes, its the best value out there IMO.

mrash · 21-09-2009, 2:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tfish

do u mean dashboard mounting HARDware? if so it comes with the usual sucker thingy its pretty naff

Oh, i actually think its pretty good! Way better than the tomtom crap. It stays solid on the screen, and doesnt shake, or even ever fall off.

stierney · 21-09-2009, 7:56 PM

Thanks to all for the valuable feedback, i will be buying a unit on Wednesday when my new car turns up.

Will let you all know what i think.

Ive used Navnam devices in the past and currently use Navigator 7 on my HTC so it should hopefully exceed my expectations.

mrash · 21-09-2009, 8:54 PM

Cool, what car are you getting?

stierney · 21-09-2009, 9:53 PM

This is when you all take the mickey

.........

Skoda VRS Limited Edn.

http://germancarscene.com/wp-content...-skoda-vrs.jpg

Lot of car for 14995.

Go to the site and take a look if you arent too embarrassed to point your browser there

Hopefully i pick up number 385/500 wednesday morning....

mrash · 21-09-2009, 11:06 PM

Great car actually, nice purchase!

stierney · 29-09-2009, 11:02 PM

UPDATE: Car wicked for whoever asked.

Satnav: 4350 MAX is brilliant. defo best out there IMO in the 150-200 squid range.

Only gripes are it doesnt have a qwerty input as an option and i had issues getting the TMC working in the UK. Bought the device from Halfords and if you check the web site FAQ's from customers it will tell you how to resolve the TMC in the UK issue.

Had to make a quick call to their 10/min helpline and send an email to Navigon support to get TMC for life enabled adn working in the UK. German helpdesk, spoke good english and resolved it very promptly (ie within 24HRS)

Used it in UK and FR so far, feature packed and very accurate up to date maps+speed camera db.

From what i can see (2 weeks heavy use) TMC worked in FR out the box and after the call it works in the UK properly.

I base this on some new roads in my area and in the S/France that were all in the new maps (Q3 2009)
Trying to think of comments to make as i am pressed for time, but if you get the oportunity to test this device do so! Audio quality on Btooth is top notch and also worth saying that the audio prompts are VERY clear and loud as well when using to navigate.

9.9/10 is my score. A happy customer.

mrash · 30-09-2009, 8:29 AM

Glad you like the 4350. I agree about the qwerty, but you soon get used to it. Especially with the fact it more or less has predictive wording that works well.

PulsarPilot · 30-09-2009, 9:26 PM

Thanks for the review, very helpfull, especially about getting the traffic to work properly.
Can you tell me how long it takes to get a signal from startup, as I've read a couple of reviews saying it is very slow. I wouldnt mind if it was a minute or so, but any more would be annoying.

Cheers, Dave.

stierney · 30-09-2009, 10:40 PM

Ive had no issue with getting a sat fix. Seconds. I always start it up in my car when i know there is sattelite coverage, but havent tried powering up indoors and then taking it out after its booted.

Maybe once it has an initial fix in a location it stores satelite locations or something as long as date/time are set correctly? I only say this because my HTC has a funtion to download satelite data periodically so that when the GPS is used it can gain a v/quick fix in seconds. Maybe someone can elaborate?

I flew to France and started it up from the airport so it was in a completely new location upon powerup and by the time i had entered the address and set it to take me there it already had a signal.

Just popped outside and powered it on, about 30-40 seconds.

PulsarPilot · 02-10-2009, 4:43 PM

Thanks for that, slow/buggy gadgets are a bit of a pet hate of mine, and I've read a couple of reveiws saying it is slow. Think I will be taking a trip to my second closest Halfords tommorow, as my nearest one couldnt show me a working one

Cheers, Dave.

PulsarPilot · 28-11-2009, 9:06 PM

I bought a 4350 max shortly after my last post, and have been very happy with it, however, I've also had problems getting the TMC to work (it basically doesnt). I'm just about to have a look on halfords site, and send an email to navigo, but anymore help would be appreciated.

stierney · 28-11-2009, 11:55 PM

Have you tried it for a long journey? I am based in Herts area and it doesnt pick up a TMC channel at all here, but i drove up to Birmingham and it worked really well... once i get onto motorways it usually picks up a signal within 10mins Not sure what car you have but some models have athermic windscreens which are pretty effective at blocking radio signals..... If you have a car like that, it may be worth lookng at getting the FM cable wired into your car antenna. I basicallly cut the plastic moulding where the FM antenna ends and it is just a wire. You may be able to get a mechanic who is familiar with your car to patch the cable directly into your car stereo fm loop.

PulsarPilot · 29-11-2009, 1:37 PM

Cheers mate. The first time I used it properly was a week away in Cornwall (I live north of Bristol). It worked a bit on the M5 around Bristol, and a bit in Plymouth, and that was it. I dont use my satnav on the windscreen, because I dont like it there, so it is tucked down under the Stereo, I wondered if this had an effect on the reception at all.
Car is a Saab 93, dont think the windscreen is coated.

wendle · 22-12-2009, 11:38 PM

Sorry if this is a dumb question but looking at getting one of these too.

To get TMC working do I need to be listening to an FM radio station (like the local traffic updates on FM radio). I would find TMC very useful but tend to listen to Talksport on AM radio so wouldn't work for me if it needs this feed??

Thanks to all in advance of your help!

mrash · 23-12-2009, 1:43 PM

No you dont have to be listening to any station at all. It picks up the traffic data via its built in decoder and receiver. The information is then displayed on the screen.

wendle · 24-12-2009, 4:41 PM

That's just what I wanted to hear, looks like I'll be picking one of these up over Christmas!

Thanks very much for confirming this!