Navigon 42 Plus 4.3" Sat Nav with Full Europe Maps (44 Countries)

I've been using a Navman S80 Deluxe for the past few years and I found it to be excellent, apart from the customer services and the PC software which were both terrible, the software being almost impossible to operate, especially when it came to updates etc, as it was not obvious at all how to install them, or check the system.
As Navman have now decided that they are not updating their software to Windows 7 for users of older equipment, I thought it was time I bought a more modern SatNav which would work on my W7 PC.
After reviewing all of the leading brands, ie Navman (now Mio), TomTom, Garmin etc, I came to the conclusion that I couldn't decide between them, as they all had reports of poor software, and even poorer customer services.
Then I came across reviews of a company I'd never heard of - Navigon. All of the reviews were very enthusiastic about this company's products, so I thought I'd ring their customer services as a test. They answered within a few seconds, and although the girl I spoke to was Russian and she was in Germany, she was very helpful indeed, and answered all of my questions about the company and its products.
I purchased the 42 Plus, as I didn't want to spend an excessive amount, but also didn't want an entry model.
The SatNav is very well made, as is the screen holder, the latter requiring a 2.5mm allen key to adjust the tension on the head's ball swivel. The car charger comes complete with built-in TMC aerial, so no need to trail a wire around the windscreen! There's no case or mains charger, but these are available from the Navigon site, the charger costing around £20.00. I bought one at the same time as ordering the SatNav from Amazon, and it arrived in 2 days. It has two pins and connects to the mains via a shaver type adapter. I suspect that any SatNav charger will do though, as my Navman charger works on the Navigon too, and it has three pins, making it a little more stable. Obviously I checked the output and input voltages first!
I'm usually a bit nervous about connecting stuff to my PC, as I've had some disasters in the past, but luckily, after downloading the free Navigon Fresh software from their site, and plugging in the 42 Plus with the supplied USB cable, the software detected my SatNav and carried out the registration automatically with no input from me at all. The SatNav comes with vouchers for discounts on some products - in this case 50% off the Navigon Safety Camera updates for 2 years, and 80% off the Navigon Fresh Maps updates for 1 year, costing £25.00 and £16.00 respectively, so a good saving there, although you must complete these purchases within 30 days of the first activation of the SatNav.
The software, (unlike Navman's) is extremely easy to use, with buttons for Maps and Downloads, My Account, My System, etc, etc. The process of updating the maps was very easy - 'Maps and Downloads' shows the latest updates, in this case Q4 2011. This brings up a list of Countries, so I selected just the UK. After about 40 minutes of downloading and installing, the software automatically checks the installation, and that's it. I now have just the UK map installed, saving me around 3 GB of memory. To install other countries, I'd just need to select them from the update list and install them. The SatNav also comes with a Micro SD card slot which will take a card of 2GB and above, so there's plenty of scope to expand the memory of these devices.
The SatNav itself is a joy to use, showing an accurate view of the roads, including the road and street names, the speed limit of each road, local POIs, speed cameras, zoomed in views of junctions, lane assistance, clever parking, a pedestrian mode (in portrait, making the device easier to carry!), an automatic 'where's my car?' function, etc etc. It also locks onto the satellites very quickly, and even works in my living room, which is something else the Navman didn't do!
In fact everything you need, and in a SatNav that is probably half the price of a comparible device from one of the other 'leading' brands.
All in all, I'd HIGHLY recommend these SatNavs if you're having trouble deciding!!!

Had to buy a new satnave as my old navman one was not compatible with new windows system on my computer. Read reviews on Amazon and eventually went for Navigon 42 plus.Have been using it for nearly a month now and have found it to be very responsive and hasn't sent me down any dead ends. Offers i received with the device were well worth taking up. Some reviewers complained about the use of street names on the device but I haven't found this a problem. Mounting bracket may cause a problem if use use a navmat. it fits ok on the old standard navmat but because of the angle of the bracket it does not work well one new style navmat. Overall the Navigon is well worth the money

I was using Navigon 40 Premium before and was very happy with the product. So when I neede new Sat Nav, there was only one option - Navigon. I tried others (tom tom, Garmin, Navman) but none of them were so nicely done, with so nice looking maps and featuring all these handy options like free TMC, choice of routes, quick access to important functions etc. I specially ordered Navigon from Germany, as is virtually unavailable from UK sellers and because I needed it quick, paid a hefty price for express delivery. First they scared me by sending me an e-mail that they need extra 2 or 3 days to send it, but luckily it arrived on time.

Unfortunately unlike the old one, this one is useless. It took him 1h 20' to fix to the satelites for the first time (so when I left Glasgow, I got the signal around Lockerbie). Then it worked for a while and lost the signal completely.

At the second use, I just left it turned on in stationary vehicle. It got GPS fix after about 40 minutes, then I moved the vehicle for about 2 miles and came back to the previous place and it took 20 minutes to get GPS Fix. Then after I moved vehicle, it lost GPS fix and never recovered for the next 2 hours of driving.

I went to the navigon fresh, looked for a help on their website, reseted the toy, upgraded the software (and maps, as I was already messing with it - which are not up to date, the freshest map, from the begining of 2012 still do not feature Glasgow M74 competion, that was opened nearly a year ago) but the navigation was still useless. Next day it took again nearly an hour to catch the GPS fix (and only after I drove for 40 minutes and was stationary for another 20) and then it was constantly loosing the fix. I would say that for over 50% of time it was off line, making it's virtualy impossible to use. Here you can see how it worked: [...]

Very, very disapointed. I hope that it was only this one that was faulty and it's not how they work in general, but sadly I had no time to wait for the exchange so I just returned it for a refund and bought Garmin of the shelf, as it's essential for my work. Garmin works perfect, but it's only a Garmin :(