Navman F45 Widescreen Satellite Navigation System (Great Britain and Ireland)

 

 

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After my old Tom Tom One V2 died a horrible death, I replaced it with the Naviman F45 - and I have to say so far... I am impressed.

The Sat Nav is slimline, with a large widescreen. Despite being slim, it feels robust, and the display is crisp and bright. You can choose from 3d or 2d map displays, and the 3D map display is more detailed than the old tom tom I used to have. There are audiable warnings when approaching speed cameras, and in certain areas, this sat nav pops up the speed limit for the road you're travelling on, (particularily in 30mph zones.)

The sat nav also senses when its being used at night, and automatically switches to a night version, and the spoken voice is loud and clear, with the male voice seemingly clearer than the female one.

The sat nav is wonderfully flexible, and you can opt to enter a post code to find your way round, or punch in a town or city, and ask it to take you to the centre of that town. I have tried this option in Looe, Paignton and Torquay whilst on holiday - and it worked like a charm every single time. It also can record your route, and you've the usual flexability with routes as to whether you want the fastest or shortest way round. There are enhanced motorway exit options as well, so you know in plenty of time where you need to take your exit.

Some of the menu options are a bit fiddly, but with a bit of time, you soon will get the best out of this wonderful little sat nav. In my opinion, knocks the socks off the Tom Tom - which was glithy, prone to crashes and freezes and left me high and dry on my holiday. For people like me, who can't find their way out of a paper bag - it's a godsend. In my opinion, for £80 you won't find better.

After my last nightmare with travelling to visit a friend at her new home, my husband persuaded me that I HAD to get a Sat Nav. The journey is a mere 30 miles and it took me nearly two hours. Unfortunately I am one of those people that convinces themselves that "Oh yeah that looks like the right direction/road/turn off". I subsequently end up getting more and more lost. My car now resembles the display rack for A-Z's in a garage. I end up getting so frustrated that I end up purchasing a local map pf every town I have ever got lost in. Therefore to save myself another hundred quid in the next year of my travels I took the plunge and decided the hubby was right.

My friends and family are ahead of the game when it comes to Sat Nav's and between them they have nearly every brand of Sat Nav going. The downside to this is the conflicting reviews and opinions of which ones are good and which ones aren't. I decided that I would do my own bit of research on various review websites and check prices and then make a decision based on that. I decided that all I wanted was a reasonably priced and reasonably basic Sat Nav. As long as it gets me from A-B I would be quite happy. Looking around the market I sadly realised that if you wanted to you could spend a small fortune on one and this prompted me to look at cheaper and maybe unheard of brands of Sat Nav. I cam across the Navman on Amazon and was pretty impressed with the 4.5 out of 5 star rating from reviewers. After reading the info it seemed like this was the one for me, cheap AND basic.

When I received the Sat Nav it was quite a small box and inside all you had was the Navman itself, a charger for your car, the suction mount for your windscreen and the paperwork. The guide book was pretty small but seemed to cover most areas but I decided (in my impatience) that I could figure it out for myself without reading the guide. Thankfully I was right. The unit itself is 13.7 cm (W) x 1.9 cm (D) x 8 cm (H) and is really light weighing in at only 0.15kg. The screen display is 4.3" wide and is surprisingly clear (resolution 480 x 272). It has a rechargeable Li-Ion battery with a life of around 3 hours and comes pre-loaded with Great Britain and Ireland Maps.

The unit is used by touch screen and the layout of the menus is very easy. You can decide to plot your route with places of interest, postcode, towns or roads. Also the places of interest you can personalise so that if you want to see all ATM's but not Golf Clubs you can choose to tick or un-tick the relevant boxes. The first journey I used it on involved Motorway driving and I was pleasantly surprised that not only does it give you clear spoken instructions as well as a 3D moving Map but it also specifies which exit to take and then reminds you a second time. Not only that but it also has safety camera warnings already pre-loaded on the machine. There is a choice of female or male voices to choose from but I ended up opting for the male voice because it seemed to be a little bit clearer than the female one. The maps are very clear and you can choose from 2D or 3D and the screen display also has the ability to change from day settings on your screen to night setting. This is done automatically unless you manually change this option.

All in all I cannot complain about one aspect of this Sat Nav and think it is incredible value for money. There are no complicated instructions, no need to do anything with software, everything comes pre-loaded, and most importantly it does the job. I am sure that there are many Sat Nav's that have far superior technology than this one but if all you want is a basic Sat Nav then this is the one for you.

Right, this s what you should know,

Pros,

1)The sat nav works fast and does the job, No fancy stuff like altering the route to traffic or anything like that, no blue tooth either.

2)You have more than one colour theme for the map to find the most comfortable for you.

3)BIG screen. big touch screen buttons, not a problem to navigate.

4)In my opinion the best buy for that price range.

5) you can turn on and off the places of intrest that pop up on the map as you drive along. I only turn on petrol stations, traffic cameras and cash machines.

Cons,

1) Once you charge it the battery life is very short.
2) doesn't come with a usb cable only car charger.
3) no free subscription to map updates.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Not as Good as New Zealand Navman
This is a very different unit from the F20 or 635i that I bought from Navman - it exudes cheap. The very worst part is the on/off/reset switch which is none of the above. Read more

Published 13 months ago by Black Prince

4.0 out of 5 stars Good value for money
I found this device easy to use. It quickly acquires a satellite lock and rarely loses it (in tunnels is the only time I've noticed loss). Read more

Published 14 months ago by KAM

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a great Navigator
The navigator has wide screen and display is good.

Map is not upto date. In many places it asks you to take left or go straight. Read more

Published 14 months ago by Vijay

4.0 out of 5 stars Sound drivers mate
Multi positioning capability, easy to programme, very quick to reassess routes, English accent, only down side would be that the postcodes are not quite mapped. Read more

Published 15 months ago by Erratic traveller

1.0 out of 5 stars Buy a better one.
3 trips done so far, two on very well known routes to test it. Told to go straight on at busy junction where I needed to filter left, wrong junction numbers given at motorway... Read more

Published 19 months ago by R. E. Bush

4.0 out of 5 stars navman
Simple to use, great value. For city and country travel this little piece is a dream. Highly recommend it. Read more

Published 19 months ago by fento

2.0 out of 5 stars Shocking after-sales support from Mio (who took over Navman)
This is my second navman, the issue having been forced when Navman stopped producing updates and downloads for my old one. Read more

Published 20 months ago by Purple Dragon

4.0 out of 5 stars Good piece of kit
I got this Navman about a week ago and I must say I am impressed with it, after searching for months for a decent Sat nav for a good price I ended up choosing this one. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Mamun Roshed

5.0 out of 5 stars Great kit!
I ordered this item and it was delivered well within the expected time limit, so well done on that aspect. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Michael AG McNiven

5.0 out of 5 stars How easy is this ?!!
I was reluctant to buy a satnav but was bullied into it by my grown up children who have them. Im not really confident with new technology and thought I may not be able to use it... Read more

Published 22 months ago by Mrs. S. Horton

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