Can you read a map?

If not, you need a satellite navigation system for your car! I've spent a little a bit of time over the last few weeks setting up TomTom Mobile in my car. This is me we're talking about, so I tried to do it without spending too much of my hard earned cash.

What do you need?

Firstly you'll need a nice Series 60 smart phone. I have a fantastic Nokia N70 which is perfect for the job.

You'll also need something to attach you're phone to your car. I had a load of trouble finding a good quality mounting bracket that I could attach to the car without drilling any holes. In the end I bought a RAM suction mount. For this I needed a RAM Universal Phone Cradle and a Twist-lock Suction Mount. It's a very good solid mounting bracket.

Then you'll need a Bluetooth GPS unit. I have a Holux GPSlim 236 which works pretty well. The batteries last for ages and it seems to get a better signal than my old Garmin eTrex Legend.

Last but not least you'll need some software. This is the expensive bit, there are usually a few people on eBay selling the TomTom Mobile software by itself. You can also buy it direct from TomTom complete with a nice little Bluetooth GPS. If you're feeling less honest, there's always BitTorremt.

What do I Think?

It's pretty damn good! TomTom seems to come up with about the same route that I would using a map. It also gives you pretty reasonable spoken instructions and a map at every junction just in case you need more information.

The main problem I've found so far is that it doesn't always know enough about junctions. On one occasion it told me to "bear left" when really it meant "turn left off the road". It also gets confused by some of London's crazy round-abouts (so do I) and gives you completely rubbish spoken instructions. This kind of thing can be a bit of a surprise if you don't happen to be looking at the on-screen map. There's also the fact that it'll run down the batteries on the phone very quickly, if you don't have a car charger you'll need one for long journeys.

Despite the shortcomings I'm very happy with it. It's much less stressful than getting my lovely passenger to read the map.