If my destination is a landmark, like a church or shopping centre, I usually need only give it the name of the place, and it's happy, but if I want someone's residence, it needs their postcode first (so when you ask your chum for his address, include that). Telling the TomTom where to go to can be a pain in the neck.

I had to tell it that I live around the corner. My street is a couple of years old, now, and the TomTom still doesn't know it's there. It isn't up-to-date on new roads, despite the fact that I plug it into my PC about once a week, so it can update. Still, I'm now at the point where I trust it to get me there, no matter how odd the route. It does occasionally pick an illogical route and I find myself driving along tiny country roads, and just when I am about to stop somewhere so I can fiddle with the TomTom, I discover that it really has led me in the right direction. I can set my preferences, such as No toll roads, or Always take the shortest route, and it obeys them. It doesn't change routes on me, and doesn't lead me into a field or the wrong way on a one-way street. No matter where I'm going, it gets me there. My ex-driving instructor recommended this particular TomTom, and I'm here to tell you that it is a godsend. So I did a lot of research online to find the right TomTom or Garmin doodad. Well, the Maps app on my mobile phone is annoying, if only because it ignores the route that I key into it, and defaults to the one it deems best, via toll roads. I returned to the UK from twenty six years abroad, a couple of years ago, and I never drove here until now so, as a new driver who needs to navigate to places where I've never been, some sort of GPS device is essential.

Tomtom start 42 updates free