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I have had a 3970 with a Navman 3850 jacket for about a year
It's been reasonably reliable though it has an odd moment every now and again, taking me off a motorway at a junction then straght back on again, or worse taking me off at a junction, back down the motorway the other way then off at the next junction to go back the way I was originally going. Very odd.
Map accuracy can be surprising both ways. A relatively new one way system or traffic control barrier is there whereas a feature which has obviously been around for years is not and it's hard to find another way around. If you choose shortest route be prepared to go across country. It will take you down tracks which may officially be roads but are scary in a Land Rover. If you're towing a trailer or caravan always tell it to pick the fastest route!
The map package is good value with all the European stuff bundled in and my short forays into France show them to be pretty good.
Getting the iPaq in it's jacket fixed to the screen so you can see the screen, see the road around it, getting the power adapter lead into it and have the arial able to recieve is not always easy. It's even more difficult to arrange everything when cycling or walking around, you have to hold the whole lot in your hand which looks OTT. Battery life is about 3 hours and when it's gone the organiser is gone too. A seperate reciever with a bluetooth connection must make life so much easier. The battery life is probably about the same for the reciever but you only need to have the organiser on from time to time, though I wonder how many car adaptors you can run if you're in the car.
There is no way to transfer your favourites to another machine if you upgrade, it all has to be put in again manually.
You can't use the excellent iPaq screen protector which is a pain if you try to put it in a bag while it's on to keep the signal.
Every kind of add on, for example speed camera databases, places of interest, seem to come in a format which can easily be loaded into Tom Tom software. I have yet to find anything which will work with Navman software.
If that looks like a recommendation for a bluetooth GPS then you'd be right. I shall be looking for a bluetooth package soon, maybe check out the Tom Tom set up or find something which will work with the Navman software. If you want to buy a second hand Navman jacket.....
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