I'm new to the sat nav game, considering an investment and a little swamped by google reviews.

I'm not too fussed about which brand, nor with it necessarily being the cheapest model around. The wishlist would be:
- reliability
- automatic safety camera updates if possible (not subscription based)
- decent European map detail
- bluetooth would be nice but not essential

I'd heard mention of the "Garmin Nuvi 265T", but I'm not married to the idea.

The device would predominantly be for the one car, but also to take on holidays too.

Does anyone have any advice for me?

You might be better off looking at a specialist GPS site. One that I can highly reccomend is PocketGPSWorld.com (UK based by the way).

They have a pretty comprehensive review section so you can get a feel for the various different makes and models. Plus user forums where you can see what real world issues there may be.

Garmin. TomTom and Navman are probably the big three. You would certainly find something in their ranges to suit i have no doubt.

I am a TomTom user and to answer your specific points on that make.

I've not had any serious relability issues. Which is just as well since, from personal experience, TomTom's customer service leaves a great deal to be desired!

You may struggle to find a free camera POI database. TomTom's own certainly isn't. The best one out there by several miles is the PocketGPSWorld one. This is subscription (a couple of quid a month I think). I use it but get it free because I contributed sites to them. They still offer free subscription if you submit a site to them so worth investigating.

TomTom own TeleAtlas, one of the major map suppliers so their maps should be pretty good. But they are never totally free of errors. Takes a while for maps to be updated so they are always out of date. And in some cases it has been known for "new" roads to take years to appear.

Various TomTom models have Bluetooth. This can be used for a number of functions. It can turn the tomTom into a handsfree kit for the mobile phone. Some models will even read SMS texts to you! If you subscribe to their data services you can get traffic and weather information downloads. Needs a phone with GPRS or similar data connection.

And you can also get TomToms with built in FM transmitters (like an iTrip for an iPod). So you can stream directions to your car radio if you want or even use the TomTom as an mp3 player streaming music to the car radio.

Garmin typically and historically rates at the top of most professional and user reviews. They have been at it longer than any other company and also make many very high end GPS systems for trail, maritime and aircraft. They also produce many other types of avionics products for aircraft and other electronics for maritime such as radars systems, electronic cockpits, transponders, autopilots, communication units, etc. None of the other sat nav companies have that kind of experience.

I've also never had a problem with mine, with both the hardware and the software, and neither have most people I know that own one. It has actually been the only modern portable electronic device that I have owned that has been 100% entirely trouble free. Garmin also has fantastic customer service. I'd definitely go with a Garmin.

I also forgot to mention that Garmin is the world leader in sat nav devices in terms of market share.

In third place should be Magellan, another pioneer, along with Garmin, of personal GPS units.

In case it matters to the OP both Garmin and Magellan are both American based companies while Tom Tom is Dutch

But try finding Magellan on the "High Street". A random dip into the more well known retailers shows that they don't stock that brand.

I wouldn't like to swear to it but I suspect the likes of PC World/Currys, Halfords, Comet and even Tesco between them shift a significant proportion of the Sat Navs sold in the UK and none of them stock Magellan.

I was strictly commenting on who the top manufacturers are.

Thanks to all for your help, think I've settled on the Garmin and I can stretch to the monthly outlays for the safety camera updates from pocketgpsworld too.

Thanks all