Which satnav?

LCPete

LCPete

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Morning all, we've decided that we need a new satnav after getting lost in Manchester last night!
Am using an old garmin 360 which is great as it can take OS grid references but it took ages to get a signal and the directions were carp it got a bit confused
as far as I know none of the new satnavs can take OS grid references so will have to still use the garmim 360 for my nature reserve trips
am looking to spend around £100 but dont mind spending more if its worth it
just want something thats easy to use with a reasonable size screen:)
 
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We were just after something cheap for 3 weeks in the US. We already have a TomTom for the UK which I need for my job(My wife and daughter are going, I'm working).
Hiring is $15/day.
Garmin get pretty good reviews though I've never used one.
The TomTom we have is basic, but it works. No daft routes as sometimes happens with satnavs.
 
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Mag1cp2x said:
A TomTom XL with Western Europe map has never let me down, neither in towns nor countryside, had it for years.
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Thanks Graeme sounds just what I'm looking for:)
 
I just use Waze on my phone. Great, fast and very useful. Even got me to a location in a UN controlled de militarised zone where no commercial Satnav had maps. Very impressed by it.
 
dejongj said:
I just use Waze on my phone. Great, fast and very useful. Even got me to a location in a UN controlled de militarised zone where no commercial Satnav had maps. Very impressed by it.
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Thanks jp I did think about a phone app but unfortunately in North Wales the phone network isn't very good so would probably struggle
 
Am looking at the tom tom start 25 which is the replacement for the tom tom xl it looks just like job:)
also the go 6000 looks good
 
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LCPete said:
Thanks jp I did think about a phone app but unfortunately in North Wales the phone network isn't very good so would probably struggle
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I use copilot on my phone, you download the maps so it doesn't need a phone connection after that :)
 
GPS.
LCPete said:
Thanks jp I did think about a phone app but unfortunately in North Wales the phone network isn't very good so would probably struggle
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daugirdas said:
google maps on your android. Standalone things have been obsolete for over 3 years in my view.
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Sat Nav on the phone should use the GPS signal. Google maps on a phone needs a data connection to find a route. When I go abroad, I don't have data roaming everywhere, so Google maps is useless. Tom Tom and Navigon apps on the other hand are proper sat nav, that will work without a data connection. And they are excellent. Alternatively get the free OSMand for Android.
 
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LCPete said:
Thanks jp I did think about a phone app but unfortunately in North Wales the phone network isn't very good so would probably struggle
Click to expand...

mrgubby said:
I use copilot on my phone, you download the maps so it doesn't need a phone connection after that :)
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Same with Sygic, which I use on Android.

fabs said:
So how does the app know where you are if there is no phone signal?
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The phone apps will use any available means of determining your location - GPS, telephone signal data, wifi, etc.

daugirdas said:
google maps on your android. Standalone things have been obsolete for over 3 years in my view.
Click to expand...
.. unless you get an incoming call at a critical junction. I've had that a couple of times and ended up taking the scenic route. Satnav apps on phones have a habit of switching the screen to the call screen when you receive a call. Unless I've missed an option somewhere to prevent this, in which case I'd be grateful for a pointer on how to change this behaviour.
 
Have used the TomTom Go series for quite a few years and find they always work very well :)
 
mrgubby said:
I use copilot on my phone, you download the maps so it doesn't need a phone connection after that :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Brian I'm sure that copilot works well but I just want the simplicity and ease of use of a satnav:)
 
daugirdas said:
google maps on your android. Standalone things have been obsolete for over 3 years in my view.
Click to expand...


Thanks I know you're right but do want the ease of use of a satnav plus it's for the wife too and the screen on her mobile is quite small
 
ianp5a said:
GPS.

Sat Nav on the phone should use the GPS signal. Google maps on a phone needs a data connection to find a route. When I go abroad, I don't have data roaming everywhere, so Google maps is useless. Tom Tom and Navigon apps on the other hand are proper sat nav, that will work without a data connection. And they are excellent. Alternatively get the free OSMand for Android.
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Agreed, although international roaming is cheap now, especially in Europe and in some contracts around the world. I was able to use my minutes, texts and data from the UK. I do have copilot for those times I can't get any signal. But as I found out for my trip last week none of the commercial providers had maps. So my phone came to the rescue.

Wales can be tough indeed, I remember running a project where we had to put dual bearers at different frequencies in the vehicles in addition to the tetra system as well.

I would not buy a personal navigation device these days. Even a cheap sim free Nokia phone with the excellent here maps is better. And most will download the route before you set off and as long as you don't deviate too much it will be fine even when you loose mobile phone signal.
 
LCPete said:
Thanks Brian I'm sure that copilot works well but I just want the simplicity and ease of use of a satnav:)
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Oops sorry didn't see this :)
 
Thanks everyone for the help very much appreciated and it does sound like using a phone app with GPS is a viable option but I'm still going to go for a dedicated satnav mainly for ease of use and I'm often on my own when going out with my camera and I don't want to be faffing with the phone while driving
I did try a phone app to navigate a couple of years ago when my mate and I went down south on a trip
the app didn't work very well and we ended up doing it the old fashioned way with a map, we did find the site but it was more luck than judgment!
 
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My phone has guided me around Barcelona, Tuscany, Iceland and even Wales ...

But my wife will not use a Satnav or a phone, she prefers to stop & study paper maps :(
 
LCPete said:
Thanks everyone for the help very much appreciated and it does sound like using a phone app with GPS is a viable option but I'm still going to go for a dedicated satnav mainly for ease of use and I'm often on my own when going out with my camera and I don't want to be faffing with the phone while driving
I did try a phone app to navigate a couple of years ago when my mate and I went down south on a trip
the app didn't work very well and we ended up doing it the old fashioned way with a map, we did find the site but it was more luck than judgment!
Click to expand...

Ease of use, I'd go with the previous suggestions of a standalone TomTom unit, the UI is still the easiest to use and the simplest to input details IMO.

Phone wise, TomTom on iPhone is very close and the new Nokia Here app for Android is pretty good (Nokia acquired Navteq which is the basis of Nokia mapping, same maps are used by Garmin) it's also free for Android. Both are standalone and don't need data or a phone signal to work.
 
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Use a TomTom in my company car have used them for 10 years+
 
Just bought my 3rd Garmin, this one has free live traffic updates that actually work, has diverted me round a few traffic holdup recently.
It does have a walking mode, which I'll check out for you tomorrow, it's in the car atm.
Also has voice control so you don't need to touch it when driving and will bluetooth to your phone, but my car radio does that.

Talking to the guy in Halfords when I got it, it seems that some of the cheaper TOMTOM units that do traffic do it via an app on moble phones,
Garmin do it via the satelite connection
 
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I use CoPilot on an old android phone as a dedicated sat nav, no problems with it apart from it's wanting to always use the main roads when there's a perfectly good and shorter side road available.
 
Gremlin said:
Garmin do it via the satelite connection
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Sorry to say that sounds like salesman gibberish to sell the item he/she has been told to push.

There is no data downlink from the (US military owned) GPS satellite system.

They all work via an FM signal or data connection (either inbuilt or via a phone) for any traffic system.
 
Dave1 said:
Sorry to say that sounds like salesman gibberish to sell the item he/she has been told to push.

There is no data downlink from the (US military owned) GPS satellite system.

They all work via an FM signal or data connection (either inbuilt or via a phone) for any traffic system.
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They sell either, and I never asked to look at the TOMTOM because I prefer Garmin.
You have to use the cable that comes with the system as the one from my older unit wouldn't connect to the traffic data.
Not totally sure how it works, but on Friday traffic on the M25 was backed up to the M4 turning and it took me off the motorway
but nothing being said on the radio, it wasn't till quite a bit later as I was rejoining the A3 that they said a transporter was blocking one lane of the M3
causing the tailbacks :thinking:
It then took me off the A3 round Guildford and when we went back over it a short while after traffic was queued there too so no idea where it gets info from
but it works for me (y)
I know in the past I have turned it on and home to travel 100 miles and it gives me any problems along the entire route including a couple of partially flooded
roads down to one lane, so it can't be just local radio because to be honest I have a rubbish reception in car at home
 
Gremlin said:
They sell either, and I never asked to look at the TOMTOM because I prefer Garmin.
You have to use the cable that comes with the system as the one from my older unit wouldn't connect to the traffic data.
Not totally sure how it works, but on Friday traffic on the M25 was backed up to the M4 turning and it took me off the motorway
but nothing being said on the radio, it wasn't till quite a bit later as I was rejoining the A3 that they said a transporter was blocking one lane of the M3
causing the tailbacks :thinking:
It then took me off the A3 round Guildford and when we went back over it a short while after traffic was queued there too so no idea where it gets info from
but it works for me (y)
I know in the past I have turned it on and home to travel 100 miles and it gives me any problems along the entire route including a couple of partially flooded
roads down to one lane, so it can't be just local radio because to be honest I have a rubbish reception in car at home
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong, Garmin does have a traffic data system, it just isn't powered via the GPS satellites, none of the satnav systems are as the GPS system just doesn't do that, not even for its actual owners.

The capacity to provide a live data downlink to every satnav user of a system would tax (if even possible) a full blown telecoms satellite, let alone the GPS satellite system.
 
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My garmin satnav works off radio info.
The tomtom built into the mx5 works off a built in 3G/ data modem
 
Gremlin said:
Just bought my 3rd Garmin, this one has free live traffic updates that actually work, has diverted me round a few traffic holdup recently.
It does have a walking mode, which I'll check out for you tomorrow, it's in the car atm.
Also has voice control so you don't need to touch it when driving and will bluetooth to your phone, but my car radio does that.

Talking to the guy in Halfords when I got it, it seems that some of the cheaper TOMTOM units that do traffic do it via an app on moble phones,
Garmin do it via the satelite connection
Click to expand...

Thanks Ingrid I didn't realise that Garmin still made a satnav with walking mode, with my old Garmin 360 I can put in ordnance survey grid references would be handy to get a new one that did this but it's not essential though I could still use old one for the odd occasion that I use a grid reference to navigate
occasionally sites for butterflies are quoted as OS grid references
 
The TomTom XL is very good, i bought a recon from there refurb store.

I prefer a full fat GPS Sat Nav as the screen is better and it can stay in the car allways also the discrete windscreen mount for the XL is very good.

Also the wife always knows where to find it and how to use it :-)
 
Mr Bump said:
The TomTom XL is very good, i bought a recon from there refurb store.

I prefer a full fat GPS Sat Nav as the screen is better and it can stay in the car allways also the discrete windscreen mount for the XL is very good.

Also the wife always knows where to find it and how to use it :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Paul that's part of the reason for wanting a dedicated unit the wife and I can both use it and the screen on her mobile is a bit small to use as a satnav easily
 
I've got a phone cradle in the car. I spend lots of time driving so hands free etc is important.

(The phone / steering wheel isn't that close, just a weird photo)

brodit.jpg
 
That does look neat it's in a better position than my sat nav cradle
 
Gremlin said:
Just bought my 3rd Garmin, this one has free live traffic updates that actually work, has diverted me round a few traffic holdup recently.
It does have a walking mode, which I'll check out for you tomorrow, it's in the car atm.
Also has voice control so you don't need to touch it when driving and will bluetooth to your phone, but my car radio does that.

Talking to the guy in Halfords when I got it, it seems that some of the cheaper TOMTOM units that do traffic do it via an app on moble phones,
Garmin do it via the satelite connection
Click to expand...
Do you have to pay a monthly fee for the traffic update service?
 
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