'Best' GPS app for android?

[IC3]

I think we should have a poll for best Nav app, which doesnt need a internet connection to be able to work.
Live traffic is definitively a good function that will save you some time, but if for any reason you connection goes down you are screwed... That's why I will always have GPS app with maps saved on SD card.


So which GPS is best to just navigate you around the best routes with voice navigations and will work offline?

 

[Uriel]

Has anyone tried both copilot and tomtom on android? I have copilot but until recently I also had a standalone tomtom device. But as it has broken yet again I refuse to buy more hardware from them. I do however prefer their software, particularly their live navigation.

So is tomtom worth buying over copilot that I already have? How close is it to their standalone units?

I've used both. Tomtom on Android is basically the same as a Nav3 Live unit like the Go1000 or GO945, but lacks mapshare and a couple of other features.

The latest Tomtom units are based on Nav4 / Navkit (e.g. Go 400, 500, 600, 5000, 6000). Tomtom will shortly be launching another app based on this API. At the moment it's only available in Italy though. The new app is separate from the older ones so existing users will not get an upgrade. It will be available on a 'freemium' basis, so you get 70km a month free. Any more than that, you need to subscribe but it will include traffic etc (which is extra for the current app).

Comparing the two, while I prefer some of CoPilot's route planning features, Tomtom is far superior for routing, traffic avoidance and voice directions.

 

[IC3]

Comparing the two, while I prefer some of CoPilot's route planning features, Tomtom is far superior for routing, traffic avoidance and voice directions.

Which of the GPS apps you used so far, would you recommend to someone just looking for the best/fastest routing, voice navigations and that will work offline?
There are simply too many GPS apps on the market...

 

[Rimsy]

occasionally use google maps / nav for driving (if not in my own car) and viewranger for mountain biking / walking / anything not on roads.

 

[Participant]

Google Maps in the UK, Nav Free abroad when I don't want to get raped on my data allowance.

When will data charges abroad start to become reasonable .

Edit - just looked on Virgin Mobile. 250MB of data over a maximum of 30 days costs £20. Not worth it just to use Google Maps, and I don't think 250MB would last all that long on holiday when navigation gets used quite a lot.

I've got a standalone TomTom IQ Routes, but it's poor compared to Google Maps imo, and my phone has a much better screen and is way more convenient.

 

[Hades]

I've used both. Tomtom on Android is basically the same as a Nav3 Live unit like the Go1000 or GO945, but lacks mapshare and a couple of other features.

The latest Tomtom units are based on Nav4 / Navkit (e.g. Go 400, 500, 600, 5000, 6000). Tomtom will shortly be launching another app based on this API. At the moment it's only available in Italy though. The new app is separate from the older ones so existing users will not get an upgrade. It will be available on a 'freemium' basis, so you get 70km a month free. Any more than that, you need to subscribe but it will include traffic etc (which is extra for the current app).

Comparing the two, while I prefer some of CoPilot's route planning features, Tomtom is far superior for routing, traffic avoidance and voice directions.

Thanks.

 

[Richy888]

My first impressions of Sygic were initially very good, but soon I realised that the routing system is extremely poor.

While Sygic uses Tomtom maps, it doesn't use their speed profile data or speed limits for routing. It assigns predicted speed based on road type on the map. In urban areas this results in a pathological attraction for A roads. Rather than planning a sensible fastest route, it will send you on the most direct route to an A road possible - even if the A road is 30mph and riddled with traffic lights. While it's not bad for initial route planning around traffic, it is basically rubbish should anything change once you've started your journey (Tomtom and Route 66 Navigate are pretty seamless).

About 2 years ago Sygic announced on their forums that they would implement Tomtom's IQRoutes/Speed Profiles at some point. As far as I know, this still hasn't been done yet. If and when they get around to it, Sygic will deserve a reassessment.

I did like the graphics and voice directions though.

Having read this thread the other day I thought I'd try Route 66 as it has a months demo. I've not been far but initial impressions seem ok. I like the cleaner graphics when navigating, compared to Sygic and the overhead view when you slow for roundabouts and junctions. I've been using Sygic but never bothered with traffic subscription as some say its not all that good. Anyone tell me how it works? Does it need user interaction? Sygic as purely satnav and no traffic has worked OK in the main though it's interface can be a little clunky and some suggested routes aren't maybe the best where I have local knowledge.

Only prob I've run into with Route 66 (android Moto X) is I always connect my phone to vehicle head unit via bluetooth for hands free. With Sygic you can force it to use the phone speaker when connected via BT. Only way I can have voice instructions from Route 66 is to put the Alpine headunit into BT Audio mode. This means I can't then listen to the radio? Is there such an option in Route 66? Other option is to disconnect the blue tooth then it uses phone speaker just fine.

With Route 66 I've not run into any delays that would require a re route by the sat nav. Does Route 66 reroute without user input? How good is their speedcam database? I generally use CamerAlert.

 

[Uriel]

Sygic and Route 66 both use the same traffic information from Tomtom.

Sygic requires user input to divert around the traffic both at route planning stage and during driving.

Route 66 can be set to either ignore traffic, ask the user about diversions (requiring a screen tap) or automatically divert around traffic during driving. If set to automatically divert there is an audio prompt saying something like "a faster route has been detected" and the proposed diversion is shown on screen with a countdown of 20 seconds. If the user doesn't cancel, it will switch to the proposed route.

For initial planning, Route 66 plans the fastest route including live traffic delays and then offers up to 3 alternative routes. It's perhaps a bit of a bug, but if you have automatic rerouting set up it will switch back to the fastest route even if you select a different way.

During route planning, Sygic calculates routes and then compares them with live traffic and you can select one. If there's a lot of traffic the routes are nowhere near as efficient as route 66.

I've never used a satnav app with bluetoooth audio so can't comment on that.

I've not used the Route 66 speed cameras since the free trial back in October (it's £7.49 per year in app) so can't really comment on it. They get their data from Tomtom so it will be the same as Tomtom's.

Edit: Yesterday I drove past a closed road (the A61 Dronfield bypass near sheffield). Route 66/ Tomtom HD Traffic correctly picked up congestion northbound (reopened after an accident) but not the southbound closure that remained. Thankfully I was going north so was diverted around it. If I'd been going south it would have sent me directly into the closure. I checked Navigon (I still have a traffic subscription for that) and it showed both sides as closed (which they had been an hour or two earlier). Just goes to show you can't get it right all the time. Actual road closures is a bit of a weakness with Tomtom traffic, unless you happen to be on the strategic road network (motorways and main A Road data given to TT by the HA) or in London (they get TfL data). The vast majority of the time TT traffic does a better job than other options for me.

 

[Cuchulain]

Copilot live for me, can use it on any device as it's based on a user account login rather than paying for the app. upfront. Had it on a windows phone and Android tablet together, now on iOS and an android tablet.

 

[Uriel]

I'd not realised about the user account thing for Co-Pilot. I have a Co-Pilot account but haven't used it for a couple of years.

Is traffic redirection while driving fully automated now or do you still have to button-press?

 

[Richy888]

Sygic and Route 66 both use the same traffic information from Tomtom.

Sygic requires user input to divert around the traffic both at route planning stage and during driving.

Route 66 can be set to either ignore traffic, ask the user about diversions (requiring a screen tap) or automatically divert around traffic during driving. If set to automatically divert there is an audio prompt saying something like "a faster route has been detected" and the proposed diversion is shown on screen with a countdown of 20 seconds. If the user doesn't cancel, it will switch to the proposed route.

For initial planning, Route 66 plans the fastest route including live traffic delays and then offers up to 3 alternative routes. It's perhaps a bit of a bug, but if you have automatic rerouting set up it will switch back to the fastest route even if you select a different way.

During route planning, Sygic calculates routes and then compares them with live traffic and you can select one. If there's a lot of traffic the routes are nowhere near as efficient as route 66.

I've never used a satnav app with bluetoooth audio so can't comment on that.

I've not used the Route 66 speed cameras since the free trial back in October (it's £7.49 per year in app) so can't really comment on it. They get their data from Tomtom so it will be the same as Tomtom's.

Edit: Yesterday I drove past a closed road (the A61 Dronfield bypass near sheffield). Route 66/ Tomtom HD Traffic correctly picked up congestion northbound (reopened after an accident) but not the southbound closure that remained. Thankfully I was going north so was diverted around it. If I'd been going south it would have sent me directly into the closure. I checked Navigon (I still have a traffic subscription for that) and it showed both sides as closed (which they had been an hour or two earlier). Just goes to show you can't get it right all the time. Actual road closures is a bit of a weakness with Tomtom traffic, unless you happen to be on the strategic road network (motorways and main A Road data given to TT by the HA) or in London (they get TfL data). The vast majority of the time TT traffic does a better job than other options for me.

Cheers

I do quite like Route 66 over Sygic. Full screen interface when in navigation mode is uncluttered with just the info required (by me anyway). Options are thin on the ground but that can be a good thing at times Not very keen on Sygics black bar with info on it taking up around 1/3rd of the screen.

If I divert off route Route 66 quietly and very swiftly recalculates a route. Seems a lot faster then Sygic in this respect.

How often do they issue map updates?

Bluetooth audio isn't a big issue. With Sygic there is an option to 'always use phone speaker' so instructions are routed through it when connected via BT to vehicle headunit. Route 66 has no option and when connected via BT phone speaker is switched off and sound sent to the headunit. Of course if headunit is switched to BT audio streaming mode then voice is available through car speakers but then you can't listen to The Archers and The Shipping Forecast All this said I usually just mute voice instructions anyway!

 

[Tim_T]

Google Maps

 

[Uriel]

Cheers

I do quite like Route 66 over Sygic. Full screen interface when in navigation mode is uncluttered with just the info required (by me anyway). Options are thin on the ground but that can be a good thing at times Not very keen on Sygics black bar with info on it taking up around 1/3rd of the screen.

If I divert off route Route 66 quietly and very swiftly recalculates a route. Seems a lot faster then Sygic in this respect.

How often do they issue map updates?

Bluetooth audio isn't a big issue. With Sygic there is an option to 'always use phone speaker' so instructions are routed through it when connected via BT to vehicle headunit. Route 66 has no option and when connected via BT phone speaker is switched off and sound sent to the headunit. Of course if headunit is switched to BT audio streaming mode then voice is available through car speakers but then you can't listen to The Archers and The Shipping Forecast All this said I usually just mute voice instructions anyway!

I actually complained to Route 66 customer services last month because there hadn't been a map update since I October. They apologised, saying they intended to do at least 2 per year and that I should expect one soon. Since then there have been two map updates, so not quite sure what was going on there.

 

[dbmzk1]

Google Maps

 

[Richy888]

Got to admit to using Google Maps of late over Sygic. Has a lot going for it and it's free Apart from being free it's the search function for a business or whatever that is very good. That said I've had some funny routing of late. Looking for a business that was about 4 miles away from where I was it routed another 2 miles to the journey by first setting me off in the wrong direction. Ignored it and it eventually Google re routed mid journey. Always a bit of common sense required Anyway took me to where the business postcode was and the trader wasn't there though one that was pointed me in the right direction. Turned out the postcode and the Google search were both about a mile out

I gave Route 66 a go this weekend to try out its traffic capabilities and got to say I was quite impressed. Routing was pretty spot on. Not long journeys but knew traffic would be heavy and had local knowledge of how to avoid and R66 was impressive. I'm still on a trail with R66 but it's looking more likely I'll drop Sygic.

 

[Uriel]

The routing is the main reason I don't use Google. I tend to use nav apps as traffic avoidance tools most of the time. I only occasionally use them to find where I'm going.

For long distance routes, and actually finding the place you're looking for, Google is fine. If you know an area well theough, the chances are Google will send you on less efficient routes than you could think up yourself. In urban areas with plenty of options, Google will often give some fairly silly routes. It's not as bad as Sygic though.

This isn't often the case with Route 66 and Tomtom. They both use Tomtom maps which include historic avarage speed profiles based on the time of day and day of the week in 15 minute blocks. This means , even before live traffic is taken into account, the two usually give a pretty good first stab at the most efficient route possible.

If I chose a different route to Route 66 / Tomtom it's usually down to personal preference - for example "that way may be slightly quicker but it has more speed bumps".

While Sygic uses Tomtom maps, it doesn't use the speed profile data. The routing and ETA calculations are just based on assumed speeds per road type.

Edit: Google usually seems to do its best to get you as close to your destination as possible using main roads. It will sometimes send you on 2 sides of a triangle on A and B roads rather than taking a fairly obvious direct route

 

[glenimp617]

Google Maps

it just works, unlike most other gps apps. Plus it doesn't fill my gallery with pics like navfree did

 

[Cuchulain]

I'd not realised about the user account thing for Co-Pilot. I have a Co-Pilot account but haven't used it for a couple of years.

Is traffic redirection while driving fully automated now or do you still have to button-press?

That I don't know unfortunately, nearest place it'd report any traffic would be Belfast and that's a good 70 miles from me.

 

[Luke]

I've been a long term user of CoPilot but recently I have been having issues with the app hanging during journeys and have been in conversation with support. They are the most useless company I've had to talk to. They initially fob you off with template reinstallation and activation instructions, then discuss things that have missed the point of the support ticket. Even now after the 5th email they are telling me their traffic service is designed for wifi and that the freezing is due to me using it with 3G which it wasn't designed for. It's a mobile phone application for goodness sake...

I'm going to give Route 66 a try.

 

[Luke]

Update on Route 66 - It is awful.

Roundabouts get pushed off the bottom of the screen so you can't actually see your exit until you have taken it. The interface is horrible and the routing is very simplistic.
Not for me I'm afraid.