New Sat Nav help please

koolpc

koolpc

koolpc

Soldato
Joined
2 Dec 2004
Posts
14,613
Location
Under The Desk, Wales
Guys, i have an old navman (Approx 7yrs old) and it costs me a fair bit to update maps etc as they are not free with this unit. Now, it will cost me £80 to update the maps etc this year as i need european and safety cameras.

I was thinking, wouldnt it be better if i buy a new Sat nav that has unlimited lifetime maps?

If so, any recommendations? Cheap but good. Also, i prefer a dedicated satnav rather than on my small screen smart phone. Thanks


This one any good:

http://www.halfords.com/technology/sat-nav/car-sat-nav/garmin-nuvi-56-lm-eu-5-sat-nav#tab3
 
Has anybody used that Garmin 2508 that daffy linked? I've been looking for a new sat nav and that's my no1 option atm for features & price.
 
TomTom 6000. After buying myself one I'm about to order 30 odd for my drivers. Although by the looks of it ,it a bit more than you wanted to spend
 
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mattyg said:
TomTom 6000. After buying myself one I'm about to order 30 odd for my drivers. Although by the looks of it ,it a bit more than you wanted to spend
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Thank you. Yes, it is a little more. To be honest, the one i linked to looks to have roughly the same specs.
 
Car satnavs in any given price range tend to have similar specs, it's all down to personal preference.

All the drivers in my yard have either snooper or garmin truck/coach satnavs.

Tomtom tend not to do well in truck/coach sales as they cost far too much compared to a similar specced snooper or garmin model
 
I'm more of a fan of phone nav apps.

Tomtom's Go Mobile app for Android has 95% of the Function of a Tomtom Go 6000 and it's less than £40 for 3 years (only missing voice control and mapshare really). Includes worldwide map updates, live traffic and speed cameras for the subscription duration. There is limited free use if you want to try it out but that only allows about 50 miles per month. Alternatively you can use this free time to decide if you'd like a Tomtom Go satnav. The user experience is nearly identical.

Alternatively Route 66 Navigate for Android or IOS is about £17.99 for UK navigation. That's for a permanent licence. Map updates are guarenteed for 2 years but in reality that's just to cover their rolling agreement with Tomtom for their maps. Previous users have received map updates beyond two years. You'll continue to get updates as long as Route 66 are able to license the maps. Traffic and speed cameras are £7.99 each for a 1 year subscription. It all uses the same data as Tomtom. It has a free 30 day trial so you can see if you like it before paying.

These apps offer the best traffic info and routing on the market. Navigate is a little more versatile for traffic, letting you add your own roadblocks to supplement the live traffic data (inevitably the live data misses some local roadworks and closures). Tomtom Go is slicker overall and reacts a little faster to changing traffic condtions

If you're not bothered about the traffic updates etc, Here Maps is decent, free and has some traffic data for major roads (similar what you'd get with a Garmin satnav). Here / Garmin traffic picks up some road closures that Tomtom misses (local authority roads not covered by Highways England) but the overall road coverage and accuracy of jam locations is considerably worse. There's always Google Maps too, if you don't mind the additional data use. Google's traffic data is more detailed than Here / Garmin but doesn't cover as many roads as Tomtom.

If you want an actual Satnav, and would like live traffic, consider a Tomtom Go 40 or 400. You'll need to link them to your phone via bluetooth but they are a fair bit cheaper than the Go 5000 or 6000. As a regular on Tomtom's forums I'd warn against the 5000 and 6000. They use a vodaphone 2G modem and Vodaphone's 2G infrastructure is creaking in the UK, with regular outages. The effect on Tomtom satnavs is the traffic info drops out in busy areas at peak times (i.e exaclty when the traffic data would be most useful). The smartphone apps and smartphone linked satnavs are only limited by your phone's reception.
 
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If you have a modern phone then just get an app and screen mount for it, if you have a Windows phone then Lumia Drive is better than any standalone Sat Nav these days plus it's 100% free. For IOS/Android Navfree is excellent.
 
ubersonic said:
If you have a modern phone then just get an app and screen mount for it, if you have a Windows phone then Lumia Drive is better than any standalone Sat Nav these days plus it's 100% free. For IOS/Android Navfree is excellent.
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Is the signal free?
 
PAYG on 3 is a penny a megabyte with 150mb free when you top up a fiver. The credit lasts indefinitely but the free data will do after 30 days.

If you use a navigation app with no live services and offline maps, and download the app / maps on wi-fi, it is free (aside from the actual handset). Run the phone in airplane mode and you can be certain it will use no data.

Data for live traffic on something like Tomtom Go or Route 66 Navigate is about a megabyte per hour of driving. Something like google maps will use more.
 
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koolpc said:
I was asking if the satnav app uses data allowance.
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Oh, nope, phones have GPS built in like standalone sat navs. It probably would use a small bit of data if you wanted live traffic updates but they are generally useless for all sat navs anyway, "there is congestion ahead on this motorway, would you like me to reroute you around it via goat tracks for X miles?" lol.
 
ubersonic said:
Oh, nope, phones have GPS built in like standalone sat navs. It probably would use a small bit of data if you wanted live traffic updates but they are generally useless for all sat navs anyway, "there is congestion ahead on this motorway, would you like me to reroute you around it via goat tracks for X miles?" lol.
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Briiliant! Thanks as i didnt know that. So i can use my Lumia if need be as i have downloaded a Map for Italy. Just activate GPS!
 
I'd recommend a Garmin after recently getting one in a deal, I've used my TomTom for years but the Garmin is loads better.
I have a Lumia as well but wouldn't want that rattling about on my bike & the screen is well small compared to my Garmin as its WS.
 
4T5 said:
I'd recommend a Garmin after recently getting one in a deal, I've used my TomTom for years but the Garmin is loads better.
I have a Lumia as well but wouldn't want that rattling about on my bike & the screen is well small compared to my Garmin as its WS.
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You are right. Just tried the Lumia and not that impressed. I will get the Garmin i linked to. Cheers
 
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