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Which satnav is best?

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mad dog
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Which satnav is best?

Post by mad dog »

Morning gents.

I'm after a satnav. Haven't started looking into any yet but what ones do people have and which ones are good? Many thanks.

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by Ashers »

What's wrong with a map Dan?

I have a Tom Tom Start - £100.

Does the job and comes with road updates.

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by Oxford NZ »

I guess they are all much the same.
I have Navman in my 3 work vehicles. They are now three years old and still work well with no faults. The menu is easy to follow. I brought one on holiday with me and added European maps down loaded from the internet with no problems.
Map updates are easy ish but I have to take them and "hard wire" to the PC to do an update. Blue tooth would be good if and when I upgrade or replace.
Voice recognition for hands free use is not on my model but may also be usefull.
I am looking at a Garmin hand held with radio for use in the New Zealand back country.

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by unc.si. »

Google maps on your phone.

doesn't go out of date, works really well in any country, gives you spoken directions and its always with you.

You can buy a mount for your car so you can see the map. The only downside is that it uses your data, so if you're on a tight monthly allowance (or live somewhere with shit signal) then a standalone might be best. We do have a Garmin kicking around somewhere and it is actually better (ie bigger and easier to read) than the phone, but not used it for years. My car's got a built in one and the missus just finds it more convenient to use her phone than faff around with the garmin.

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by mad dog »

unc.si. wrote: 16 Sep 2017, 08:49 Google maps on your phone.

doesn't go out of date, works really well in any country, gives you spoken directions and its always with you.

You can buy a mount for your car so you can see the map. The only downside is that it uses your data, so if you're on a tight monthly allowance (or live somewhere with shit signal) then a standalone might be best. We do have a Garmin kicking around somewhere and it is actually better (ie bigger and easier to read) than the phone, but not used it for years. My car's got a built in one and the missus just finds it more convenient to use her phone than faff around with the garmin.
I do this but it kills my battery and eats data. Isn't prefer a window mounted sat nav that I take it I connect to my MacBook or a PC and update roads etc every so often. So that in 5 years it's not redundant.

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by mad dog »

unc.si. wrote: 16 Sep 2017, 08:49 Google maps on your phone.

doesn't go out of date, works really well in any country, gives you spoken directions and its always with you.

You can buy a mount for your car so you can see the map. The only downside is that it uses your data, so if you're on a tight monthly allowance (or live somewhere with shit signal) then a standalone might be best. We do have a Garmin kicking around somewhere and it is actually better (ie bigger and easier to read) than the phone, but not used it for years. My car's got a built in one and the missus just finds it more convenient to use her phone than faff around with the garmin.
Want to sell me the garmin then?

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by Ashers »

Be careful with Sat Nav on your phone though, they are currently looking into this as using your phone while driving.

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by mad dog »

Ashers wrote: 16 Sep 2017, 08:57 Be careful with Sat Nav on your phone though, they are currently looking into this as using your phone while driving.
Yes your right I remember hearing about that

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by Ashers »

mad dog wrote: 16 Sep 2017, 08:56
unc.si. wrote: 16 Sep 2017, 08:49 We do have a Garmin kicking around somewhere and it is actually better (ie bigger and easier to read) than the phone, but not used it for years. My car's got a built in one and the missus just finds it more convenient to use her phone than faff around with the garmin.
Want to sell me the garmin then?
Thought you would go for the 🐶 bollocks Dan with your £25k winnings.

Jessica's Sat Nav is over ten years old and still works a treat. Yes, some of the roads have changed, but it's perfect for a trip down to Newquay.

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by mad dog »

Ashers wrote: 16 Sep 2017, 09:01
mad dog wrote: 16 Sep 2017, 08:56
unc.si. wrote: 16 Sep 2017, 08:49 We do have a Garmin kicking around somewhere and it is actually better (ie bigger and easier to read) than the phone, but not used it for years. My car's got a built in one and the missus just finds it more convenient to use her phone than faff around with the garmin.
Want to sell me the garmin then?
Thought you would go for the 🐶 bollocks Dan with your £25k winnings.

Jessica's Sat Nav is over ten years old and still works a treat. Yes, some of the roads have changed, but it's perfect for a trip down to Newquay.
£43k mate. I'm tight plus I need to try and make it last longer than a year.

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by murf »

I've always used TomToms - no problems. Got one built into the car now but it isn't as good as my TomTom - I'm just too lazy to get that out and use it.....

Try and get speed camera updates included (unless you still drive that Nissan Micra so that would be unnecessary).

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by Striker »

I suppose that I'm stuck in the 20th century, but I honestly can't see the advantage of a sat nav over good maps. For one thing if you memorise the key moves from maps before you leave home, you can concentrate on driving.

In my experience there are only two occasions where maps prove inadequate. Firstly in busy urban areas when there are roadworks and diversions, usually solved by avoiding London. When this is unavoidable do a little bit of homework before leaving home to check for diversions/problems. The only time I've used a sat-nav was in Austraiia a couple of years ago when it failed the test as no one seemed to have told it about the latest roadworks and diversions around Perth.

The other occasion is if one is visiting semi articulate friends who can't describe exactly where their own house is, let alone describe accurately how to get there. I've also found that a downside of sat-navs is that the younger generation are poorer at both providing directions and finding their way somewhere by themselves due to an over reliance on sat-navs.

If the day ever comes where I'd have been far better off with a sat-nav maybe I'll change my mind, but until then Long Live Sat-Nav Luddites.

P.S. There's a real beauty about some maps, they're interesting and often fascinating. I loved studying them as a kid. Around 9-10 years old during the school holidays, unbeknown to parents, I'd very occasionally go up to London with a couple of friends, and even the rather boring London A-Z was our friend. On one day we completed the children's I-Spy London book in a single day, that took planning with a map. With Sat-Navs, kids today don't know what they're missing!

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by murf »

I love maps, they are things of beauty but I long ago realised sat navs were invaluable for finding places you weren't familiar with. I relied on them totally to find sites when I was working, although I made sure I knew the gist of the route and the main roads I was taking initially. Would never dream of using GPS when walking on the fells, love my maps.

Sat navs have the advantage of giving you a target time for arrival!

(my sat nav also failed me the first time I used it abroad, not really its fault though as there were 2 streets with the same name and my hotel was on the other one... The French :roll: )

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by Ashers »

When we normally head for or holidays, Jessica will always take the map book and compare this to the route the Sat Nav is taking. 90% of the time, Jessica will find a quicker route than the Sat Nav or finds the Sat Nav is just following main roads.

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by jpk »

Jessica sounds like the man my dad thinks he is

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by Vid »

You've got this far without needing one, do you actually need one now? Will spending a couple of hundred quid work out cheaper than buying more data as and when you need it along with a car charger and mount for your phone? If you are travelling to new places frequently then they can be very useful as a driver aid, but don't trust them completely, plan ahead and use your eyes and brain, if the suggested turn doesn't look right then don't take it!

Most people place their sat-navs in what are actually illegal positions, don't see any getting pulled but if you should be involved in an incident it may count against you.

Are you planning to change you car in the next year or two? Might be worth considering a car with one in-built. More limited than the stand alone ones, but already in a sensible position and should do a good enough job for you.

If you are set on buying one, first thing to consider is screen size, is your eyesight good enough for a smaller screen, is your windscreen big enough to position a larger screen so that you can see it and not obstruct your view of the road? Does the display suit you? Live traffic is all well and good as long as it doesn't decide to tell you that there is heavy congestion until after you're already trapped in it!

As Striker says, you should know which roads you're going to use to get to the place you're heading for before you leave home, sat-navs are handy for the last half mile or so rather than stopping to consult an A-Z (or google maps) along with remaining distance and ETA.

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by mad dog »

I need something for the wedding car business. I do the routes the week before but it's nice to have something just to reassure you. Most of the places are deep in rural Norfolk so there's no signal on my phone and I've never been to these remote places before. Plus need to know timings etc etc house to church, church to reception venue

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by robot »

Cant teally understand people spending hundreds on sat navs when google maps is just as good.
Does the signal really matter once the route is in offline?

Be suprised if they were banned from being used even if correctly mounted.

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by mad dog »

robot wrote: 16 Sep 2017, 23:48 Cant teally understand people spending hundreds on sat navs when google maps is just as good.
Does the signal really matter once the route is in offline?

Be suprised if they were banned from being used even if correctly mounted.
Problem is I'll get to the birds house to get the bride ok then there's no signal so I can't then do from the birds house to church.

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by robot »

mad dog wrote: 16 Sep 2017, 23:51
robot wrote: 16 Sep 2017, 23:48 Cant teally understand people spending hundreds on sat navs when google maps is just as good.
Does the signal really matter once the route is in offline?

Be suprised if they were banned from being used even if correctly mounted.
Problem is I'll get to the birds house to get the bride ok then there's no signal so I can't then do from the birds house to church.
You can put more than one stop in on google maps.

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by mad dog »

Is that an app to download? I'm on iPhone and use maps.

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by Surprised »

try Herewego as app.
Its free and you can download maps so dont need internet when using them although if you want traffic updates you will

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by TheBigLewandowski »

I bought a Garmin SatNav from Halfords around a year ago for around £80 and it has served me well to date.
The only thing I wish it had was lane markings ie. which lane, for city driving. But I guess those are much more expensive?

Had tried google maps on my mobile a few times, but it really ate into my small data allowance, so not ideal!

Is there any way of using maps on your mobile that doesn't require eating away at your data? Like offline maps?

Many thanks chaps - great thread. :)

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Re: Which satnav is best?

Post by murf »

In case it is any interest, 20% off code for TomTom:

   -We are giving you-20% offApply Sept_20%_2017UK on TomTom products upon check out to get the discount.*
Only valid until Monday


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