Which Sat Nav?
Discussion
I want to buy a Sat Nav (never owned one before); mainly for the Mrs to use, and myself to occasionally use. The two main players appear to be Tom Tom and Garmin. Does anyone have any opinions on which manufacturer are best to go with? My Budget is £150. Does anyone use a does-it-all device that they can recommend?
Codswallop said:
Handy, I'm also looking for a sat-nav but my phone is up for renewal next month. Looks like a 4S + the TomTom app might be the way forward.Codswallop said:
Cods, thanks for that link. This could do with becoming a sticky thread. Mods?...WeirdNeville said:
If you have an HTC phone google nav literlaly does it all. Jsut get an in car adapter and cradle for the phone.
Turn by turn navigation, real time traffic, auto-dims at night... it's awesome for occasional sat nav use (and it's free).
I've got an HTC Desire, but for driving the TomTom works better. Not that there is anyything wrong with Google's satnav butTurn by turn navigation, real time traffic, auto-dims at night... it's awesome for occasional sat nav use (and it's free).
I prefer the Apple approach when driving, simple and it works.
tercelgold said:
WeirdNeville said:
If you have an HTC phone google nav literlaly does it all. Jsut get an in car adapter and cradle for the phone.
Turn by turn navigation, real time traffic, auto-dims at night... it's awesome for occasional sat nav use (and it's free).
I've got an HTC Desire, but for driving the TomTom works better. Not that there is anyything wrong with Google's satnav butTurn by turn navigation, real time traffic, auto-dims at night... it's awesome for occasional sat nav use (and it's free).
I prefer the Apple approach when driving, simple and it works.
I agree, a dedicated sat nav does things better, but for occasional use I think a smartphone+software is adequate for most. The cost of the apple solution put me right off when I had an iPhone - the Tomtom cradle and software was more than a cheap tom tom device.
Like I say, I only use it occasionally for work, but the HTC + google nav fulfills all my nav needs for free, which I like.
Most of the free phone nav apps download map data on the fly, which is fine until you don't have any signal or are driving abroad. Not sure but I believe google nav falls into that category although Nav Free on the iPhone doesn't, all the mapping is stored locally on the device so doesn't rely on any downloaded data.
Having used Nav Free, TomTom and Copilot all on the iPhone, TomTom is significantly more polished than either of the others IMHO, but for occasional use NavFree is sufficiently good that I wouldn't pay for anything else. You don't need the TomTom cradle to use TomTom on the iPhone, just the software which can be bought on special offer for about £30-40 every few months, I think I paid ~£45 for the Western Europe app, the only gripe I have is the mapping is one file so takes up around 2Gb of space compared with about 350Mb for the UK only version.
Having used Nav Free, TomTom and Copilot all on the iPhone, TomTom is significantly more polished than either of the others IMHO, but for occasional use NavFree is sufficiently good that I wouldn't pay for anything else. You don't need the TomTom cradle to use TomTom on the iPhone, just the software which can be bought on special offer for about £30-40 every few months, I think I paid ~£45 for the Western Europe app, the only gripe I have is the mapping is one file so takes up around 2Gb of space compared with about 350Mb for the UK only version.
Edited by LocoBlade on Saturday 22 October 20:53
Not sure I want to buy a Tom Tom after reading this... (Tom Tom sells speeding drivers data to Police...)
http://www.reghardware.com/2011/04/27/tomtom_custo...
http://www.reghardware.com/2011/04/27/tomtom_custo...
My first was a Navman (I think they're Nuvi now). Was fine apart from a poor touch screen - got me from Lyons airport in France to a tiny hamlet 3 hours drive away with no bother at all - but then over here would occasionally send me down a cul de sac and tell me to turn around. Go figure... 
Had a Garmin the last year or so. Very easy to use, touch screen far better, sound is plenty loud enough and speaks the street names (which I find helps more than I thought), it works well. I forget which model it was but it was about 90 quid on Amazon early last year.
Had a Garmin the last year or so. Very easy to use, touch screen far better, sound is plenty loud enough and speaks the street names (which I find helps more than I thought), it works well. I forget which model it was but it was about 90 quid on Amazon early last year.
I have a TomTom XXL, bought roughly 2yrs ago.
Really not impressed. They have been giving them larger and larger screens, but using the same super slow CPU. The device cannot redraw the map fast enough.
I also don't like its simple "use high-graded road at all costs" route planning logic. Its IQ routes is a quite simple a joke, and renders the unit basically unable to plan pan-european journeys.
Been playing around with a piece of software called Tyre ( Trace Your Route Everywhere, recommended by a fellow PHer ), which allows you create routes using Google maps and load the .itn files to your satnav.
Really not impressed. They have been giving them larger and larger screens, but using the same super slow CPU. The device cannot redraw the map fast enough.
I also don't like its simple "use high-graded road at all costs" route planning logic. Its IQ routes is a quite simple a joke, and renders the unit basically unable to plan pan-european journeys.
Been playing around with a piece of software called Tyre ( Trace Your Route Everywhere, recommended by a fellow PHer ), which allows you create routes using Google maps and load the .itn files to your satnav.
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