iPhone /iPad app or standalone Garmin/Tomtom Europe

[danyeates]

Hi,

We're off on a long European road trip for the Spa and Monza grand prix in a couple of weeks and have realise both of our sat navs only cover the uk and have duff batteries.

So, what should we do? Standalone Garmin or Tomtom, or go for an app for the iPhone or iPad. As we'll be in a VX220, space and storage is an issue, so I'd like to use the iPhone or iPad which we'll have with us anyway, but is there an advantage to a standalone unit?

Would the Live services for Google and Trip Advisor work in Europe as well as the uk? They wouldnt on the iPad as I wouldn't want to incur roaming data charges. I don't suppose traffic would work either on the iPad without data roaming enabled, yes?

Any recommendations on which app is best? Navigon or Tomtom? And which standalone is best? Garmin or Tomtom?

I'd like as big a screen as possible, lifetime map updates, European maps, lane assist, usual stuff.

Thanks,

Dan

[uk89camaro]

Tomtom for iphone downloads the map to the unit (about £56), so you shouldn't be using much, if any data at all. The garmin streams the map data, and if you're not in the UK, and not signed up to a daily cost of using your UK data quota, that's gonna get mighty expensive.

If the batteries have gone duff in your existing PND, you can still use them wired to the mains in the car. (I have a TT1005 on my windscreen in my Westfield,they're not that big to block vision, yet!)

Click here for a comparison of garmin and Tomtom o...

[danyeates]

Bought the TomTom app in the end. Seems very good. Very clear voice directions and the advance planning function is great for planning the road trip. It's very fast too.

[85Carrera]

Did you need 3G for the tomtom app to work?