Sat Nav - which one?

Fiskar

So many sat nav's on the market, which is the best value for money, has the cheapest up to date maps and portable to use in any country if renting a car?

grogi

Fiskar wrote: »

So many sat nav's on the market, which is the best value for money, has the cheapest up to date maps and portable to use in any country if renting a car?

Best value you'll get from your fone.

Fiskar

grogi wrote: »

Best value you'll get from your fone.

Tried that in UK today and it totally let me down. I had downloaded the relevant destination but the app would work on UK roaming

deco nate

Try Here maps, works without data if needs be.
Just install app, download the map of the country you need over WiFi.

R.O.R

Any Garmin with European Maps and LM in the name - thats lifetime map updates.

Moving away from Nuvi models I believe so you might get a bargain on old stock. Wouldn't pay much more than 100 for one.

imnorobot

Steer well clear of TOMTOM Absolute crap
Bought 1 a few weeks ago had to bring it back to halfords as it just died
Read this thread about no POI (point of interest ) support on newer tomtom models been going on 3 years
https://en.discussions.tomtom.com/go-6100-6000-5100-5000-610-600-510-500-400-go-via-start-4x-5x-6x-mydrive-connect-176/three-years-on-and-still-no-support-poi-categories-on-map-whilst-driving-1005251

The tomtom mapshare reporter is a complete joke
I posted changes to street names and speed limits months ago and they are still pending
complete waste of money

horse7

Three words,. Garmin,. Garmin. and Garmin.

imnorobot

horse7 wrote: »

Three words,. Garmin,. Garmin. and Garmin.

Would have to agree
I reverted back to my old nuvi 780 just keeps going :-)

Chuchote

Fiskar wrote: »

Tried that in UK today and it totally let me down. I had downloaded the relevant destination but the app would work on UK roaming

Odd! TomTom for the phone doesn't use roaming, surely? I've used it on an iPad with no SIM in Paris and it worked fine, except for the hideous interface; never worked out how to get it to say the name of the street it wanted you to turn into, so that it would say "Turn left in 20 metres" and you'd be faced with one of those star-shaped Paris intersections with a buncha left turns. I could get it out and peek at it, but this was in a somewhat dodgy area…

run_Forrest_run

I have the Tom Tom Go 5000 and I find it good, OK the interface and icons can be a bit unintuitive.

bazz26

OP, there is a dedicated GPS forum on boards.ie also.

biko

Moved to GPS forum where the debate over "best" can go on forever...

I use my phone with Here maps. I'm currently travelling abroad and it works just fine with offline maps. There is even voice guidance offline.
Also I don't leave phone behind in the car for thieves to steal, which I used to do with my Tomtom XL

Chuchote

biko wrote: »

Moved to GPS forum where the debate over "best" can go on forever...

I use my phone with Here maps. I'm currently travelling abroad and it works just fine with offline maps. There is even voice guidance offline.
Also I don't leave phone behind in the car for thieves to steal, which I used to do with my Tomtom XL

How is it on speaking French street names? You interest me!

Fiskar

Yeah, been doing my research and Garmin are the one to for, will be getting one of the Garmin Drive Smart 50 LMT with lifetime maps for Ireland, UK and Europe. Will wait for the price to drop a bit further

horse7

Had a 2597LMT in Canada this year, such a good ,fast machine, has voice recognition also,birds eye view etc. Real piece of mind on those highways.

horse7

So have you decided.

Fiskar

Yeah, went for the Garmin Drive Smart 50 LMDT at Amazons low price of 140 £ with full Europe map and lifetime updates. Looks a piece of kit

pavb2

Rather than start a new thread hope you don't mind me tagging on to this one. I'm looking for more of an interactive sat nav so rather than being stuck in traffic will suggest alternative routes as I'm driving along or warn of hold ups accidents along the route.

I don't really want to use my iphone I've got google maps on it but wanted a dedicated sat nav as I do a lot of driving and would like a bigger screen.

So can anyone suggest a decent option my old sat nav is a Garmin.

grogi

pavb2 wrote: »

Rather than start a new thread hope you don't mind me tagging on to this one. I'm looking for more of an interactive sat nav so rather than being stuck in traffic will suggest alternative routes as I'm driving along or warn of hold ups accidents along the route.

I don't really want to use my iphone I've got google maps on it but wanted a dedicated sat nav as I do a lot of driving and would like a bigger screen.

So can anyone suggest a decent option my old sat nav is a Garmin.

Any TomTom with Live Traffic does that. Garmin has similar technology, but forgot the name...

imnorobot

pavb2 wrote: »

Rather than start a new thread hope you don't mind me tagging on to this one. I'm looking for more of an interactive sat nav so rather than being stuck in traffic will suggest alternative routes as I'm driving along or warn of hold ups accidents along the route.

I don't really want to use my iphone I've got google maps on it but wanted a dedicated sat nav as I do a lot of driving and would like a bigger screen.

So can anyone suggest a decent option my old sat nav is a Garmin.

I would stick with Garmin if I were you get a newer model with bigger screen
Lots of unhappy tomtom customers
https://en.discussions.tomtom.com/go-6100-6000-5100-5000-610-600-510-500-400-go-via-start-4x-5x-6x-mydrive-connect-176/three-years-on-and-still-no-support-poi-categories-on-map-whilst-driving-1005251

I too have found the tomtom suggesting some bizarre routes
https://en.discussions.tomtom.com/go-6100-6000-5100-5000-610-600-510-500-400-go-via-start-4x-5x-6x-mydrive-connect-176/go-6100-directing-to-routes-through-country-lanes-single-roads-1010344
Taking you off a perfectly good road onto a country boreen

No off line route planning on your pc you need to be online and logged into your account to use the pc to plan a route
not much good if you on hols somewhere in the boonies with no interwebb thingy

On my old garmin I could see if I was approaching a speed alert area with an icon on the screen + an audiable warning if I was exceeding the speed limit

Not so on the tomtom you actually have to be on a programmed route
as in you need to have set a destination or you get no warnings whatsoever
I have found the traffic warnings to be of no use at all often driving straight into a jam where the tomtom shows no delays
The first go 500 that I bought in halfords just died 2 weeks after buying it had to go back to halfords and get another

My go 500 uses the data sharing from my phone to access the traffic info but as I use a windows phone the tomtom apps do not work on windows phones
The mapshare reporter site is a complete joke I have logged several road name changes and speed limit corrections and 6 months later they are still pending
tomtom customer support is very poor indeed as a look at the 2 links above will show

So much so that now the only place the Tomtom go's is the glove box
Went back to using my old Garmin nuvi 780

pavb2

My current very old sat nav is a Garmin Nuvi 1410 and works great getting from A to B but is it worth upgrading to one that can give alternative routes to avoid congestion etc?

Chuchote

pavb2 wrote: »

My current very old sat nav is a Garmin Nuvi 1410 and works great getting from A to B but is it worth upgrading to one that can give alternative routes to avoid congestion etc?

I don't know if this has changed, but when I was driving and using a TomTom (which I preferred), traffic wasn't tracked because Ireland hadn't installed the sensors used in the rest of Europe.

TomTom was mostly good - I got a present of it after getting lost using a Garmin on then-new motorways around Clare and Limerick. The TomTom was good, and clearer than the Garmin, though it did once take me off a plain route and into a dangerous, narrow, snowy, awful road on the way to a funeral in the wilds of Wicklow or south Kildare or somewhere.

I sometimes use the TomTom on the iPad for travel abroad; it's not great for walking routes, and I can't seem to get its speaking of streets to work properly; the iOS interface it uses is truly awful.

imnorobot

pavb2 wrote: »

My current very old sat nav is a Garmin Nuvi 1410 and works great getting from A to B but is it worth upgrading to one that can give alternative routes to avoid congestion etc?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQVK6V1LRUo
This video would suggest that the newer garmins will do traffic avoidance
but it is a US video and the older garmin I have nuvi 780 does not do traffic so I cant say for definite
So maybe a trip to halfords or somewhere like that and ask for a demo

Fiskar

pavb2 wrote: »

My current very old sat nav is a Garmin Nuvi 1410 and works great getting from A to B but is it worth upgrading to one that can give alternative routes to avoid congestion etc?

I know the model I got has traffic congestion features but it is a birthday present i have not yet tried but I do recommend you check it out in store. I still have no regrets on the model choice.

huggs2

https://itunes.apple.com/ie/app/waze-gps-navigation-maps-social/id323229106?mt=8

I have been using this for a few days now and i am very impressed with it.This app is free on my iphone. Just put in any Eircode H91 XXXX and it takes you there.Its very user friendly unlike my tomtom go600.