New job means I could do with a satnav. Don’t want to use phone. What’s best out there for £50 or less. More than happy to look 2nd hand.

Tom Tom. Should be plenty available s/h for that maybe even new with discount / offers.

Purchased a nuvi 30 to use for my stint van driving. It did what it said on the tin basically.

Got a navman I don’t use. £20 +post, interested?

Chubby anymore details or a link to info on internet

Any particular reason why you don’t want to use a phone as the satnav device?

i’ll need to dig it out, tbh not even sure of the model. basic butworked ok and always got me to where i was going.

I have Tom Tom on my phone. It means that I permanently have a SatNav with me… Make sure you take a charger too – it eats battery.

I have Tom Tom on my phone. It means that I permanently have a SatNav with me… Make sure you take a charger too – it eats battery.

That’s why I use my phone; it plugs into my car stereo so I keep it charged, I hear the directions and I get music playing at the same time.
Plus I’m highly unlikely to leave it sitting in the screen mount when I park the car, to find the window smashed and the satnav gone.

It’s OK to use your phone but a dedicated satnav is just easier ime, mine lives in the car anyway

Got an xl Garmin with Europe maps on it for <100 from halfords last Xmas, good sized screen, easy to use, never got me lost yet!

Surely the ease of use depends entirely on the interface? I use NavFree, prior to that CoPilot, and NavFree is dead easy to use, with much better route guidance than CoPilot; it uses roads that CoPilot doesn’t even know exists!

It’s OK to use your phone but a dedicated satnav is just easier ime

Can’t see how it’s easier.

I don’t have to buy a second device.
It works exactly the same as a standalone satnav.
I’m never without my phone whichever vehicle I happen to be in.
It charges my phone while I’m driving.
I don’t have to leave anything in the car to get stolen.

Another phone user. Press the Mic button, say “navigate to London zoo” and away you go. That’s using Google so you get a massive list of destinations including most businesses and live, very accurate, traffic.

for all you using your phone, do you download a whole map of GB say over wifi, then plug into fag socket, switch on ‘location access’ (in google maps) and thats it?

im never sure of whats gonna eat my data so have always used a crap garmin nuvi that really needs updating (but ive never been able to update it for free)

if i could get my head around the best way of using the phone, id buy a car holder for it and use it instead.

thanks

You can use wifi pre-loaded maps with some apps or just download on the fly. Google maps doesn’t use much data and the live traffic and huge POI list is quite good, but if you want to use no data then just pre-load.

I’d have a ‘made for the job’ sat-nav over a phone every day

I have a great bit lump of a thing (Samsung Note3) from work but still prefer to use a standalone TomTom.
I’t’s quicker at re-routing and directing when turns are close together but the killer for me is sunlight glare, phones really suffer from it whereas proper sat-navs (TomTom and Garmin at least) have a degree of anti-glare that makes them readable in most light.
The TomTom is also hard-wired in so no trailing leads around the place.

nealglover – Member

Can’t see how it’s easier.

I don’t have to buy a second device.
It works exactly the same as a standalone satnav.
I’m never without my phone whichever vehicle I happen to be in.
It charges my phone while I’m driving.
I don’t have to leave anything in the car to get stolen.

You get a phone call, it interrupts the nav and doesn’t always go back to the app afterwards automatically.

Screen is too shiny on a phone, standalone devices generally have an anti-glare finish.

If the app crashes or goes off the screen for any reason, you have to fiddle around the phone’s menu to relaunch it (as opposed to holding power-off/power-on to reboot a crashed tomtom)

If for any reason your phone wont charge, you lose both your satnav and phone.

karnali – Member
Don’t want to use phone

Wonderful STW responses. Ignore the op’s request and recommend a phone app.

Wonderful STW responses. Ignore the op’s request and recommend a phone app.

To be fair the first mention of phones was asking why he didn’t want to. There are reasons not to as listed above but they are more to do with issues with a specific phone or user rather than an inherent problem with phones as sat navs. Lots of happy phone users out there and it might save the OP a few quid.

I have very little data allowance on the phone and would need to get an in car charger and holder etc and also wife will use the satnav on occasion as well. so if I can get one for under £50 then that’s best option. Seen a navman for 33 on amazon so may go for that.

Chubby any further news on the navman you have before I press buy from amazon

In the three years I’ve been using my phone for satnav, I have never had an instance of the screen being blanked out by glare.

iolo – Member
karnali – Member
Don’t want to use phone
Wonderful STW responses. Ignore the op’s request and recommend a phone app.

🙄
As nickjb said, first comment, by me, was to ask why not.
Try reading the chuffing thread through before commenting.

I have a great bit lump of a thing (Samsung Note3) from work but still prefer to use a standalone TomTom.
I’t’s quicker at re-routing and directing when turns are close together but the killer for me is sunlight glare, phones really suffer from it whereas proper sat-navs (TomTom and Garmin at least) have a degree of anti-glare that makes them readable in most light.
The TomTom is also hard-wired in so no trailing leads around the place.

I found the traffic backed up so turned round and took a short-cut I knew through the local lanes, and NavFree was keeping up with me, showing the route ahead as I was heading towards the dual carriageway away from the holdup.
Trailing leads don’t bother me, my phone is my iPod as well as my satnav, so is always hardwired into my stereo.
And again, sat right at the bottom of my screen, I’ve never had a problem with glare off my phone screen.

Another advice thread turning into an argument 🙂

I’d say get a Tom Tom

I’ve never had a problem with mine, on the odd occasion I’ve used my phone I have found that it isn’t loud enough and also doesn’t re-route quickly enough

Also I’ve tried the navigation on Google maps and despite the spoken instructions keeping up for some reason the map doesn’t

You get a phone call, it interrupts the nav and doesn’t always go back to the app afterwards automatically.[/quotE]

Copilot on iphone has the satnav screen on during a call, I presumed they all did ?

Screen is too shiny on a phone, standalone devices generally have an anti-glare finish.

I’ve never noticed an issue with this.

If the app crashes or goes off the screen for any reason, you have to fiddle around the phone’s menu to relaunch it (as opposed to holding power-off/power-on to reboot a crashed tomtom)

Can’t say it’s ever happened. But if it did, press one button on the home
screen and it starts the app, already navigating to the same location as before.

If for any reason your phone wont charge, you lose both your satnav and phone.

That’s never happened to me in the last 7 years, but I suppose in theory it could

going back to the OP, ive just had this in my inbox, navman m419 at £40.

seems a good deal but i dont know how good it is, maybe someone on here can compare to tomtoms/garmins?

Ta will take a look