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I have a Garmin Nuvi 50LM. Its about 10 yrs old and has free lifetime map updates of UK and Europe. Its worked great getting us to holidays and used in hire cars etc.
My van doesnt have a satnav biilt in and neither does my daughter's car.
Whenever i use it in the UK it seems to take great delight in continually routing me down tiny roads that seem to tale take a longer time than as if i had stayed on a more major road.
This happens whether i set shortest distance or shortest time.
So, is this a poor algorithm for routing and would it improve with a newer unit? If so, what should i buy?
Yes.
TomTom. Or swap out the existing radio for one with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and use Google Maps or Waze from your phone.
A headunit swap would probably exceed the value of some of our vehicles....so a tomtom is def better than a garmin for routing?
Why have a dedicated satnav these days. Just a mount for a smartphone? Can't beat Google maps
A headunit swap would probably exceed the value of some of our vehicles….so a tomtom is def better than a garmin for routing?
I swapped to tom tom a couple of years back after my old garmin unit had me doing laps of a roundabout in Stockport changing its mind between four different exits. If you have a reasonable phone the tom tom app is as good as the old dedicated unit I had. I believe it now works with Android Auto but as that app would only work properly in my car with a firmware update which would cost a significant chunk of the total value of the car I couldn’t tell you whether it does or not.
Smartphone and Google Maps is great if you only use it in the country your mobile contract is with - suspect roaming data charges will be eye watering for when you use it elsewhere.
If you were to only use it in UK then that would be an excellent solution, but as you are using it in Europe you want something similar to the Garmin solution you have now. If it is used for holidays then I'd be quite happy to get taken the path-less-travelled, but it might be worth contacting Garmin to ask if there is anything you can do.
I used to drive down to York frequently and whilst the road was being upgraded, Google Maps and the TomTom sat nav both had be driving through fields - both hadn't been updated with the new road layouts so both were trying to route me off to turn-offs that didn't exist. I think it was about 3 weeks before Google Maps updated, and I'd stopped using the TomTom so no idea if it ever did update.
My boring anecdote basically just highlights that although smartphone sat nav is here and is great, it also doesn't update instantly for major road changes - it does do current traffic flow very well though.
Google maps uses relatively little data, but you can pre download the maps for offline use and use it where you don't have data too. The only downside is you can't search for poi along the route etc (but sat navs are often rubbish at that too).
Phone plus mount is great, a Sony android headunit is about £250 if you want to go that route or just buy a magnet phone mount (so much better than a physical one) and the relevant brodit clip to mount it in the perfect place on your car.
Just to check, are you updating the maps through Garmin express??
It isn't really about amount of data, the fact it is using any data incurs charges - may not be an issue if you are already happy to pay whatever the daily allowance is. Offline mapping is fine for a route to the place but not great for live traffic updates (again, needing data).
Probably not a major issue for some people, but when I looked at the charges for using my phone abroad I'd decided I wouldn't as the costs for the 6 days was more than my monthly phone bill, it just didn't seem worth it for me.
If you can find a cheap way of using mobile abroad i.e. a global sim type thing, then it would be the way to go, but it adds to the expense and something to bear in mind.
Smartphone and Google Maps is great if you only use it in the country your mobile contract is with – suspect roaming data charges will be eye watering for when you use it elsewhere.
Depends on your provider. I used it to navigate round the US last time I was out there and it cost pence.
It isn’t really about amount of data, the fact it is using any data incurs charges – may not be an issue if you are already happy to pay whatever the daily allowance is. Offline mapping is fine for a route to the place but not great for live traffic updates (again, needing data).
As above. I bought a PAYG SIM from Three which cost ten quid for a month. My total data usage for the fortnight I was out there was Megabytes on a plan offering several GB.
Conversely, taking my regular Pay Monthly O2 contract SIM would have been stupid money.
Depends on your provider. I used it to navigate round the US last time I was out there and it cost pence.
And once again, I'm reminded that I'm really not that good at finding bargains!!!
... and of course, there's European roaming and Brexit now.
So, is this a poor algorithm for routing and would it improve with a newer unit? If so, what should i buy?
My car is three years old. It has a built-in Garmin satnav. I use Android Auto to run Google Maps rather than the native app. It's just better.
I've yet to see an in-car dedicated solution that isn't irritating in some way other than the TomTom I had a couple of decades ago. Google Maps or Waze all the way.
Similar situation here. We've got a similar age Garmin sat nav unit (Camper version with a massive screen) with the free lifetime maps etc, but the routing it suggests is shocking. Best/worst was instructing me to take a single-width gravel 'road' with grass growing up the middle of it, along the edge of a field, when enroute to Crail with a caravan on the back. I ignored that one thankfully but was the final straw in causing me to lose any confidence in it.
Previous TomTom route suggestion was much better for UK and European use. Not as good as Googlemaps though if you can make that work.
breninbeener
Free Member
A headunit swap would probably exceed the value of some of our vehicles….
Are you sure? You can have one of these today for £186 with a voucher. I put one in my old MX5 last month and it's a really impressive thing. Massive 10.1 inch screen, fast in operation. Doesn't have DAB but then you have BBC Sounds for all that. Very much recommended. My company car has built in nav and I've used it twice in two years. The rest of the time I've been on Googlemaps or Waze, they're so much better, clearer mapping, better traffic info, more up to date. The twice I didn't use it were because my USB cable was knackered so Android Auto wouldn't work.
(Edited to include link)
Why have a dedicated satnav these days. Just a mount for a smartphone? Can’t beat Google maps
If you could I'd have beaten it to mush by now.
Utterly awful for flinging you down the wrong road, telling you to change lanes at the last minute or just generally being crap to see where you're supposed to be going (too zoomed in or out). The Garmin, OTOH, works fine and newer versions than mine are even better for the lane change thing. Only problem is mine is so old I need to do a horrific amount of buggering about to load even a country specific map let alone western Europe.
We have had a Garmin Camper for 6 years, update the maps once a year before we head of into Europe. Never had a problem with it. The big advantage for us is that you can feed the width and height of the vehicle and its supposed to take these into account when planning the route. we have added in a bit of wiggle room just to be extra cautious.