Your recommendations needed please.
My car doesn’t have a built-in sat nav. However I have been using a stand-alone Garmin for a number of years and have been generally pleased with it’s performance and ease of use. However it doesn’t provide real-time traffic delays / updates / alternative routes and I am looking to replace it.
I know I could use my smart phone, however:
a – doesn’t this cost for downloading data
b – I prefer a larger screen to use than a phone when driving

I have recently bought another Garmin – 51 LMT-D which states it can provide this data without needing to use a smart-phone link. However ….. setting it all up and this doesn’t appear to be the case (Garmin site stating I still need to use smart phone). It WILL be gong back to the shop….
Soohh…. STW….. any alternatives please ?. Don’t want to use my phone and can’t afford a new car with sat nav fitted (how nice would that option be ? !! )
Thoughts / experiences / recommendations please ?
Thx – and Season’s Greetings to you all.
J

Love my tomtom 5200 here.

Top of the range 5″ screen with free updates, free speed camera thingy updates, traffic too, free for life and WiFi so it’s dead simple to update. Worldwide maps too 😯

Built in sim card too so no need to connect it to your phone and use your own data.

Traffic is usually £45 a year? Well worth having in my experience.

There’s a non WiFi version too, 5100.

Don’t want to use my phone

May I ask why? Google maps is very good, always up to date with traffic and it’ll be ages before you’ve used enough data (you can also download the route offline when on wifi and use it) to match the price of your new sat nav.

I believe you need to be very careful using a phone in a car for sat nav as the police have issued warnings about touching the phone whilst driving. Now one could argue that it is just as distracting touching other controls and there a re penaltties for even handsfree use of devices if they have proven a distraction but but since they have specifically mentioned phone use and you potentially will get a £200 fine and six points…
The phone should be in a cradle that is in view but not obstructing the view and even then it needs to be able to be used completely hands free
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/satnav-mobile-phone-drivers-illegal-police-fine-200-npc-bank-holiday-roads-gps-a7912191.html

a – doesn’t this cost for downloading data

It depends on the app. Something with offline mapping (eg, CoPilot) holds a complete map on your phone and uses no data, other than a very small amount for Assisted GPS (which you’ll already be using anyway) and for any non-mapping features like traffic updates.

Google Maps has to download the map tiles, but if you plan ahead you can do this over your Wi-Fi connection before you set off as Kryton says.

If you insist on using a dedicated unit, back when I was last looking at standalone Sat Nav devices (like a decade ago) there was TomTom and there was Everything Else. Times may have changed, but they were head and shoulders better than anything else on the market.

a – doesn’t this cost for downloading data
b – I prefer a larger screen to use than a phone when driving

If you install an app like CoPilot, Navmii or Here, the maps are installed on the phone, no data is used except for that required for updating traffic info.
Many smartphones have screens at least as large as a stand-alone satnav, my iP6+ certainly is.
I use TomTom, but I pay a subscription to get full features, as I use mine every day for my job, as a logistics driver picking up and delivering cars all over the south of England, so it has to be reliable.
I won’t use any built-in units, they require the driver to take his attention away from the road too much, my phone is mounted at the bottom centre of the screen, where it’s just on the edge of my peripheral vision.
That Independent article is just nonsense, there’s no need to touch a phone once the satnav has been set up and activated, and any windscreen-mounted device is likely to be treated the same, just as drinking from a bottle while driving is.
Any calls to the phone can be handled by a BT headset or hands-free through the car, and voice-control can be set up to make calls as well.

I won’t use any built-in units, they require the driver to take his attention away from the road too much,

Plus most of them are toilet.

I’ve just got a brand new car on lease, billed as a “Technology” edition, with a huge screen in the middle of the dash for navigation and other duties. The sat nav doesn’t do full postcode searches. You want to look for AB12 3YZ, it gets as far as AB12 3 and that’s it. WTAF? What bloody use is that to anyone.

EDIT: scratch that, I’ve just Googled it. If you go into Search and type the postcode, it won’t search on full postcodes. But if you go to enter an address manually if gives you boxes to enter street and city; click City and there’s a button tucked away in the bottom corner of the keyboard labelled “Ptcd.” which allows you to type in a full postcode. So it does support it, it’s just a shit UI.

The sat nav doesn’t do full postcode searches. WTAF?

Yeah, exactly. But it’s the fact that you can’t see the screen properly unless you look away from the road ahead that I have the biggest problem with, because despite having voice guidance, there are many occasions when the guidance isn’t entirely clear, so it’s necessary to glance at the map for clarity.

You want to look for AB12 3YZ, it gets as far as AB12 3 and that’s it. WTAF? What bloody use is that to anyone.

– my new one wants me to talk to it instead. Or send the post code via the App. What at time to be alive 😉

Google maps is pretty good. Hard to see how a dedicated unit could be better. Just download the maps up front.

But it’s the fact that you can’t see the screen properly unless you look away from the road ahead that I have the biggest problem with

On mine there’s a secondary summary display in the centre of the dash, between the rev counter and speedo.

my new one wants me to talk to it instead.

Oh, as does mine. It’s bloody cloth-eared though. Maybe it’s a East Lancashire > Czech translation issue.

This is probably a topic for a separate thread though, it doesn’t really help the OP much. Sorry for the thread drift.

Absolutely love our TomTom. The traffic updates have saved us countless hours of queueing. Not sure of model, but had it a while now so probably not on sale any more

Maybe it’s a East Lancashire > Czech translation issue.

– Oh Skoda is it? Just given one of those back. The voice recognition was legendary. The Sat Nav was good tho, mine (yeti) did 6 digits. Having the next junction in the dash is brilliant.

Tomtom’s UI is stunning. They really have this part sorted. What they don’t have sorted is all the periphery functionality.

Garmin in the other hand have an irrational UI but all the back end bits work well, apart from basecamp, the developers of which should be strung up.

New skoda Columbus satnav / infotainment System is a proper crock of shit.

Talking of distracting in car sat navs I just watched a review of – wait for it – the new RS4 and the view of the apparantly 10.7 inch tablet they’ve stuck on the dash rotating the map around the cars direction of travel looked like an accident waiting to happen.

Oh Skoda is it?

Octavia SE Tech, aye.

New skoda Columbus satnav / infotainment System is a proper crock of shit.

Mine’s Amundsen I think.

I can’t fault Google maps.
It’s excellent.

I use my phone but I think the constant charging/draining the battery kills it pretty quickly.

I Think you may have missunderstood the Independent article Countzero. You obviously use your phone app within the law, many (most?) do not. That was the point. that the Satnav app is on a mobile phone which has specific legislation regarding handheld use in a car and many people are not aware of the implications. that other windscreen mounted devices may well be as distracting is true, but it is much easier to be prosecuted using a phone. Hence my original point about using them carefully.

I really like the interface and fundctionality of the TomTom units. I think the’ve got it nailed. I understand that many folks like to use a phone as do it all device but I tried Waze and Google maps on the iphone before buying a replacement TomTom (outgoing one predated satnav apps on phones) and didn’t really get on with them.

I’ve now got a TomTom Go 520 unit: lifetime maps and instead of containing a sim to access trafic data like the TT Go 5200 mentioned above, it connects to the iphone via bluetooth to access live traffic data. Works seamlessly.

I’ve checked the data consumption when using the TT live traffic service and it’s miniscule compared to Google maps uploading map segments (I have an el cheapo tarrif with limited data, which I’m very happy with).

Kenwood have some sweet double din units with android or apple auto. Mirtors your phone and great fir phone spotify and google maps

If you have an android phone I can highly recommend installing Android Auto.
Produced by Google themselves it puts the phone into a car mode with a simplified interface that only allows music, maps, calls and messages all of which are voice controlled.
If you get a message it will read it out to you and automatically send a return message stating that you’re mobile and will get back to them.
Easy to use and can also be configured to automatically start when it connects to your cars Bluetooth.
If you’ve got an iPhone then you’re on your own.

The data used for nav is usually pretty minimal, do you have next to no allowance? Before you buy a satnav have a look in your phone settings and zero the data usage record. Do a couple of drives and see how you get on.

By preference I use Waze (owned by google), Google maps (if waze can’t find the address) and OSMAND+ as it’s stored locally so doesn’t need data. It also is useful for ride Gpx files too.

I have a Garmin 2597LMT that is spare. Full EU maps (with free lifetime updates) and realtime traffic. £50 delivered if interested.
I am only selling it as I already have the exact same unit, which I thought had been lost/stolen until I found it down the side of the PC I use to update the maps! So this unit is barely used! First refusal to OP.

Android Auto.

Thanks for that Sharkbait. I had a quick play and that looks useful – I have need to try the Nav over the next few days.

I usually use my work iPhone for Nav but some the driving lockdown find Siri absolute shite as a voice interface.

A quick few tests and this is mile better.

The data used for nav is usually pretty minimal

few quid a month perhaps, at most?

Yes but, can you be on a call and receive data at the same time?

Nope.

You must be able to. I take work calls on my iPhone and still get voice directions played through the car.

To the OP just use Google Maps. Its superior to anything built into current BMWs and Mercs so probably better than most other built in units as well. Its also better than any free standing Garmin I’ve ever used. Probably on a par with TomTom so if you are really set on a stand alone unit then get a TomTom but really just go with Google Maps on whatever phone you use. Its traffic info is the best I’ve come across- its better than Waze (strangely as Google have bought Waze and Google Maps uses Waze input). If Google Maps thinks your route will take you areas of poor mobile data coverage it will suggest you download the route so poor mobile coverage is no longer an issue. If your car has smartphone integration just use Android Auto or Apple Carplay

I’m amazed that Google Maps and Waze are still separate products. That surely can’t last.

I think Waze uses blended tomtom and crowd sourced traffic info. Perhaps the blending is wrong.

Yes the amandsen is a slightly different beast to the Columbus which is pretty much a droid tablet embedded in the car. Traffic data defaults to TMC but can get TomTom/google maps data if you have a mobile data connection. That is unless you connect over android auto or carplay, in which case the data connection is cut off and you’re reduced to either TMC with the head units maps or whatever your phone can render over carplay/ droid.

Even with a good data connection whatever proxy skoda use for the traffic data is so slow that it seems like it’s all hideously out of date. One evening in the autumn it even came up with a proxy warning saying there were too many connections!

I like a standalone unit for my sat back and currently rate TomTom above anything else.

Garmin have some good points but they have a tendency to take you on some really bizarre routes for no reason.

I will use my phone as back up but prefer a dedicated unit.

Having used Waze/Google maps/Apple Maps and Tomtom unit at the same time a few times as an experiment, my conclusion was that the Tomtom was leagues ahead of the others. The others seemed slower at receiving traffic data but the major problem was that they seem to to do very little with it in terms of actual re-routing you.. I really wanted to like Waze but it is simply not as good at the most important stuff. Having said that, as poor as Waze et al are, they are still much better than TMC data on a built in sat-nav.

One thing to note is Tomtoms with a built in SIM for data are still, unbelievably, GPRS based. I had one a few years ago and it would take minutes to receive traffic data, by which time it was pretty useless. The Tomtoms that use your phone’s data connection receive data in a few seconds (and are far cheaper).

Basically if you want to do it right, get a Tomtom and tether it to your phone. A sat-nav without a decent traffic data system is just a glorified paper map.

Copilot on android here.

Used to utterly hate it and the company are a nightmare for tech help…. Having used it for years now though….it’s actually got very good.

Good speed cam alerts, though I set it to notify me if I go 5mph over any limit anyway just in case. Traffic prediction seems spot on too… Though that is subscription each year.

Not really tried Google maps (apart from the odd bit of walking around a city, getting lost) but by all accounts does seem to be rated very highly these days.

Interesting about touching a mobile running satnav too. Had wondered about that!

Mine’s Amundsen I think.

– that’s what I had. I did use google maps as well though for traffic as TMC seemed patchy/slow. Google had better re-routing round traffic as well My wife uses CarPlay and Apple Maps which is okay, except in the FoD where there is zero phone signal,

To the OP just use Google Maps. Its superior to anything built into current BMWs and Mercs so probably better than most other built in units as well.

Hmm. The BMW one I have now is the best I’ve used. The traffic updates are very good and the re-routing pretty intelligent. I like having the directions in the dash, that’s probably the usp.

I test drove a volvo with a big tablet. Looked great but bloody terrifying to try and use while driving.

Anyone using an Android phone with google maps – how to get the Nav through the car speakers? Theres no “Play voice as phone call” or whatever it is option…?

Android Auto – big tick from me, especially like the fact it auto starts with the car and I can chnge destination with voice.

that other windscreen mounted devices may well be as distracting is true, but it is much easier to be prosecuted using a phone.

But who’s going to be able to tell the difference from outside a moving car? If the phuzz see someone distracted by faffing around with something stuck to the screen they’ll pull them over regardless; I’m pretty certain that my iP6+ with TomTom running will be indistinguishable from a larger stand-alone unit. People have been prosecuted for swigging from a bottle while stationary at traffic lights, the difference between phone and stand-alone unit will be irrelevant, I’m sure.

Kryton57 – Member
Anyone using an Android phone with google maps – how to get the Nav through the car speakers? Theres no “Play voice as phone call” or whatever it is option…?

Android Auto – big tick from me, especially like the fact it auto starts with the car and I can chnge destination with voice.
MrsTs next new car(Kia)has the Android Auto function. How does it work(bearing in mind I/we are technophobes).??

But who’s going to be able to tell the difference from outside a moving car? If the phuzz see someone distracted by faffing around with something stuck to the screen they’ll pull them over regardless

But if they pull you over and you have been seen handling what turns out to be a phone, it is a different level of fine and points to other devices. Strange but true.

I won’t convince you but it’s at your own risk. Good luck

Having had one of my ex-students killed by being distracted using a mobile phone whilst driving it puts things into perspective. I just wish more people were prosecuted for it, whatever the device is being used for, as it might then be a more effective deterrent. If anyone thinks that’s me being holier than thou, I’ll suck it up
Do I think that should be prosecuted for driving poorly whilst being distracted by other devices? sure thing,