Sat Nav options

[billy2shots]

I'm looking to pick the Mrs up a cheap portable sat Nav unit. She does ultra low miles all round town so no need for traffic updates or Bluetooth wizardry. Looking at options under £100 for her needs.

Looking at something like this tomtom start 50. 5" screen so decent size, lifetime updated maps. £89 from Argos.

Any recommendations guys?

https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/sat-nav/car-sat-nav/products/start-50-europe/

[NewNiceMrMe]

Which? gave the Garmin Nuvi 58LM their top 'budget buy' award but the Nav you mention came second (so the one you're looking at is clearly good anyway).

 

I just did a quick search on Amazon and the Garmin is circa £120.

 

However, your luck is in, Halfords have a special offer with it down to £80 (and lifetime updates).

 

Garmin Nuvi 58LM

Edited June 17, 2016 by NewNiceMrMe

[billy2shots]

Thanks NNMM I will take a close look at that.

[Tipex]

Personal preference would be the TomTom, I just like their menu systems and find them more intuitive, but I doubt in reality there's anything between the two.

[billy2shots]

I think both would do the job and the garmin looks just as good if not better in some respects. She is used to TomTom software so that maybe a deciding factor although I'm sure the garmin is very intuitive.

Will pop down to Halfords and have a feel.

I will then leave the checkout girls alone and look at the navs.

[Arch]

Couldn't get on with the Garmin i bought, exchanged for a TomTom, personal preference. 

 

What phone has she got? iPhone app version of TomTom has been perfect for me. Think UK map is/was about £40. 

[NewNiceMrMe]

My memory of portable Navs is sketchy.

 

I used a TomTom in a hire car down in Exeter and it got me to where I needed to be with no trouble at all.  The one thing I didn't like about it was the volume.  It was far too low.  The touch screen worked well though and it was a good little device.

 

EldestMissMe had a Garmin that I bought used for £50 off a friend and it was one of the larger screen models.  She lost it.  Brilliant.  However, before she did so, I did a couple of short trips to mess about with it and the volume was much better - but that could be because it was a bigger device with better speakers.  It was faster too, but again that could be the processor of what, for all I know, might have been a higher model.

 

One thing I didn't ask Billy was whether or not he's considered MrsBilly using Waze or similar?

[billy2shots]

She doesn't use mobile internet on her phone so she is now on a tariff with very little allowance.

[Tipex]

The TomTom app doesn't use any data (unless you use live traffic), all the maps and info are stored on the device so it works just fine with no network coverage, or indeed, no data allowance.

 

I paid about £40 for it on a special offer when it first came out as an app, included all of Western Europe, it's utterly fantastic, best* £40 I ever spent.

 

 

 

*well, apart from that one time, in Amsterdam...

Edited June 17, 2016 by Tipex

[Soulboy]

The TomTom app doesn't use any data (unless you use live traffic), all the maps and info are stored on the device so it works just fine with no network coverage, or indeed, no data allowance.

I paid about £40 for it on a special offer when it first came out as an app, included all of Western Europe, it's utterly fantastic, best* £40 I ever spent.

*well, apart from that one time, in Amsterdam...

Are satnavs much cheaper in Holland?

I doubt you could get a decent model for £40?

.....Maybe just some old fake chinese job you struggle to mount properly cause the fittings are worn and it won't let you input anything.

[Tipex]

Indeed, I think it's a bargain.

You carry a computer around with you in your pocket all day, so why bother with another device?

It's always with you, you never forget it, if you're in another car or a passenger with someone else you've still got it with you, it updates the maps itself at night whenever there is a new map available, new features get added regularly, when you upgrade your phone your sat nav gets better too.

[patently]

I hear a whoooshing sound.... is that the noise of Soulboy's post going straight over Tipex's head?

[Tipex]

Doh! Lol.

[NewNiceMrMe]

Let's not forget that as far as I am aware (certainly with iPhones), mobile phone SatNav is not the same as dedicated SatNav.

 

For 95% of travel, a mobile will do the job.  However, they use a different type of GPS to that in dedicated devices and are dependent on at least some form of phone signal (network, not data).  A TomTom or Garmin is genuinely using satellite signals all the time.

 

That's why a dedicated unit is certainly a better option if you want a belt and braces approach (and let's be honest, they're more convenient from a touchscreen perspective as they've been built to do just one job).

We get on with Waze in the Volvo no problem at all, but that's because it doesn't go far at all (it has done 1,500 miles in 3 months).

 

As for the difference between Garmin/TomTom, I think Arch nailed the fact that it'll come down to personal preference.  My priority at the time I last used one was volume of instructions.  If you don't listen to a radio etc then that'll probably not matter one bit.

Edited June 18, 2016 by NewNiceMrMe

[Scotty]

Just think yourself lucky you're not getting a motorbike satnav. The Bluetooth functionality and waterproofing seems to enable them to make them 4 or 5 times the price of car ones

[JonC]

I cannot get on with Waze. That Uber drivers use it makes me question it's suitability, besides making me cringe as I loathe Uber. The routes throughout central London are simply not the quickest/most efficient with Waze. Perhaps it's geographical, but better navigation is yet to fail me.

[NewNiceMrMe]

I chose Waze for MrsMe's phone because it is so easy to use and generally quick.

 

However, I've mentioned previously that I think the best by a mile in the free app stakes is Microsoft's HERE Maps.  It is packed with features but a bit more finicky.

[Arch]

Ive had a TomTom 5hundred&something Live on in conjunction with TomTom on iPhone 5. The iPhone is quicker to reroute every time. Tetrax mount on an airvent beats the clunky cradle for the dedicated unit too. No need to stick it in the centre of the windscreen.

[Tipex]

TomTom interface on the mobile is exactly the same as on the dedicated units, iPhones also have much nicer touch screens, higher resolution displays and massively faster processors and play the instructions through your car stereo, so they are actually better than a dedicated unit in that respect, the GPS signal is exactly the same one being used by phones or dedicated units.

 

The fact an iPhone (or any smart phone) can also position itself using mobile phone signal triangulation just makes them even more accurate.

 

Then there's the security aspect, I never leave my phone in the car so I don't have to think about pulling the sat nav off the windscreen and hiding it in the glovebox.

 

Don't get me wrong, dedicated sat navs are perfectly good, I just think modern smart phones do the job better and more conveniently.

Edited June 18, 2016 by Tipex

[billy2shots]

Her in doors doesn't have a modern smartphone, she is still using a HTV Desire which isn't compatible with the latest Nav apps.

She has no interest in changing phones and was using TomTom software on an old PDA.

The PDA keeps losing the software and is ready to be put down.

[eldavo69]

Mrs insisted on Nav for the Boxster and wouldn't countenance an iPhone solution as quite often she's using the nav and needs to take/make calls too.

[Tipex]

You can do both at the same time, taking/making calls and nav instructions still play, although you can't see them visually.

[NewNiceMrMe]

You can do both at the same time, taking/making calls and nav instructions still play, although you can't see them visually.

 

That is nigh on useless though.  You're putting pot luck into play and hoping you're on a straight before a turn or a good distance from one.  Not much good if you take long calls.

 

You're right about phones v dedicated Nav though.  I looked it up and things have changed (must have been longer than I thought since I last read up on it). 

 

The general consensus seems to be that an iPhone/good Android device is as good if not better than dedicated Nav - if you don't take many calls or need to make them when on trips.  That's where dedicated Nav wins hands down in my opinion.

If MrsBilly is using Nav often then I think he's right to choose a dedicated Nav (even moreso when you consider she doesn't have a decent smartphone).

 

The whole debate is why I always (as a heavy user of Nav) opt for integrated Nav in a new car.  The price is well worth it for all of the reasons mentions and the level of integration. 

[Tipex]

Yup, I also have integrated nav, the only issue (with the Ford nav) is that if you want the latest updates, you have to buy a new SD card every year, don't know how the BMW system works with updates?

 

I have TomTom on my phone because I bought it quite some years ago now, however the constant updates keep it bang up to date, it's far superior to any built in nav system I've ever used aside from not being fully integrated, I'm sure it won't be long before the phone nav instructions also show up on the car displays (if they don't already, I'm sure I read something about the newest Ford system that mentioned it).

 

Personally I don't find I have any issue with spoken instructions whilst talking on the phone, the TomTom instructions are clear and detailed, I think it actually shows direction icons as notifications too now I think about it.

 

I still have an old TomTom One that Mrs T uses from time to time, it's getting on for something like 15 years old now, maybe even older, the maps are well out of date, but it still works as well as it did the day I bought it despite being used solidly in the taxi for about 8 years, dropped several times and once being submerged in orange juice.

[eldavo69]

Pretty sure the new "Mirrorlink" stuff is supposed to show the phone screen on the display.