Sat-Nav with free updates?

[GrizzlyBear]

I had Here maps on my phone for years, only need it a few times a year, but the phone is getting old and the battery is not what it once was.

As I don't use it that much and I never found it that good, I am thinking of a sat-nav, probably just a second hand one, so can anyone tell me which brands (if any) allow free map updates?

Also any satnav recommendations? which brands are good? but if my second hand idea works, which allow updates.

[croyde]

I'd like to know if there any Sat Navs as good as Google or Waze on a phone.

I have a new phone and being unibody thus battery integrated into the unit, I don't want to wear it out too soon.

My last phone had swappable batteries and I used it for 5 years.

[Dave.]

Cheaper to buy another phone and use that solely as a satnav.

Some like this - https://www.smartfonestore.com/browse/all/lg/nexus...

[LuS1fer]

Tom Tom do lifetime free updates.

[Scrump]

LuS1fer said:

Tom Tom do lifetime free updates.

And Garmin do free maps if the code ends in LM (lifetime maps). If it ends in LMT then it comes with lifetime maps and traffic.

[Yabu]

LuS1fer said:

Tom Tom do lifetime free updates.

Pretty sure there was a disclaimer to that when I bought one

• lifetime of the device, ie how long they choose to support it for

[GrizzlyBear]

Yabu said:

Pretty sure there was a disclaimer to that when I bought one

• lifetime of the device, ie how long they choose to support it for

Thanks for that, I assume that I can still update it if I by it now?

As I will not be the first owner, does that make a difference to the updates?

[LuS1fer]

Yabu said:

Pretty sure there was a disclaimer to that when I bought one

• lifetime of the device, ie how long they choose to support it for

I've had mine 4-5 years and still getting regular updates.

[Shiv_P]

Do these garmin/tomtom units use their own traffic routing or just TMC?

OP personally I'd go for the phone option as suggested. You can even have them auto launch waze or google maps when connecting to a bluetooth device eg if your car supports bluetooth or your main mobile phone. With the free 3 sim card giving 200MB per month this would work quite well I think....

[Slushbox]

Scrump said:

And Garmin do free maps if the code ends in LM (lifetime maps). If it ends in LMT then it comes with lifetime maps and traffic.

These ^^^^.

Updating is achieved with Garmin Express on a PC. My Garmin seems to get a Europe map update about every 8 months.

Horses for courses as to which is better: with a phone you're only faffing with one device, but need a data plan for live updates.

Satnav: interface designed for use in a car, doesn't need a data plan, and will already contain many POIs like hotels and fuel stations with phone numbers, so no need to Google. Can do multi-point routing, has a built-in fuel computer. Often stolen if you leave it in the car or the sucker on the windscreen.