That old chestnut: using a satnav as navigator only?
Discussion
After your advice, success stories, tales of woe.
As a caveat I will say up front: I am aware of smart phone apps e.g. Waze but haven't ever used them. My perception, perhaps wrong, is that they will be data hungry as location services will be required constantly with upload/download of position and I'm not prepared to load my mobile contract with overhead data use for an occasional hoon. There's also the practicality that when I'm not out for blat or a trip the wife will use it for local pootling about so she just wants a unit to plonk on the dash, tell it where to go and crack on. Tell me I'm wrong by all means but I'm really looking for help with sat nav units here.
Right. I want a new satnav. Currently have a 5 year old TomTom start that refuses to update and has at best basic functionality. It was a gift. Useful as 'last-mile' nav to new destinations but that's about it.
Requirements are:
1) Able to accept .itn or .gpx route files for ~ 100 mile segments with 10-20 waypoints, and load these as routes that will be displayed without deviation / update due to e.g. traffic or time to destination. I'm talking about a 'virtual co-driver' basically. The ideal would be, plot route in google maps, export KML file directly to satnav, go.
2) Decent touch screen functionality. The Start is awful. Slow, laggy, inaccurate, scaling the map or navigating the route is virtually impossible. Have things moved on? Smartphones work well, even this laptop has a decent touchscreen function.
3) Update maps etc by wifi - after my Start experience waiting 4 hours or more for map updates I'm done with websites and USB cables for this.
4) Flexible mounting options - falling down the list of priorities here but the fun car has a curved screen so the mounting options for suction cup are limited.
It's mainly about (1). If it can do that well, all other sins are likely to be forgiven.
Budget is about £150. I don't see why this needs to be expensive.
TomTom Go looks a good bet - any exprience or other options?
Garmins look expensive and Basecamp seems overly complex for simply route planning, although powerful.
I am not really bothered about all the tripadvisor review guff that comes packaged into these units, it's not a point of difference for me. Likewise speed cameras, useful to have but I'm not about to pay a monthly subscription for it.
TLDR: is there a satnav that can import a Gmaps KML file and use it, follow it directly, without changing my route on the fly? If not, what is the next best thing excluding smartphone apps, and where are the compromises?
As a caveat I will say up front: I am aware of smart phone apps e.g. Waze but haven't ever used them. My perception, perhaps wrong, is that they will be data hungry as location services will be required constantly with upload/download of position and I'm not prepared to load my mobile contract with overhead data use for an occasional hoon. There's also the practicality that when I'm not out for blat or a trip the wife will use it for local pootling about so she just wants a unit to plonk on the dash, tell it where to go and crack on. Tell me I'm wrong by all means but I'm really looking for help with sat nav units here.
Right. I want a new satnav. Currently have a 5 year old TomTom start that refuses to update and has at best basic functionality. It was a gift. Useful as 'last-mile' nav to new destinations but that's about it.
Requirements are:
1) Able to accept .itn or .gpx route files for ~ 100 mile segments with 10-20 waypoints, and load these as routes that will be displayed without deviation / update due to e.g. traffic or time to destination. I'm talking about a 'virtual co-driver' basically. The ideal would be, plot route in google maps, export KML file directly to satnav, go.
2) Decent touch screen functionality. The Start is awful. Slow, laggy, inaccurate, scaling the map or navigating the route is virtually impossible. Have things moved on? Smartphones work well, even this laptop has a decent touchscreen function.
3) Update maps etc by wifi - after my Start experience waiting 4 hours or more for map updates I'm done with websites and USB cables for this.
4) Flexible mounting options - falling down the list of priorities here but the fun car has a curved screen so the mounting options for suction cup are limited.
It's mainly about (1). If it can do that well, all other sins are likely to be forgiven.
Budget is about £150. I don't see why this needs to be expensive.
TomTom Go looks a good bet - any exprience or other options?
Garmins look expensive and Basecamp seems overly complex for simply route planning, although powerful.
I am not really bothered about all the tripadvisor review guff that comes packaged into these units, it's not a point of difference for me. Likewise speed cameras, useful to have but I'm not about to pay a monthly subscription for it.
TLDR: is there a satnav that can import a Gmaps KML file and use it, follow it directly, without changing my route on the fly? If not, what is the next best thing excluding smartphone apps, and where are the compromises?
timbo999 said:
I'm pretty sure the map app on my iPhone, when used for navigation, doesn't use any data allowance at all. Certainly doesn't seem to and if it does its very little as I have a very small data allowance on my 'phone.
Indeed, google maps can be used 'offline' so no data used once you have sorted your route at home on wifi 
But isn't there still the issue that to be useful as a virtual navigator I'd need to be zoomed kn quite close, then once I get to the edge of the map if it isn't 'live' I'll need to scroll it. And I know people moan that unless you pass exactly over waypoints used to slave Google's route suggestions to your preferred route, it doesn't register and you have to intervene?
How hard do they have to make such a basic and useful feature?
How hard do they have to make such a basic and useful feature?
All I can say is that I used the iPhone map app for over 600 miles round Italy to chase the Mille Miglia (in a Renault Twingo - what a hoot!) and had no issues whatsoever. If fact I would say it had better functionality and more up-to-date maps than the Navigation in my (then) Merc or my current BMW.
timbo999 said:
All I can say is that I used the iPhone map app for over 600 miles round Italy to chase the Mille Miglia (in a Renault Twingo - what a hoot!) and had no issues whatsoever. If fact I would say it had better functionality and more up-to-date maps than the Navigation in my (then) Merc or my current BMW.
Does it do multi-waypoint custom routes though?I’m a waze user personally but it doesn’t tick ALL my boxes. I can’t recommend waze, Apple or google maps to the OP based on their list of wants and needs.
Watching this thread with interest.
timbo999 said:
All I can say is that I used the iPhone map app for over 600 miles round Italy to chase the Mille Miglia (in a Renault Twingo - what a hoot!) and had no issues whatsoever. If fact I would say it had better functionality and more up-to-date maps than the Navigation in my (then) Merc or my current BMW.
The problem with that is, I don't have or have any desire for, an iPhone. markyb_lcy said:
Does it do multi-waypoint custom routes though?
I’m a waze user personally but it doesn’t tick ALL my boxes. I can’t recommend waze, Apple or google maps to the OP based on their list of wants and needs.
Watching this thread with interest.
Thanks, I'm glad to know it's not just me. Again, how can something so obvious and simple be so hard to put into even the most basic device, what are we, over a decade into universal satnav?I’m a waze user personally but it doesn’t tick ALL my boxes. I can’t recommend waze, Apple or google maps to the OP based on their list of wants and needs.
Watching this thread with interest.
This is the whole reason I have never bought one: they don't do the single thing I most want them to do.
This time last year I did a solo road trip from SW London to my old man's place on the South Coast via Aberystwyth and a weekend in the Brecon Beacons. Mainly on B roads. I route planned on Gmaps and paper atlas, wrote out my own tulips on sheets of A4 and rubber-banded them to a sheet of card cut out of a sturdy box that I pushed behind the passenger door trim. Every 30 miles or so, rip a sheet off and stuff it behind the driver's seat. I cannot believe that there is not a satnav that can't compete with that.
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