recommended sat nav
Discussion
hi,
We've sorted a car for the oh, i20 thanks guys, but it doesn't have sat nav. So i am looking for an easy to use sat nat, i prefer garmin and would like lifetime map updates. She doesn't have an up-to-date smartphone and tbh with the ambiguities in the law wouldn't want her using a phone.
So what's the preferred choice these days?
Cheers
Rich
We've sorted a car for the oh, i20 thanks guys, but it doesn't have sat nav. So i am looking for an easy to use sat nat, i prefer garmin and would like lifetime map updates. She doesn't have an up-to-date smartphone and tbh with the ambiguities in the law wouldn't want her using a phone.
So what's the preferred choice these days?
Cheers
Rich
My wife likes TomTom (although hers has a smartphone bluetooth link).
I prefer Garmin, mostly because the touchscreen is easier for my huge sausage fingers to use than the wife's TomTom.
However, even with the latest maps my Garmins will still try to route me through some bollards, along a horserider's track, across a field of sheep and through a farmyard to try to shave a minute off the journey time because it sees the horserider's track is nominally NSL, therefore it thinks I can drive at 60mph.
Another grumble is that Garmin much prefers to use the road name rather than road number, even for major single-carriageway A roads.
However, cheaper satnavs often take much longer to re-route if the required turn can't be taken, which can be frustrating waiting a couple of minutes in a busy city centre before the satnav has calculated a new route.
Also cheap satnavs sometimes have dangerous errors in their mapping, such as incorrect junction layouts which could catch people out if driving in the dark.
I prefer Garmin, mostly because the touchscreen is easier for my huge sausage fingers to use than the wife's TomTom.
However, even with the latest maps my Garmins will still try to route me through some bollards, along a horserider's track, across a field of sheep and through a farmyard to try to shave a minute off the journey time because it sees the horserider's track is nominally NSL, therefore it thinks I can drive at 60mph.
Another grumble is that Garmin much prefers to use the road name rather than road number, even for major single-carriageway A roads.
However, cheaper satnavs often take much longer to re-route if the required turn can't be taken, which can be frustrating waiting a couple of minutes in a busy city centre before the satnav has calculated a new route.
Also cheap satnavs sometimes have dangerous errors in their mapping, such as incorrect junction layouts which could catch people out if driving in the dark.
I would seriously consider a smartphone with Google Maps or Waze over a dedicated Sat Nav. For instance, I have Vikingette2s old iPhone 6 in the car to use as a dedicated SatNav - I think it's worth £60 if I sold it to CEX. I use a SIM that I think I pay £3pm after cashback so I have data and have it on a different network to my normal phone.
Why?
Ability to make emergency calls
Real time traffic (or as near real time with the lag)
Rerouting in case of delays
What 3 Words
AA/RAC/Green Flag breakdown apps mean you don't need to speak to anyone
I still have an old Garmin and TomTom and they are pretty crap compared to Google or Waze. As mentioned above, what grates me is the stupid routing - you're on a primary route that bends to the left and there's a tiny road/track that cuts the corner and the stupid things will route you down it.
Why?
Ability to make emergency calls
Real time traffic (or as near real time with the lag)
Rerouting in case of delays
What 3 Words
AA/RAC/Green Flag breakdown apps mean you don't need to speak to anyone
I still have an old Garmin and TomTom and they are pretty crap compared to Google or Waze. As mentioned above, what grates me is the stupid routing - you're on a primary route that bends to the left and there's a tiny road/track that cuts the corner and the stupid things will route you down it.
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