Matteeboy

I'm currently sat waiting for a train to take me to see a car.
It looks ideal but has no sat nav so I'll get an aftermarket job; the top end Garmin Nuvi (too many digits to remember the exact model but it's won all sorts) looks like the ticket; Bluetooth android satnav.
Do they need any sort of installation at all? And do they generally run of a *** lighter socket?

Cheers!

scoobyskool

iTrader: (1)

There will be people who argue both cases but i have an old tom tom and its great , bought a new nuvi a couple of years ago for an in dash install and it had to be garmin as tomtom doesnt do remote switch on and off with the key ( power supply ) , the tomtoms just switch off not back on so for the application i was dojng it had to be garmin

I found the garmin not a patch on tomtom ,, poor maps,directions,interface and options - id never buy another garmin again tbh ,, tomtom all the way imo

Matteeboy

Interesting. I'm not decided yet but I am used to Garmin as it's what the van has (in a VW/Kenwood system).

Basically need nav, BT, no faffing.

scoobyskool

iTrader: (1)

Tom tom all the way - with tomtom youve not only got far superior display and turn instruction but also light years ahead of garmin in terms of tailoring the unit for your needs via tomtom website with free maps , tailored map colours for vehicles etc etc ,,, its honestly a no brainer .,, imo its the difference between a bmw and a lada

Matteeboy

And the best model?

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

Prefer Garmin myself. Find the routing, maps and lane guidance better. I don't think they're far apart, so it's down to personal preference really.

They're all simple to install, usually just a lighter plug and some have a thin wire aerial for traffic. Add a mount of your choice or use the supplied sucker mount. Brodit are good.

If you've got room for a double-din headunit and prefer an all-in-one solution perhaps look at changing the stereo for one with Sat Nav.

scoobyskool

iTrader: (1)

Model idk tbh , most recent one i bought was garmin , my tomtom is one of the original ancient ones but still far more adaptable and easy to use

As above there are people who like garmin so best bet would really be to go into somewhere like halfords and play with a few to see what suits you really but imo garmin are deaf,dumb and blind in terms of software support and adaptability let alone ease of use

Basically just keep an open mind on these satnavs and dont just go in blinkered looking for the best garmin as the best garmin may not be and imo is not the best satnav

Doubledin satnav car stereos - ive had a few and have the pioneer avic in my scoob - nav is a bit basic compared to tomtom and not a patch on it


If youre getting an outback i think doubledin stereo is easy to go in and would give you a proper bluetooth as well that mutes your stereo when calls come in , my scoob came with no bluetooth and standard stereo and id just sold the garmin in previous car so needed a new nav for separate vehicle ,,, sensible bluetooth is about £100 as is a satnav so i paid a bit more and just bought a cracking stereo

Tidgy

tomtom live, job done, saved me hours of travel time

Littleted

TomTom matt otherwise a proper incar 1

Tomtom is so accurate compared to the ****e ive used before...
Why not IPhone 1 ? or don't you have 1

Matteeboy

I have an iPhone 6 but we have patchy phone reception here (and in places we like to go like mountains) plus it drains the battery too fast and uses data up too much.

fawor

iTrader: (3)

cant belive what i read, proper english and dont know his Country
garmin is best, tomtom maps are bad quality,to much ****e on the screen ,zoom is terrible to operate etc

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

At least he's not a Cuntry!

Matteeboy

So, an almost 50/50 split! I go and check a few out at my local Halfords think.

scoobyskool

iTrader: (1)

Before you even go to halfords for a nosey - from the comfort of your armchair on the pc load up the tomtom app on pc and see how much free stuff and customisable stuff there is - then try and do the same with garmin

Matteeboy

Okay, I went to Halfords and came back with the Garmin 3...something or other.
It's a bit more compact than the Tom Toms and seemed to be the only one with Bluetooth (that was in stock). £289 seemed okay.

So far I'm pretty impressed with all except the mount; I cannot get the damn thing to stick to the windscreen or the stick on dash mount I got; it sticks fine to the side window which isn't very handy. I did bodge it into a dash cubby hole but thats only a temporary measure.

Once I can mount it, all good. Looks a bit like my iPhone which I like.

Shallow goon that I am.

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

If you have a smart phone why not use google maps ? It's been very accurate when ive used it, good quality screen graphics and voice navigation etc.

bustaMOVEs

iTrader: (31)

I prefer garmin in the van, easy guidance without telling me 10 times, some of them have free map updates for life if on offer

Matteeboy

Patchy reception around here, uses data, etc. It is great when it works but I so often can't get a fix.

Anyway the one we got is this:

https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/on-t...rod121763.html

Very smart looking unit. The cables are a bit messy and our front *** lighter socket appears to be faulty so it's plugged into the centre console one (between the front seats) but the unit itself looks very "premium" and works pretty well.

A few issues connecting to my (and my wife's) iPhone but once sorted, the BT is pretty good - immediately downloads the address book, last calls, etc. Makes the £300 (fitted) Parrot i9200 I bought a while back seem like a total rip off - that did BT (badly) and acted as a pants music controller. This cost less and does tonnes more.

Yep, it has free map updates for life too.

We shall see how well it works over time!

Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

I use the tomtom Europe app on my iphone, highly recommend it.
Never missed a turn on my holiday in Lanzarotte.

Matteeboy

Surely you can't go all that wrong in Lanzarote?!

Shaun

I use CoPilot for my iPhone. It's awesome for the money (I actually prefer over my inbuilt system on my daily driver - and it's more accurate) and doesn't use data.... it's all on the phone unless you use all the TMC stuff as well.

hodgy0_2

So it would still work if you remove the SIM?

Also I don't get inbuilt systems - they seem like the modern day equivalent of a car phone

And aesthetically speaking, they make for horrid dashboards

Littleted

Royal Mail use Co Pilot as standard.

My Merc Becker has been very very good, no issues thus far, as good as the rip off command stuff I had in my E350... I also find the Wifes Vauxhall system very good. cant rem what they use navman maybe or something

Matteeboy

The nav in the BM is excellent (we have the Business Media) but then it bloody should be for £1000 plus the £140 for the "black panel" display (basically makes the dash more useful and sticks nav stuff on it). Many go even madder and spend £2k on Pro Nav but that's just a step too far and all it adds is some geeky stuff. No speed warnings though (that's an extra £250!!) but it's great for traffic updates.

But the Outback came with no nav and a 2006 car with nav will have hopelessly dated stuff anyway.

The Garmin isn't perfect and I really don't like having wires everywhere but the nav itself seems to be very good and it has voice control, handsfree phone functions and so on. It'll do!

pflowers

Google maps is by far the best sat nav I have used, plus it's free.

Once you have the address entered you don't need a signal, it works via gps.

I drove from South Wales to Bolton through mid wales and had no 3G signal for over an hour, google maps still worked perfectly.

Matteeboy

I've been left without a signal fix several times when relying on Google maps; I just don't trust it enough.
Anyway this satnav has a cool little car that gets its back end out on sharp bends. Worth almost £300 for that alone.

Beef

Location lock is a function of the phone, not the app; if you're struggling for location fix you might have a fault in the GPS module.

Matteeboy

It's fine for other stuff like checking in on FB. And it gets a fix most of the time (I use it when on foot quite a lot) but it's let me down at critical moments too many times; on this phone and others.

Beef

Is there a consistent manufacturer/OS (or even carrier) across the ones you've tried?

I've been successfully using GMaps as my only sat-nav for the last 4+ years on 3 separate handsets, across multiple countries and continents, and it's been pretty darn solid for all that time. Foot use in London has occasionally baffled it a bit, but that's the only issue I've really had.

Matteeboy

O2 then EE, Android then iOS so a bit of a mix.