GPS REPLACEMENT

killalanerr

After last years shenanigans with the Garmin I'm going to invest in a new satnav , so I would be interested in hearing what the rest of you guys are using ,also are the motorhome/truck gps worth the extra cost and as I'm always one for a bargain what is the view on the cheap Chinese units
thanks in advance

corkbuoy

I have been using a 5" chinese one for the past five years, and bought one each for my son and daughter in Australia as thay come with maps of Australia and New Zealand as well as europe, great gps and great value at about 50 euro.

Just ordered a 7" truck version from the same supplier on ebay, good reports of these on other forums.

http://bit.ly/1bPs6aQ

Pretty cheap for lifetime maps. Might be sold out by now though.
https://www.aldi.ie/en/specialbuys/sun-10-may/products-detail-page/ps/p/garmin-nuvi-55/

What shenanigans do you speak of?

killalanerr

Thanks Liam that looks like good value ok,i see PC world have that model for e119 also,makes the Chinese job look a bit risky if a Garmin can be got for that money,We have a nuvi 2445 which did some very strange things last year in France takeing the wrong direction at very turn,i checked all the setting reset it and loaded the most upto date maps to no avail to the point i have given up on it

Corkboy have you been able to update the maps and can you upload your own poi,s might get one as a back up

moodrater

I've just been using sygic on a 5" android phone which is also used for spotify / mp3 / hotspot worked great in France last summer. If you want to enter vehicle dimensions you need the truck version.

Garmin 'Lifetime' updates is for what they deem to be the useful life of the device. N55 is out nearly 3 years already so 3 years closer to end of life.

corkbuoy

My original one did not have the map update option, I uploaded lots of POI's, campsites , aires etc.

Plenty ifo here, http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/cheap-does-not-always-mean-rubbish-sat-navs.108199/

*Kol*

I use the Apple map App on the iPhone. It works great everywhere in the world.

dealgan

I've only just found maps.me
There are no voice directions, but it works without a cellular signal so great for abroad without roaming charges on your phone.

I tried it on an older wifi-only iPad also and it works great, and it is free !

Maybe there is something similar with voice prompting out there, but I haven't come across it yet.

http://maps.me/en/home

moodrater

dealgan wrote: »

I've only just found maps.me
There are no voice directions, but it works without a cellular signal so great for abroad without roaming charges on your phone.

I tried it on an older wifi-only iPad also and it works great, and it is free !

Maybe there is something similar with voice prompting out there, but I haven't come across it yet.

http://maps.me/en/home

That uses the openstreetmap data. Osmand is the main app for openstreetmaps and supports voice navigation. Open street map data is often better than the others as users will usually properly grade the roads whereas a lot of the companies mark everything other than primary as a secondary road and send you down bog roads etc. For western europe its generally excellent and usually the first to add new roads, update junctions etc. Its 6 months ahead of garmin at least if you remember the portlaois section of motorway it didn't arrive on garmin for about a year it was on openstreetmaps when it opened.

killalanerr

Thank you guys some interesting reading,I hadn't considered the app route if you pardon the pun as in the past expensive roaming charges made them impractical,

I like the look of the sygic app I have downloaded the truck version on trail but €129 is a bit steep for an app,I will give Osmand a go also,but i would still like to have something that I could load my own poi,s on to so maybe runing my current gps along side Osmand on the phone would keep on track.

B.I.O.Y.H.

If you're due an upgrade you might consider getting a Lumia phone. They have the HERE Drive on them. Works like a Sat Nav and doesn't need a data connection. I've used one in France the last few years and find it great!

moodrater

killalanerr wrote: »

Thank you guys some interesting reading,I hadn't considered the app route if you pardon the pun as in the past expensive roaming charges made them impractical,

I like the look of the sygic app I have downloaded the truck version on trail but €129 is a bit steep for an app,I will give Osmand a go also,but i would still like to have something that I could load my own poi,s on to so maybe runing my current gps along side Osmand on the phone would keep on track.

You can convert to obf and load POI's in osmand

Malta1

Anybody know if Maps on the Samsung Galaxy uses data?
If it doesnt use data then thats me sorted

moodrater

Malta1 wrote: »

Anybody know if Maps on the Samsung Galaxy uses data?
If it doesnt use data then thats me sorted

You can use nokia here maps and download the maps, Ireland is 187.5MB, UK 662.7, France 1,126.8MB etc. so just download the ones you need as you need them.

Register an account here:
https://account.here.com/

Download and install app from play store:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.here.app.maps




Google maps uses data, you can download parts of maps for offline but you can use them to search or navigate.

moodrater

Sygic is reduced to 19.99 for europe + russia again:
http://links.sygic.mkt6669.com/ctt?kn=14&ms=MjMwMDQwMTgS1&r=MTI1MjAxMzczNDA3S0&b=0&j=NjAwNzM4NTM2S0&mt=1&rt=0

With regard to Nokia here maps its done some really stoopid routing for me lately and I submitted corrections for several local roads a couple of months ago but they haven't been reviewed yet. I wonder is Microsoft starving it out of resources to concentrate on the new Bing maps. Satya Nadella seems to have it in for Nokia.

digger58

I just bought one of these....http://www.ebay.ie/itm/391032744054?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649. has done OK throughout France and Italy, wasn't much good in Albania though. Hard to see in the sunlight as well even with the visor on it. The old one that came with the camper was a smaller version but was pretty knackered and kept freezing, also has a video input for the camera.

moodrater

digger58 wrote: »

I just bought one of these....http://www.ebay.ie/itm/391032744054?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649. has done OK throughout France and Italy, wasn't much good in Albania though. Hard to see in the sunlight as well even with the visor on it. The old one that came with the camper was a smaller version but was pretty knackered and kept freezing, also has a video input for the camera.

Probably has a TN screen which has terrible viewing angles. If its glare you can get anti glare screen protectors for 7 inch tabs.

Uses iGo 8 maps they buy map data from all different sources including navteq (garmin) and tomtom. Albania was obviously a low priority for them.

digger58

What is a TN screen?. I think it uses igo as well. For the money it is pretty good, since I never owned a "normal" sat nav that seem very expensive, I have a Fiat Ulysse that has a built in RT3 with phone and sat nav that uses Nav Tec but the discs are more expensive than the whole unit I bought plus if using it you can't play a CD! Hard to beat a decent map all the same!

JonMac

On a phone maps.me isn't bad, but I like CoPilot [also good on iPad].

moodrater

digger58 wrote: »

What is a TN screen?. I think it uses igo as well. For the money it is pretty good, since I never owned a "normal" sat nav that seem very expensive, I have a Fiat Ulysse that has a built in RT3 with phone and sat nav that uses Nav Tec but the discs are more expensive than the whole unit I bought plus if using it you can't play a CD! Hard to beat a decent map all the same!

TN is twisted nematic its one of the cheapest constructions of screen but the viewings angles can be really bad and with glare added canmake it very difficult to see e.g.



We use an old HP touchpad with sygic in our van those have and IPS screen with viewing angles of abot 178 degrees the glare is a problem alright though

digger58

I have no doubt that the unit I bought has the cheapest of the cheap components, I will try that anti glare screen and see what happens, All in all I'm quite impressed with the unit given the price. Thanks for the info.