sat nav recommendation

[froggy8]

hi guys,

 

looking for a decent sat nav as i need to upgrade. i need one that will tell me if there is a diversion or road bloacks. mine doesnt tell me any of these things. budget wise would prob be 100.

 

cheers guys  

[m4inbrain]

From my experience, at £100 there isn't really many options. Sat Navs with live traffic update start at £99, but as Sat Navs go i wouldn't necessarily call them decent.

 

Probably the most for your money would be something like a TomTom Go basic, slightly over budget though. I'll be honest though, before i got my new car with factory sat nav, i went through this minefield and in the end stuck with my phone + Waze. Worked considerably better and more accurate than cheap stuff - but i suppose mileage varies. But, you could give it a shot since it's somewhat free. 

Edited July 14, 2019 by m4inbrain

[rushboy2004]

I have always had TomTom units and still use one over the integrated one in my car.

 

Prime day on amazon you may fine the £200 version heavy discounted that when I got my current model last year.

 

but this meets you budget but you need a smartphone with data for traffic updates. (who doesn't have a smartphone now days?)

TomTom  Car Sat Nav VIA 52, 5 Inch with Handsfree Calling, Lifetime Traffic via Smartphone and WE Maps, Resistive Screen £99

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TomTom-Handsfree-Lifetime-Smartphone-Resistive/dp/B01I39K94G/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2RNQFO4GTVJEX&keywords=tomtom+sat+nav&qid=1563137724&s=gateway&sprefix=tomtom%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-3

 

 

 

 

[froggy8]

17 hours ago, m4inbrain said:

From my experience, at £100 there isn't really many options. Sat Navs with live traffic update start at £99, but as Sat Navs go i wouldn't necessarily call them decent.

 

Probably the most for your money would be something like a TomTom Go basic, slightly over budget though. I'll be honest though, before i got my new car with factory sat nav, i went through this minefield and in the end stuck with my phone + Waze. Worked considerably better and more accurate than cheap stuff - but i suppose mileage varies. But, you could give it a shot since it's somewhat free. 

 

15 hours ago, rushboy2004 said:

I have always had TomTom units and still use one over the integrated one in my car.

 

Prime day on amazon you may fine the £200 version heavy discounted that when I got my current model last year.

 

but this meets you budget but you need a smartphone with data for traffic updates. (who doesn't have a smartphone now days?)

TomTom  Car Sat Nav VIA 52, 5 Inch with Handsfree Calling, Lifetime Traffic via Smartphone and WE Maps, Resistive Screen £99

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TomTom-Handsfree-Lifetime-Smartphone-Resistive/dp/B01I39K94G/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2RNQFO4GTVJEX&keywords=tomtom+sat+nav&qid=1563137724&s=gateway&sprefix=tomtom%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-3

 

 

 

 

thank you very much guys, i could stretch the budget if its the right one for me. i dont have a phone, havent had a phone for nearly 10 years.

[m4inbrain]

I don't think you'd get lucky in that case, as as far as i know, every Sat Nav gets its updates via wife/phone. I've seen some with built in SIM slot, but you obviously still need a SIM card for that. 

 

In that case, honestly, i'd suggest instead of getting a Sat Nav, get a decent phone holder and a cheap cellphone, and use Waze or TomTom mobile. Keep in mind that they'll use data allowance, so whatever SIM you decide on, should have a decent data allowance.

 

Other than that, i'm not aware of any way to get live traffic updates. Except of course listening to the radio lol.

Edited July 15, 2019 by m4inbrain

[m4inbrain]

Actually, i'm not entirely sure if it'd work, but you could look at devices with built in SIM slot and just get a prepaid SIM - which you'd need to top up every now and then. But that's probably the cheapest way to go without getting a phone/contract.

[froggy8]

7 minutes ago, m4inbrain said:

Actually, i'm not entirely sure if it'd work, but you could look at devices with built in SIM slot and just get a prepaid SIM - which you'd need to top up every now and then. But that's probably the cheapest way to go without getting a phone/contract.

i could still get updates through my pc if that helps

[m4inbrain]

Well, sorry to say that it doesn't - as long as you don't carry it around with you and it has an active internet connection (that's what the phone/SIM is supplying). 

 

SatNavs use the phone/SIM to update their traffic map on the fly - this feature requires a constant connection to the internet. It would defeat the purpose to update it once in the morning, since you'd only get a traffic map from that timeframe - everything that comes after said update in the morning wouldn't show up on the Sat Nav.

 

That's why they're called "live updates".

 

[froggy8]

1 hour ago, m4inbrain said:

Well, sorry to say that it doesn't - as long as you don't carry it around with you and it has an active internet connection (that's what the phone/SIM is supplying). 

 

SatNavs use the phone/SIM to update their traffic map on the fly - this feature requires a constant connection to the internet. It would defeat the purpose to update it once in the morning, since you'd only get a traffic map from that timeframe - everything that comes after said update in the morning wouldn't show up on the Sat Nav.

 

That's why they're called "live updates".

 

  yeah i understand now mate, just been on my tomtom account and they said that mine is not supported anymore and they ahve recommended 2 which is go premium and go premium x but wow.....nearly 300 pund!

[m4inbrain]

Yeah. Reason being that both have a built in SIM card for the traffic updates (so you don't need to supply it), and lifetime support for live traffic updates and speed camera locations.

 

I don't think that as a "all in one solution", anything will be much cheaper. You could try to snipe one used, maybe? Though i would make sure first that the built in SIM is transferable. 

 

Other than that.. It's a decent bit of kit, some things are worth spending money on especially if you use it every day and get a lot out of it. Sounds stupid, but without a phone and basically google maps navigation, or Waze or something, there really isn't an option for live updates other than pretty expensive devices.

[froggy8]

1 hour ago, m4inbrain said:

Yeah. Reason being that both have a built in SIM card for the traffic updates (so you don't need to supply it), and lifetime support for live traffic updates and speed camera locations.

 

I don't think that as a "all in one solution", anything will be much cheaper. You could try to snipe one used, maybe? Though i would make sure first that the built in SIM is transferable. 

 

Other than that.. It's a decent bit of kit, some things are worth spending money on especially if you use it every day and get a lot out of it. Sounds stupid, but without a phone and basically google maps navigation, or Waze or something, there really isn't an option for live updates other than pretty expensive devices.

thanks again for your help, the tomtom premium is the one i will get  

[m4inbrain]

Not really helping lol, just throwing my 2 cents in. 

 

Though out of curiosity, how come you don't have a phone?

[Juggernaut jims]

To be fair a mobile phone with Google maps has been the best for a long time as its updated constantly with traffic reports and user inputs, I also use a garmin in the car and its useless to be fair. 

[mark-essex]

11 hours ago, Juggernaut jims said:

To be fair a mobile phone with Google maps has been the best for a long time as its updated constantly with traffic reports and user inputs, I also use a garmin in the car and its useless to be fair. 

 

I use Waze, but it does use data.  Google maps however, you can download offline maps.  I travelled California last year using Google maps offline, worked perfect.  There are other apps that allow you to use offline maps too.

 

I prefer them all to my built in unit in my car.

[Juggernaut jims]

To be fair I have unlimited data so it doesn't effect me but I have downloaded the majority of the maps and all it uses is data to see the problems.

In car ones seem to be absolutely useless even in the new cars.