Cheap satnav for USA

prowla

Here in the UK I use Tom Tom on my phone rather than a separate satnav device; if I were going to the USA I'd get the USA maps for it.

(On the iPhone it allows you to install on multiple devices too.)

Moto2

It's fun getting the map out at breakfast and devising the route to take in some interesting places

We did a 2 week tour on the continent in June last year and had no idea where we were going from day to day.
We were still arguing on the Eurotunnel over which way we should head when we got off, usually at a lunch stop we'd decide on where to stop for the evening and try to find a suitable hotel, other times we just turned up in a town or village and found somewhere.
A sat-nav would have killed it, constantly having to follow it without a clue of what you're driving past or missing.
Use the thing for getting to the airport or ferry on time but occasionally switch it off and go 'feral' you may even enjoy it.

prowla

I think the sat-nav can be useful in finding your way back from wherever you've gone for the day.

travellerboy

We go to Walmart and Buy the cheapest SatNav and phone when we arrive. When home list and sell on Ebay, will probably cost you little might even make a profit.

Murphy_The_Cat

Mattygroves2 wrote: »

I wouldn't be on an interstate in the first place or driving after 20 hours - that is dangerous even with a sat nav. Part of the fun of a road trip for us is finding interesting roads to go down that avoid the main highways - the way of getting there is as important as the destination for us.

I have done many trips in the States (last one coast to coast) and in Europe without a sat nav and never got too lost. It's fun getting the map out at breakfast and devising the route to take in some interesting places. I'd never have found the dirt road out of Grand Teton National Park following a sat nav similarly the cut through from Custer State Park down to Windy Cave both of which saved at least an hour of driving as well as being more fun to drive.

It's horses for courses. After leaving your point of entry, you're looking to get to your point A.
My personal preference is getting there as safely and quickly as possible. You may find it fun to look at a piece of paper, examine animal droppings, navigate by the stars or asking your new bessie mates from the ghetto that you've ended up in -- I'll utilise Mr Tom Tom's finest, or even better, the cars own GPS system.

Lots of really good GPS related advice for the OP. Plus your thoughts on how people used to have to navigate in the last century.

Moto2

Get one like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2QIH2uz3p8

Crispy_Ambulance

We bought a satnav from Walmart - we pre-ordered and picked it up on the first morning. We also use maps but the satnav has been really helpful for specific locations.

Plus the advantage with the satnav is that it won't tell the driver to Foxtrot Oscar and find everywhere himself if he refuses to follow the directions. It merely recalculates with minimum of fuss if you go a bit wrong!

You can use a satnav or a map. We found having the satnav made life easier, especially in a big city like Houston. Funnily enough, we had a great time and never once felt as though the nice lady in the satnav was sucking the joy out of our holiday.

zagfles

Moto2 wrote: »

Switch roaming off?

Anyway, you could simply use something like Nokia Here Maps which is an off-line sat nav app

Yup I've used Here maps in Europe - excellent sat nav (better than standalone ones IMO), you can just download the maps for whatever country you're going to before you go, free on wifi, then make sure mobile data is turned off.

But if you have someone in the car who can read a map, this will usually be better than any sat nav If I'm the passenger and have an appropriate map I'll usually use the map rather than satnav.

zagfles

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

It's horses for courses. After leaving your point of entry, you're looking to get to your point A.
My personal preference is getting there as safely and quickly as possible. You may find it fun to look at a piece of paper, examine animal droppings, navigate by the stars or asking your new bessie mates from the ghetto that you've ended up in -- I'll utilise Mr Tom Tom's finest, or even better, the cars own GPS system.

Lots of really good GPS related advice for the OP. Plus your thoughts on how people used to have to navigate in the last century.

We went on loads on US road trips last century, before satnavs. Using a paper map isn't exactly rocket science, particularly in sparsely populated areas like the western US. Satnavs are most useful in cities, but we generally avoid driving too much in cities. It helps when you haven't pre-booked any accomodation and so don't need to find a particular place which you've booked. I think even now for a US road trip I'd use a satnav as a backup rather than the main tool.

benjus

I don't trust Nokia Here (at least not the Android version) since it failed to sync correctly with my phone's location and was worse than useless trying to find my way out of Rio de Janeiro (worse because for a while I assumed it would eventually sync up).

I've been using Navmii for a year or so and find it excellent - it's free, you can download the maps for offline use to avoid roaming charges, and it has a nice clear display (the search screen for finding destinations could be better though).