How important is lifetime map updates on a Sat Nav

ferry

Sorry, amateur sat nav user alert....
I'm in the market for a new unit and wonder this time if I should go for a a model that has lifetime map updates.
Not a big user but do prefer the dedicated unit compared to a App be honest but not sure if the extra investment is worth the additional money?
Oh and one more thing- do all sat nav units generally operate from the same satellites or are some makes known to be more reliable than others? Just curious..

Thanks for any advice
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Tigsteroonie

I thought lifetime map updates were really important in my choice of satnav five years ago. Two years later, we got a car that had a built-in satnav and the other unit hasn't been out of its box since!

debitcardmayhem

How long do you wish to live/drive, in two weeks/years you will buy an autonomous car, or perhaps someone will do what happened to me and steal your sat nav.
All sat navs use the same geo-synchronous satellites in space unless therealdonald shoots them down. Oh and sadly the lifetime updates usually work on the lifetime of the device , ergo 1 minute after it runs out of warranty and the parts are no longer available...cynic alert

Flashkash

In my opinion being a field engineer and based on the road I would recommend WAZE I know you said you don’t like “apps” I was the same but it’s free, and has real time traffic updates and the maps are updated daily with new roads, average speed camera locations, roadworks etc I could not live without it.

ferry

Flashkash wrote: »

In my opinion being a field engineer and based on the road I would recommend WAZE I know you said you don’t like “apps” I was the same but it’s free, and has real time traffic updates and the maps are updated daily with new roads, average speed camera locations, roadworks etc I could not live without it.

I assume it eats all the data you have while in use?
Am I looking at a large bill from my mobile phone provider on a long distance trip with no unlimited data buffer?

emptybox

ferry wrote: »

I assume it eats all the data you have while in use?
Am I looking at a large bill from my mobile phone provider on a long distance trip with no unlimited data buffer?

I used Waze on a round trip of about 600 miles a month or so ago, and it used less than 100 MB of data.
It perhaps downloaded a certain amount on wifi to begin with, but I had no broadband connection at the other end, so all the rest was on 4G.

RumRat

New cars are ditching their dedicated sat navs and are connecting to the owners smart phone. They then use this for Media and navigation. No need for map updates etc.
I got rid of my dedicated unit years ago and use either Google maps or Waze for navigation. Neither have ever let me down and have never left me with any big bills.
There should be enough data in your plan to more than cover anything you are likely to use in a month.

Gloomendoom

RumRat wrote: »

There should be enough data in your plan to more than cover anything you are likely to use in a month.

Assuming that the OP has a “plan” in the first place. Not everybody does, nor is data always available.

I have nav apps on my phone and iPad but actually prefer to use the built in nav on the car or a dedicated satnav unit if driving one without. Currently using a 2008 Garmin in Australia. It’s a veteran of our travels having taken us all over the UK, US, Europe and Australia. The only map updates it has had are for Australia where it’s used most.

RumRat

Then choose one that can run offline and not use data.....NAVMii comes to mind. Or pay for CoPilot app.
That said, they use so little and data is cheap. I've never been left without because there is no data available.

Gloomendoom

RumRat wrote: »

Then choose one that can run offline and not use data.....NAVMii comes to mind. Or pay for CoPilot app.
That said, they use so little and data is cheap. I've never been left without because there is no data available.

I have Navmii and still prefer the Garmin when in the car. Navmii is good for walking and cycling though.

Would agree that in the UK data shouldn’t be a problem in most instances.

Hoogle

All depends My parents go to Florida for 4 months of the year until now they have only had garmin UK and europe and every year I download a free sat nav that works in the garmin open source when they go over to FL. However they have always said it doesnt do anywhere near as good job and always out dated.

So this year I looked into buying them the official USA map for garmin and the cost was like £94 so researched sat navs with UK and American maps or World maps to see how much they were.

I got a tomtom go 520 with lifetime traffic speed cameras and world maps on cyber monday usually £200 from an online catalogue on cyber monday I got a first order discount of 25% free delivery I had £50 worth of vouchers free with my credit card and have a £40 cash back offer I believe after 3 months I believe the actual unit has cost me just over £50 with all the offers stacked and that is with world maps and free lifetime updates.

I have also just seen argos do the tomtom 510 which is pretty much the same sat nav just without all the voice commands and siri/google integration only £129

so normally I would say not really worth buying something just for that feature as they are usually a lot more expensive however if you are looking to replace a sat nav or buy your first 1 shop around as purchasing an upgrade may be more expensive than buying a whole unit with free updates etc.