best satnav?

loudgem

hey lovely internet folks, im after recommendations / advice on which uk satnav is best to buy please?

i have spent days on the internet researching and now my head is full of mush.

i need lifetime maps, speed camera and traffic, built in sim card, bluetooth and preferably a dashcam. so far i have only found the garmin drive assist 51 LMT-D that has a dashcam,, but i believe the 61 is a better device?

and then there is the tomtom go 5200

anyone have an pearls of wisdom or experience with these please?

thanks heaps

Neil_Jones

You can just get a basic Android phone and use Google Maps. Which is free, updates itself and even gets you lost just as good as the next SatNav. you just need a mobile phone SIM and package, even PAYG with data will do.

JJ_Egan

Best maps and updates + traffic Tom Tom .

daveyjp

No such thing as best. Any satnav with live traffic is only as good as the data it receives.

I have used Garmin, Tomtom, Apple, Sygic, google maps and all have their faults. It comes down to which user interface you prefer.

wongataa

Neil_Jones wrote: »

You can just get a basic Android phone and use Google Maps. Which is free, updates itself and even gets you lost just as good as the next SatNav. you just need a mobile phone SIM and package, even PAYG with data will do.

And when you can't get a mobile signal it is a bit useless. You need offline mapping for a decent satnav really. Phone apps exist that have that facility.


Personally I use a Garmin satnav.

pogofish

We do have literally hundreds of threads on this and even a Sticky in the appropriate forum - Motoring..!

Carrot007

wongataa wrote: »

And when you can't get a mobile signal it is a bit useless. You need offline mapping for a decent satnav really. Phone apps exist that have that facility.

Indeed, google maps is one of them. Works great. Never had a problem with it.


Well beyond junctions of three roads where it generally gets the one that is the continuation of the road but a new name wrong. But they can all do that to an extent. Just that one of google's errors is a few hundred meters from my house! In fact b efore google maps an at my old house tom tom used to try and direct people though a waste recycler than is private property and 99% of the time closed at one end. Not even sure why it was on their map!


I think the main thing with sat nav is to be able to ignore it is you think it is wrong. It will always re-route you anyway.

motorguy

I dont use NAV as much as i used to so moreoften than finding my standalone NAV unit and rigging it up i just position my android phone with WAZE running.

BUT if i was using a unit regularly i'd have a dedicated unit attached to a vent or to the screen and it would be the GARMIN unit. I've used them for years and have been very happy with them.

RumRat

The built in Satnav or (Occassionally) GMaps via Android auto on the cars screen. No possible use for a stand alone unit these days.

takman

You won't get better traffic and updates than Google Maps. They use the data from all the Android phones that people have to produce a traffic map and no other system can close to this due to the amount of data they have access too.
It's also the most up to date maps and will always be up to date as long as Google exist compared to standalone units that become unsupported after a while.

mgfvvc

Carrot007 wrote: »

Indeed, google maps is one of them. Works great. Never had a problem with it.

I've used Google Maps very occasionally and it has locked up on me twice. Both times, by the time I realised it hadn't updated the directions for 5 minutes I had missed my turning and had to find somewhere to pull off and restart the phone.


I've never had that problem with my cheap Garmin.