Best Budget Sat Nav

Arklight

Satnavs are good for people who don't want to use their phone for a SatNav. I would prefer not to, but my last TomTom has just decided to update itself out of being able to use live traffic so is pretty useless. Money is too tight at the moment to buy something my phone already does so I will be using my phone.

The inbuilt navigation on my car needs the maps updating and live traffic activation, for which Suzuki / Garmin expect me to pay £125, for a 12 month update. Which is also not happening.

Typhoon2000

TomTom live traffic is way way better than anything from google, Garmin or the Waze app. I use mine just for traffic of my 75mile each waycommute. Have compared it to Google and Waze and the built in satnav which is Garmin maps, and it’s night and day. Alerts me to traffic quite a way off and it’s every dynamic so I can see if the queue ahead is getting shorter or longer which helps me decide if I need to switch routes or if it would have cleared up by the time I reach it.
ETA is also much more accurate than Google( over estimates) or Garmin under estimates.

Majic

Typhoon2000 wrote: »

TomTom live traffic is way way better than anything from google, Garmin or the Waze app. I use mine just for traffic of my 75mile each waycommute. Have compared it to Google and Waze and the built in satnav which is Garmin maps, and it’s night and day. Alerts me to traffic quite a way off and it’s every dynamic so I can see if the queue ahead is getting shorter or longer which helps me decide if I need to switch routes or if it would have cleared up by the time I reach it.
ETA is also much more accurate than Google( over estimates) or Garmin under estimates.

Agree with the TomTom live traffic, particularly whether the queue gets longer or shorter

Majic

Takmon wrote: »

Google maps uses the location of all the Android smartphones and any other device using google maps plus other information to build up very accurate traffic maps. Due to the massive amount of data they have access too you won't get a more accurate traffic map from any other provider (but other providers do use this data).

So when you put in a destination you will get a very accurate arrival time and the best route, which will also update if there is a faster route as you are travelling.

Plus you also have the latest up to date maps when using it.

No standalone Sat Nav will come close to this level of accuracy so i personally see them as pretty much redundant these days.

Just tried it for the first time, very accurate in terms of arrival time. Didn't hear a peep out of device, how does it tell you if there is a quicker route and warn you of speed cameras? Only went on a short journey so didn't encounter any problems

Takmon

Majic wrote: »

Just tried it for the first time, very accurate in terms of arrival time. Didn't hear a peep out of device, how does it tell you if there is a quicker route and warn you of speed cameras? Only went on a short journey so didn't encounter any problems

If there is a quicker route is will come up on the screen asking if you want to accept it or not.

Speed cameras show up as an icon on the road ahead.

couriervanman

TomTom live traffic is way better than google or waze......if it was me id still choose a sat nav with live traffic over smart phone

Arklight

How good do most people need it to be?

Majic

Done a 400 mile round trip to the south coast over the last few days, thought it would be an ideal opportunity to try out Google Maps for the first time. My thoughts:

Within 10 minutes of starting my journey a lorry was on fire, with a fire engine at hand. This came up as a delay on google maps which was good. After that it was very accurate in detecting delays on the M5 and came up with alternatives. Finding parking and petrol stations, again very good. Overall I was impressed. The only couple of things I miss compared with Tom Tom is 1) you can see the traffic queue on a Tom Tom and this can influence whether to pick an alternative and 2) On a TomTom you have reference to the actual speed you are travelling which is very handy.

Given the choice I would pick a Tom Tom but taking into consideration the cost I am happy enough with Google Maps

Arklight

I would generally prefer a standalone Sat Nav. Google have numerous ulterior motives for offering live traffic on their apps, none of which have anything to do with you getting from A to B through the best route.

Sadly I suspect that the days of TomTom and Garmin making their own equipment are coming to an end, unless they want to start making phones.

I did find that you can get TomTom as an app on your phone, for about £20 a year. Which seems reasonable.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tomtom.gplay.navapp

DoaM

Your speedo tells you what speed you are travelling. Experience with your vehicle should tell you the differential between speedo reading and actual speed; I know that 75 on my speedo is a real 70 for example.

Google Maps shows traffic holdups as lengths of yellow or red road, and also tends to show approximate time delay (in my experience).