Could anyone recommend a free Satnav for Android?

Vitor

I prefer Google Maps over Waze. I find using PC's web-browser for identifying and setting desired locations in advance is easier on Maps as it shows  named location such as hotels when browsing the map and you can toggle on/off the satellite view. The Waze live-view map in PC's web-browser is quite simplisitic.

When driving, it's possible Waze gives you more info from the 'wazers' reporting information on speed traps, broken down cars etc. although Maps seems pretty quick on picking up traffic jams.

One huge annoyance is that the Maps and Waze location data cannot be exchanged, bizarre as both are owned by Google. 

The TomTom app for Android is quite cheap (£19.99/year?), it's the only one of the three which lets to you easily pre-programme and save multi-stop routes in advance using PC web-browser and sync to mobile app. On very rare occasions Maps has offered a nonsensical route, I've never known TomTom to muck-up a route.

peter021072

Has anyone had a problem turning google maps off?  I didn't quite get to the exact destination the satnav was directing me to, so it just kept on giving instructions all the way home. I somehow found a way of stopping the voice commands, but I forgot how, so it'll probably happen again or perhaps I've switched voice commands off for good  Even now I can't get anything other than google maps on the Motorola/android screen so I may need to reset the phone.

Frozen_up_north

Since getting caught by a speed camera van (on a stretch of country road with no buildings that mysteriously was 30 mph for a couple of miles), I've been a big fan of Waze, not least of which it warns of those those pesky camera vans!

I have stored several locations in Waze and it can find obscure places by, I guess, Google search. No need to guess locations based on post codes, etc. It integrates perfectly into the car screen on both our VW Group cars, and works just as if it was built into the car system. It seems as good as any Tom Tom I've used and has far better update facilities, as a registered Waze user I can upload correction data and it appears on the map within a week or two... Tom Tom used to take months to make corrections.

Waze also seems pretty good at avoiding traffic queues and awkward right turns across traffic too. On recent trips to Grimsby Hospital it seemed to pick a different route almost every time and was aware of road works too. I didn't sit in a queue of traffic once, even at "rush hour".

EssexExile

peter021072 said:

Has anyone had a problem turning google maps off?  I didn't quite get to the exact destination the satnav was directing me to, so it just kept on giving instructions all the way home. I somehow found a way of stopping the voice commands, but I forgot how, so it'll probably happen again or perhaps I've switched voice commands off for good  Even now I can't get anything other than google maps on the Motorola/android screen so I may need to reset the phone.

I just tap the cross on the screen and it stops.

peter021072

I'm sure I would have done that if it offered that option, in fact many of the available options seemed to freeze.  I've got the phone working now anyway.

Edit: I entered in another location and some options in maps were still frozen, so I've restarted the phone.  Now the navigator seems OK. It directed me to that location correctly and the x mark was present this time to shut it down when I'd got there.

chrisw

Frozen_up_north said:

Since getting caught by a speed camera van (on a stretch of country road with no buildings that mysteriously was 30 mph for a couple of miles), I've been a big fan of Waze, not least of which it warns of those those pesky camera vans!

Yep. Saved me a fair few times. In fact I leave it running permanently in CarPlay as it also warns of potholes and other hazards, even if I'm not using it for directions.

RumRat

chrisw said:

Frozen_up_north said:

Since getting caught by a speed camera van (on a stretch of country road with no buildings that mysteriously was 30 mph for a couple of miles), I've been a big fan of Waze, not least of which it warns of those those pesky camera vans!

Yep. Saved me a fair few times. In fact I leave it running permanently in CarPlay as it also warns of potholes and other hazards, even if I'm not using it for directions.

Yep, it's on permanently in my car also....Great for warning of the burgeoning average speed check zones all over the city.

Gerry1

MapFactor Navigator is free and pretty good.  Maps are free and frequently updated, ditto fixed speed trap locations.  Doesn't need mobile data, you can download just specific regions or whole countries including Europe and North America.

Audible warning if you're over the speed limit, and for fixed speed traps (at 1000, 500 and 100 yards).

Highly customisable, e.g. can be set for use with Car, Bicycle, Motorcycle, Bus or as a Pedestrian.

Far better than my wretchedly expensive standalone Garmin which used DAB radio for much better traffic updates promised 'For Life', only for the service to be ditched after a few years, and needs very expensive speed camera updates.  Now it uses data over FM radio which is often unavailable or tells me there are no delays when I'm already stuck in a long jam.

The Garmin's memory is too small, a system update meant that overseas use requires existing maps to be deleted first.  In contrast, I loaded  Navigator maps for Boston and New England and it was invaluable last year when I went to see the eclipse, ditto in France and the Benelux the previous year.

RumRat

I've been experimenting with TomTom Amigo and find it to be quite good.

Bronvahl

peter021072 said:

5 years ago my cousin gave me his old stand alone TomTom sat nav, which is OK except the battery needs charging for 5 minutes before it boots up, and the screen needs a hard tap to work, so I was wondering if there was a cheap free satnav available for my Android phone.  Since I don't travel much it could be basic, just directions for locations in the UK.

You have two choices, a mobile app like WAZE, just be aware that this thing will track your location within your house and feed you toilet roll ads if you go to the loo.  Google would never have dared create such invasive geo fencing so they bought Waze and paid around a billion for it despite having their own app.

Waze is OK if you just set it to only have access to location when using the app, I go a step further and have it set to NEVER and I reboot my phone after use. 

The easier choice is to use freecycle, there are loads of people with old sat nav devices sitting in a drawer somewhere.

If you are tech minded you can swap out the battery.