Sat Nav what, how etc.

[ericmark]

I bought my wife a Michelin sat nav years ago, now it is well out of date, we have used phones in the main, and it does seem some are better than others when signal is lost, however one car has it built in, so we use the built in one in that car.

However in the main we tow a caravan with a car without sat nav built in, and it is in that car when we most need it.

Some annoying things with the built in sat nav, like it says turn left, then says in 100 yards, much better if it says in 100 yards turn left.

However google has also gone wrong taking me on a tour of Holyhead to find a camp site on the main island, in the main we use a tablet (Samsung) and a portable router which seems to work just as well as phone, but a larger screen. And wife looks at screen while I drive. I hear the commands but when close she looks, and we should have realised there was something wrong when we did tour of Holyhead as mileage shown on sign to Holyhead was same as sat nav (Google) say the caravan site was, but should have been less.

Not worried about steep hills with caravan, but narrow lanes are not what I want to use. And the speech is more important than map, as I want eyes on the road, not a sat nav.

Using streetmap.co.uk it gives the steep hills, and looking at route before we start helps, but nothing seems to warn about narrow roads. Some B roads are really good, and some A roads really narrow.

So is there anything better than Google maps? Or is that now the best anyway, is there any point in buying a sat nav, or not, is the tablet the best we can get?

 

[Iamchamps]

I use the app Waze which I have always found to be excellent with good up to date traffic etc as well. Not sure if the map it uses is Google but never had any real issues with it.

 

[lostinthelight]

Ive been using “Here we go “for years, used it everywhere including Mexico,its free and uses gps as well so no need for mobile signal.
It even tell one where and when the next bus is due.

 

[Mottie]

I use Navmii UK and ROI - it’s free and you can download it so a data connection is not needed. You could also try TomTom Go - I think you get something like 50 free navigated miles per month or you can pay something like £15 a year for full unlimited use.

 

[empip]

Generally if we are heading for a new area, I find the destination on Google Earth, set the cursor on the entrance or target, read off the co-ordinates, enter those as destination in sat-nav, Garmin allows naming that destination, so job done - hasn't failed yet.
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[lostinthelight]

Generally if we are heading for a new area, I find the destination on Google Earth, set the cursor on the entrance or target, read off the co-ordinates, enter those as destination in sat-nav, Garmin allows naming that destination, so job done - hasn't failed yet.
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With here we go ,copilot and maybe others one can tap on a location on the map display and navigate to that spot so no need to type in coordinates which may be easier for some?

 

[empip]

Yep, our Garmin stuff allows touch for destination.
Need to be careful when tapping on carriageways with centre reservation, tap the wrong side on a motorway then be ready for a trip to the next roundabout - and back !! On the wrong side ! (Always review route before driving).
I like using the larger PC screen for the co-ordinates, just need to be aware of the format sets.
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