I wonder why Tom Tom or Garmin have not thought of making a SatNav unit without a screen but with superior connectivity to cars via mirroring. Unit could be small and discrete, able to sit on top of a dashboard and have a lot of battery life because no screen to power. They would have all the finesse of TomTom/Garmin SatNav experience and have all the latest technology built in. 

That would surely be the death knell for in-built units?

I wonder why Tom Tom or Garmin have not thought of making a SatNav unit without a screen but with superior connectivity to cars via mirroring. Unit could be small and discrete, able to sit on top of a dashboard and have a lot of battery life because no screen to power. They would have all the finesse of TomTom/Garmin SatNav experience and have all the latest technology built in. 

That would surely be the death knell for in-built units?

I'm more of the opinion that sadly the opposite is the case and that TomTom etc are fighting a losing battle to this neatness mania.

I just hope they'll survive.

I'm more of the opinion that sadly the opposite is the case and that TomTom etc are fighting a losing battle to this neatness mania.

I just hope they'll survive.

The triumph of appearance over function is a mark of these image obsessed days. One can only hope that at some point there will be a realisation that real life function is of more importance than form and image. Satnavs are a case where function is everything and having an inconspicuous Satnav unit seamlessly sending data to an inbuilt screen would solve the image problem. Wishful thinking maybe but one can only hope!

Tom Tom make money by selling its maps to others as much as selling stand alone devices.

Tom Tom make money by selling its maps to others as much as selling stand alone devices.

As long as they have a sustainable income stream they'll survive hopefully long term.

Of the three options for satnav in the car (Tomtom etc, smartphone, built-in) it's looking like the built-in version may be the first to become obsolete.

Our Skoda satnav is quite a disappointment after being used to our Tomtom (an ageing One V1). There are no changes to the daft voice available ("continue on this road for a very long time", "turn left onto the A two hundred and seventeen") and no way of adding POI files. It's a bit primitive compared to our thirteen year old Tomtom. And with Skoda maps being prohibitively expensive (£170) it will soon become redundant. The only benefit is being integrated into the dashboard. 

The Tomtom has everything but of course you have to plug it in each time and remove/store it.

Maybe smartphone gps navigation is the future for drivers?

Re your last point ^^^^ I think the young ones are perfectly happy with their smartphone app for navigation from observation.

The manufacturers don't seem to get the fact that they have competition.

Free android auto ?.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1107153_android-auto-now-works-in-any-car--and-its-free#src=10065

Free android auto ?.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1107153_android-auto-now-works-in-any-car--and-its-free#src=10065

How is that different to Google maps that can be run on smart-phones.

It makes it look like it mirrors the phone screen to the cars display without spending to have it as an extra on the car.

How is that different to Google maps that can be run on smart-phones.

It makes it look like it mirrors the phone screen to the cars display without spending to have it as an extra on the car.

Maybe the Americans are just catching up.........?