Hiya guys,

 

I'm just wondering, are stand-alone sat-nav units a thing of the past? I used to sell them when I worked in the trade but with the amount of vehicles with navigation installed, and the amount of apps available, I'm wondering if people are still buying and using the TomTom and Garmin units. I'm in the position that my car doesn't have it installed, and I would like the capability without having to mess around with my phone.

 

What is everyone else using?

Built in HU's have a lifespan with map updates, firmware, software etc and you pay a premium for them.

Tom Tom etc available with lifetime updates, firmare etc for peanuts by comparison.

Then you have your smartphone. Generally replaced every two years with the latest flavour OS, the latest firmware, the latest GPS tech.

Why bother with a HU that's not going to be as modern as the latest phone?

Manufacturer specific HU's will become a thing of the past, go the way of the eight-track, the CD player etc.

In-car tech will become more personal and mobile. No Double Din HU left in the car.

I still use a portable one because it's easy to install the scamera alerts than it is to install on the built in system.

The Mrs just bought one last week - A Garmin, despite my warnings against it - as her genuine Honda one has developed a fault that costs £380 if we want it fixed.

She gets free lifetime updates, though.

 

I still have my TomTom on the moteysickle and will either get a car one, or an adapter for the existing.

I may use the phone in the meantime, but it'll probably kill my data allowance.

As well as the cost of updating maps on integrated SATNAVs, I have found that the stand alone SATNAVs that are "always connected", give a better idea of current road conditions - we tend to drive/use 3 cars, none with integrated SATNAV so a stand alone unit seems to suit us fine as wife would never use one if she is out alone - but is happy for the to date info when we are both in the car!

The Mrs just bought one last week - A Garmin, despite my warnings against it

 

I'm not sure what others experiences are of this, however having sold both units in the past, we often had returns of TomToms and hardly any of the Garmin units. So much so I bought one myself years back and it never missed a beat.

 

I'd have Garmin over anything else, but it of course each to their own, and I'm aware TomTom is the choice of many motorcyclists.

It  is a TomTom stand alone unit that I bought some years ago, GO6000 I think, really only chose TomTom over Garmin as at that time, Garmin units were being reported as "blacking out" when you approached a busy intersection when they changed display mode - not really something that coould be said to be "handy" - only issues I've had with TomTom was some stupid backroads being included in their routing when you were travelling long distance, no need for that unless for access to local properties, but maybe that is a common issue with all domestic SATNAV route mapping.  One other issue with TomTom seems to be the way they comunicate or don't with their customers when there is a problem - a month or so ago there was an issue that was - when you downloaded updated maps, it cleared the existing maps and did nothing more! I could not find any help on the normal customer areas of their site so used Google - it pointed me in the correct area on the TomTom website, now why could they have not placed a link to that on the update pages instead of offering wrong default advice?

 

Back to the initial question, yes these stand alone units must be about to disappear - if you get a big screen one for ease of use, that is not going to be very handy to use as a walking aid etc.

 

Edit:- also with more and more cars becoming "connected" I'd guess that as you will be paying an annual fee to maintain that connection, future SATNAV systems in cars will come with lifetime updates - so no more needing to pay for an update license every year and maybe pay a tech to update the system if you are not able to do that.

Edited 13 January, 20179 yr by rum4mo

On my travels I still see a good proportion of high end cars (with built in sat navs) and the drivers using portable units.

On my travels I still see a good proportion of high end cars (with built in sat navs) and the drivers using portable units.

 

That's me. I much prefer the Garmin's I've had to anything else even the built in ones that supposed to be powered by Garmin. The Sat Nav I use at the moment also has a Dash Cam built in which makes it even more useful.

I just had a Garmin bought for me for Christmas, my choice of unit, I was just given the money for it. I've had Garmins now for a few years, on my third and prefer them to Tom Tom. I did try a Tom Tom my daughter gave me, it ended up on ebay, didn't get on with it, that's just me.

 

Tried my Garmin alongside my fitted Seat Amundsen unit, the Amundsen seems clunky compared to the Garmin. garmin much quicker with instructions and doesn't seem to stutter with them either.

The Garmin is for my other car though, which doesn't have a fitted sat nav, it replaced a ten year old out of date unit. Why update an old unit (if you can) when you can buy new (£79 in the sales) with free lifetime updates.

I took my Garmin back years ago and swapped it for a TomTom. I had used Tomtom maps before this and guess getting used to whichever you choose takes a little while.

I think stand alone units will be around for years yet and I like the fact that you can take it into your house and use it to plan your route for the following morning without having to start up your laptop, which may then give you a different route anyway.

 

I did have the map update issue rum4mo described, a year or more ago, but this was sorted by talking to Tomtom, iirc.

 

They have just told me that they will not update my system anymore (go520) as it does not have enough memory, blaming large Europe maps (that I do not have or want), but it will probably do me for the next few years anyway, as it is.

A lot of cars are coming with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay now. Giving the best of both worlds. Integrated sat-nav but as it's coming from an easily update-able smartphone app the usual complication isn't there.

 

I much prefer the built-in sat-navs as they're just less cluttered as I hate stuff stuck to windscreens and on the dashboard.

Standalones can be used for bikes, m/c, walking and so on, though... more useful around luddite friends!

I think we're getting to the end of seeing stand along sat navs as big sellers.

 

Sat nav is getting like just another part of the ICE. There won't be many new cars without it soon.

 

Other people will use it on their phones etc.

 

Even though the stand along units are often better devices. My old Tom Tom(now unsupported) is still the best sat nav I have.

On yhe rare occasions ive needed help to find somewhere ive just used google maps on me phone... pull over find the route learn it and drive it

I think we're getting to the end of seeing stand along sat navs as big sellers.

 

Sat nav is getting like just another part of the ICE. There won't be many new cars without it soon.

 

Other people will use it on their phones etc.

 

Even though the stand along units are often better devices. My old Tom Tom(now unsupported) is still the best sat nav I have.

You only look at the price drop in standalone sat nav to confirm the end of the line but saying that they are pretty icing much more than they did before including dash cams, notifications from your phone such as texts and beng able to send destinations from your phone too.

I much prefer the built-in sat-navs as they're just less cluttered as I hate stuff stuck to windscreens and on the dashboard.

Depends on your definition of 'on the dashboard', Phil.

 

 

I'm surprised it hasn't prevented the internal CD working, but it hasn't.

 

I too, hate seeing them stuck to the screen.

I think you'll find them go away as android and apple car play type things come online.

 

You will probably then buy the tom tom or garmin etc app for your phone, so you don't have to worry about downloading maps in real time and some other nice features.

You will probably then buy the tom tom or garmin etc app for your phone, so you don't have to worry about downloading maps in real time and some other nice features.

 

It won't become mainstream until mobile data packages either get bigger and/or much cheaper... Daily use would burn up gigabytes of allowance in very short order.

It won't become mainstream until mobile data packages either get bigger and/or much cheaper... Daily use would burn up gigabytes of allowance in very short order.

 

Not exactly. I have Sygic on my phone (can't see the point of having a stand alone unit, and a phone capable of having sat nav function) that provides live traffic updates, and the ability to upload issues at the touch of a button, and that uses mere kb's of data per journey. It only updates when connected to a wifi source, which is how I suspect a lot of the inbuilt systems will work. They will either update when in range of a wifi source (be it at home, or a hotpsot at the motorway services for example) or when the car is taken in for service.

Personally I think the connected car is a good idea in respect of requiring emergency services in the event of an accident (what happens in the wilds of Scotland or Wales where signal is patchy though???) but not in the respect of monitoring how you are driving. There was a recent case in America where BMW remotely locked the doors of a car that had been stolen, and stopped it as well - not overly keen on that sort of control, smacks of George Orwell's 1984 to me......

OK, interested.....

 

that provides live traffic updates, and the ability to upload issues at the touch of a button, and that uses mere kb's of data per journey.

 

How much data does it require for, say, a 250 mile journey that includes several cities and all the traffic, camera, speed limit, lane assist and other such real-time information?

I assume it requires all the maps to be downloaded and stored offline? How big are they?

It won't become mainstream until mobile data packages either get bigger and/or much cheaper... Daily use would burn up gigabytes of allowance in very short order.

 

But the tom tom and the garmin software (and probably others) include the maps already.

You buy the app, install it, update the maps over wifi at home and don't have to worry if you have no data on the road at all.

Edited 19 January, 20179 yr by cheezemonkhai

OK, interested.....

 

 

How much data does it require for, say, a 250 mile journey that includes several cities and all the traffic, camera, speed limit, lane assist and other such real-time information?

I assume it requires all the maps to be downloaded and stored offline? How big are they?

 

Maps are about 750mb and stored on my SD card on my phone, they only update over wifi as well, so no worries there. As for data usage, I haven't really noticed it eating into my allowance. According to their website having traffic on consumes about 1mb of data per hour of use, although it can be used completely offline as well.

But the tom tom and the garmin software (and probably others) include the maps already.

You buy the app, install it, update the maps over wifi at home and don't have to worry if you have no data on the road at all.

 

Do you not still need data to get real-time traffic reports and all that?

I recall using a lot of data through Google Maps when we last went up to the Lake District...

Maps are about 750mb and stored on my SD card on my phone, they only update over wifi as well, so no worries there. As for data usage, I haven't really noticed it eating into my allowance. According to their website having traffic on consumes about 1mb of data per hour of use, although it can be used completely offline as well.

 

I've been reading some reviews of Sygic by people more 'techy' than me, many of whom run multiple SatNavs in parallel to compare like-for-like journeys...

They complain of poor routing choice, wildly inaccurate ETA calculations, lack of essential (because you'e driving/riding) hands-free features like rerouting and roadblocking, and frequent app crashes...

 

It sounds great on paper, though....