Having problems with my trusty but old Tomtom Go 520 (as a few of you will have read)

 

I'm considering (only maybe at the moment) seeing if i can get by with an app, possibly Waze (recommendations gratefully received) however I don't even use my smartphone as a smartphone at the moment..........yes, laugh if you want, Lol.

Honestly..  google maps is pretty friggin decent. It hasnt put me wrong yet... on the occassions i need it. 

I cant say for definite about traffic updates and rerouting though, as ive never needed it for that, normally i only need it for the last 4-5miles to find somewhere in the middle of nowhere, or in a city i dont know very well..

+1 for Google {tm} maps.  Apart from a preference for avoiding minor roads (which I get around - if I want to - by waypointing my route on the PC and sending it to my phone) it works well for me around the UK.

 

My TomTit was giving me grief, its from 2007 and not supported cant be upgraded, I tried Google maps on the phone for a while and really didnt like it, as many faults as the Tomtit had it was overall quite sensible, with google maps I took the wrong exit on a roundabout (it counted them incorrectly) and instead of saying "make a U turn ASAP" it preffered to add 10 miles to my journey to send me along to the next roundabout, that was it for me but as the Tomtit had not even connected to a satellite after 25 minutes and 30 miles I had no choice but to use it.

 

I have the same relationship with my smartphone, had it more than a year and still only use it as a hand held computer still using a 14 year old bomb proof Nokia for making and recieving calls and texts, had the smartphone for more than a year and still cannot even answer a call on it, no-one has the number but someone was given it in error instead of my usual one, they called me three times yesterday and I never managed to connect to the call, they had to show me how to do it when they arrived, even a Whatsapp call that kindly said "swipe to answer" did not connect when I swiped.

 

anyway, from the title I gather you are considering an android head unit to get Satnav capability, I have just done this and am really pleased with the result, I never get driven in newer cars but had been in a 3 year old Mondeo and was impressed that I could actually see the map details on the much wider screen, the voice prompts were much clearer coming through the vehicle sound system which muted when they were announced and i was very impressed with the utility of the reversing camera, something I have always scorned.

 

so I fitted a Chinese head unit, it was dead simple although I now realise it is not an android one plus a £15 reversing camera integrated into the number plate light.

 

I am really really pleased with the Satnav, its a quantum leap from the Tomtit and as its on a simcard I can change it for another easily, imight do so as its got a sort of loud lisp on certain words that will soon blow the speakers.

 

The reversing camera is superb and picks up all its info via canbus, no connection to the reversing lights or reverse gear sensor, it also takes the steering angle sensor inputs to plot the trajectory.

 

I also have blue teeth now and with that I this dumb owner can finally use his smartphone If you are considering a head unit I would say go for it!!

 

I was initially dissapointed that it would not connect to the existing CD multichanger until I realised it has a built in virtual CD player where you can copy the CD's to another simcard although its limited to 10 cds, more than the existing changer but a fraction of the capacity of the memory card, there are other ways though like a USB key but thats more the domain of a teenager than me, I'm just pleased that I got all the rest of it working, it was in fact really easy, had to be for me to succeed!

 

Other benefit is having removed the old CD multichanger I now have a second large storage area at the rear.

Sygic have a satnav app for you to use on your phone and another one for you to use via Android Auto. Mapping is via TomTom and provides fairly accurate live traffic. They nearly always have some sort of promo going. 

 

I use the phone app version for regular short journeys, and my TomTom Via 53 for longer ones. 

 

They used to give a free 7 day full product trial before you had to purchase. 

 

https://www.sygic.com/

Sygic is awful, I uninstalled it after buying a package from them that purportedly included speed cameras and it did not, so I reported them to the Google Play store and got my money back (eventually). 

 

For their troubles they got a highly critical review which they wanted me to remove and I refused to do. I wouldn't touch their stuff with the proverbial barge pole. 

 

I will use Google Maps occasionally, but I prefer to use my Garmin which has always been spot on, although I have lost it for the time being, so I'll be using POi Base to convert my PGPSW download to the correct format to put it on the cars system just in case. 

Edited 30 May, 20197 yr by TheWanderer

+1 for Google maps. It has a huge advantage of always being up to date. It has traffic alerts and some speed cameras. But it lacks speed limits. Waze has more cameras and displays the speed limit and loads of other useful info. It's a bit hard to follow the guidance in my opinion so I tend to swap between the two. Waze also uses Google maps as they own it so again always up to date.

Google phone user here, too. It's gotten better in recent years and with a dirt cheap 100GB/mo data package from Vodafone, it's perfect. In truth it's better than my wife's Garmin, but then so is a set of dowsing rods!

I still have my TomTom too, but it's mainly for motorcycles. No sound without the bluetooth headset.

 

Yes, I tried a Garmin years ago.............Straight back to Currys and swap for the Go520

Mate swears by Google maps. You can download them for offline use as well. Unless you havea  build in sat nav it's probably the best option.

I have Here on my old W10 smartphone. it's also available on Android, along with off line maps to make trips data free.

7 hours ago, VWD said:

I have Here on my old W10 smartphone. it's also available on Android, along with off line maps to make trips data free.

Only data free if you don't mind losing out with RTTI which would be a big loss. 

CoPilot for your Android or Windows phone work for me. The maps are downloaded - at home over wi-fi - so no data connection needed. Used it all over the world where maps are available without issues.

jOHN999- With Here, maps are downloaded over wifi and held in phone. Location is by GPS, so no data needed. However, on Android , the map downloads are massive compared to old W10 phone, as are updates, so I still use my old Lumia for navigation. Problem I have is that from old days on the road I have some set routes avoiding busy routes . This causes virtual elastic strangulation of sat nav nether regions with multi calls to "MAKE A U TURN", when I know a shorter way through the back roads.

@VWD I was just pointing out the fact that you DO NEED SOME DATA USAGE to benefit from real time traffic information. You've in effect downloaded an atlas and not fully exploited it's true potential. 

Okay......Thanks guys

 

For now..........as i have the google maps app already installed on my Samsung Galaxy A5, I'm going to give this a go (hopefully will have time to test it before i need it.

I should have mentioned it is a second hand phone / tho excellent condition. It has no maps loaded for offline use yet.

 

Question.....I have use of a MiFi dongle that i use at home. Would this work well to take with me in the car for (WiFi only) connection for live maps for the phone, rather than using my phones data? 

The MiFi is 5GB monthly (usually loads for my laptop use) / Smartphone is PAYG 1p mobile. (How much data would typical usage be??? examples???).

Is this a sensible way of trying it, and would it be better than testing offline maps.

It seems you have to sign in to download offline maps and not sure how big they are. I would only require UK at most to start.

 

Cheers

 

If I used / needed it for use for different destinations daily, but didn't get on with google maps for some reason I would probably invest in a new device or download the TomTom app if i found the phone to be ok.

 

 

Since quite a few years ago good maps uses vector graphics for its data. It means it's uses a fraction of the image data that it used to use. I have a 2gb plan and using music streaming along with the maps almost daily I still don't use the full allowance. Used offline maps when on honeymoon in Canada (road trip) and it worked really well. I wouldn't worry about the mapping using loads of data so the mifi would be a good choice. It's also worth giving Waze a shot as it uses the same mapping data as Google but with no offline mode.

As for signing in, you are probably signed in already to be able to access Google maps on the device. There really is little point in having an android device with no Google account linked to it.

2 hours ago, Tilt said:

It has no maps loaded for offline use yet.

IIRC the UK is divided into areas so just pick what you want to get - they're not that big to worry about the download cost either.

22 hours ago, john999boy said:

@VWD I was just pointing out the fact that you DO NEED SOME DATA USAGE to benefit from real time traffic information. You've in effect downloaded an atlas and not fully exploited it's true potential. 

AAH- now I see what you meant. I'm not particularly bothered. I mainly use sat nav for end point navigation. Most of the time I can figure out a route that is a lot shortr and with less traffic than sat nav. But if worst coms to worst and I have to deviate to dodge a jam, I've either got a lot of years and miles of knowledge to fall back on ,or sat nav to recalculate a new route ( or sit nag in passenger seat with a map).

I've got 20gb of data + roaming should I need it, so not worried in the slightest about using data as it comes off my allowance. 

Google maps information usually is more up-to-date than either the BMW/mini sat nav and gives a far more accurate eta.

It also offers alternatives on the map with time savings or delays to current route. This, however, is a good indicator of a quicker route but does not always work as expected. I use it as a traffic information system. It also reflects  new roads much faster.

Question.............particularly for anyone using Google Maps App (as this is the one i'm trying for now.........Or other recommendations if other offline maps look better with phone horizontally.

 

Does anyone use their phone horizontally whilst as a sat nav in the car? (add) Like a normal sat nav).

I prefer it visually (aesthetically) this way, but it does not seem to give as much map view as my tomtom, even though my phone has a slightly bigger screen.

I know tom tom is dedicated nav............... Vertical seems better but i prefer horizontal, that's all.

(My tom tom has now been dismantled btw and it's case and swivel mount is now being utilised to hold my phone. It's perfect, and so recycled some of it, Lol.

I cut it with my jigsaw - to hold my phone).

 

I have loaded most of uk for offline use but the WiFi only banner takes up a good amount of screen too. Any way around this??? (use online, I know, Lol)

or any other useful tips appreciated.

The time / distance banner at the bottom is massive also. I find you can push this off screen but it appears again some of the time (I need to use it yet more tho to learn it.

 

It seems to me that the Google maps app (possibly others???) is / are designed to encourage online use rather than offline (I can understand why tho).

Edited 7 June, 20197 yr by Tilt

I used my phone horizontal for a number of years until recently when I got smartlink.

I don't understand what you mean by WiFi only banner? I agree that the space is better utilised when portrait but it's a more awkward way to have it mounted.

I never found it lacking in landscape though. Rarely made a wrong turn using it. 

Can I recommend you download the Android auto app. You can use it on your phone without plugging it into the car. Then link up Bluetooth for sound. Pretty sure you can used Google assistant for offline control to play music or set navigation but I was usually connected so can't be sure.

If you have it set to WiFi only, there is a big blue banner at the top of the screen. Not sure if this disappears whilst navigating though as have not used on a journey yet.

@Tilt nope. Just tried turning off all internet connections and setting a nav. No banner. Tried it with only WiFi turned on. No banner. Will try again when outside of WiFi range. 

 

Just googled the banner and it looks like it appears on an older version of maps. Have y updated the software of both the phone and apps?

 

Also just had a read back through this thread. Your phone is a number of years old. I understand that devices aren't cheap but some very useable modern phones aren't expensive either. The latest gen Moto g for example can be got for under £200 and the Nokia 2.2 for under £100. Both with up to date software which is not just important for features but security too.

 

Food for thought that's all. I'm not trying to sell you a new phone.