Garmin Satnavs

[Bod]

A Samsung Note (phone). I just turn on the GPS and the mobile data and use either Google Earth or Google maps.

[dennis]

Probably tomtom, the iphone version is pretty good, the android not so good.

[The Medway Handyman]

Samsung galaxy Ace.

[Bod]

Our neighbour has an *Ace*, a cheap phone, but very good for the money.

[The Medway Handyman]

What I like is (a) you only have to input the road name, not the town first & it lists the nearest one first, (b) you can type or speak "Wickes" & it will list the branches, nearest first and (c) you can search for "DIY store" or "chip shop" and it will find them.

Oddly, there is an access road from Medway Services on the M2 which is heavily used by locals as a short cut, but is technically illegal. My phone uses it!

[Bod]

Probably a very handy shortcut for many :-)

[Bod]

[Reentrant]

You can do this on Garmin's MapSource and BaseCamp apps that run on a PC and let you upload/download routes and waypoints to the GPS. There are eight forms of transport and five grades of road that you can set speeds for.

I use CoPilot on my smartphone these days - it has offline maps and most importantly (for me) lets you input destinations as OS grid coordinates, as well as addresses, full UK postcodes etc. It doesn't do route tracking but I use the free Google MyTracks for that.

However my old Garmin 76csx does have some advantages:

- fully waterproof, and it floats.

- much better battery life - 18 hours on two AA NiMH's

- transflective screen so very easy to read even in the brightest sunshine.

- built-in (and surprisingly accurate) barometer for altitude and climb-profile of walks.

[alan]

My experience with TT is that it a S*~t company to deal with but their product is possibly one of the better offings.

Live traffic performance can depend of=n where you live. It can direct you from one grid locked road to grid locked road.

[alan]

I've actually found the TT App on the smart phone to be better than the free offerings.

[Bod]

I've tried several of the free apps and find that G Earth or Google Maps do all what I need.

[Reentrant]

You need a phone signal and data contract to use Google Earth when out and about.

And although you can cache Google Maps they've made it much harder to manage with the latest version - previously you could browse and individually delete saved map tiles separately within the app. Now you can only delete all map data via Android app settings - a real backwards step.

[Dave Liquorice]

Google

Aye and if you lose the data connection whilst on the move and rive out of the area it has already downloaded you are stuffed. Plus I don't really like the idea that Google know where I am, where I started from, where I'm going and when.

Of course, if you can do things offline they don't have the information they can sell.

[Michael Chare]

I also have the Nexus 7 version. It has some improvements as well as the benefit of the larger screen.

[dennis]

Your being paranoid. They already know why, the when and how is just a bit of extra for them.

[newshound]

Nokia Drive is fine on Nokia windows phones. Some silly glitches (takes you off the M5 at Exeter and then back on again). Have also used Navigator on a Samsung (android) tablet.

[news]

If you have an Android phone in your pocket they probably know all that already (unless you are particularly paranoid and have turned off all of the features that make a smart phone "smart")

[Dave Liquorice]

I don't have WiFi, GPS or mobile data on unless *I* want them on. Allowing apps access to location information is also turned off, even if the GPS is active.

Mobile data is only on there if I really need it which isn't very often. Used an awful lot of data last month, 17 MB ...

[SteveW]

It'll just have had an included a pre-paid lifetime subscription when you bought it. That's how mine worked. All included in the purchase price.

SteveW

[Peter Crosland]

Of course. I started with a cheapo one then bought a better model. After five years faultless service I decided to get the latest model.