OT : Recs for Sat Navs with Free Map Updates

Well I normally have a single area downloaded to the phone which covers a rectangle from N/W of Manchester to S/E of London, which is far wider than my normal driving range. If I were going outside that range I would know in advance to download another area.

Serious question: If you have a route mapped out to follow and you have to detour, but still within the area you have downloaded, does it remap your new route without needing a data connection?

If you enjoy tinkering, then in my view iGo is miles ahead of all the others on the market.

The software works out of the box, and can be left at that, but if you are into these things then EVERYTHING is configurable through a setup text file (hence the tinkering comment above) - and I mean EVERYTHING you see on the screen. Plenty of websites around with help on that - my setup file is probably 100 lines long... The graphics is much superior and clearer than the competition as well (it makes TomTom/Garmin/etc software look like they were written by a 10 year old) .

The company provide the Sav Nav software to most of the largest car manufacturers - customized to their spec, but the Win CE version I mentioned above has everything.

I have used it for over 10 years now and in over 30 countries, and never looked at anything else.

In fact, it seems google have increased the size per single area that can be downloaded, to about 1.5GB, so I've just downloaded a larger rectangle covering Folkestone/Taunton/Barrow-in-Furness/Scarborough, plus there's nothing [other than storage space] stopping you having multiple areas.

Yes, once it has the full map data for the bounded area downloaded, you can plot new routes, follow existing ones, or just look at the map, search for streets etc.

Obviously you can't get traffic info, satellite or streetview without a data connection.

Yes (as long as you stay within the area that was downloaded to the device).

Once the maps are downloaded, it is down to the navigation algorithm to get you from point A to point B.

On 05/09/17 10:54, Robin wrote: [snip]

Even if you are constantly on call to drive anywhere at a moments notice there is a limit to how far you can go in a day. If you have maps to cover that area then you have a whole day to download anything needed for the next stage.

Thanks JoeJoe, found it

True for a lot of Cornwall IME. Also phones have too small a screen.

If you do decide to go ahead with one of these then make sure you look for a device that has:

- Screen resolution of 800x480

- RAM: 128MB (don't buy the 64MB!)

For example something like this one

Sorry, meant to say ROM of 8GB, and RAM of 256MB.

Thanks, saved this one to favs. Certainly hits the price button.

ROM - Read Only Memory, presumably to hold the pre-installed maps which cannot be updated because it's Read Only. The device linked above indicates flash memory which can be updated but the specification for others definitely state ROM. Some indicate a SD/TF slot for map updates but others don't.

Thanks Joe and Andy for that confirmation.

I've got TomTom 5100 with lifetime maps and traffic.

Check the latest incarnation?

And any offers from the likes of Currys (20% off mine, plus cashback from Topcashback:

By latest incarnation, do you mean the 5200 which supersedes the 5100? I like the idea of Free Lifetime Traffic WITHOUT the need to pair with smartphone :-

That looks like the latest incarnation of the 5100.

'Yer pays yer money and makes yer choice...'.

Currently £239.99 direct from TT