TomTom

[<frde]

Yep, and it doesn?t have to be 4G either, 3G is fine.

I prefer maps.google myself, mainly for the street view which can be handy at times for seeing where you will try parking etc before you get directed to where you want to go, but also because they respond very quickly to reported map errors quite a bit of the time. Apple basically just ignores all I have reported.

Their users generally do love them but IMO a decent smartphone leaves them for dead now.

The other big advantage with a smartphone is that you can just tap on an address in an email etc and auto get directions to there in the mapper with the best of them.

You don?t have to have coverage with the best of the smartphone apps, they will load the maps into the phone when you do have coverage or wifi and use that when navigating. Completely auto with maps google.

And maps google does a hell of a job with unusual congestion in countries which all google to use the cellphone tower data to actually measure traffic movement speeds in real time. Nothing else comes even close.

[<frde]

Use google maps.

Anything will be fine, google maps doesn?t use all that much data even if you do pay for it at casual rates and you can turn mobile data off and use wifi when available and have it do that fine.

You miss out on the best live traffic info that way tho.

Can be handy for some things. Just yesterday I couldn?t read the damned label on the supermarket shelf because it was too far away for the long distance glasses and I wasn?t inclined to get down on my knees and read it with no glasses, I'm short sighted. So I took a photo and read that.

[<frde]

None of that farting around with a smartphone and google maps.

[Anthony R. Gold]

Damn you Dennis, how come they only give me 150MB for free? Mind you, I do have a handful of them.

[James Harris]

Similar, I bought a TomTom satnav some years ago but always hated its user interface. And their PC-based updating software is similarly bad. It is both cumbersome and fragile, i.e. sometimes it doesn't work at all.

To the OP, i thought that TomTom map updates are expensive. You might consider buying a new satnav (maybe Garmin is more user-friendly than TomTom but I haven't tried them). It you buy a satnav with lifetime updates then AIUI you should never have to buy a map update again.

[Tim+]

Um, no. Just until they decide that model is obsolete. It's the device lifetime, as decided by TomTom, not your lifetime.

Tim

[Tim+]

From TomTom. "Lifetime is the useful life of the device, which means the period of time that TomTom continues to support your device with software updates, services, content or accessories. A device will have reached the end of its life when none of these are available any more."

So, basically, they can stop support when they feel like it.

It's a gimmick really to try and slow the haemorrhage of customers away from TomTom ever since good smart phone navigation apps became available. I was a TomTom customer years ago but have been using Waze for a long time now and have no complaints.

Tim

[Fredxxx]

I thought Google Drive allowed you to download the maps you need, so all you need is an offline phone?

Agreed.

Its funny how after a cheap plan that includes data, having a mobile does make things easier when away from a landline.

I can also get the phone in positions I could never manage with an eye!

[Anthony R. Gold]

Yes, Google Maps does allow downloading of areas of maps for off-line use and navigation.

[Google Drive is a cloud storage service with no off-line functionality.]

[Bob Eager]

(but it helps you when Driving, which may be the source of the confusion!)

[<frde]

You can also manually download the maps using the app itself too.

Yeah, specially when you show up at a place you had been to before and find its moved long enough ago so that there is no longer any sticker on the window saying where its moved to or gone broke. Effortless to check online now. Or just ask google when the place opens.

I don?t normally spend £5/month paying for all calls and texts and data at the casual rate and pay nothing if I never use it in the month.

Yeah, specially with the model details plate on the fridge/freezer compressor etc. You need to be flat on the floor with your head in the hole with the worst of them.

And not just awkward positions either, trying to read the IMEI on a nana sim needs pretty good eyesight because the text is so small and low contrast. Easy to use the phone camera as effectively a very expensive magnifying glass.

[Tim+]

Um, how?

Tim

[The Natural Philosopher]

Tomtom makes an app for smartphones I have discovered.

>

[Capitol]

My chinese 7" sat nav with permanent map updates was £40 and works OK.

[AnthonyL]

+1 and of course there is more search facility if on-line as well as Traffic (though I've not found a way to see where the traffic actually is!)

I now just about prefer it to my Garmin with which I was happy.

[JoeJoe]

Glad it isn't just me!

I've been using iGO on a £30 Chinese WinCE unit for years that has worked like a dream in 15 or so countries.

Wife, on the other hand, insists on TomTom as she got used to it and can't be bothered to learn how to use another machine. Her vintage 2008 (I think) Go 720 died a few weeks ago. First thought was to find another one on eBay, but decided to treat her to a new one instead, so bought a new GO 510.

What a shocking piece of junk - agree with all your observations!

In addition:

- Don't think hardware hasn't been touched in all those years: * processor feels as slow as the one on my Kindle (but this one is slow for a reason). * Screen resolution is still 480x272. Unbelievable... Mine, 7 years old, is 800x480.

- Software still feels as though it was designed by a 10 year old. Find me one user that thinks that the "route bar" (or whatever it is called) adds ANYTHING useful... Also no basic information on the navigation screen (current time, compass, etc)

- Had to send the first machine back as it failed during the initial map update, wiping all the maps from the device, and refused to allow me to do anything despite boots, factory reset...

- Any reason for the device to weigh 2-3 times the weight of my phone considering that it probably has 10% of the hardware inside in comparison?

- Only 8GB of memory on a £160 machine. How much would an extra 8GB cost? or is it because 16GB won't work with the 10+ year hardware...

They fully deserve anything that come their way...

[JoeJoe]

Went to have a look in Halfords before buying the wife a TomTom that she insists on.

According to the guys there Garmin outsell TomTom by between 5 and 10 to

1 at the moment.

[JoeJoe]

The only good thing about a TomTom was that all their earlier models (none of the current ones though) could have their navigation software undated to the latest one available and then patched in 2 minutes to allow all maps. Then any map you wanted (inc the latest ones) could be downloaded from those special websites and installed in minutes... ;-)

[Scott]

A circular argument if ever I heard one.

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean?neither more nor less." "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master?that's all."

[Huge]

My Tomtom ONE XL is a better satnav than anything I've ever run on my phone. There simply isn't enough high speed mobile data access in the UK to make using a phone a reliable proposition.