Foreign touring holidays and satnav

A

andya700

Messages
5,795
Name
Andy
Edit My Images
No
We are going on holiday in a few weeks time, and we will be driving to Burgundy (Nuits St Georges 4 nights), Alsace as a base to hop over the Rhine and explore the Black Forest (Marckolsheim 7 nights), and finally Champagne region (Bouzy - aptly named, 3 nights). Everything is booked, the car serviced, European cover in place, and I have compiled my little holiday folder (as I always try to do for these adventures), complete with all paperwork including my AA routeplanner maps - which I love.
However there is a problem. My erstwhile co-driver, travel companion and direction checker has stated that she wants me to get a satnav, because she is fed up having to give me "directions every five seconds", despite the fact that I have used these roads before, and she rarely has to do anything for hundreds of miles, usually all the directing is done in the last few miles before we reach our destiny.
I also like maps and directions as it keeps the old grey matter functioning, and to be fair I don't let my better half near maps anymore, because the last time she used one she turned it upside down and we did get a bit lost - for about five minutes.
So, does anyone have any ideas for a decent, cheap satnav, which is easy to set up and is pretty foolproof to use.
 
Good luck with that :)

I think it was a Tom Tom that took us down a street to find a flight of stairs at the end of it !

Also on the same trip we were taken to a bridge to cross a river that hadn't been there for about 50 years !!

Having said that Tom Tom was extremely good at getting us into the correct lane in time, going round Paris
 
I had a good experience with a tomtom 25 in Italy a couple of years ago, just remember postal code districts can be much bigger and cover multiple similar named streets in parts of Europe.
 
If you have an android phone I highly rate Co Pilot.
I've compared it to my stand alone Tom Tom, Co Pilot took me straight to my destination whereas Tom Tom took me down a dead end road.
 
ViaMichelin is a brilliant free app. You can enter your car and mpg and it lets you know costs including fuel and toll charges between points, also gives you choice of routes with corresponding costs and driving times.
 
I've had a lot of good experience with the free 'Here' Navigation on Android all over Europe. Download the map of the country to your phone and you don't need Internet. Google maps needs Internet to find routes. Which would fail if there is poor or no Internet connection when you out in the countryside. Even if you had roaming and enough data allowance.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.here.app.maps

The beauty of any Sat Nav is, as long as you have the right address, you can relax and feel sure it'll get you there every time. Even if you divert during the journey, it'll always find the best new route. I'd never go back to paper maps.
 
Last edited:
I have used an app for IOS called Navmii. One advantage is that you download the map information to your phone/tablet so you don’t need a mobile connection to use it. I’ve used this app for the UK ( includes Europe) and the Australian/New Zealand versions.
 
Another vote for Co-Pilot of you have a decent phone. Failing that, define "cheap".
 
Option 1: Goolag Android TomTom Go EU subscription. This would be my recommendation

Option 2 (FREE): Goolag Maps + TomTom SpeedCameras. Believe me you really want that second bit even if you are good law abiding citizen. There are times when you are confused in a foreign country and that's the last thing you want.

Toll motorways are the most infested and I strongly advise to take alternative route wherever possible. Also that means you don't drop coins into your left windows mechanism like I once did. Still there... Obviously you really want to behave in all urban ares, usually only marked by town name on white which is equivalent to 50km/h limit until it is crossed out at the end.
 
I have a stand alone Garmin for which I bought a lifetime of Europe maps years ago. Every year I take it with me and find it more reliable than a mobile. Works everywhere apart from IIRC Cyprus where there's some weird law.

If you take a smart phone load up with Here maps and d/l the stuff you need before you go. Use in offline mode (no data used) until you want to find something obscure ;)
 
google maps but use OFFLINE maps so you don't have to rely on data when moving.
 
Just use your phone. I am on a SIM only deal but get data in around 60 odd countries included. Used Apple Maps on last 2 visits to the US and worked fine, no need for sat nav!
 
What happens when your phone rings while you're using it as a tw@nav?
 
Nod said:
What happens when your phone rings while you're using it as a tw@nav?
Click to expand...

You get a call and the navigation carries on working.

We used Sygic a couple of years back in Turkey - had off line maps downloaded and all was good. This year we're using Here as already mentioned for Canada, with offline maps. Windows phones can also use offline maps and work very well.

Your cheapest bet for sat nav is a used Android phone and one of the free mapping apps.
 
used a Garmin satnav in Italy and worked fine, Cyprus just has no maps full stop. Their ides of a road atlas is an A3 sheet covering the whole island.

I would use my mobile with an app rather than make a purchase specifically.
 
Ricardodaforce said:
The navigation doesn’t stop working for me. I’m an Apple CarPlay user.
Click to expand...

ancient_mariner said:
You get a call and the navigation carries on working.

We used Sygic a couple of years back in Turkey - had off line maps downloaded and all was good. This year we're using Here as already mentioned for Canada, with offline maps. Windows phones can also use offline maps and work very well.

Your cheapest bet for sat nav is a used Android phone and one of the free mapping apps.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the answers, I didn't know how it worked. All 3 cars have it built in and we also have a stand alone dedicated TomTom so we don't use the apps we have for navigation.
 
Many mobiles have a driving mode that diverts calls to voicemail. I normally ignore all calls, messages etc when in the car, but it's nice to know they've arrived.
 
A guy at work has a built in sat Nav in his company car. So when I travel with him, we go into the underground car park and he has to start dialing in each letter really slowly compared to a phone. And we all sit in the dark till its done. Whereas I've already done it in the office on my PC or phone and had time to consider the routes in comfort on a big screen. I'm sure built in ones are getting better. But so far the phone has been much more convenient. And I can even continue to navigate when we get out of the car. I can also find the car again if we parked in some back street in an unfamiliar city.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top