Time to change Satnav
Need to change Tomtom, touchscreen is useless, just started looking around and have been amazed that no product gets a complete thumbs up. I am completely at a loss about which product comes out as reliable....Tomtom or Garmin...or others.
I have Maps.me on my tablet and that has proved to be fairly good.........
Lot of people use their mobile phone's........
Pity the van does not have a built in system.
Got to make decision before van comes out of storage.
Comments
-
I use CoPilot on a small iPad but it works just as well on a phone. There is a caravan/motorhome version for about £50 but I think you can try it for free.
0 -
Hi, we have sat-nav built in on the car but do have a very old tom tom that we used to use when abroad as it has 'major routes' only so wont be sending you down unsuitable roads.
However just this weekend been thinking about sat-nav for one of the grandchildren and it occurred to me that when not in the car everything map related is done using Google maps. I make a lot of use of the maps in general but find street view invaluable for looking at detail such as approaches to sites etc so I know what I will be seeing when I get there.
I then had the thought that as Google maps do sat-nav directions and it is something that will be familiar, not that tom tom is difficult to use, what was the point in looking at anything else.
The only concern is that with the phone in view will there be a temptation to use it for calls etc. I keep my phone out of reach and have it set up so I do not get calls texts etc while driving so will need to consider doing the same.
0 -
Depends on the age of the vehicle I suppose how up to date the inbuilt maps are but Google maps is being updated all the time and at no cost to you.
My TT is still in the car but cannot recall when it was last used-certainly not in this cay so almost two years now.
0 -
i much prefer my garmin to the one in my kia BUT as previously mentioned...my garmin has a built in dash cam which is a complete no no in portugal s will have to use the kia one on my holiday this year (assuming we are allowed to travel in the eu !!!
)0 -
Wow...thanks very much for that!
I have used Tomtom for years, when I became a delivery driver after retirement, I relied on the TT totally, never had a problem. My present TT screen has become useless, press one character and the one next to it is displayed. Another time, one press and 6 or 7 characters are displayed.
Never heard of Gopilot....being on a PAYG phone, I might get a (tesco do a low budget one)small monthly account and use the phone. Here in Norfolk the signal is crap which would be a problem.
I have a few weeks to decide. I will look at all of the options you have kindly highlighted.
Thanks again!
0 -
Another +1 for Copilot - if you buy it off the company's website, they often have better deals than the play store price (I got Western Europe for £20 when they had an offer on last year). If you sign up to their mailing list, I suspect they will email you within a day or two with an offer if there's not one on when you first look.
The maps are stored 'offline' so you don't need a phone/internet connection for navigation to work while you're out and about, but the initial map download is large (3GB ish, so do that on WiFi at home). The traffic service (which you get free for the first year) does rely on an internet connection, but the data use for that would be very low I imagine and you can chose to turn it off.
I only have the 'normal' version rather than the caravan specific one, but even the normal version has a 'motorhome' routing mode, which seems to work pretty well keeping you off minor roads and all the road preferences and average speeds by road type are tweak-able within the app. I particularly like the ability it has to 'drag' the calculated route to where you prefer to go in the preview screen which is handy if you have a CL's directions or a particular route you prefer.
Satnavs are completely a matter of personal preference, of course, but CoPilot is the easiest and best I've used by some margin.
0 -
Had a chance to look at options and have decided to stay away from Tomtom type satnavs and think we will go for Copilot.
I think Copilot displays current speed, like Tomtom, something I use all the time.
Looking at the views on here, Copilot seems to do all we want. Downloading the maps at home on Wifi seems sensible. I have a new phone coming this week and Plusnet are offering 5G for £7 per month. So I think this should cover me for navigation when away from home.
I'm 72 and technology leaves me far behind....wish my son lived closer.
Many thanks for your help.
0 -
Still not made the leap into having Copilot on a phone. I have decided to get a new phone. Samsung J4 plus ...with a monthly Sim deal from my Broadband provider...Plusnet.
I have one question (If it has already been answered and I just can't find it, I apologise), does Copilot display your current speed on the road?
I have asked Copilot, but they just can't grasp what I want and keep referring me instructions that do not help.
I have 3 weeks before I need Copilot.....
0 -
-
MM
Thanks for that, but I have been here before and can't find anything about current speed. It may be I'm just not looking in the right place, it wouldn't be the first time.
I'm pretty sure I posted a question on this forum, but have no idea how to find it. I have been through many pages, but no find.
It is a simple request to Copilot, can't understand why the person directing me to the same list of options, can't just say 'Yes or No'!
0 -
Sorry to be a bore.....about now I have to get a workable satnav.
I was about to get Copilot and read some reviews on the Copilot app site and to a man they were very p..... off.
They all said that in years passed Copilot was brilliant, but now any upgrades had removed some of the features and made a very poor system.
Have any of you Copilot users found this?
I promise this will be the last time I mention it. I am about to search the web for some info.
0 -
Tom Tom do have a caravan friendly model. I have one. If you do a google search for caravan sat nav you will find it. That's how I found mine.
0 -
GL, below is a screen shot from Copilot, the excessive speed alert suggests the App monitors your speed, that further suggests the option to display your speed & it should be in ‘settings’ good luck👍🏻
0 -
i wouldn't believe all you read. Not sure you can display speed but you do get speed limit warnings according to the type of vehicle you are driving. I have been using Co-Pilot some years now having previously tried others including TT and remain very satisfied with both the truck and the caravan versions which I run on rather old tablets. If you can let me know what versions they are criticising then perhaps I can do a comparison and give you more feedback but you may have by now taken the plunge for one?
peedee
1 -
I use CoPilot Caravan and yes, they have changed the software and screen view slightly. The biggest change is in the layout of the menu, which took me a few minutes to get used to. The main thing is it gets me to where I want to go.
As with all SatNavs if the only route to your destination is down a narrow lane then that is the way it will direct you, but CoPilot will warn you of that face - if it is correctly set-up. But perhaps that applies to all SatNavs!
0 -
Peedee.....No plunge yet.
This is a link to the Copilot site where I read the comments from users. The more I look at the different systems, it get's harder to know which one to go for. The free one's look as good as the paid for apps...but I don't mind paying for something that works for me.
Thanks for taking the time.
0 -
I used Co-Pilot Caravan today set up for travel in my car. I cannot find a way to display actual speed but like I say it does give you warnings if you exceed the speed limits. You can turn these off for use in countries where such warnings are illegal. As a navigation device for specific vehicles I have found Co-Pilot pretty good. The truck version has certainly kept me out of trouble. It is good at loading your own POIs as well as is the caravan version once you have mastered how to do it. The one flaw I have found with the truck version is when I break the HGV rules, usually during the last couple of miles to a site in an area where commercial trucks are banned., It continually tries to get me out of the area rather than take me to the site. In extreme cases it just stops giving me directions until I am back on an HGV route. I have not had this problem with the caravan version. I'm wise to this now and work around is to just follow the map and ignore the instructions and of course when you are planning a route it will warn you if where you are trying to go is not acceptable.
If you have any other questions about it I'll be happy to help.
peedee
1 -
Co Pilot will display speed, distance to go, time to go, distance travelled et cetera. It's all under settings/display. We also set an audible speed warning at 5mph above the local limit. We have speed camera warnings turned off to comply with european law.
1 -
GL, I have just been on line and when checking for the latest updates it looks like it is all change at Co-Pilot. From a very quick look the parent company have been making changes to their structure and it would appear that from the beginning of this year, January for Apple Apps and February for the Android ones, the earlier apps will no longer be supported and will no longer be updated. Not quite sure where they are going but it looks like there will only be one app, but how they intend to support what was Truck or Caravan, if at all, is unclear.
Perhaps best to stay clear of Co-Pilot until things settle down and it becomes clear. As far as I can see the old Apps have been withdrawn but their web site has not been updated. It looks like they could only be going to target the commercial market?
peedee
0 -
So Co-Pilot seem to be suggesting that the new app covers all the old versions? My TomTom is getting on a bit now and I have been looking at the various options and Co-Pilot was one of them. Most sat nav companies seem to be working towards the idea of minimum user input! We have a sat nav in our new motorhome but I suspect it won't be anywhere as flexible as a stand alone sat nav.
David
1 -
So Co-Pilot seem to be suggesting that the new app covers all the old versions?
David, That is also my impression. When I tried to update my Caravan version I was offered the GPS version free. My tablet was nearly out of battery power so I am waiting for it to finish charging to do a back up and then change to the GPS version. Hopefully I will be able to post what it looks like then and revert back to the Caravan version if I don't like it.
peedee
2 -
Peedee....I will wait for your assessment. At present M/H still under cover...will go up this week and start it up? So no trips planned for next couple of weeks, but do want to have oil changed and new battery, once these are done I will be needing satnav.
Thanks for all your help.
0
