Sat nav. Which one ?

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pampam

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hubbys phone is only tiny and he struggles to use sat nav on it when hes alone ,i thought we could buy a sat nav 7” or even bigger that sticks to windscreen ,thats easy to use ,(we had a tomtom years ago but sold it when phones had the app for maps) does anybody have any advise on good or bad makes? Thought about a truck one for when we have caravan on the back of the transit , he had an inpromptu visit to manchester yesterday and got lost, so this has urged me to look at sat navs for the elderley 🤓cheers pampam
 
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I use a Bluetooth GPS with my old iPad mini
 
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We use Aguri. Fill in vehicle dimensions and download latest maps free of charge. So far has taken us to Slovenia, Southern Italy (Puglia) and Andalusia with no problems.
 
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Many thanks for all this info.

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hja said:
4.looking at the Garmin 780 and it said only a 1 or 2 hour battery life. How do you charge it while driving?
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We have a 780 and like it. Clamps in the Ducato popup tablet holder thingy, and plugs into the nearby cigarette lighter socket for power. You also need a phone with Garmin's app on it to pick up the data for travel news, etc which is then displayed on the Satnav
 
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a 10" tablet with waze !
I have used them all including truck ones, we also have a tom tom and an old igo - we fire them all up and when chugging through france we play the " which 2 agree on turnings and route " game, but i trust waze as its live info, but like google it needs a phone signal .
 
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Wh05apk said:
I have not used Co-pilot for some time, how does it compare to the Cygic truck/roadlords etc? We seemed to have problems with just about all of the other systems when we drove down to spain, we set to avoid tolls, but all seemed to keep trying to send us down toll roads.
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I started using CoPilot years ago, when there was the facility to put in individual road speeds and preferences and vehicle profiling. Alt Industries, their parent, were bought out by Trimble, who promptly removed all the useful stuff. I had a long running and angry battle with them and left some pretty offensive reviews anywhere I could put them. The best I got was that they would be re-introducing the ability to avoid motorways. Yeah thanks for that :rollingeyes:

Anyway, peed off with CoPilot, I tried RoadLords and Cygic. Both work, but I found the interface not very intuitive. I tried Waze and Google Maps. Both OK for cars, but not great for motorhomes. Also, what I do like about CoPilot is that it stores maps, so you don't need to use data as you travel. The active travel feature does use data, but not much.

So, with serious contempt at my own weakness I bought the RV version of CoPilot. Have to say, it is the best I have used, by far. And the good thing about the Motorhome and Caravan version is that the active traffic comes with it.
 
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I have had a Garmin camper 770 for a few years now. It works just fine. It did start to intermittently switch itself off. I worked out the power input port was the problem and sent it to a repair service who fixed it and sent it back in a few days. £20.
I use a self adhesive disc on the dashboard (above the driver's side central air vent) and attach the unit to that via the suction window mount. Google 'dash mounts for sat nav'. I tried the 'bean-bag' type dash mount but it was useless.
The Garmin charges via the cigarette lighter sockett. That leaves the Fiat tablet holder and USB charger socket for my phone, which I use Google Maps on if the Garmin takes me a spurious route.

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DDJC said:
I started using CoPilot years ago, when there was the facility to put in individual road speeds and preferences and vehicle profiling. Alt Industries, their parent, were bought out by Trimble, who promptly removed all the useful stuff. I had a long running and angry battle with them and left some pretty offensive reviews anywhere I could put them. The best I got was that they would be re-introducing the ability to avoid motorways. Yeah thanks for that :rollingeyes:

Anyway, peed off with CoPilot, I tried RoadLords and Cygic. Both work, but I found the interface not very intuitive. I tried Waze and Google Maps. Both OK for cars, but not great for motorhomes. Also, what I do like about CoPilot is that it stores maps, so you don't need to use data as you travel. The active travel feature does use data, but not much.

So, with serious contempt at my own weakness I bought the RV version of CoPilot. Have to say, it is the best I have used, by far. And the good thing about the Motorhome and Caravan version is that the active traffic comes with it.
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Thank you, that is very useful, I think next time we go away I will download it and start the 14 day trial. If it is good, I can then subscribe.
 
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Sygic also do a camper version, and all their maps are downloaded too so no data used. The camper version allows you to put in your size. It’s not 100%, but I don’t think any are.
I had an ipad mounted on the dash, but then decided I needed a built in unit. Paid £1400 for an all singing Pioneer head unit. It’s absolutely useless. The only great thing about it is the screen must be tough, as I haven’t yet broken it whilst punching it, but I am having to use left arm. Going back to IPad and mounting on dash running Sygic.
 
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This is the biggest pain with garmin.
Coming up to a junction and the voice says , first exit west winch road, which no sign post lists.
Why don’t it say follow A10 like the screen shows

D49AA5E9-BD79-4858-AA82-125C2240B69E.jpeg C79DF6C5-EC1E-41B4-9737-1C91CAD9A703.jpeg
 
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dulvil said:
This is the biggest pain with garmin.
Coming up to a junction and the voice says , first exit west winch road, which no sign post lists.
Why don’t it say follow A10 like the screen shows

View attachment 715610 View attachment 715612
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Hardwick Roundabot at King"s Lynn by any chance?

Not a Garmin, but mine has never given that instruction for the same route/junction.

Cheers,

Jock. :)
 
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JockandRita said:
Hardwick Roundabot at King"s Lynn by any chance?

Not a Garmin, but mine has never given that instruction for the same route/junction.

Cheers,

Jock. :)
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I’m getting a lot of weird directions, I was derby area and it didn’t give A Road numbers just something clough way
Perhaps a word to garmin needed

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Waze - just a word of warning. It hates delays and will route you along small and unsuitable roads in a MH. I'm a confident driver and have driven some big vehicles, but waze's routing with a 6m MH has been just crazy and realistically unsafe.
 
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Garmin .. to date the only sat navs that includes the route planning to avoid "clean air zones".
These zone schemes are being adopted by many cities with more being added to the list ..they can catch you out and cost you buckets.
We fell foul of Bath, and a naughty U turn saved us from £125 payment.
 
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hja said:
We need a sat nav! The only ones we have ever used have been built into the car. And we dont use those a lot. Our previous motorhome (Autosleeper) had a built in one which we never got our heads round. This van doesnt have one. We are used to using maps, but in a recent trip where we got lost in an urban area a sat nav might have been useful. I have read this thread and others on the topic and am still very confused.
1. they seem very expensive £300+ for a motorhome specific one. Do you get what you pay for?
2. daft question - where do you put them, how do you attach them? Our van is a ducato with one of those tablet flaps on the dash. Would that be suitable?
3. presumably you need to hide it every time you stop?
4.looking at the Garmin 780 and it said only a 1 or 2 hour battery life. How do you charge it while driving?
5. the garmin 785 has a dash cam. Does that affect where you can place them? Is it worth bothering with? Especially as it costs a lot more.
Thank you
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We have a Garmin with dashcam built in.

The camera is in the back, central but to the side of the centre clamp, if you see what I mean.

You would need a proper stand that connects to the centre clamp, I think using the Tablet holder would obscure the camera.
 
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I have the Garmin 785 with camera. I bought the proper Garmin stand which sits lovely on the dashboard and gives a steady mount for recording and no fouling of blinds etc.
 
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Looking at this thread and wonder what is the cheapest/best 10" Tablet to use for downloading Co-Pilot on?

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