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Post by grampa on Oct 9, 2018 8:08:33 GMT
Just had a email from Tom Tom - showering me with offers for free this (maps) and free that (updates) and massive discounts for the actual unit - but why am I going to spend a penny now on a Sat Nav when 'Here we go' for my phone was free and does just as good a job? End of the road for Tom Tom unless they can find other products to branch into?
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Post by ChrisM on Oct 9, 2018 8:30:34 GMT
^
All I can say at this time is that I took my Tom Tom with lifetime map updates and worldwide coverage to the USA with me and it was invaluable in getting me from SFO to my destination, then getting me around parts of California whilst I was there, back to the airport via a non-direct route, and then finally back home again. I would not have liked to rely upon my phone-based apps to do that.
I also get frequent emails plugging "special offers" ..... I suppose part of it depends on how often you travel far from home on unfamiliar roads. When I think back to the travel I did in the late 1990's, and having to buy road atlases and write out directions as simply as possible so I would glance at them whilst driving all over the UK, there's no comparison !
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Oct 9, 2018 8:55:52 GMT
Yes, stand alone Sat Navs are doomed, like ipods, Walkmans, and Video recorders before them. Technology moves on and I guess Tom Tom will get their future revenues by licensing their mapping technology to OEMs.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2018 9:29:34 GMT
Fuck 'em I say. Last one I bought cost 70 bucks and when I next went back to the States they wanted 100 quid for an updated map.
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Post by Big Blue on Oct 9, 2018 9:50:25 GMT
Yep: done the job of getting the tech to market and new users used to it; now it's in your phone, just like everything else.
On my project we have moved to a phone based option and it's hard trying to tell stuck-in-the-mud rail people and civil servants that the future of their service is in the hands of Google and Apple: what they decide to offer is what the customer will expect so work with them or go and do something else.
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Post by franki68 on Oct 9, 2018 13:31:02 GMT
I use the Tom Tom phone app,I find it superior to other day navs I have used in terms of real time traffic .
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Post by LandieMark on Oct 9, 2018 15:01:30 GMT
I have a standalone TomTom and the free map updates for life are pretty good. I like it when I am organising a car club run out as I can do a specific route and then export gpx files for people to use. My phone works fine - I either use Waze or Google Maps, but not quite as well as the TomTom. Updating the TomTom is a major ballache though. I certainly won't buy a stand alone satnav in future mind.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2018 15:45:26 GMT
I have a very old TomTom standalone and it gets me to most places I need to go but is, even with updated maps, not the last thing in accuracy. "Turn right now", sorry but I am NOT driving through a front door.
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Post by PetrolEd on Oct 9, 2018 16:17:55 GMT
Think I got my first Sat nav unit back in 2004, a Tom Tom Go for about £400. Bloody revolutionary thing in its day, before that I had the Ordinance Survey maps and A-Z for various counties of the UK all sat in the footwell of my company hack.
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Post by Alex on Oct 10, 2018 8:12:21 GMT
A lot of car manufacturers are moving away from built in nav and instead having Apple CarPlay on their ICE systems so Tom Tom need to be selling their maps to the app makers. The only trouble with using your phone is the data it uses, are there any apps that can work offline? It’s worth me knowing sooner rather than later given that my next car probably won’t have built in nav, especially now any added options add to the CO2 rating under WLTP.
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Post by Martin on Oct 10, 2018 8:33:30 GMT
I had a TomTom sometime around 2004 and it replaced and Road Atlas, a box of A-Z maps and a decent memory for directions. Replaced that in 2006 with a GO910 as it had US maps built in along with Bluetooth and a few other features one of my favourites being a built in battery so no trailing wires...for the first couple of hours anyway.. I stopped using that in late 2009 when I got the 520d with built in Sat Nav, it won’t be a surprise to learn that I was delighted not to have something stuck to the windscreen.
Apps are the way forward for most car, ideally with CarPlay or Android Auto, as the map is always up to date and the live traffic is pretty good. They do look pretty basic compared to the OEM systems, but I guess that will improve. I use Waze in the Golf.
Data isn’t an issue as thanks to a family EE discount, I’ve got a 60GB contract which can not only be used across Europe, it’s also valid in a number of other countries including the US and Australia.
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Post by ChrisM on Oct 10, 2018 9:15:05 GMT
It’s worth me knowing sooner rather than later given that my next car probably won’t have built in nav, especially now any added options add to the CO2 rating under WLTP. Look at the TomTom 5200 and 6200 (I think the only difference is the screen size, 5 or 6 inches). They have their own SIM card with lifetime contract built into the device so they take live data from the phone networks to update traffic every 3 minutes, I think, but you don't use any data on your phone contract. They also have lifetime updates included.... not sure what happened when I was in the USA; my maps and nav functions worked OK (I have a superseded 5100) but I didn't get live traffic although to be fair, I don't think they promise that the live traffic system includes worldwide coverage; it works well enough within the UK though. EDIT: www.tomtom.com/en_gb/sat-nav/car-sat-nav/products/go-5200/ |
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Oct 10, 2018 9:26:58 GMT
I believe most of the apps like Google Maps let you download routes so you don't use any data when travelling.
I might add that when I have the mother-in-law in the back seat I turn the satnav off - there's no point as the two just argue.
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Post by Alex on Oct 10, 2018 13:02:17 GMT
I believe most of the apps like Google Maps let you download routes so you don't use any data when travelling. I might add that when I have the mother-in-law in the back seat I turn the satnav off - there's no point as the two just argue. I don’t know how you do that on google maps. If you can do it there’s no obvious button. I’d need an app that worked with CarPlay. I’m not keen on buying a separate sat nav unit. |
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Oct 10, 2018 13:46:46 GMT
I believe most of the apps like Google Maps let you download routes so you don't use any data when travelling. I might add that when I have the mother-in-law in the back seat I turn the satnav off - there's no point as the two just argue. I don’t know how you do that on google maps. If you can do it there’s no obvious button. I’d need an app that worked with CarPlay. I’m not keen on buying a separate sat nav unit. What you mean like the button that says "Offline maps" and "Download Maps"?  |
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Post by Roadrunner on Oct 10, 2018 13:47:45 GMT
I believe most of the apps like Google Maps let you download routes so you don't use any data when travelling. I might add that when I have the mother-in-law in the back seat I turn the satnav off - there's no point as the two just argue. I don’t know how you do that on google maps. If you can do it there’s no obvious button. I’d need an app that worked with CarPlay. I’m not keen on buying a separate sat nav unit. If you are travelling on business can you not use your work phone and so that data goes on your work phone account? |
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Post by bryan on Oct 10, 2018 17:58:31 GMT
Here maps you can download the whole world to your phone if you like and they work well in my opinion especially offline wehre google maps is crap
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Post by Alex on Oct 10, 2018 19:02:27 GMT
I don’t know how you do that on google maps. If you can do it there’s no obvious button. I’d need an app that worked with CarPlay. I’m not keen on buying a separate sat nav unit. If you are travelling on business can you not use your work phone and so that data goes on your work phone account? We only have data on our iPads not our phones and I’m not sure iPads work on car play. |
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Post by Alex on Oct 10, 2018 19:05:03 GMT
I don’t know how you do that on google maps. If you can do it there’s no obvious button. I’d need an app that worked with CarPlay. I’m not keen on buying a separate sat nav unit. What you mean like the button that says "Offline maps" and "Download Maps"? Ok so I found it but it doesn’t allow you to download the whole country so how can you use it offline for a journey from the south of England to the north? |
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Oct 10, 2018 19:05:24 GMT
If you are travelling on business can you not use your work phone and so that data goes on your work phone account? We only have data on our iPads not our phones and I’m not sure iPads work on car play. But why wouldn't you download the maps to your phones over WiFi? |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2018 19:10:24 GMT
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Post by PG on Oct 11, 2018 10:11:05 GMT
I don’t know how you do that on google maps. If you can do it there’s no obvious button. I’d need an app that worked with CarPlay. I’m not keen on buying a separate sat nav unit. Maybe I'm being stupid (don't comment...) but like alex, I can't see a button to download a map to use offline on my iphone app? Edited to add - I was being stupid!! I've found it..... Definitely  |
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Post by Alex on Oct 11, 2018 21:25:51 GMT
We only have data on our iPads not our phones and I’m not sure iPads work on car play. But why wouldn't you download the maps to your phones over WiFi? I can do that but it’s annoying that you cannot download the whole country just a square shaped block of it. It’s not the best alternative to a TomTom I’ve ever seen. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2018 11:06:43 GMT
Well, the TomTom linked to earlier is 300 quid. You can buy a lot of mobile data with that...
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Post by Martin on Oct 12, 2018 11:09:36 GMT
But why wouldn't you download the maps to your phones over WiFi? I can do that but it’s annoying that you cannot download the whole country just a square shaped block of it. It’s not the best alternative to a TomTom I’ve ever seen. Can’t you tether your phone to your iPad and use its data allowance? |
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Oct 12, 2018 11:11:40 GMT
But why wouldn't you download the maps to your phones over WiFi? I can do that but it’s annoying that you cannot download the whole country just a square shaped block of it. It’s not the best alternative to a TomTom I’ve ever seen. But why would you need the whole country? Are you going to be traversing the whole British Isles before your next wifi point? |
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Post by Alex on Oct 12, 2018 17:12:54 GMT
I can do that but it’s annoying that you cannot download the whole country just a square shaped block of it. It’s not the best alternative to a TomTom I’ve ever seen. But why would you need the whole country? Are you going to be traversing the whole British Isles before your next wifi point? Possibly, I’ve traveled from Horsham to as far north as Newcastle. I guess the point is, as it stands with a Tom Tom or the built in nav the entire map is there ready and you can immediately plan a route. The google maps idea doesn’t allow that because you can’t download a big enough map to even cover from my home to Leeds or Manchester. Isn’t that a backwards step in a world where this sort of tech is meant to be making life easier? |
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