Using Satnav

[HeavyElectricity]

HERE maps is great - and free. It's powered by what once was Nokia Maps (NAVTEQ), and allows you to download maps for entire countries for offline use. Basic (address) search and routing/rerouting works offline too. Recently used it for turn-by-turn directions on a trip to Hawaii, and couldn't fault it.

 

[samh004]

I use Waze, seems to be the most accurate whenever I've used it, and back when it was new you earned road goodies for driving roads that were mapped but not driven. These days you still earn points (not redeemable for anything as far as I know) for every mile you drive. They were bought by Google too, so they have pretty good address information.

 

[jastel]

I travelling by myself normally and I like satnavs as they are simple and safer to use, just get you there (normally) and don't go flat or lose service like phones.
Hiring a car for longer than a week you may as well buy a satnav there. Less than a week rent one.
I also do look on paper maps and local brochures I acquire while over there to see "off the pink line things" I had not thought about.
The biggest problem for all systems is roadworks and detours.
Old school asking locals for advice works as well.

If there are 2 of you the passenger can plot alternate routes/destinations on the go but I cant do that.

 

[RooFlyer]

Tested the pedestrian mode with an off-grid 1hr+ walk with the dogs, worked well .... however, it did drain the battery by 30%.

I took Sygic (with free Premium for the week) for a drive up the east coast of Tas today. A few quirky things, but probably from the database they purchased, not application specific. But the main thing to report is that even with it plugged into the USB port in my car, it drained the battery (iPhone 6, big screen). I didn't notice for a couple of hours, until I got a low battery (20%) warning (was about 2/3 charged when I started); by the time I got home it was at 1%. Obviously 'on tour' I wouldn't let it get that far, but that's a pretty significant drawback. The phone got pretty warm also.

I did like its 3D display (I guess that might have used more juice?).

Also, it doesn't appear to let push alerts though its screen (ie text messages). Anyone know if it should, or if there is an iPhone setting to allow this? Not that I would look at texts while I'm driving, but the passenger can .

 

[amaroo]

I took Sygic (with free Premium for the week) for a drive up the east coast of Tas today. A few quirky things, but probably from the database they purchased, not application specific. But the main thing to report is that even with it plugged into the USB port in my car, it drained the battery (iPhone 6, big screen). I didn't notice for a couple of hours, until I got a low battery (20%) warning (was about 2/3 charged when I started); by the time I got home it was at 1%. Obviously 'on tour' I wouldn't let it get that far, but that's a pretty significant drawback. The phone got pretty warm also.

I did like its 3D display (I guess that might have used more juice?).

Also, it doesn't appear to let push alerts though its screen (ie text messages). Anyone know if it should, or if there is an iPhone setting to allow this? Not that I would look at texts while I'm driving, but the passenger can .

Had it working for about 6hrs today. It handled intercity, highway and the new (BNE) tunnels perfectly, good graphics with plenty of time to manoeuvre into correct lanes/turns. It was plugged into the car with an el cheapo adaptor, the battery never dropped below 100% - iPhone 6.

FWIW, the HUD worked well in the tunnels, will need to take it on a night drive to give it a burl.

Like the speed/redlight camera warnings, on screen speed and beep warning for speeding.

 

[TheRealTMA]

I took Sygic (with free Premium for the week) for a drive up the east coast of Tas today. A few quirky things, but probably from the database they purchased, not application specific. But the main thing to report is that even with it plugged into the USB port in my car, it drained the battery (iPhone 6, big screen). I didn't notice for a couple of hours, until I got a low battery (20%) warning (was about 2/3 charged when I started); by the time I got home it was at 1%. Obviously 'on tour' I wouldn't let it get that far, but that's a pretty significant drawback. The phone got pretty warm also.

I did like its 3D display (I guess that might have used more juice?).

Also, it doesn't appear to let push alerts though its screen (ie text messages). Anyone know if it should, or if there is an iPhone setting to allow this? Not that I would look at texts while I'm driving, but the passenger can .

I'd suggest that you USB charging was not in fact working. Maybe you need a cigar lighter adapter?

An alternative is TomTom for iPhone. Is more expensive but has more features such as trip planning and lookup address POI via Internet and others. This allows phone and text through. But. But, TomTom are very greedy and require you to purchase different apps for each region such as Europe, Australia, NZ and USA.

Also AFAIK there's no free trial.

 

[RooFlyer]

I'd suggest that you USB charging was not in fact working. Maybe you need a cigar lighter adapter?

An alternative is TomTom for iPhone. Is more expensive but has more features such as trip planning and lookup address POI via Internet and others. This allows phone and text through. But. But, TomTom are very greedy and require you to purchase different apps for each region such as Europe, Australia, NZ and USA.

Also AFAIK there's no free trial.

Thanks; the 'charging' icon came up on the iPhone screen, so puzzled about what happened. I do have a lighter-adapter-charger thingy but thought direct plug into car USB would be better. Will try with the charger adapter tomorrow. I like the application overall so hope it works out.

Not going to go back to Tom Tom.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Thanks; the 'charging' icon came up on the iPhone screen, so puzzled about what happened. I do have a lighter-adapter-charger thingy but thought direct plug into car USB would be better. Will try with the charger adapter tomorrow. I like the application overall so hope it works out.

Not going to go back to Tom Tom.

Sometimes the charging icon does not actually mean it's charging at full power. I find it hard to believe (it, not you ) that an iPhone plugged into charging source can go flat running a standard app. But more information is required I suggest.

Interestingly, on EK, plugging in the USB cable for iPad indicates it is not charging when in reality it is.. Just more slowly. Voltage or current flow matters apparently, to the charging icon.

 

[RooFlyer]

Sometimes the charging icon does not actually mean it's charging at full power. I find it hard to believe (it, not you ) that an iPhone plugged into charging source can go flat running a standard app. But more information is required I suggest.

Interestingly, on EK, plugging in the USB cable for iPad indicates it is not charging when in reality it is.. Just more slowly. Voltage or current flow matters apparently, to the charging icon.

The phone did get much warmer while I was using the Sygic application (in 3D mode) than I've ever known before (and not in the sun!)

The phone 'battery usage' report says that Sygic has used 50% of total in the past 24 hours (actually over the past 12 hours)!

I've read somewhere that iThings charge slower or faster depending on the current of the charging device. Certainly plugging it into the Very Expensive Apple wall charger at home gets it fully charged much faster than my car, where I just have it sitting there, on but not doing anything in particular.

Anyway, I'll try again tomorrow.

 

[amaroo]

Your charger must be on the blink. Heat wise the phone was no hotter than usual (when I've used google maps)

 

[RooFlyer]

Your charger must be on the blink. Heat wise the phone was no hotter than usual (when I've used google maps)

Interesting; no charger involved for me (unless you mean the phone's internal charger ). I had the phone plugged straight into the car's USB port, as I always do, and it usually charges OK (albeit slower than when plugged into Apple charger at home).

 

[samh004]

I'll bite on this side topic. Sometimes the battery can go down faster than the charge given by the USB point. I experienced this recently with Apple Music, when a playlist hadn't finished downloading before I left the house and then stalled for most of my drive. The songs played fine but over a 1.5 hour drive the phone lost charge despite being plugged in. At the end of the drive I cancelled the download and restarted it and it finished properly. I figured it was an issue as I went from wifi to data, and that could be a similar circumstance in your case RooFlyer.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Interesting; no charger involved for me (unless you mean the phone's internal charger ). I had the phone plugged straight into the car's USB port, as I always do, and it usually charges OK (albeit slower than when plugged into Apple charger at home).

The USB port current limit is much lower than required, probably only 100mA. It will charge eventually it but not at 'proper' rate. You need to cigar lighter adapter which can provide 2A or so.

 

[RooFlyer]

The USB port current limit is much lower than required, probably only 100mA. It will charge eventually it but not at 'proper' rate. You need to cigar lighter adapter which can provide 2A or so.

Spot on. Today's test FWIW:

Started off on a 1 hr journey, device in 3D mode, plugged into car USB port as before. As before, phone got pretty warm and the battery level went down in spite of being plugged in, and charging. Considering I was in hilly terrain and on a winding road, the processor would have been thrashing pretty hard to re-compute and display the 3D terrain every few seconds and so the warmth and the power drain I think is understandable.

For the return journey, I plugged the phone into a USB charger plugged into the cigarette lighter plug. Unit stayed warm of course but the phone battery level re-charged pretty efficiently. When I unplugged the charger, the battery went down almost as I looked at it!!

So: Sygic in 3D mode is a very power hungry thing, especially in 3D mode and when terrain changes rapidly. Probably cured by not using 3D mode, but I like it in that mode :-| . Great application.

 

[Renato1]

I bought a Navigon 2510 two years ago on Ebay from a chap who'd just come back from Europe, and I got the latest maps before going to Europe.

The unit had several problems.
a. At startup, it is easy to push the wrong icon and wind up in demo mode - where you think it's working for a while, and then starts sending you up the garden path. Then I couldn't figure how to get out of demo mode, other than getting a pin and pushing the button on the back to do a full reset.
b. It often gave the wrong directions when in the historic centre of town (e.g. telling me to drive into a pedestrian zone), and when starting a journey from the historic centre, it would have a hard time acquiring the satellite signal. I'd have to drive off in some direction till it acquired the signals.
c. When driving in places in Italy where lots of little side roads go to a main road, and the main road winds around quite a bit, what the navigator said to do didn't always correspond to what the little arrow on its screen said to do. It became my wife's job to hold the navigator, and keep a check on the arrow which was the accurate part of the information.

That said, the Navigon unit was much better than my older Aldis unit which used Route 66 as the software. That unit would yell at me and tell me to turn around and go back and turn into a ditch at the side of the road, which it had previously told me to turn into. And another time it was insisting that I drive into a house's driveway for some mysterious reason.

I still use the Aldis unit for driving around Slovenia and Croatia, since the Navigon unit doesn't have those maps.

However, both units have another snag. Neither will now allow me to updates maps, saying that I have the latest ones. So I emailed Navigon, and said that I have their software on my computer and that when I go to their Freshshop, I don't get any option to buy new maps and am told I have the latest map (Quarter 1, 2013). And I got a very nice response from them saying to go to the Freshshop and buy new maps.

So I think I'll be buying a different brand unit over there in a few weeks time.
Regards,
Renato

 

[TheRealTMA]

So I think I'll be buying a different brand unit over there in a few weeks time

Renato, time to go the smartphone route! Sygic, TomTom or other.

 

[Renato1]

Renato, time to go the smartphone route! Sygic, TomTom or other.

Thanks, I'll look into it - but I have problems with two of my smart phones. The GPS on them only works when I have the data on as well, and where I let Google detect my position. This wound up making them useless to me outside of Italy where the SIM card didn't work.

I haven't actually tested my new Lenovo phone that I'm taking to Italy to see if it is similarly afflicted.
Regards,
Renato

 

[TheRealTMA]

Thanks, I'll look into it - but I have problems with two of my smart phones. The GPS on them only works when I have the data on as well, and where I let Google detect my position. This wound up making them useless to me outside of Italy where the SIM card didn't work.

I haven't actually tested my new Lenovo phone that I'm taking to Italy to see if it is similarly afflicted.
Regards,
Renato

You don't need the sim working for SatNav apps to run.

 

[Renato1]

You don't need the sim working for SatNav apps to run.

I think that may be the case with good smart phones. But the GPS in my budget ones won't work without the internet - for an hour they won't pick up a satellite signal. The second I flick on the data or wireless so that Google can get a location, then the GPS works.

But spending $500, $600 or more on a good smart phone, I can't justify, as I don't really use them much other than when overseas.
Cheers,
Renato

 

[samh004]

So: Sygic in 3D mode is a very power hungry thing, especially in 3D mode and when terrain changes rapidly. Probably cured by not using 3D mode, but I like it in that mode :-| . Great application.

If you use an iPhone, with the improvements to Metal and graphics processing coming in iOS 9, if they optimise their app you may find this issue goes away.