Offline Satnav (1 Viewer)

[g3cwi]

I mostly use Google maps but I have occasionally been caught out when there is no coverage (yes I know you can download areas). Anyway yesterday I tested the IoS version of an app called Sygic. It cost about £12 for complete UK coverage. First impressions are quite favourable. Google will probably remain my first choice but it's good to have a fallback for planning routes offline.

What offline system (if any) do you use?

 

[LesW]

Garmin

 

[g3cwi]

Garmin

Ah yes. You can’t get much more offline than they have been recently!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[LesW]

Ah yes. You can’t get much more offline than they have been recently!

Not the satnav units though.

 

[Mark McG]

Sygic truck. The latest beta versions are working really well

 

[kevenh]

What offline system (if any) do you use?

For offline Sat Nav use I’ve lifetime map updates on an old Garmin Nuvi
For cycling, hiking (& geocaching ) I’ve a Garmin Oregon 700 GPSr with a couple of GB for offline maps.

The GPSr has a ~£12 OS land ranger lookalike UK map from Broken Link Removed.
For world travel the GPSr gets a “free“ map of the destination from http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/

Both are offline maps. Talky Toaster does frequent updates for a subscriber but I buy the one off release when worried about that.

I expect the OSM maps would be useful in the SatNav but I’ve yet to leave Europe in the MH so haven’t tested that

edit: blimey. Just checked talkytoaster.me.uk ‘s site as it’s been awhile since I got an update for my OS style UK map. They’ve really moved on since the last time I visited & now cover the world.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Busman]

Only been using maps.me for the last few years around Europe and Morocco. Can't fault it

 

[Northernraider]

Map book

 

[dunnah01]

+1 for maps.me

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[The Lobster]

Sygic Trucks... it let's you set the size and weight of your van and does useful things like giving you tight corner warnings. The optional live traffic add on doesn't cost much either.

 

[Gellyneck]

Map book

But that takes all the fun out of getting sent down wrong road!

 

[Northernraider]

But that takes all the fun out of getting sent down wrong road!

Yeah thats true ....


And I do miss .....".recalculating "

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Gellyneck]

Yeah thats true ....


And I do miss .....".recalculating "

Just to help with your map book "recalculating"!

 

[StephDeLux]

My experience with Sygic during our last trip made me buy a Garmin. A completely different league. You get what you pay for, really.

 

[g3cwi]

My experience with Sygic during our last trip made me buy a Garmin. A completely different league. You get what you pay for, really.

Interesting. What problems did you encounter?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[StephDeLux]

Interesting. What problems did you encounter?

It is a truck sofware, not motorhome, so it routes through very long detours that might be necessary for a semi but a waste of time for an MH. This despite indicating the dimensions and wieght of the MH.

Then it doesn't have any database of aires, service points or whatever useful specific to motorhomes.

The 3D rendition is vastly exagerated, with mountains hiding the actual road in the Alps. Ridiculous.

In the roudabouts, the displayed position trails the actual one, meaning the display is misleading about which roudabout exit to take. That is a very common problem with satnav software, not specific to Sygic and not easy to correct.

Sygic's user interface is dated, the graphics and colour schemes pretty duyll, but that's cosmetic. Garmin's is dated too, hasn't changed in more than a decade but has aged much better.

All in all, a regression compared to the built-in Merc navigation, so not worth it at all.

 

[g3cwi]

All in all, a regression compared to the built-in Merc navigation, so not worth it at all.

Thanks. I think there are two versions, truck and car. I’m using the car one. I have not tried the 3D facility so thanks for the heads up that it’s a gimmick. Other points noted. None of them seem perfect. I have used Garmin’s products for cycling and found them less than reliable. Maybe their car products are better?

 

[ceejayt]

I mostly use Google maps but I have occasionally been caught out when there is no coverage (yes I know you can download areas). Anyway yesterday I tested the IoS version of an app called Sygic. It cost about £12 for complete UK coverage. First impressions are quite favourable. Google will probably remain my first choice but it's good to have a fallback for planning routes offline.

What offline system (if any) do you use?

Sygic is the worst routing I have tried and I have tried a few.

I currently use Copilot Truck on an iPad AND Google maps on CarPlay. It its surprising the difference sometimes and neither get it right all the time.

Google is great for rerouting, Copilot - offline which is useful and has the truck measurements

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[StephDeLux]

I have 2 Garmin products: en eTrex 20 since 2014 and a Camper 780 since first week of July. The eTrex replaced an very old (2005) Garmin unit that was he marine version of the GPSMap 60. I should have gone with the GPSMap but newbie ignorance and all that...

The total amount of problems I've had since 2005 is zero.

The eTrex is a remarkable little device, with a screen that works as well in the dark as lighted by direct sun, is light and has a tremendous amount of useful travel feature in a ridiculously small space and weight. I've used it for road routing as well as walks in the nature, as a location logger to geo-tag photos in Lightroom, a calculator, stopwatch, alarm clock, moon and sun rise and set indicator, POI database, to store some little text memos like some useful tables for ancient photography, you name it. It has never failed, it has never lost the GPS signal. It is arguably an old product now but I always have it with me. Of course for automotive applications, it is limited since it doesn't have traffic info, radars and the screen is small. But, the routing choices are greats, the display always legible, and it is surprisingly usable even for that application.

The Camper 780, I don't know yet, obviously. But the first signs are very good. The ergonomic is exemplary and the first 4,000 kms give me great confidence it was a good choice. Or maybe the 890° would have been worth it, I don't know.

One important aspect of Garmin's offer is Basecamp. That PC and Mac application adds way points (favourites) and routes archiving and cataloguing. You can read your favourites from your devices, copy them to another device, store them in lists, catalogue the lists in folders etc...

You can plan journeys, transfer your plans to your devices, etc... It uses the maps stored in the devices even if they are not Garmin maps.

It unifies the eTrex and the Camper by allowing to exchange information between the two.

Oh, and on the eTrex, I don't use Garmin maps. I use the free Freizeitekarte. Garmin has a similar service, openstreetmaps but I have not tried it yet. So, no lock-in for maps updates, unlike TomTom.

 

[g3cwi]

Sygic is the worst routing I have tried and I have tried a few.

Interesting. I used Sygic in Manchester and it was pretty good. However, this week I tried it in mid-Wales and it was hopeless. It does not seem to be able to differentiate between tracks and roads so it went haywire driving anong by Lake Vrnwy. Disappointing.

 

[Landy Andy]

Interesting. I used Sygic in Manchester and it was pretty good. However, this week I tried it in mid-Wales and it was hopeless. It does not seem to be able to differentiate between tracks and roads so it went haywire driving anong by Lake Vrnwy. Disappointing.

You can turn off and on unpaved routes or something like that.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[g3cwi]

You can turn off and on unpaved routes or something like that.

I already had that setting done.

 

[63720]

Android app Maps.me free and works without data.