I'm sure we've done this before but search ain't finding the thread.
Downloaded something called 'Be on Road' to my Hudl a few weeks ago and have used it in both UK and France. Main need is for navigation over 'last mile' into unknown locations such as French camp-sites or, last weekend, Miss B's new home in Devonport. Previously we'd have used Google maps printed from PC before departure.
Used yesterday for first time on longer range mission to get us homeward bound after a stop at 'Clarks Village in Street.
On whole it's pretty good. Running on open source maps and without a license for UK postcodes finding destinations can be problematic. There's an index of streets but top level is main thoroughfares with residential areas tending to be grouped in an 'off Leeds Road' kind of sense. Points of interest such as campsites are listed and can also be located on map and marked as waypoint which is rout able provided it's near a road.
Directions are given via the screen as green markings on an otherwise magenta line delineating one's route. Next turn is shown as a 'PIP' icon top left of screen with turn direction and distance o run to it - can be anything from a few yards/metres to, on autoroute, hundreds of k. Voice instruction is also available.
In the main instructions are accurate but it's not wholly consistent when effectively going straight on, sometimes instructing, other times silent, and junctions with even a slight stagger result in an instruction to turn. Easy to correct when you've got a navigator to interpret but easy to misinterpret using solo.
Mrs B thought it was taking us out of way finding directions from Street to M4/J17 via A39/A361* to Frome then Bradford on Avon, minor roads to A4 then Chippenham but in fact it was near a straight line as you could get. Would have been a challenge if we'd been towing though.
Once on M4 we were advised via gantry messages of trouble on A34 with diversion via A404M/M40. Very impressed by way it recalculated route(s)as we passed round Reading before it 'clocked' our intention..
On the whole good for it's (nil) cost but needs to be on a phone and within driver's visible 'sweep' of road etc to be of any use driving alone.
What's experience of others with 'free' stanav?
*A361 actually goes pretty well all way home as it by passes Daventry and ends at Kilsby (though no longer continuous) but that's a project for another day.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Wed 27 Aug 14 at 16:03
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>> Google maps works fine.
Does it need constant access to data?
If so no good on Huddle which has no provision for a SIM. Neither would I necessarily want it gobbling up my GBs on a smartphone.
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If you're going with free ones, then Google Maps is indeed probably about as good as you're going to get.
I seem to recall though it requires an internet connection, either 3G or wifi in order to be able to recalculate a route if you go off piste? Obviously the free ones with maps "onboard" don't need that.
Having run half a dozen free ones I still prefer the TomTom app (on an iPhone rather than Android admittedly - no experience with that) which for about £35 at the time gave me UK and Western Europe and free map updates every few months for the last couple of years, and at an extra £20 a year gives me full and reliable traffic info and avoidance. Can't beat that, especially with chucking the audio through the car speakers.
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Would agree generally about Google Maps, but this app can be used off-line after you download from the range of country maps (UK is 593Mb):
play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.navfree.android.OSM.ALL&hl=en_GB
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I had recently been looking at options for Android navigation - 9 months ago I tried a couple of freebies on the Hudl but they were pretty poor. Unfortunately I have deleted them and cannot recall the App names!
I have found that Garmin offer an offline cheap option, Viago, but it does not appear on GooglePlay for some reason now, although it used to be. The Garmin website however lists it.
Does anyone else know anything about it?
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>> I have found that Garmin offer an offline cheap option, Viago, but it does not
>> appear on GooglePlay for some reason now, although it used to be. The Garmin website
>> however lists it.
>>
>> Does anyone else know anything about it?
Back in store now at price of £1.16!!!
play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.garmin.android.apps.viago
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There is no substitute for a proper car sat nav.
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>> There is no substitute for a proper car sat nav.
>>
Really? I use google maps in one of our cars, and the built in satnav in the other.
I find google maps much easier for new destinations, and also for traffic avoidance.
I'm hoping that google incorporates the best of waze into google maps - would make it even better.
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>> >> There is no substitute for a proper car sat nav.
>> >>
>> Really? I use google maps in one of our cars, and the built in satnav
>> in the other.
>>
>> I find google maps much easier for new destinations, and also for traffic avoidance.
Really Your in car sat nav must be execrable then.
Google maps is nowhere as good as an in car sat nav for fast routing, re routing, changing things on the move. Directions are not loud enough, the screen is too small. Its a compromise.
In practise, a proper car sat nav beats mobile apps hands down.
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Whilst I agree that a purpose built satnav is the better bet is not the screen being too small and directions not loud enough a fault of the hardware, iPhone? and not the app?
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>> Whilst I agree that a purpose built satnav is the better bet is not the
>> screen being too small and directions not loud enough a fault of the hardware, iPhone?
>> and not the app?
The app and the hardware are hand in hand. The hardware is not designed for in car use, and google maps is not designed for in car use. No point trying to narrow the blame down any further.
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iPhone just bluetooths to the car. No sound issues or wiring.
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>> iPhone just bluetooths to the car. No sound issues or wiring.
Tom tom on the iPhone is not ideal. The screen is too small, the screen is not good in bright sunlight, and the touch screen is not designed for fat fingers poking from three feet away on the move. And bluetooth means my music would be constantly fading in and out with all the speed camera warnings.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 27 Aug 14 at 19:01
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I've had proper large touchscreen satnavs in all my Toyota and Lexus cars for the last decade. It has the advantages of a large screen and sound that neatly fades the other audio in and out.
In many other respects every version from 1997 to 2011 has been utter dross in comparison to the iPhpne TomTom in my opinion. Expensive updates that are still out of date when you get them. They never seem to catch up. No proper postcodes (thanks Toyota). Rerouting traffic only uses the Classic Fm major routes thing. Display is primitive. POI information is sparse in comparison. No tts, so street names aren't spoken. No live prices on petrol stations.
There are some nice features. A breadcrumb trail showing the route you took so you can follow it out again if you want. Area to avoid options, not just roads to avoid. Special motorway display showing time and distance to the next five service stations, and icons showing the facilities there. Split screen if you want with a zoomed in view on the right.
In all though, for me, I use the TomTom as it's miles quicker to enter a destination and is fine. The main car map I have just displaying but not routing, so I can at least see roadworks icons or whatever ahead.
The newer Toyota system I don't have experience of, but given they called it Touch And Go I'm not that inspired...
I've also run with proper TomTom and Garmin and Sony units, which are kind of ok but I hated the fiddling about getting them to attach to the glass, or install in a mount, and what do you do with it when you get out? Carry it about? I'm already carrying a phone.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Wed 27 Aug 14 at 18:56
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>> I've also run with proper TomTom and Garmin and Sony units, which are kind of
>> ok but I hated the fiddling about getting them to attach to the glass or
>> install in a mount,
So where do you keep the device thats running tom tom? in your back pocket?
>>and what do you do with it when you get out?
>> Carry it about? I'm already carrying a phone.
Its a car sat nav, you leave it in the car.
I agree in built car sat navs are always pretty poor, specially in map updates (exempt the tom tom solution in renaults its terrific)
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Funnily enough, sometime I do leave the phone in my pocket, yes. Then it chucks the "Turn left into Sausage Avenue" instructions at me, and the in built map on the car satnav is showing me where that is, so that's good enough.
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>>
>> Really Your in car sat nav must be execrable then.
>>
>> Google maps is nowhere as good as an in car sat nav for fast routing,
>> re routing, changing things on the move. Directions are not loud enough, the screen is
>> too small. Its a compromise.
>>
>> In practise, a proper car sat nav beats mobile apps hands down.
>>
>>
>>
Nah.
All the things you mention are fine with a fast, modern phone.
Plus, the maps are up to date (even includes the new road I live on which was only built a couple of months ago).
The only true advantage of the full screen is that it's connected to the reversing camera - that's something my phone cannot do.
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>> All the things you mention are fine with a fast, modern phone.
>>
>> Plus, the maps are up to date (even includes the new road I live on
>> which was only built a couple of months ago).
>>
>> The only true advantage of the full screen is that it's connected to the reversing
>> camera - that's something my phone cannot do.
>>
How much data does it use?
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>> Really Your in car sat nav must be execrable then.
>>
>> Google maps is nowhere as good as an in car sat nav for fast routing,
>> re routing, changing things on the move. Directions are not loud enough, the screen is
>> too small. Its a compromise.
>>
>> In practise, a proper car sat nav beats mobile apps hands down.
I agree that Google maps is not as good. I don't have a built in sat nav but I have a TomTom PND and also the TomTom Android app which I use on my 5.5 inch phone and 8 inch tablet. I have been comparing the PND against the Android app and both are excellent. I have the maps for UK and USA and as the Android apps have lifetime map upgrades I will probably stop using the PND as the maps for that are now out-of-date.
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I like google maps for planning before a journey, but prefer my elderly TomTom when en route, as it is better at rerouting as others have observed. Google maps is also good when on foot in a strange town too.
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>> I like google maps for planning before a journey,
I use a plethora of things for pre planning, my favourite is google earth with an OS overlay.
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My mate's Skoda Octavia in-built SatNav touchscreen system provides re-routing if there are hold ups or a wrong turning/direction taken. It is/did prove a bit of a PUTA updating the SD card on which the database is carried...:-(
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I find Google Navigate meets 100% of my occasional satnav needs, re-plans the route within 10 seconds in the event of going off piste, and judging by a recent trip to St. Albans can re-route on the fly based on traffic congestion ahead.
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The VAG cars make good use of the display in the instrument cluster to display driving instructions to supplement the display. I will be getting the SD card upgrade fitted to the A3 when I get it (part of my order).
The latest head units seem to be offering display of iPhone or Android apps on the head unit itself, including control. That seems a good way forward. But I see Audi might be moving from a central screen in the dash if the TT is anything to go by - it uses a TFT screen for the entire instrument pod with sat nav displayed there.
I have TomTom on my Android for occasional use - e.g. when on holiday. I simply use it with voice and listen on a Bluetooth headset to instructions and do not look at the screen.
Google's beta navigation on Android is pretty good - is it the same on iPhone I wonder? It can even use street view images when you get to junctions and overlay arrows for the direction to take.
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I've been using Navfree on a 7" tablet (Asus Memopad) in our Jazz and camper van.
I have a clip stand-off ebay, with a sucker which fixes to a bean bag thing and this gets slid as far away as poss in the R corner of the dashboard and does not block the view out, but is easily readable because of the size of the screen.
It's an Android app,and does not use a 3g connection-so no data usage, but you need a tablet with GPS.
This uses a lot of battery, so I connect it to the cigar socket using retractable usb extension leads, one of which is male to female.
I have used it to go to Shetland successfully, and have now put a lot of potential campsites in France into the favourites, having downloaded the free map of France.
Most other European countries have free maps.
It zooms in nicely as you approach junctions, and the voice tells you which way to go and even says the number of the road if its an A or B.
The routing can be a bit odd, like most sat navs, but as you get nearer gets more sensible.
Setting it to shortest route to a filling station near Oxford it wanted me to take a short cut through the garage at the end of the A40! I reset it to fastest.
If you ignore the directions to follow your own preferred route it re-calculates quickly and eventually starts being the one you want.
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>> I have found that Garmin offer an offline cheap option, Viago, but it does not
>> appear on GooglePlay for some reason now, although it used to be. The Garmin website
>> however lists it.
>>
>> Does anyone else know anything about it?
Back in store now at price of £1.16!!!
play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.garmin.android.apps.viago
Whislt it appears in a browser - still does not show directly in play store when accessed using the Hudl. Can anybody else find it directly thro Playstore?
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>> Whislt it appears in a browser - still does not show directly in play store
>> when accessed using the Hudl. Can anybody else find it directly thro Playstore?
Doesn't show up when I search for it on my phone.
EDIT: I mean using the playstore app
Last edited by: Focusless on Thu 28 Aug 14 at 17:05
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It would appear that when you access Playstore it identifies the device that you are using and if the app is not listed as compatible it will not show the app/download.
Using the Hudl to go to the Garmin site directly via chrome, it gives you a download button, but then fails with a message that Hudl is not supported (or something similar).
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>> Whislt it appears in a browser - still does not show directly in play store when accessed using the Hudl
The Play Store app will indeed filter out apps that are not compatible with your device. The web page will check before allowing you to download for a particular device it knows about.
Having said that it does not show up for my HTC One either in the Play Store App. But it doesn't show up in a browser either. For me at least. But the link works but says it's incompatible with all my devices (so not got for the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1). Probably why it does not show up.
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I use Navfree too. Only problem is that sometimes it takes too long to get a lock with satellite.
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Satnav Apps for Android - CGNorwich
