DS Forums

 
 

Mobile Phone Sat Nav or Stand Alone Sat Nav


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 29-05-2015, 13:50
Satellite John
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: London
Posts: 1,825

Our car does not have a build in sat nav and my wife does a lot of driving for work, and also when she is driving, she is usually talking on her mobile phone - legally - by using the car's bluetooth telephone system.
Currently we have an old Garmin standalone sat nav. My question to the forum is - should my wife use her Android phone as a sat nav, using Waze - but does this get messy? - note that she is talking on her phone about 50% of the time spent driving. Or would we be better off getting a new stand alone sat nav? I was thinking of the TomTom 5100 or 6100, think probably the 5 inch one, as I am thinking 6 inches is too big on the windscreen.
Basically Waze does look amazing, but if you are also talking on your phone at the same time, does it all get a bit much for it? Or does the Tom Tom Android app deal with phone calls better?
Many thanks for any help.
Satellite John is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 29-05-2015, 16:42
Rodney McKay
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 7,793
Our car does not have a build in sat nav and my wife does a lot of driving for work, and also when she is driving, she is usually talking on her mobile phone - legally - by using the car's bluetooth telephone system.
Currently we have an old Garmin standalone sat nav. My question to the forum is - should my wife use her Android phone as a sat nav, using Waze - but does this get messy? - note that she is talking on her phone about 50% of the time spent driving. Or would we be better off getting a new stand alone sat nav? I was thinking of the TomTom 5100 or 6100, think probably the 5 inch one, as I am thinking 6 inches is too big on the windscreen.
Basically Waze does look amazing, but if you are also talking on your phone at the same time, does it all get a bit much for it? Or does the Tom Tom Android app deal with phone calls better?
Many thanks for any help.
I personally prefer a standalone satnav as I find most phones are not loud enough on their internal speaker and if paired to bluetooth can get annyoing cutting into music all the time to give directions.

One advantage the likes of Google an Waze have is you can get traffic alerts which a lot of satnavs don't have or charge for it. I still use an old Navman unit that has free traffic alerts built in.
Rodney McKay is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 29-05-2015, 17:01
Richard_T
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: East Midlands
Posts: 3,842
Another vote for stand alone sat nav.

As well as the above a stand aloner sat nav is just a sat nav and will be free of any distracting notifications
and even though offline mapping exists for smart phones a stand alone sat nav will not require you to remember to download maps for your journey it just works
Richard_T is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 29-05-2015, 17:25
InfamousTeal
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Northern Ireland
Posts: 303
I also use a standalone, although it acts as a handsfree bluetooth system as my car doesn't have one

I find it easier, as you don't have to set it all up every time you get in the car, it's just there, and switches on, no mounting and setting up and plugging in every time.
InfamousTeal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 29-05-2015, 18:00
BKM
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 6,288
I also use a standalone, although it acts as a handsfree bluetooth system as my car doesn't have one

I find it easier, as you don't have to set it all up every time you get in the car, it's just there, and switches on, no mounting and setting up and plugging in every time.
Despite all these votes for standalone here sales of such devices have, reportedly, taken a BIG hit (I think I have seen up to 40%) recently - as so many people now use their smartphone (including me! - I use the free Navmii app)
BKM is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 29-05-2015, 18:28
Alex_1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Leeds
Posts: 113
I have built in in my Ford Focus but prefer my Sygic. Speed cameras the lot.

Never had a stand alone. I imagine it would be tricky using phone and making lots of calls.
Alex_1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 29-05-2015, 19:58
Devilduck
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Totnes, Devon
Posts: 43
I use waze on my phone and can't fault it.

Last summer we went to Silverstone, me and family in one car and in laws in another... They left before us and we beat them by a good hour because waze diverted us around a couple of jams. It was great. Father in laws Tom Tom saw the bin soon after
Devilduck is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 11:09.