QOTW: Which sat-nav do you use in your car?

[Andi-C]

Google maps via smart phone.

[DaveLEL]

Use a TomTom with live traffic and update the maps 4 times a year - may be not the cheapest option but has always been reliable.
( But can be slow at times to add new roads - took almost a year to add a new link road close to home - used to get confused as I travelled across open fields - telling me to turn on to roads I was traveling close to ! )
The live traffic is very good on longer trips where an accident can block a road, directing you around the incident.
Also have software on phone but not as good use it more as a backup.
Always used to be a very nervous driver if going to new places, mostly as seem to have no natural sense of direction at all ! having a reliable sat nave has changed that and now happy to do a couple of hundred mile drive for work without getting lost !

[Luke31425]

I use the built in sat nav in Nissan Qashqai it works quite well except you have to pay to get it updated at a Nissan dealership

[Gh0sty]

Copilot on my phone if I'm really stuck. Have been driving a while and have a very good sense of direction, my friends occasionaly call Me John John and ring for help with directions! I always have a map book with me as well in case of no phone signal etc.

[virtuo]

Had one of the frst TomToms, now use Google maps on my phone - brilliant for me.

[darcotech]

My wife.... ;-) Joking, locally its Google Maps, offline I have Sygic on Android which is not bad.
Would prefer something that comes with the car, but Audi asks 700USD just to activate the software and maps! everything else is preinstalled.

[jnutt]

Built in BMW 4 series sat nav. Works well.

[jonah]

I use a map. Works great and I can see what's all around where I am traveling.

[azrael-]

I don't have a car ...or even a driver's license.

[Marenghi]

Google maps via phone

[Smudger]

I had a TomTom a while ago, which had no live traffic and no free map updates. When it broke, I got a thing to stick to the windscreen so I could use my phone, but I left it stuck on when it got suddenly cold one night and it cracked the windscreen. So I got a TomTom Go 5100 - free map updates and live traffic for life, just have to buy speed camera updates if I want to be aware of them. No problem if you're not speeding, but the bit that knows when you're entering an Average Speed Check and monitors your speed for the duration is quite handy in an 'ooh, I can use up an extra 2mph!' kind of way. I find it better to use than a phone, but have Google Maps to use as a backup. Only downside is that I travel to Newcastle a couple of times a year, and it keeps taking me through the Tyne Tunnel to arrive like a sneaky thing, rather than taking me over the Tyne Bridge to arrive like a king.

[Jowsey]

I use the built in sat nav on my Volvo S60. As part of official services the car software and maps gets update every service. So the sat nav is pretty good. Plus the added benefit of iy intergrating nicely with the steering mounted controls means it's the most convenient too!

Much to my chagrin the Sat Nav froze during the weekend. Thank fully I didn't need it, I was just half way towards Kielder in the dark and snowing/sleeting weather with about 40 metres visibility...

Could really have used knowing what corners were coming up!

Working now though. Blinking thing!

[mojothejester]

Google Maps on my phone when in the car or on the motorbike. If I had £300+ to spare, I'd get a Tom Tom Rider, so it could take me on nice twisty roads, rather than just quickest route

[whatif]

Before I start, talking of satnav's, just one thing I keep wondering about, since satnavs can sometimes get it wrong, what happens when we get driverless cars relying upon them???

I find it funny how many people I know who are totally lost without their satnav, but fortunately I can say I have a good sense of direction.
I got given a nice TomTom and only used it once, before it was relegated to the glove box and sold later on as I never used it.
I was lucky enough to get a good education using my sense of direction with my uncle (a geologist) when we would go prospecting in the North Queensland bush well away from any civilisation, roads and people. All we would use to navigate was a compass, a watch and a topographical map.
I have travelled the world and lived for extended periods of time in various countries (using cars, motorbikes, and bicycles), without ever using a satnav - although I must admit, I do, on occasions, look at a physical road map (back then it was a paper one, nowadays I also use google maps) before I begin the journey. I prefer this as I can orient myself, see where the trip will take me, and also see other options (such as places of interest to visit). This way I know where I am going before I leave and physically write notes for the trip (this way I remember them).
Example - from Australia, I flew into New York's JFK airport when I went to the US to start work in New Hampshire with the intention of renting a small car because of all my luggage and equipment (over 100kg in all). But as I met a 3 other people heading to other parts of New England, we organised to co-rent a bigger vehicle to save money. As no-one else wanted to drive, I took it on. And with only a few directions on a piece of paper on how to get out of the airport and in the right direction, plus a look at their map to see how best to do the trip, I successfully found my way to drop off the others and get myself to my destination. I had never been here, nor driven anywhere in the States before and needed neither a satnav, nor a map with me - but I did get basic directions, from the locals, every time I dropped someone off on easier ways to get to my next destination.
My parents car has a satnav (TomTom on the windscreen) they keep updated (I do it at twice a year for them) which they use on their regular holidays (retired). About a year ago, I had to pick them up from under the Sydney Harbour Bridge when they returned from a cruise. They suggested using the satnav to find my way through the city as there is all sorts of road upheavals due to new tram lines, pedestrian precincts and road changes under construction (and still going on). Damn thing got me lost several times, even though it had been recently updated (examples - had me turning into one way streets the wrong way, or no street at all - now closed off, or could not turn right there anymore), so I just followed the traffic in the direction I needed and got there eventually.
In the end though - to each their own. We are all different, no matter how similar we appear. I realise that not everyone has a good sense of direction and is comfortable using it. So instead of lost souls wandering the highways and byways, sometimes creating havoc - if you feel you need a satnav to find your way, I say use it and keep the traffic following.

[Uriel]

Comparing different satnavs has become a bit of a hobby for me - mainly for traffic avoidance.

I normally use navigation apps on my phone. Currently juggling between Magic Earth Pro, Sygic, Tomtom Go, Google maps and Waze on my phone. Have previously used Navigon, Co-Pilot etc. I have a standalone Tomtom start (with no traffic, and experience of using Garmin devices (with either RDS-TMC or digital traffic) at work.

Basically for traffic, Google and Tomtom are so far ahead of their other competitors the others may as well not bother.

Unfortunately there's currently a bug in Tomtom Go, meaning that some traffic incidents are missed. Magic Earth Pro and Sygic, which both license Tomtom traffic data show these indicents (as does Tomtom's own Mydrive app). Samsung multi-window on my Galaxy Alpha lets me run some apps together or I can have one it the background giving voice directions, whith another in the foreground. I've done a lot of versus testing.

Basically - best overall: Google Maps. It's just good at everything and has the most timely map updates and a very distinctive and sensible voice direction system. It's also nice to see the alternative routes that it consideres on the fly and you, as the driver, can choose to take a preferred route, being reasonably confident that Google has let you know whether it's congested or not.
Best for traffic avoidance on a short commute: Tomtom Go (when it's working properly). Traffic is very detailed, often more reflective of the situation on the ground than Google and the app reacts instantly to a changing traffic situation -recalculating the route on the fly.
Best for a traffic avoidance on a long journey: Magic Earth Pro. Google and Tomtom Go both have relatively short traffic horizons, with jams and closures beyond this effectively ignored during initial journey planning and recalculations are sometimes forced during longer routes.. Magic Earth Pro uses Tomtom's traffic info but traffic is taken into account for at least the length of any feasible journey you could start and finish in the UK. Start a journey in Cornwall and it will happily ensure it doesn't route you towards the A1 closure in Northumberland (on Tomtom or Google it would realise when you got somewhere north of Leeds). The disadvantage is that routes are not recalculated as often, and there is a 5 minute threshold for changing route - so it can be frustrating that it seems to ignore potential alternatives on a short, congested urban route.

One cautious note using a phone is the positioning hardware and software may not be as accurate as a dedicated GPS device. Phone firmware sometimes includes little tricks designed for battery saving like a relatively slow GPS refresh rate that can cause navigation problems.

As far as standalone satnavs or car satnavs go, for traffic avoidance I would only bother with something that uses Tomtom's traffic. Garmin or RDS-TMC do occasionally come up with the odd closed secondary A road that Tomtom misses but 95% of the time Tomtom's is far more detailed and covers more roads.

[whatif]

I presume you (Uriel) are in England, I lived over there for a number of years and found your road and public transport system to be a lot better than ours.
As far as I understand, live undates has only been running here for since about around 2012, but the problem with live traffic updates in Australia is that a lot of tomtoms here run on 2g modems with imbeded sim cards and since 2g services have recently shut down, no more live updates. Has this happened over there as well?
If anyone knows any different, my parents would love to know how to get it working again.
Funny thing is that dad (late 70's and is not a tech minded person) finally got updated to a smart phone as his basic old 2g phone stopped working, after 2 months he is still unsure how to answer phone calls.
Plus the live servce is quite expensive at $70 a year and fairly useless on our toll roads as there are so few exits.
Then if you are using tomrtom's app on a phone, there are roaming data charges on top. Plus there have been lots of complaints that it stops working from time to time on android devices. A friend has it on his Samsung and when it works, it is good, but other times it just won't load (usually occurs after a update).
As a disabled pensioner (have trouble walking any distance) I prefer to drive close to where I need to go, don't like our public transport system (too far to walk), and not rich enough to pay the expensive toll fees (not hard to spend over $50 a week just on tolls getting around Sydney).
And since I hate "Parkways" (what I call our city's motorway toll system because it moves so slow) and because it to is so expensive to use (very little of our city motorway syetem is free anymore), I use normal surface roads and it is normally quite easy to go around traffic incidents.
Last time I used a parkway, I was stationary with the engine turned off for over 2.5 hours, all due to a major car accident about 4-5km further up the toll road - found out later what happened on the nightly news. No way to go around, no way to get off, no idea what was going on (not even reported on the radio) or when we would get moving again, just stuck. I missed a doctors (specialist professor) appointment near the CBD completely and was still charged for it. AGHHHHHHH Took ages to get anothter appointment.
Not even the best live traffic satnav system could have helped.
So I stick to looking at a map before I leave and as a pensioner, I can leave home early and give myself plenty of time to get there unstressed.