My name is Russell Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Hi Oldschool Any closet GPS navigation nerds? I have just purchased a Tomtom Go 600 for traveling around Europe, same as this one; http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=/ID=25554/SID=538036898/productdetails.html Not the cheapest around as I wanted a decent one. So far I'm a little disappointed in it, but unsure if i just have overly high expectations of what these things do. It works well at giving directions form A - B, however its a bit clunky when it comes to selecting alternative routes, I.e. you can't just drag a new route across like on google maps, instead it auto generates option B route that's the second quickest on paper. My main grudge is the POI's (Points Of Interest), our last OE i used the rental cars one to basically guide us on our trip for tourist attractions and things to do and see. So far settup in NZ It has very few POI's, i.e. it doesn't even bring up Te Papa, and when you search Campsites it shows about a dozen as being in central Wellington that are not campsites at all, just categorized incorrectly. Have updated the software but no change. Have not purchased the central Europe map yet but it is advertised to have 8.8 million POI's, so i wonder if the Europe maps are more developed. The map co-lour choices mean the appearance is quite washed out also. However has a sharp image that's nicely back-lit. Not sure if I'm just being a fussy bugger? But if anyone has had similar experience and or recommends a better alternative model keen to hear feedback. Cheers Russel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spencer Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Bro google maps on a phone is the best shit these days, take it back. Get a flagship phone that's fast and has a snappy gps and you'll be away, just buy a sim for data whe you're there. They announced google maps will release a offline version at some stage which will be dope! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My name is Russell Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 Bro google maps on a phone is the best shit these days, take it back Don't you need sim cards, cell reception and all that working well for it to work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spencer Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 I just edited my post lol. Yes, but just get a sim, how often will you be out of coverage where you need hard core turn by turn? About zero times? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spencer Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Or if you are going old school and won't be traveling with the Internet just buy a map. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 What were you wanting gps for exactly? Getting around towns/cities or from one town to the next or both? Ive just done a trip around Europe using a new ipod touch with google maps,as Spencer says, to get me around cities/towns. I didn't want dick around with sim cards or data. Basically just use the WiFi at your hotel/maccas to load the map where you are currently eg. Berlin, leave the WiFi on and a little blue dot tells you where you are as you walk the streets, works mint. Also gives points of interest. Triangulates off other WiFi signals to work out where you are i think? Cos it doesnt work in the countryside. Where in Europe are you going? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spencer Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Just get a data sim, research it and you'll be able to get one before you go even. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durty Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/European_Union we used the spanish option. 1 euro per 100mb shit was lush Got it shipped to me before I left then activated it once we got there. a couple of those sims in our iphone 5s's and was perfect 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My name is Russell Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 What were you wanting gps for exactly? Getting around towns/cities or from one town to the next or both? Ive just done a trip around Europe using a new ipod touch with google maps,as Spencer says, to get me around cities/towns. I didn't want dick around with sim cards or data. Basically just use the WiFi at your hotel/maccas to load the map where you are currently eg. Berlin, leave the WiFi on and a little blue dot tells you where you are as you walk the streets, works mint. Also gives points of interest. Triangulates off other WiFi signals to work out where you are i think? Cos it doesnt work in the countryside. Where in Europe are you going? Our traveling style is just get in and drive for the hills until completely lost and finding little villages that noone speaks English in. just kept pushing the nearest POI that sounds interesting on GPS and drive to it. sometimes cross multiple boarders in a day. Will try stay away from cities this time, they all start to look the same. My partner and I have Galaxy S4 phones now, last time we had povo spec phones so be interesting the difference that makes. Basic trip will be Stockholm - Goth - Amsterdam - Lux - Germany (WRC) - zig zag between all the countries down central Europe to bottom and beyond - back up across central France for racing - over to London for Rugby world cup - ending in Cardiff. Reason for navigation unit was mainly insurance so we can just get in and drive and not worry to much about cell phones and coverage areas. Cheers for advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spencer Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Yea I understand your position, but google has surpassed pretty much all of the stand-alone navigation devices just through sheer resources (IMO). The turn by turn has gotten so much more detailed as they use satellite imagery and street view to make it more accurate, they also bought Waze I think which helped with their traffic algorithm (the traffic updates for crashes etc are legit). Europe is so densely populated that I doubt you will be out of coverage much (if at all) and when you are the navigation keeps working until you hit coverage again. Unless you want to use it to navigate a forest it will beat all the others all the time. Once it is available offline there will be no discussion to be had (unless somehow apple maps gets 8000 times better). All you need is a USB charger and a nice clip for the windscreen, its actually easier that a dedicated unit (again IMO) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
punkoutnz Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 I also found with my Tomtom that the maps are so freaken out of date, even the latest maps are missing heaps of roads. It doesn't even have my mate's road in gissi and their house was built about 5 years ago. Not to mention mine only had the 3 month map update garauntee and no updates till just after that magic 3 months lapsed and then they wanted me to pay over $100 to update it. So my advice is get a unit that has free lifetime map updates (most Navmans do now) and use google maps to find all the cool shit, grab the address, and just punch that into your gps if you want to use one. I only use it on long trips now otherwise it's google maps erryday. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spencer Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Yea they are all rubbish. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My name is Russell Posted July 1, 2015 Author Share Posted July 1, 2015 http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/European_Union we used the spanish option. 1 euro per 100mb shit was lush Got it shipped to me before I left then activated it once we got there. a couple of those sims in our iphone 5s's and was perfect MINT that will save us a huge amount of effort sorting out Sim cards for each country thankyou. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Basic trip will be Stockholm - Goth Mint, I've done this bit (and down the coast to Helsingborg). There isn't really much to look at in Sweden and I duno what you do of don't know about but in Stockholm you must go see 'Vasa', the worlds only surviving 17th century tall ship. Also as you trek west you can swing by Trollhattan for the Saab museum and then go to the Volvo one in Gothenburg (see my blog posts ) Also the Natural history museum in Gothenburg if you want to look at stuffed animals including a blue whale (worth the stop). As you go down the Western coast you are more than likely to go through/past a town called Angelholm which is where Koenigseggs are built - Afaik nothing is open to the public but you could go take a photo in front of the building? Mrs would love that.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My name is Russell Posted July 1, 2015 Author Share Posted July 1, 2015 Mint, I've done this bit (and down the coast to Helsingborg). There isn't really much to look at in Sweden and I duno what you do of don't know about but in Stockholm you must go see 'Vasa', the worlds only surviving 17th century tall ship. Also as you trek west you can swing by Trollhattan for the Saab museum and then go to the Volvo one in Gothenburg (see my blog posts ) Also the Natural history museum in Gothenburg if you want to look at stuffed animals including a blue whale (worth the stop). As you go down the Western coast you are more than likely to go through/past a town called Angelholm which is where Koenigseggs are built - Afaik nothing is open to the public but you could go take a photo in front of the building? Mrs would love that.... Hi Evan Yes I really liked the write up you posted, I tried to make a a comment on it but could't login. Sound like good leads i will try fit them all in Visited the Vasa last time in Stockholm, is well cool! Bit of a fail, from memory it sunk as soon as it hit open sea's? I have family in Motala, Stockholm and Gothenburg (Uncle moved from NZ to Sweden to work for Autoliv), I was a big fan of Sweden but possibly got special treatment, taken boating etc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rookie Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Now I'm living in Denmark I am doing basically exactly what Spence said. I use Google on my phone, it is a bit of a bitch on the motorbike because Google maps uses GPS, cell tower, plus internet information to get super accurate data on traffic and road works and lights and shit so it whores the battery pretty bad, but a car it isn't a problem as you can just charge it. But yea Google maps is definitely the answer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rookie Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Oh and I have a 3 mobile SIM card that is super legit and it treats all of Europe as one so you get no extra charges. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10Speed Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 purchased the central Europe map purchased? the cost would probably more than offset the cost of the data via the cell network... when I did a road trip through thailand last year, I took my phone and my tablet purchased a local data sim put that in the tablet and then set up a wifi network for my phone to peer to. That way I had dirt cheap data and my NZ number remained functional for calls & texts 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yetchh Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Reason for navigation unit was mainly insurance so we can just get in and drive and not worry to much about cell phones and coverage areas. Cheers for advice You shouldn't have yup worry too much about coverage as gmaps just uses cached maps in between dead spots Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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