Sat Nav basic questions

[Richard_C]

This isn't specifically Citroen so I've put it here.

My wife wants a sat nav, she is visiting cities more frequently and it really helps. I have a myway in my C5 III and it does all I or she would want, including traffic updates via TMC which needs no data connection.

I see from the John Lewis website site that Tom Tom devices link to a smartphone to get traffic - don't want that, her phone is isn't smart and it strikes me as 2 devices you need to switch on and get talking to one another. She just wants to be able to plug it in, put in a destination and go. Not sure if Garmin do it the same way, any attempt to get to the Garmin UK site takes you to their US site.

What should I be looking for? Any good/bad experiences? Happy to spend £150 or so if necessary. It will be going in a post 2012 C3 so any mounting ideas gratefully received as well.

[Hell Razor5543]

Well, I use a cheap smartphone (Cubot GT72, dual SIM, £40 new off e-bay), running Alk Copilot Premium (available for Android and Apple phones), £20, which (for me, at least) has 1 year free traffic monitoring (£10 per annum after that), and cigarette lighter charger and windscreen mount (about £20). I have got both SIM slots in use, SIM 1 is 3G (O2), SIM 2 is not (Vodafone), and I pay £10 per month each, which means I can pretty much call from anywhere in the UK.

[elma]

If you can't find any suitable mounts have a look on youmagine and thingyverse for something you like. You can get it printed locally on 3dhubs or if they're expensive pm me for some help. I've got some fancy carbon fibre filament arriving shortly that may be nice for car accessories.

[addo]

Agree with James, the smartphone is a better prospect. It can even run a free system like Google Maps, the other benefit is most of them include a half-decent camera so if you have a dingle there's a good way to record basic details of the accident.

A second-hand Iphone 4 would be a cheap option, easy to service if it gets damaged and more secure about your personal details than Android smart phones in unmolested form.

[Trainman]

I managed to pick up a Garmin from Aldi a couple of weeks ago for the DS3 cost me £80 and has built in traffic and free map updates.......

[Richard_C]

Thanks all.

Agree with all you say about phones, I use a Nokia 830, here drive + maps downloaded so no data use with traffic off, have used it in UK, Europe, USA and bits of Canada all 'for free' as it were. But my wife not keen, really wants a satnav that does 'one thing well' always in the car, no worries about data or settings etc.

Trainman - what model of Garmin was that - built in traffic sounds just the thing. Thanks.