Satnavs

If anyone does want a XGODY I have one for sale at a cheap price (comes with a camera as well!)

Didn't like it at all so got another Garmin which I much prefer, but each to their own.
 
My Two penn'orth

I haven't had experience with some of the brands mentioned here, but I have owned several Garmins, 2 TomToms and a flash 1din dash unit with a 7" slide out/pop-up touch screen display.

I spoke Garmin for many years and owned a Camper 770 until last November. I love the Garmins in all respects except 1. They are utter failures at managing map updates .
I've lived the van life for 9 years, during which I have only had access to Mobile Broadband which is always metered, I have a monthly ration.
To get the Garmin device to connect to the internet, I HAVE to have a MS Windows machine to act as an intermediary. I have mostly experienced failed updates that restart from GO instead of resumming a broken download. This poor quality map update service has frequently used up my entire months rations of 3G with nothing to show for it.

But the key issue for me is that I have to have a Windoze machine to update the Garmins. I am a MicroSoft hater and will never use any of their products unless I am forced to (eg Garmin updates). I get over this by re-configuring all of my computers to dual-boot, which allows me to select either Windows or Linux Mint (or any other distro that you may admire).

So after wasting several days and all of my 4G mobile data allowance, while sitting under some trees in Adinkerke, I bought a TomTom and began to learn it's language.
Thankfully the TomTom is as intuitive as the Garmins are. I easily found my way around the menus.

Massive plus for the TomToms is that I don't need a Windows Laptop/PC to update the maps etc.
In fact I don't need a computer at all, the TomTom has WiFi built right into the device.
Some of the TomTom are also available with a SIM card that updates itself when needed. These ones don't even use your data rations, they do their own thing in the background.

I've got the TomTom GO Camper right now which offers 3 connection options for updates, USB tethering to a laptop/pc, wifi or bluetooth.

I've found that if I use the Android phone's wifi hotspot as the TomTom gateway to the internet, it chugs away and tells me when it has completed.
Overall, the TomTom updates have all been stress and problem free

Garmin will winge at you that it has failed, offer you little to zero help as to how/why it failed. This leaves you no other option but to repeat previous steps in the hope that it will work, this time will be different....

With regard to the Xtron pop up in dash unit, waste of money. The unit I had was rubbish, it was trying to be too many things, radio, cd player, mp3 player, in-car navigation.
I was unable to track down any map updates for it, so it rapidly became useless for navigation. The build quality is typical cheap and nasty eastern origin garbage.

I've become fairly fluent in TomTom quite easily and I became a big TomTom fan very quickly. I am now free from the need for a windows laptop simply to update Garmin maps. That fact alone is a major plus for me.

james
 
Edina said:
Pity xgody don't know about the fix, I only bought it last year!
Tomtom and Garmin both do what I require without the problems of xgody etc, so to me that makes them far superior.
Click to expand...

I bet they don't pay a licence fee either for the software. Is the Xgoody one of those that's WinCE that is also well out of date. It is the only way they can make them so cheap. If they had to pay Microsoft and NG for licences it could add £100 to the cost of a unit. As it is they just use old software and change the front screens / style files to make it look newer than it is.
 
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I tried an Xgody and ended up sending it back for refund. It tried sending me 108 miles for a 29 mile journey, amoung other faults. If it was that far out on a journey I knew it could not be trusted on journies I did not know.
 
I have just purchased an xgody 886 for back up. From the limited use I have made of it, it appears to work ok. However I note on the left side of the screen numerous vertical lines. Has anybody experienced this and will it get worse? I can tolerate this but should I return to vendor? Appreciated comments.
 
FringeDweller said:
I haven't had experience with some of the brands mentioned here, but I have owned several Garmins, 2 TomToms and a flash 1din dash unit with a 7" slide out/pop-up touch screen display.

I spoke Garmin for many years and owned a Camper 770 until last November. I love the Garmins in all respects except 1. They are utter failures at managing map updates .
I've lived the van life for 9 years, during which I have only had access to Mobile Broadband which is always metered, I have a monthly ration.
To get the Garmin device to connect to the internet, I HAVE to have a MS Windows machine to act as an intermediary. I have mostly experienced failed updates that restart from GO instead of resumming a broken download. This poor quality map update service has frequently used up my entire months rations of 3G with nothing to show for it.

But the key issue for me is that I have to have a Windoze machine to update the Garmins. I am a MicroSoft hater and will never use any of their products unless I am forced to (eg Garmin updates). I get over this by re-configuring all of my computers to dual-boot, which allows me to select either Windows or Linux Mint (or any other distro that you may admire).

So after wasting several days and all of my 4G mobile data allowance, while sitting under some trees in Adinkerke, I bought a TomTom and began to learn it's language.
Thankfully the TomTom is as intuitive as the Garmins are. I easily found my way around the menus.

Massive plus for the TomToms is that I don't need a Windows Laptop/PC to update the maps etc.
In fact I don't need a computer at all, the TomTom has WiFi built right into the device.
Some of the TomTom are also available with a SIM card that updates itself when needed. These ones don't even use your data rations, they do their own thing in the background.

I've got the TomTom GO Camper right now which offers 3 connection options for updates, USB tethering to a laptop/pc, wifi or bluetooth.

I've found that if I use the Android phone's wifi hotspot as the TomTom gateway to the internet, it chugs away and tells me when it has completed.
Overall, the TomTom updates have all been stress and problem free

Garmin will winge at you that it has failed, offer you little to zero help as to how/why it failed. This leaves you no other option but to repeat previous steps in the hope that it will work, this time will be different....

With regard to the Xtron pop up in dash unit, waste of money. The unit I had was rubbish, it was trying to be too many things, radio, cd player, mp3 player, in-car navigation.
I was unable to track down any map updates for it, so it rapidly became useless for navigation. The build quality is typical cheap and nasty eastern origin garbage.

I've become fairly fluent in TomTom quite easily and I became a big TomTom fan very quickly. I am now free from the need for a windows laptop simply to update Garmin maps. That fact alone is a major plus for me.

james
Click to expand...

I feel exactly the same as you. I only have mifi and have to go to my Daughters house to update my Garmin 760 over her fast broadband. I only bought the 760 because you can input the size of your van. The European maps are a waste of time as we don't do Europe. I think it is time to sell it and get a UK only satnav. I ave been doubly disappointed by Garmin products, apart from difficulty updating, I bought a Garmin wireless reversing camera which packed in just out of warranty. It gave a mediocre quality picture anyway, so it is not missed by me, I bought a good quality camera instead.
 
Have looked at the TomTom GO camper am a bit confused about the "need" for WiFi signal when in use. If no WiFi signal when out in the sticks does system still operate using GPS only, with live updates suspended?
 
shortcircuit said:
Have looked at the TomTom GO camper am a bit confused about the "need" for WiFi signal when in use. If no WiFi signal when out in the sticks does system still operate using GPS only, with live updates suspended?
Click to expand...

WiFi is only needed for software & map updates. Navigation uses an inbuilt dedicated GPS receiver.
So, you don't need WiFi for anything while you are driving.

james
 
shortcircuit said:
Have looked at the TomTom GO camper am a bit confused about the "need" for WiFi signal when in use. If no WiFi signal when out in the sticks does system still operate using GPS only, with live updates suspended?
Click to expand...

As stated it only needs WiFi for updates, it is a good satnav already and they are improving the navcore regularly with new features, it shows up to date hold ups and road works etc. well in advance, then it gives you an option of a quicker route, no satnav is perfect but TomTom for me everytime
 
My TomTom has packed in and I considered buying another one, offline maps and POI sets was a requirement for me as I don't want to be dependent on an internet connection and my recent experiences in the north of Scotland was that signals are few add far between on O2 network.

I finally settled on an android head unit as I also wanted to replace my radio and installed Sygic SatNav which works offline and takes POI sets.
 
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