Fancy helping a Sat Nav complete novice?

[MumAreWeThereYet]

NC. I lost my main co-pilot and navigator a few months ago. I have to go on some long and complicated new journeys starting quite soon and have decided that I need to buy a Sat Nav to be able to tackle this with any confidence, especially as I'm feeling quite tired and emotional a lot of the time. I've always been resistant to Sat Navs in the past, preferring a map, but the time has come to take the plunge.

Is anyone ready, willing and able to help me navigate pun intended the strange new world of Sat Navs please?

This is the situation:

• Journeys will only be in the UK
• I'm the opposite of a tech geek
• Car is about 20 years old I prefer to think of it as a classic, not an old wreck
• I definitely want a Sat Nav and don't* *want to use a smartphone instead
• I don't want to/can't waste money and whatever I buy needs to last.

Any recommendations, things to consider, things to avoid? I've seen Halford's sell them, for example, and with an option for fitting for an extra £35?

TIA

I definitely want a Sat Nav and don't want to use a smartphone instead

why? I have a satnav garmin but find it much more complicated than my phone

along with the fact the garmin constantly tells me to watch my speed, I’m never speeding though

I agree with others, Google maps on a phone is far superior to a satnav. It's so easy to choose a destination (either by searching or just tapping on the map) and the live updates are brilliant. I use it all the time, even for short regular journeys, just in case there's a problem ahead.

I am on my second Garmin, they are easy to use with a good screen size. It plugs into a cigarette lighter and sticks to the screen, and the voice isn’t annoying. Did look at other makes but the screens were generally too confusing.

I have an old Tom Tom one. It's great. Make sure you get automatic updated otherwise they cost about £50 per annual update That's the only advice as they are pretty similar. Do you know using apple maps on your iPhone they take into account travel conditions and delays so if you get a sat nav make sure they do the same. My old sat nav will insist on taking me to a motorway I know is blocked.

I know exactly where you mean 😊😊

Another vote for Waze here. I use it on an old smart phone which I keep in the glove box and have a holder thingy on my windscreen for it. Free, live traffic updates and I can keep my phone off and safely in my handbag.

My in built sat nav got very upset. I was worried as I hadn’t driven along there since the work was done and thought I’d taken a wrong turn.

I'm struggling to find a Garmin sat nav with live traffic updates/rerouting around delays without the need to link to an app on a smartphone. I keep thinking I've found one with it 'built in' but then it says 'via link to smartphone app' in the small print.

Other pps recommend Waze too. I hadn't heard of it. How do you manage the battery charge needed and the data via your old smartphone @Neilsfavouritechilli ?

To anyone who uses Waze or smartphones for long journeys, really - how to you manage all the battery charge and data use needed for maps and updates on many hours of driving? Say, 4-8 hour trips?

I have a built in sat nav in my car, and always still use my phone.

All you need for a phone to become a sat nav, is a widget that hooks onto your air blowers, or a sticky thing that fits onto the windscreen and magnets to your phone. Waze is the best thing to have on in the UK as it updates and is a live community captured network. They are vastly superior to the old style sat navs.

Plug the phone into the cigarette lighter.

The money you save on not buying a sat nav will more than cover the data needed.

Once you have the sat nav, you need to get used to it before you go on a major trip. Use it for trips where you already know the route but follow the instructions it gives you even if you would have gone a different way. It will give you chance to get used to how much warning you get before a turn or how the lanes are described. It makes it less stressful when you are going somewhere new for the first time.

Give yourself time to get used to it. I love mine!

I eventually found out that Halford's charge £35 because they hardwire the satnav into the car to avoid trailing wires and so on! I don't need this so can do as pps advise and diy. It didn't say about the hardwiring on the satnav purchase pages where it offers you the option of the fitting service, so I assumed it must be complicated if it took up to an hour, not just stick on, plug in, turn on and go.

Once you have it, start using it on your day to day journeys, so you can get used to how it works, how long you get before junctions, how the screen shows roads/junctions etc. They are really easy and you soon get used to it, make sure you set it to measurements you understand, I.e. miles or km, or feet/yards/metres. Also, if you are going on a new route, check on a map before you go also, it's good to have a general idea of directions and roads even with a Sannav.

Like a pp has said, I have a USB cable for charging in the cigarette lighter. With regards to data, I've set my actual phone as a hotspot so my satnav phone shares the data.

I use my Tom Tom all the time- I am on my third. I didn't like the Garmins when in the car with other peple. My latest one was bought one with lifetime map updates and traffic problems. Be aware though , lifetime means what they consider to be the lifetime and not how long it lasts. I have an older Tom Tom ( about 10 years old) that isn't updated. I have had this one for 6 years and it is still getting updates etc - it took a while before driving through fields on the A14 mentioned by a PP to stopped though!.
5inch screen is fine.

OP I know you are saying you don't want to use your smartphone but.. honestly a sat nav is completely and utterly a waste of money. I once went on a journey in my brand new car with inbuilt sat nav (3 years ago) and had that on and also google maps on my phone. Google maps saved me from heading into the largest traffic jam god invented which I could have been stuck in for hours. Sat nav was cheerfully telling me to carry on heading that way.

You need to buy a charger for your phone that either goes in the cigarette lighter or USB port if your car has one (it might be too old), then leave the phone charging whilst you drive with Waze or Google maps on. You can get a little holder for your dashboard to hold phone up so it is not on the seat, this way you can see the screen.

All cars have the means of charging a mobile phone. My 9 year old car has a USB port, but if you only have a cigarette lighter you can buy an adapter with USB port(s) that plugs into the lighter socket.

Using the phone as a satnav is very battery heavy so I keep mine plugged in during the journey.

The advice about using google maps on a familiar journey beforehand is excellent and sensible.

OP, where about a in the country are you? I wonder if there’s a kind mumsnetter who could show you how it works on a phone and then you can decide if you still want a separate sat nav? If you’re near me I’d be happy to.

Phone barely uses any data on maps. You get a charger cable for your car, a holder that sits on dashboard and for £10 you have a sat nav that is always up to date.

And I do understand as my mum said the exact same thing until she got in the car with me and saw how easy it was and how much better than her expensive sat nav it was!

Just returning with an update. In the end, I bought a Garmin satnav. Halfords set it up for free in the car and showed me the basics of how to use it. I was able to save some money on the price by using an offer and two codes. It's got lifetime updates included and a - useful to me, I found - slightly bigger screen. I can even talk to it, although that might be a step too far! Luckily in such an old car, I found the cigarette lighter works so I am able to charge it. I also bought a charger plug to use with the lead at home when updating. The battery life is only one hour.

When I update my phone next year then I will be able to download the Garmin Drive app and link it to the satnav for live traffic updates. I'll also download the Waze app too, in case the Garmin one leaves me stuck in traffic or whatever at any point.

I've been trying it out on my usual local journeys so that I can start to get used to it before relying on it for my big trips. The only issue I've had is the satnav twice popping off the disc attaching it to the dashboard and ending up around the gearstick and in the driver's footwell. I wonder if it's because it's a slightly bigger satnav or the freezing, damp weather? Any ideas on how to make the suction work better, anyone, please?

A big thank you to all pps. I found all the advice useful and really appreciate the support as I take a step out of my comfort zone, albeit a small one.

We had a satnav that stuck to the screen. After a while the suction stopped working. I now have a gadget that attaches to the heating vent to attach the satnav to. It is much more secure.

I also think that the windscreen in sme cars is much more curved so the suction doesn't work very well. I would go back to Halfords to see if they have a different measn of attaching the satnav in a suitable place in your car.

Update:
Well, thanks to advice and support from you all, and the satnav of course, I did it - my first major solo-driver road trip circa 1000 miles is now safely and fairly successfully under my belt! I did feel quite shaky at times, but pushed through as quite frankly there was little choice. It has been good for my confidence and independence to do it, and I don't think I will worry about new or long journeys quite so much in future now.

I found the down side of the satnav - as well as the cost of buying it, of course - to be that the spoken directions given can be a little confusing and in fact down right dangerous at times. You have to stay on the ball and not follow them blindly. There were instances of 'on the left' and 'on the right' mixed up and 'keep left' or 'keep right' when it was actually a turn. The dangerous bits were firstly telling me to move into the right hand lane, which I thankfully noticed would have put me into oncoming traffic, and secondly telling me to veer right which would have led me to cut across oncoming traffic! The speed limits could also be slow to update and so I'm currently waiting and worrying to see if I've got a very unwelcome speeding ticket winging its way to me for being just over the limit! All that said, the satnav was a real help and gave me the reassurance I needed to even attempt the journeys at all.

I didn't have any instances of needing to divert around traffic, but I can see how having the live updates would be really useful for this. I did come across a road closure because of a live police incident, and it did cause mild panic at first, but it was luckily in a place where I could easily stop the car and zoom out slightly on the satnav map to have a look and find a way around it via nearby streets.

To all of you saying 'use a phone, don't bother with a satnav', you were probably right. I think I'd just psyched myself up to finally get a satnav and so a last minute change of plan to use a phone felt a bit overwhelming and a step too far at the time! I was already feeling out of my comfort zone doing the journeys at all. Definitely something I will consider in the future though, as my confidence, independence and experience hopefully grows.

Thanks again, everyone. 🚗

Garmin yes, traffic updates yes. Life long updates for maps and as large a screen as possible ( still carry maps and research journeys before I set off as have had experience of power point failing and unable to use my Sat Nav !!!)