bats

They don't allow for passengers then?

Former Lancastrian

The vehicles allow for passengers but the manufacturers built in systems don't let the passengers use them while the vehicle is in motion. Personally I prefer the portable ones such as Garmin as you can do more things with them and get updated maps and features quicker than the built in ones.

ThaiBrit

I have used the iPhone tom-tom apps in Canada / US and SE Asia. All are very good. Sometimes if its not positioned well it complains of bad satellite signal, but normally fine. If you are using cloud then it will be on your iPad as well, which can be good for any copilot who is with you.

enak

Nokia Lumia 625, and just download the mapping for all of Canada, USA, Europe, Middle East etc so don't need to use any data allowance. No internet access required to find anywhere.

It is the one thing Nokia does very well indeed. SatNav proving very reliable. Works as a phone and email machine rather well too

(No need to buy the really expensive Lumia models)

neilg14

For Canada I use Google maps on my iPhone, perfect, and used a Garmin when driving in the US.

Steve_

I have a Garmin and it's totally crap. I mean really truly crap.

Here's an example - the other day I was driving back from Kalispell, so the logical route to use is up Hwy 93, east down Hwy 3 and then up Hwy 2 to Calgary. Or alternatively you can go east on Hwy 2, up Hwy 89 back onto Hwy 2 (which makes less sense as Hwy 89 has a really low speed limit).

So to begin with, it keeps trying to send me down Hwy 2 even though I'm going up Hwy 93. That I can sort of put up with because although going up Hwy 93 is quicker, the Hwy 2 route is a few km shorter.

But then it decides it wants to send me up Hwy 22 off Hwy 3 - which is not a good idea. And even it were a good idea, the ENTIRE WAY back to Calgary it tries to send me down Hwy 22, even when I got as far as Nanton! Every single exit off the road it was trying to make me do a U-turn or turn west.

It got to the point it was trying to send me down Hwy 520 and as soon as I got north of 520 it decides that hey, hwy 2 does make more sense and wipes an hour off the ETA! Crazy. It was literally trying to send me out into the middle of nowhere I assume to go up through Black Diamond or something stupid.

The problem in Canada isn't the GPS, you can buy any GPS - it's the maps. In Europe and the US the maps are usually provided by NAVTEQ but in Canada they're Crown maps and they just don't work that well, doesn't take into account for example whether it's single lane or double lane most of the time and the speed limit calculations don't make sense. Why on Earth it was trying to send me dozens of km out of the way though I have no idea.

I often see people taking crazy turns down rural roads with a car full of kids and think to myself, that idiot is following his GPS.

There is absolutely no substitute for learning your way around I'm afraid, number of times that thing has tried to do something crazy in Canada I've lost count but it's usually pretty good in the US.

Steve_

Er... not perfect. What I do sometimes when I'm less familiar with the area and I don't trust the Garmin is cache the Google maps onto my phone and that's led me on a merry jaunt out into the middle of nowhere on more than one occasion.

I was just playing with it actually, try putting Kelowna to Spokane into it and see what it comes up with, the logical route is down 97 onto Hwy 2 but it's got some other route that takes you all over the damn place as the default.

Oakvillian

Maybe you need to change the settings for your default route - can you set it to find the quickest rather than the shortest route? I have a crappy old TomTom that has that option in the settings menu (along with avoiding/taking toll roads, HOV lanes, etc) and it usually works pretty well.

I don't know the route from Kelowna to Spokane, but looking quickly at Google maps your suggestion of 97 and 2 is significantly further than 33 / 3 / 395, for example, though I don't doubt it may be quicker in real world traffic.

Oink

I've never felt that one is necessary. Just use you phone's compass and keep driving west until it stops hurting.

Steve_

I've got my Garmin set to the quickest route, usually okay (but not always) in the US and utterly crap in Canada. I honestly can't understand the comments above, maybe they're worse in Alberta and I've definitely got up-to-date maps on it. What person thinks going through the Bar-U-Ranch is a quicker route to Calgary when you're already on the main highway to Calgary?

Google Maps gives several routes, but it seems to default to the shortest route, which is usually wrong. Let me just try one er... okay bang in Calgary to Kalispell - both of the routes it gives aren't that good, the first one is down Hwy 89 which has a really low speed limit (and is very dangerous during the winter) and the other one it gives is down Cowboy Trail to Hwy 3, which is also mad because Hwy 2 is twinned and Hwy 3 has more passing lanes on it. So you would go down Hwy 2 onto Hwy 3.

There's no real substitute for studying the map before you set off.

Former Lancastrian

What does your Garmin suggest if you go from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg or Winnipeg to Saskatoon?

Novocastrian

Well, quite. Who on earth needs a SatNav in Canada? It's not like there were many roads.

Former Lancastrian

There are 2 ways though believe it or not for both routes. I know which ones I would choose having done both journeys numerous times.
If Im planning a long drive to several places I do my research on Mapquest or others and find the route I prefer then type them into a word document and print them off. I usually only use mine in larger cities Im not familiar with. Places like Chicago then screw that find a hotel near the C Train and use that for travelling downtown.

Atlantic Xpat

One certainly doesn't need one here as you can only drive so far before falling off the edge of the The Rock. I bought mine for when I go to the bright lights and big cities.

dbd33

America, you mean?