Opinions about car GPS-navigators?

Question

satellite navigation

Who uses what, what are the pros and cons? Interested in finding the optimal ratio between price-quality-availability of maps and information about traffic jams (Moscow / Moscow Region).

Answer 1

Interested in a separate car navigator? It seems to me that this is not the best idea, especially in Moscow. At least due to the fact that they do not show traffic jams. Unless, of course, I'm behind the times.
I tried navigation programs on Windows Mobile and Android smartphones. Briefly:
- iGo for Windows Mobile is very good, but it does not show traffic jams
- iGo for Android is weak in terms of working with the route
- Navitel for Android is very good and shows traffic jams
- you can use Google Maps or Yandex separately for traffic jams. Traffic jams
- if I'm not mistaken I remember that Google Maps learned how to lay routes, only if it works with Moscow, I don’t know, I have to try
- if it becomes a question of Android or Windows Mobile - definitely Android
I also advise the resource 4pna.com - there you will find everything using navigators for smartphones.

Answer 2

I do this on android: I launch the navigator, plot a route and turn it off. In the background, he is chatting to himself “turn back and forth,” and Yandex maps are running in the foreground. There, firstly, the most relevant information about traffic jams, and secondly, the marks put up by other road users often help, such as “the truck in the far right has stalled” or “an accident, six cars, only the far left lane is driving.”
Think about the big screen, do you really need it? What is required from the navigator, as a rule? The most useful thing, IMHO, is voice prompts, not the card itself.

Answer 3

Navigators are Garmin, TomTom and cheap Chinese crafts with Navitel, Autosputnik, Cityguide and other navigation programs. Against the programs themselves, I can only note an inhumane interface, far from the hard-won Garmin and especially TomTom solutions. Although some things are better implemented. That is, for an amateur.
So, of the three manufacturers, I simply do not recommend Chinese (I mean Chinese in a bad sense) devices. It is better to take a good smartphone and put the same Navitel on it.
TomTom in Russia is developing slowly. I would say no. Although the maps of Moscow and the Moscow Region are rumored to be quite good. But already with trips to neighboring regions there may be problems.
Garmin has its downsides, but it's the only manufacturer left. Cartography in Russia is detailed, not only million-plus cities are covered, the area is well developed. Normal service (in St. Petersburg, for example, there are about five service centers, where you can come with a stupid question “and ... this ... I clicked here, and he tells me!”). Traffic jams are broadcast on the FM channel. The antenna is either purchased separately for a couple of thousand rubles, or is included in the kit (in the second case, it is much cheaper). The quality of "plugs" is the subject of long hollivars.
In an "independent test" by the GPS club, Garmin came in last place. But the methodology itself (drive to one destination and return back) does not pretend to be objective. In other competitions from several intermediate points, Garmin took first place. In St. Petersburg - also the first, though our cork leader - Citigid did not participate.
If you buy Garmin “out of this country”, then pay attention to the fact that an FM antenna bought in Europe must receive traffic jams, but not in the USA. Well, you will have to take care of the cards yourself. Fortunately, they are easy to both buy and steal.
And, I beg you, do not compare operating systems, processor gigahertz, diagonal inches and the presence of an MP3 player. This has nothing to do with navigation. Again, I have nothing against different navigation programs and do not deny that somewhere they are better than Garmin. I have against cheap non-name iron with Tekset, Globus or Digma. The grounds for such a categorical statement are 5 years of work in a specialized GPS navigation store and Garmin service center.
As A. Lebedev noted: “Garimin is like Nokia. Shit-shit, but better not.” Therefore, if you have a navigator in the car, then it. If you dig deeper, sort it out, compare it, take screenshots and write a subjective review on Habr - a communicator with a GPS module.
Somehow it turned out a little advertising. I'm sorry - this is a sore subject for me. So many copies are broken ... Therefore, a couple of tips, if I didn’t convince you and you decided to take a chance to take something with gigahertz and android:
1. Traffic jams from Citygid-Navitel are transmitted via GPRS. That is, unlike Garmin, you will have to pay a pretty penny for traffic, but with current tariffs, this is not the most important thing. What matters is how information is transmitted. Either this is a BlueTooth module, and your mobile phone acts as a modem, or a SIM card is inserted into the navigator. I don't think there is any need to explain the difference. The first option is good only in one case - if your employer pays for mobile communications :). By choosing models with SIM cards, you will significantly reduce the search area.
2. Having significantly reduced the search area, narrow it down further. Select multiple manufacturers. Who exactly depends on the region. There is no official GlobusGPS service in St. Petersburg (there was not a year ago, anyway). All devices were sent to Moscow. Therefore, I do not recommend this manufacturer for Peter, but why not for you? Texet is popular with us. Go to the official websites, look at the number of services, call them. In the case of the “Chinese”, the problems are more than real, so the presence of the service will not hurt.
3. Carefully read the reviews at least on the Market. One manufacturer may have successful models and not so much. Take the Chinese carefully. Do not chase new products, it is better to take proven models. In the case of Texet, this is texet TN 600. The model has undergone several modifications, but has proven itself well. The more popular the model, the more reviews (you can make a more adequate opinion) and the more experience the service providers have.
Well, I think that's enough. If anything, ask.

Answer 4

The question is worthy of a huge forum!
I can’t tell you about navigators, I myself use a Windows Mobile communicator, but I think that the device should be able to switch to any necessary GPS software, and not be tailored for a specific manufacturer.
As for applications, I adhere to the following opinion:
1. iGo8 - a huge range of user customization options:
- functional themes
- customizable POIs
- speaks “beautifully” (on an unfamiliar road it is very pleasant to focus on indicating the sharpness of turns and forks)
2. Yandex MAP (with the right GSM operator) an irreplaceable program for analyzing traffic in traffic jams, information about the address and other on-line goodies
- maintaining only by MSK (did not check anywhere else)
3. NaviTel is developing quite briskly, maps and applications are often updated.
The rest of the software was tested the most popular and did not turn out to be inconvenient (there are no cards, there are no houses in Moscow, etc.).
I travel a lot in Russia and mostly use NaviTel.
All of the above is IMHO!

Answer 5

oh navigators.
1) they are divided into two types - from hardware manufacturers with third-party cards and from those who sell their own cards. The first ones (all sorts of Pioneer, Texet, Lexand, etc.) use third-party programs (Navitel, Cityguide, Autosputnik, something else), so they are built on the basis of some kind of WinCE. For such, there are instructions on the Internet for unlocking, which allows you to shove your navigation program there.
The second option is navigators from Garmin or Tomtom, which make their own operating systems for navigators, their own software, and so on. Here, with what you bought - that's what you use. To be honest, I never used Tomtom, it appeared in Russia relatively recently.
2) There are traffic jams in almost all new navigators. Usually, the bluetooth navigator is synchronized with the mobile one, from which it takes information from some Yandex traffic jams via the Internet. There are models with a built-in gprs receiver. The exception is Garmin, they have a tricky system, you need to purchase a special receiver that catches information about traffic jams, it works in the Russian Federation only in large cities, but in Europe the system is common.
Unfortunately, I can’t tell you from the cards, who has better quality, I haven’t been interested in it for a long time (