Camper Navigation System - What to choose?

[Eber123]

Hello,

A good, reliable Satellite Navigation system is hard to come by.

After my experience with TomTom and Garmin I used "Magic Earth", which is not bad, but relies on "OpenStreetMaps". The information in there can be lacking sometimes. Because of this I can't trust the system to much. The good thing is that Magic Earth works rather well with Android Auto - and thats for a free app.

2x weeks ago I got an email offering Sygic GPS for Campers, including Android Auto for EUR 89.90 (3x years updated maps included). I could not resists, and against my doubts, I ordered the software.

Oh boy ... what a mistake!

I installed Sygic GPS on my Samsung Galaxy 10+. At the beginning it was recognised by Android Auto, but voice directions did not work.
Later it did not work at all. I had to re-install and install Sygic again, but voice directions still not work. Starting Magic Earth 30 seconds later here voice directions work (as well as in Google Maps).
Sometimes Sygic does not work at all with Android Auto.
It couldn't be more unreliable!

I contacted Sygic Support several times, but o wonder, no reply or help in any way. So I requested my money back, and of course no reply.

At the moment I have Sygic installed on a tablet, not connected to Android Auto, voice directions work, but only on the tablet speaker - not over the car speakers (even though the tablet is connected to the VW head unit via Bluetooth ( have not tested Google Maps, which I will do later).

I am sick of those SatNavs. They are expensive but not reliable or easy to use. At the moment we plan our trip to Romania, Turkey, Albania etc. A tour about 12,000 km through 13x countries. A good reliable SatNav that incorporates the campers hight and weight would be brilliant.

Next week I will send a letter to Sygic (registered) and will ask them to get my money back. It is almost a "scam" to sell a product so quickly (purchasing process under 5 minutes), but getting in contact with the seller is impossible.

Frustrated California
Eberhard

 

[Eber123]

I just tried Magic Earth and Google Maps and they work fine.

I freshly installed Sygic GPS Truck & Camper on my phone, logged into my Sygic Account, connected the phone with the original Samsung cable to the car and got this error message:



I pressed exit, disconnected the cable and tried it wirelessly. No luck.

Went in again and tried to open Sygic - which failed to start, doesn't matter what I tried. I deinstalled the app from my phone.

At the moment Sygic is installed on a tablet which is not connected via Android Auto to the VW head unit.

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[Hammer]

I have used Tomtom Go app for years with apple car play and used in varies cars. i have personally found it very reliable and traffic is spot on. I was very pleased to see them release a Truck version that allows entering vehicles size, the down side of this is the cost jumps from £30 year for family where my wife and kids can use on their accounts to £80 and its individual. I hope in future they bring out a camper version at slightly lower cost point as can’t bring myself to switch at that jump in price and then having to pay £20 extra for wife! To be fair i tend to just use normal Tomtom and check route before heading off.

 

[The Yorkshireman]

Hi we used the Mapy.cz free app last year in Italy and France and just linked it to the van. You need to download the maps prior to travelling but the off line maps work fine if you don’t need anything fancy.