Calling all Techno Geeks - Nav Questions

[rowiebowie]

I admit I'm low on the tech-savy scale. Rather than replace our ancient Kenwood/Garmin DNX6180 head unit & its' terrible touchscreen, I want to look into an android phone navigation app as a supplement. Ideally this would be 10" tablet that would do triple duty as cell phone, computer, and navigation system.

Any suggestions are welcome regarding:

a) Android Phone Tablet
b) Android Navigation App
c) Phone/Data Plan with Good Coverage/Reasonable Cost

Or "d)" - None of the above.

[mkguitar]

I use T-mobile for my stuff which is great on cost- unlimited and no extra charges for canada or mexico
the 2 lines are $60 month unlimited eveything-no taxes or extra fees- $60

but I rarely do a step by step nav and don;t have a dedicated device, when needed I stick my iphone on the mount and use waze to get me there ( and warn of hazard)

I don't know if my approach fits your needs- I rarely follow the screen but use the voice prompts.

My millions of miles on the road via rand-mcnally have me generally familiar with how I want to get from here to there ( and not planning is part of the fun)

Mike

[rvsprinterguy]

That would be c, for us.

Navigation during our trips is accomplished by my wife in the passenger's seat using her iPhone (on Sprint, with OK coverage). I also have a Garmin GPS whose maps I keep updated, in case there's no cell service.

Having a T1N, I've been disappointed with the head unit replacements available and will miss out on having anything exciting in the infotainment department until we buy a new RV.

OTOH, I like having nothing flashy visible in the instrument panel. I've been the victim of radio thefts three times over the years and would like to avoid repeating that. The cheap Blaupunkt that I replaced the stock Becker unit with at least has a detachable face.

[@Michael]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

a) Android Phone Tablet
b) Android Navigation App
c) Phone/Data Plan with Good Coverage/Reasonable Cost

Or "d)" - None of the above.

I'm experimenting with using an older Android phone without a SIM & dedicating it to mapping (Google Maps, Here Maps, Sygix Maps), monitoring the engine (via Bluetooth ODB-II), monitoring camper power (Victron, Thornwave) and fridge temps (Sensorpush). I'm leaving it mounted on the dash, always plugged in. It uses my Verizon hotspot to get to the Internet. It's not on any cell plan itself - it uses WiFi from my other plans.

I like the idea of not having the nav & monitoring device on my primary phone, as I always carry my phone and I don't want to disconnect every time I stop & fill gas or hop out of the camper for some reason. My phone stays with me. The Android nav/monitor device (a phone w/o a SIM) stays in the camper.

I wish it were a bit bigger. It's a 5.5" screen. 7-8" would be better.

As far as Navigation apps, make sure you have one that allows you to download maps. If you don't download ahead of time, you'll burn lots of data and/or you'll be out of cell range when you need a map that wasn't downloaded.

I switch between Google Maps and Sygix most of the time. Google has the best routing but is really poor at finding gas stations, waysides, etc. Sygix will tell you how many gas stations, waysides (etc) are along your route and how many miles away they are. That is really, really useful. It's buggy and a bit quirky though.

Waze cannot download maps, so I deleted it.

'Here' was my favorite back when it was integrated with Microsoft Bing. It's a good app, I just don't use it much.

--Mike