tonyg3nwl Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Apologies for boring everyone again, but I have recently disposed of both my Garmin Quest, and Mio devices to new homes in spite of the fact that both devices maps were out of date.. today I have been investigating the Snooper again. maps were updated recently, and facilities updated, revised. So far so good. on the old quest device it had a facility called Breadcrumb trail..ie you could download from device back to computer the route you had followed and overlay it onto the map. you could also determin your average speed at the time, and the elevation of the highest or other points. both features would enable the authorities to prove where you were at a given time date so not able to deny it.cant think why you might wish to challenge the facts, but might have been useful in event of mistaken identity. Question. do more modern devices provide similar features, ie historical record of your (mis)behaviour? In particular, does Snooper have that kind of option, and if so can end user access it..if so how? Also, does anyone know the uptodateness of snooper downloadable files for example aires and france passion. what do others think of Snooper compared to other devices? Personally I preferred the quest device for route planning, on computer screen. Do modern Garmin devices have the breadcrumb trail facility? Can you plan your route on screen and then transfer it to device as per old quest device? How do you plan your journey..step by step, or start here and get me there , . tonyg3nwl, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Don't know about those 2 devices but you can plan a route on the TomTom website and download it to a Tomtom device. Haven't tried it but it seems straight forward. We started with a Mio and then went on to a TomTom and then just 3 years ago bought the Tomtom Camper (Go 1005 I think) We were going to change to a Snooper but the chap in the Auto shop said although he sells Snooper the aftersales is abysmal and he has a TomTom so we just upgraded the maps etc. but now they come with free map updates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 tonyg3nwl - 2015-09-27 1:35 PM How do you plan your journey..step by step, or start here and get me there , . I can't be doing with all that faffing about, downloading routes, tracing routes, elevation, etc.etc. , life's too short! In the UK I just bung in the final destination postcode and follow the sat nav unless local knowledge or prevailing traffic persuades me to divert. Simples! Abroad I find it works better to hop from town to town in roughly 50 miles chunks because if you take too big a bite as a route you tend to end up using minor - some very minor - roads across country may may in theory be shorter but in rality can be very tiring once the novelty wears off - and it soon wears off! Once within about 10 miles of a town I enter the next town and that pretty much ensures I follow the route I intended and if there is a town ring road we generally get to use it. I sometimes enter several towns on our planned route into the TomTom in reverse order then as we approach each one town I switch to the next. The shorter the route the quicker it is to re-route if you go wrong either accidentally or by going exploring by design en-route! Works well for us as our route is never set in stone and unplanned diversions are highly likely at any time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewJo Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 After getting totally lost in Lyon yesterday (after they decided to close the main tunnel) And our cheap sat nav then leading us around most small streets in the city and then finally down a 1:4 24%steep hill just wide enough for a car and not a 3 axel 6 wheel Burstner towing out fiat 500 on an A frame Length in excess of 11m Frightened the life out of me and my navigator bless her hart I'm now going straight out to buy a Truck mate tom tom You can down load Navmii France or England on an apple phone if you have one I expect there is an android app as well It's from the internet and it's free and only uses GPS tracking So no need to have Internet connection and roaming on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Hi Tony, My first response is that I personally would never buy a Snooper device again! Their customer service is appalling and they will do everything they can to not answer your problem or help you in any way. My personal experience you must appreciate, others may vary, but caveat emptor! Secondly regarding a breadcrumb trail, the Garmin devices do this very nicely, see the long running thread on Sat-Navs for my comments there. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilreeves Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 I use a snooper 8500 and I think it is very good. It has by passed bridges and weight restrictions for me on several occasions. But it has also sent me down a narrow country lane. But to be honest their were no restrictions on this lane. Speed cameras are good but the traffic info is not great. Customer service is not the best, But it was also not the worst. Used the Snooper in France and it was faultless for the 10 days we were their. Had every Aires we put in. Tom Tom traffic seems better but not used the MH specific one. I used Tom Tom customer service and it was email only and they just referred me back to the website. Waste of time. 3 weeks to get an answer I already knew. Never tried Garmin so cannot give an honest opinion on them. But I have heard good reports. I would buy from Amazon as if you do not like it you get 30 days to get a refund. So you can actually take it away and see it working for yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avensis Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Just retuned my 6850 Ventura , seven mouths old. I phoned snooper direct , would not hold charge and just cut out always at the wrong time. They e-malied a returns slip to cover the cost , three days later I received a new unit. That is 100% afetsales !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coachman Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 This time about Snooper S 5000, couple of weeks ago it stopped charging on 12v, sent it back £7overnight.Three days later back with new charger no charge forgive the pun.It was out of warranty.I also had to ring them about other things in the past and each time been well satisfied with the result Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogher Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 I use a Garmin walking device to capture track logs and provide summaries of each journey. Some DVRs will provide the same. I believe that the more expensive SatNavs will also do this (like Pioneer) but Snooper won’t. Unless you want a big screen, I’d steer clear of Snooper. It works, but both data and operation is unreliable. It would be nice to have a vehicle SatNav that you could put a route in that you’d compiled on a PC (saved in, say, GPX format) but I’m not sure that these exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 rogher - 2015-10-06 3:54 PM It would be nice to have a vehicle SatNav that you could put a route in that you’d compiled on a PC (saved in, say, GPX format) but I’m not sure that these exist. Igo8/Igo Primo based devices allow planning on Google earth on a PC and then transfer of the route to the device in KML format. From the manuals, they also allow real time recording of your track whilst travelling for later "playback" on Google earth. I've done the former; I can find the setting for the latter on my (Clarion) head unit, but haven't tried it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyishuk Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 rogher - 2015-10-06 3:54 PM It would be nice to have a vehicle SatNav that you could put a route in that you’d compiled on a PC (saved in, say, GPX format) but I’m not sure that these exist. I am not sure about newer sat navs but my older TT XL Live can read an itinerary route loaded into the itn folder. . I use ITConv ( http://download.cnet.com/ITN-Converter/3000-20426_4-75335466.html for details) This uses web based maps to create a gpx trail that can be loaded into various sat navunits. I tend to use this to plot the routes to campsites where there is advice to use a specified route to the entrance, or where there may be routing required to avoid low bridge etc. Problem is that the maps are web based, although you can export / import a route from M/soft Autoroute ( or Map point Maybe someone can suggest a more recent sat nav that has this facility. with ""For Life "" traffic and map updates and a larger screen. My TT XL costs about £80 to update each year. Rgds Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyg3nwl Posted October 7, 2015 Author Share Posted October 7, 2015 Hi folks, tis me again.. just received latest Caravan Club magazine, and see that they are now promoting another device this time by Garmin, I wonder why they have seemingly switched away from the Snooper devices.. commercial decision, adverse comments re snooper, or maybe snooper have ceased the Caravan Club special device..??? Or is it same device in different packaging.. has anyone indulged yet, good bad or just different?? Tonyg3nwl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinlizzie Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Hi All, I'm quite new to motorhoming. Is the Snooper the most used satnav amongst you guys? I see camping and caravan have an ad for a satnav by Aguri which reads very well, and is on offer for £199.99 Does anyone have any experience of it. thx - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agaric Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Hi, After using CoPilot for a couple of years I would never again think of buying a sat-nav. I've just bought a Nexus 7 for £100 plus the CoPilot all of Western Europe comes to the grand total of £123. This gives a decent 7" screen for the maps, plus you've still get the use of a tablet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Tinlizzie - 2015-10-08 6:13 PM Hi All, I'm quite new to motorhoming. Is the Snooper the most used satnav amongst you guys? I see camping and caravan have an ad for a satnav by Aguri which reads very well, and is on offer for £199.99 Does anyone have any experience of it. thx - No, I have a Tom Tom 1005 Camper, with lifetime UK map updates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 tonyishuk - 2015-10-06 4:53 PM rogher - 2015-10-06 3:54 PM It would be nice to have a vehicle SatNav that you could put a route in that you’d compiled on a PC (saved in, say, GPX format) but I’m not sure that these exist. I am not sure about newer sat navs but my older TT XL Live can read an itinerary route loaded into the itn folder. . I use ITConv ( http://download.cnet.com/ITN-Converter/3000-20426_4-75335466.html for details) This uses web based maps to create a gpx trail that can be loaded into various sat navunits. I tend to use this to plot the routes to campsites where there is advice to use a specified route to the entrance, or where there may be routing required to avoid low bridge etc. Problem is that the maps are web based, although you can export / import a route from M/soft Autoroute ( or Map point Maybe someone can suggest a more recent sat nav that has this facility. with ""For Life "" traffic and map updates and a larger screen. My TT XL costs about £80 to update each year. Rgds Rgds Have a talk to Garmin, Tony. I'm pretty sure the Dezl models will take a route from BaseCamp, which is a Garmin program that allows the same mapping as on the device to be downloaded and viewed on a PC or Mac (However, I don't think the Nuvi models do this). Versions with lifetime map updates will get up to 4 updates per year at no charge, each update also being optionally installable on the computer at the same time as the device maps are updated. Additionally, it is possible to use a pulldown within BaseCamp to switch directly into Google Earth at the same point to check the map, and from there to Google Streets (except in Germany and Austria) to see a ground level view of the same point. There is an alternative program from Garmin called MapSource (PC only), sadly no longer supported but still available, that does much the same, but the routing logic is not the same as my Nuvi uses, and in any case it screws up if I try to transfer a route from it to the Nuvi. I mention this as I find BaseCamp nearly impenetrable and MapSource, for all its faults, far more intuitive, and I invariably use it. The great benefit of either is that you can freely create Points of Interest on your computer (checking the point locations for accuracy in Google Earth where necessary) and can transfer these to the device using a further Garmin program called POI loader. The PoI "properties" will also give you its GPS co-ordinates. It all takes a little getting familiar with, but once understood it all works a treat. The Points of Interest so created can be categorised into directories (say campsites, supermarkets, stopovers, or whatever) on the computer, in which case they will load to the device retaining the same category structure. Then, when you want to find the nearest campsite (supermarket, etc). to where you are, you merely search that category on the device and they will appear in order of proximity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dolken Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 I too am on the hunt for a sat nav. The only one we've had so far is a Tomtom that came integrated with the van, however a van change means we need to buy a stand alone one. With little knowledge of sat navs, apart from the one we've got, I been reading posts on various forums for advice. I doubt we need a camper version, but want one that is relatively easy to use. The ones the CCC and CC recommend are all expensive and probably provide many functions we don't need. Was thinking of a Garmin nuvi 2597 LMT that sounds ok. Does anyone know if this can be attached to the dash as in preference to the windscreen? Any thoughts or comments please from those of you that know about these things. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 Ours is a 2495LMT, which I generally find good. However, it is a tool, and like all tools one has to work on them a bit to get the best from them. A Garmin will look and feel different to a TomTom, which may seem confusing at first, and will probably take a little adjusting to - so I'd use it in your car while you work out its oddities, before heading out into the great blue yonder! :-) Broadly, they are all simple to use, if you only set them simple objectives, but they are then more prone to sending you down roads you may not wish to travel. They are, after all, but machines. Giving them a "steer" on which way to go adds some complexity, but also adds certainty as to the roads you will travel. It is just a matter of learning how far to complicate the route planning in order to achieve routes you find acceptable. All technology has its learning curves and, unfortunately, this includes sat-navs. There is no escape! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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