Best Sat Nav for compatibility with PGPSW

[braddersq]

Like many newbies, I will start with an apology for a potentially stupid set of questions, but I have done some searching and whilst I know there are no simple answers, and many opinions will differ, I just need a bit of a steer to some suggestions.

I am getting a new BMW soon, and the Sat Nav itself (which has to be the BMW Professional system, due to the model) won't take on POI's from PGPSW (or so I understand, from this forum), so for that reason (and the £1750 cost!), I am foregoing the Sat Nav.

So having been a user of PGPSW (and Google maps) on iPhone and a Galaxy Note, I am thinking of looking for a dedicated Sat Nav unit, and I would want one that best integrates with PGPSW (i.e. one that will give me voice alerts like the apps do). I think I need a dedicated unit to make address input easier and for re-routing around traffic problems - but I'm happy to be told there are apps that will do that on my phone(s) just as well.

I'd also like a solution on the laser/radar front as well (and I have briefly looked at some Road Angles) but I don't know if current opinion says radar and/or laser detections is worthwhile. If it is worthwhile, is it something that has to be done totally separately, no matter what base unit you have (like with a Snooper 3Zero), or is there a unit that combines Sat Nav, PGPSW integration, and radar and/or laser detection?

I am normally pretty good at finding out about kit, but the Sat Nav/GPS/detector world is so full of confusing options, I am struggling!

I would be more than happy to be pointed to a good retailer that kind guide me through, if that's possible?

Yours, hopefully.

[M8TJT]

Hi Brad and welcome to the PGPSW forums.

[braddersq]

Thanks for the early input M8TJT

I found the answer I'd previously seen regarding BMW nav - which is here
http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=93796&highlight=bmw+professional

To me it seems clear that trying to integrate with BMW Nav is at best pointless (i.e. with no audible alert) or at worst, impossible.

So on that basis, are there dedicated Sat Navs that will integrate sufficiently with PGPSW to give me audible alerts? If so, all recommendations would be gratefully received. If not, I'll stick to the Galaxy Note and I'll upgrade the Nav application (again, recommendations gratefully received).

As for laser detection, fair point about the reaction time, but isn't that the time from when they've actually got it locked on your car - but if there's laser beams flying around generally, which your detector picks up, you have a chance? I hold my hands up to knowing next nothing on all this, so I am more than happy to be told how it is, but it does strike me that there is still a big market in detectors, be that laser and/or radar. The consumer is not always the best barometer, but surely they can't be totally pointless?

But, as I say, I'm ready to be corrected and if the old bill have guns that make detectors basically useless, then I will rely on GPS and good judgment alone.

I'm only looking at legal means here, so jammers are not under consideration.

[M8TJT]

[braddersq]

Useful advice, much appreciated.

Other than perhaps a Garmin then, it sounds like I am better sticking with the phone and upgrading the nav/traffic app on that.

And there could also be a case for a radar detector, just to mop up the remaining radar guns, but debatable as to whether it's worth it.

And of course, nothing can detect the unmarked car following you.

It's a funny one isn't. Been done twice in the last 5 years, once was to just that (an uber subtle Passat estate), and that was fair enough because I was pushing on - and the officer in question was perfectly reasonable about it! But I also got done about two years ago on the A4500
into Northampton, doing 50 on an uninhabited, banked dual carriage way... which had Armco down the middle.

I saw the van and consciously didn't even slow down. Turns out it was a 40 limit (as the limit from the village I'd passed through half a mile back was still in force).

Total joke in my view and now when I stick to 40 on that road everything zooms past me like I'm a road hog! My fault because of course you have to monitor the signs closely - since common sense and an awareness of the type of road and conditions is clearly not sufficient!

[IanS100]

I have an e90 with Pro Nav & while it's not as good as the latest Pro Nav in the F30 it's still much easier to use than a TomTom et al.

I also have TomTom on a Galaxy Note 3 which I use for traffic & sometimes to double check the route, but when it comes to routes sometimes BMW get it right sometimes TomTom do, but I'd hate to rely on TomTom android for my only Sat Nav, it's plain hard work compared to the built in system which, don't forget, is a vehicle info system & lots more, not just a Sat Nav
_________________
Galaxy Note 4 / TomTom GO : CamerAlert : CoPilot

[braddersq]

Thanks for your reply on this IanS100. Funnily enough, I have been leaning back to the BMW Nav overnight, having read more about the Information Plus feature (where you can just call up BMW and have them look things up for you, which they then send it to your Nav). That might be the killer feature that gets me there - particularly when I think back to all the times I've either tried to use voice recognition on the Note to find places, or just had to bail out and pull over. It may be £1750, which is mental, but on a lease basis, I at least don't get stung for all of that.

Also, given the feedback I've had, which is making me think that getting PGPSW to work on a dedicated separate Nav might not in fact be as easy as I thought, except perhaps with a Garmin (thank you M8TJT), I am now thinking the best solution might be the BMW Nav for getting around and the phone for camera alerts (which can also be easily linked in to the car's Bluetooth, so it shouts them out through the speakers).

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