Hi All,
My first post on here so firstly, a little bit about me and what this post is all about. Also, I apologise if I have posted this in the wrong place. Please feel free to move it.
I obtained my HGV Class 2 license about 12 months ago after waiting forever due to the pandemic. I didn’t come from a transport background, I was an IT Director prior to becoming a HGV driver but fancied a change of career after 38 years in the IT field. I was lucky with my first role. Through a friend of a friend, I was helping a company out that specialises in the scientific area supplying equipment to places like hospitals and laboratories. They also did laboratory moves and waste disposal for those facilities. In-fact, I delivered many of the freezers that were used for the COVID vaccine.
Unfortunately, once the pandemic kind of settled a bit, the work dried up and I was getting less and less work so had to sign up with an agency to see what was out there. Work actually came fairly rapidly with the driver shortage. So I ended up taking on a role delivering tyres which I have been doing ever since.
Anyway, this put me in the market for a SatNav. But after reading reviews and reading through forums, I was no wiser on which one to buy. There was no definitive answer and every single one seemed to have issues in one way or another. The only good reviews I could find were paid-for reviews which were obviously biased towards the unit being reviewed. Plus everyone simply had their favourites that they were used to.
Because of this I decided to carry out my own assessments and see for myself in a head-to-head battle of SatNavs. I borrowed as many different popular models as I could from friends. The only one I paid for was Co-pilot as that was a subscription based app that I paid for a month. I wanted to see which SatNav I felt most comfortable with and which one performed the best for what I do.
Hopefully all the information I gained from my experiences will, in some way, help other people. That’s why I have posted all my results and thoughts here.
The following list are the units I managed to get access to:
Garmin Dezl LGV700
TomTom Go 620 Professional
TomTom Go Expert (7 inch model)
Snooper S6900 Truckmate
Aguri TX650 Pro
NavPal (chinese style SatNav from Amazon/eBay etc)
Co-pilot Truck (Android based run on my Galaxy Note 9 phone)
I also wanted to test Sygic Truck, but unfortunately I had to drop it because it was just too expensive purely to do a test on. They didn’t have any monthly payment plans and everything was an extra cost (Traffic, Speed Cameras etc). I wasn’t prepared to shell out almost £100 for the sake of a test and their evaluation period was only 7 days. Nowhere near long enough to do the kind of testing I wanted so I decided to remove it from the comparison list.
I should also mention that the NavPal test covers a vast range of Chinese SatNavs. I also had access to an OHREX SatNav but that was identical to the NavPal. Identical menu layout and same options. It seems these are all one SatNav that they just brand with their own little bits like extra apps not related to the navigation (Games, Utilities etc). So I decided just to use one of them as the only difference between them to choose would be how good the customer service was etc and that wasn’t really what I was testing.
Also, the TomTom 620 Professional is identical in every way to the TomTom 6250 and 6200. The only difference is that the later have their own in-built SIM card for things like traffic whereas the 620 has to be tethered to an internet device such as a phone. This is exactly as I wanted it purely because of bad experiences I had when I used to use TomTom devices in my car with in-built SIM cards. You didn’t have any choice as to the network used and on 2 occasions, TomTom disabled the SIM cards when I didn’t use the device for an extended period of time. Once they do that, it’s a pain getting them re-enabled and the device just loses all that functionality.
The Aguri TX650 is exactly the same, navigation wise, as the TX720, TX740 and TX750 and some other Aguri truck navs. These just have additional items such as dashcams, digital TV etc. But it’s exactly the same navigation software and maps.
So how did I test?
All the SatNavs and app were used simultaneously in the same lorry at the same time doing the same routes (Volvo 12t rigid). They were tested over a week period. The first day I used them all together in the car set to truck mode that tested non-commercial driving (i.e. family, friends, places, shopping etc). This was purely to get used to them all and just give them an easy start.
The next 4 days they were tested simultaneously in the lorry doing my day job. In those 4 days they covered me on 63 multi drops covering London, South of the country and South East.
I am not going to detail every single drop off, I am only going to highlight where the SatNavs differed and how they routed (good or bad). To be fair, on the majority of drops, all of them provided mostly the same routes. But some provided a lot better guidance getting there and more accurate traffic information. I will point out things that were good and bad and which bits stood out.
I should firstly say that I am not affiliated with any of the manufacturers in this review and neither am I being bribed by any of them to carry out a good review. I am purely an everyday trucker that just wants to buy the best SatNav for his purposes. As with any review, a lot is opinionated and very much a personal choice. Everyone is an individual when it comes to what information you like to see on the screen, layouts you are used to and colour schemes you might like. There is also a certain amount of brand loyalty when it comes to electrical items.
First off, it was time to ensure they all had current maps and software so how did they all do achieving this?
Co-pilot: This was easy, just install the app on my phone (A Samsung Galaxy Note 9) and any updates were automatic.
Verdict: Very Easy
TomTom (620 and Expert): Once setup, this was easy. Just select the update menu item and it would check the software and map version and download anything not current over the WiFi.
Verdict: Very Easy
Garmin: This initially had a problem. Although it gave the facility in the menu items, it just wouldn’t work. I just kept getting an error saying it couldn’t connect to the update server and to try later. I tried for 2 days on 2 wireless networks with no luck. Eventually I had to connect it to a laptop and use an application called Garmin Express. This did work first time and after the update, the facility from the menu item seemed to work as it should.
Verdict: Easy (would have been very easy if it had worked first time)
NavPal: I had to register to be able to download the latest maps. Much more complicated than the others and you had to obtain the map update from the seller. I found out I had the latest map and they are only published once a year. Because of this, I never got the opportunity to try an update.
Verdict: Could not evaluate the update process
Aguri: Again, not as simple as the others. You have to add a specific google account (a generic account) that can then download the updates. This took a while to work out as it was not very well documented. If you use your own google account, it just tells you it is already up-to-date or couldn’t find any updates. Once setup though, it seemed to work ok.
I should add that since I did this, the Aguri has changed and it is now possible to use your own Google account to do the updates. This was not possible at the time of this test.
Verdict: Easy once you find out how and set it up
Snooper: I left this one to last for a reason. Although this SatNav was brand new, it wouldn’t work straight out the box. When trying to turn it on it just told me there was an application error and wouldn’t start. It took a few emails and a fair bit of time to get it sorted and the result was that it was a faulty SD card which had to be replaced before I could do anything. Once fixed you could update maps and software by downloading software from the snooper website and connect to a computer. But this cannot be updated direct from the unit. This was the most complicated out of all of them and involved removing SD cards and entering serial numbers. Plus it was a pain getting it working with errors at first. I also discovered that the snooper did not come with any speed camera database. I was kind of expecting a free period but apparently not. Snooper wanted to charge me £69 just to download an AURA database and that was only for the year. Consequently, this unit was tested with no speed camera database.
Verdict: Nightmare
Prices
I have listed the costs of the devices used. These are the costs I have found them for brand new at the time. Prices may have changed by the time you are reading this.
Garmin: £329 (Argos)
TomTom 620 Professional: £299 (Halfords)
TomTom Expert: £399 (Halfords)
Aguri: £199 (Aguri, but only UK & Ireland maps. £239 if you want Europe)
Snooper: £349 (Snooper + £69 if you want speed cameras)
NavPal: £79 (Amazon)
Co-pilot: £8.99 per month (Play Store download)
Now on to the testing. I will not be expressing any opinions on this testing. I will just present the facts exactly as they happened. I will not document any instances where all SatNavs agreed on a route and that route was reasonable. I will only document where things didn’t seem quite right. At the end, I will say which one or ones I would consider buying or not and my reasons. But this will be my own personal opinion that you may agree or disagree with.
First Day
The first day, all the units were placed in my car in various safe places and powered off a couple of 4-port ciggie to USB converters. The SatNavs were set as a 12t lorry that was 8ft4in wide, 22ft long and 12ft2in high. The Snooper had to be on it’s own ciggie lighter socket as the power lead contains the TMC antenna for traffic.
Route 1 was to my local aquatic shop. This is a good test as the best route could only be taken in a car. You couldn’t take a lorry on that route unless it was less than 11ft tall unless you wanted to disrupt the local train service. All the units provided an ideal route for this avoiding the low bridge and taking the main road which was 3 miles longer than the car route.
Coming back, I decided not to plot a route on any of the SatNavs and take the car route just to see how the units responded to just driving around with no route typed in. I got a variety of results here.
Garmin: This was very good. It acted just as if a route was set. It notified me regarding speed cameras and when approaching the low bridge, it gave me notice (a clear warning) that there was a bridge of 10ft 11in 0.2 miles ahead and counted me down. I also go down a 7.5t weight limit road and it also told me in plenty of time.
TomTom 620 / Expert: These didn’t do anything. When a route is finished or not planned, ithey just show a zoomed out map. You can see that you are moving by the indicator twisting around as you changed direction, but there is no monitoring of any sort.
Aguri: This also gave me good notice of the approaching bridge and also the speed camera and weight restriction.
Snooper: The one thing I noticed about the snooper is it is remarkably similar to the Aguri above. Very similar layout. This notified me about the bridge but actually got the height of the bridge wrong when it reported it (by 2 inches). It also failed to tell me about the weight restriction. Obviously no speed cameras.
NavPal / Co-Pilot: I put these 2 together as they both did the same thing. They did things a little differently. They both picked up the weight restriction and the speed camera (Although the NavPal didn’t give an audio speed camera warning, it just showed it on the map). They also detected the bridge but both didn’t tell me about it until I had actually gone under the bridge and out the other side. But they did tell me much earlier that I was on a restricted route but didn’t tell me the reason why.
Route 2 was to a friend who lived in Enfield to drop off some stuff he needed to borrow. This gave a very differing opinion of routes for the SatNavs. They all took me the same route for the majority of the journey and differed for the last 0.5 miles.
Garmin: This took me a longer route. Almost 2 miles longer than all the other units. After looking at it, the reason it did this is that it thought there was a 7.5t weight restriction in the final road before my destination. So it routed right around the back to avoid it. It would have been correct if there was a 7.5t restriction there but there isn’t. It’s an 18t restriction at certain times of the day so there is an error in it’s maps. To be fair though, the route it did take was perfectly safe for lorries just a bit longer.
TomTom 620 / Expert: I have bundled these together as they both did the same thing. They both took me down a lane to get in to the final destination estate. This was actually very bad as although the lane would be the quickest route if you were on a bike or on foot, the roads coming off the lane all have bollards so you cannot get through them if you were any wider than about 3ft. The TomToms are obviously not aware of the bollards. This could be fairly serious for a large lorry. Not only is the lane quite narrow with a lot of over hanging trees, it is also a dead end with no where to get out. The only exit would have been to reverse along the lane and then out on to a main road. I tried all sorts of options on the TomToms such as not using unpaved roads etc, but they both constantly insisted on taking me down this lane. On the 620, I eventually got it to avoid it by telling it the lane was blocked. Unfortunately, on the Expert, this did not work. Even though I said the lane was blocked, it still routed me down there. This seems like a bug in the software to me.
All the other units took the correct route which was safe for both cars and lorries. As a test, I set the Garmin to a 7.5t lorry. Once doing this, it took the correct route so definitely a map error. It was changed back for further testing.
Route 3 was to see a man about a job. This was in Ware, Hertfordshire. Another good test as his yard is on a stretch of road where there is a 7.5t except for access weight restriction on each end of the road about 2 miles apart. There is no other way of getting to his yard without breaching one of the restrictions.
Garmin / NavPal: All warned me before I set off that I be would entering a 7.5t weight restriction and asked me to confirm or reject the route. They also showed on the map where the restriction was. They also warned me when I approached the 7.5t limit.
Aguri: This only seemed to have the 7.5t weight limit at one end of the road. It routed me to my destination with no warning but did show the far 7.5t weight limit on it’s map but didn’t show the 7.5t weight limit at the end I was coming in to.
TomTom 620 / Expert: These plotted the route and then put up a message saying this route was not suitable for my vehicle type but gave me no idea why it wasn’t suitable. They did show on the map where the restriction was by the colour of the road, but you had to zoom in to find it. I still would of had no idea what the restriction was. They also didn’t warn me any further even when I got on to the restriction.
Snooper: This did not warn me or show it on the map. It seems like the Snooper just didn’t know about the restriction.
Co-Pilot: This was different. It didn’t warn me in any way whatsoever. But after plotting the route, it did show the restriction on it’s map. At first I thought this was maybe a bug because it obviously knew something was there. After ploughing through the documentation later, I found a paragraph saying something about it will warn about weight restrictions unless the destination is within a restriction that is allowed for deliveries. I am just assuming that Co-Pilot knows about the ‘except for access’ signs. But I would have still preferred a warning even if it was totally legal.
The journey back was without incident. They all plotted the same route. But the Garmin still complained about the 7.5t restriction even though I was already in the restriction going out of it when I set the route.
Other observations from the test day were that the Aguri and Snooper have a few incorrect speed limits. All the other units seemed to be correct. I am not just talking about lorry speed limits but just general speed limits. A 30MPH stretch of road was coming up as 40MPH on those units and there were a couple of other smaller roads where they showed the incorrect speed limit for the road.
I also got a chance to see how the traffic reporting worked on the way back as I was stuck in a series of traffic jams on the A414. The Garmin, Co-Pilot and both TomToms had fairly good and accurate traffic reporting. They picked up virtually every bit of traffic both big and small and were reasonably accurate with their timing. The Garmin especially reported it in a very clear and informative way. The Aguri did report traffic but it was fairly diffiult to understand what it was telling me. It just put cars on the map to show congestion but it didn’t really tell me much. The NavPal doesn’t have a traffic facility and although the Snooper did report some traffic, it missed a lot more than it reported. The Snooper was the only unit that used TMC for it’s traffic rather than live digital traffic over the internet.
Second, Third, Fourth and fifth day
This was actually in the lorry on my normal day job. Delivering tyres to tyre depots, wholesalers, bus and coach companies and also police and emergency service workshops. Also a few small motorbike shops are on my routes. In total over the 4 days I did 63 drop points over a fairly wide area. I averaged around 300 miles per day. Generally, these places are on high streets and industrial estates but many are in fairly out the way places and a few are in 7.5t zones (except for access).
I am not going to detail every drop and on the vast majority of these drops all the units proved to be sufficient providing the same or equally efficient lorry routes. But I did use that time to look at things like traffic reporting, lane guidance and extra useful features that I will share at the very end. I should also add that on the very last day, I was given an 18t lorry instead of my usual 12t so the vehicle parameters were changed accordingly for that day in all the units. Even though the vast majority of routes were fine, there were certain routes that some of the units struggled with or gave bad results. It is these that I will detail.
Drop 5
There was a split decision between the units with the TomToms, Aguri and Snooper producing one route (Route 1) and the Garmin, NavPal and Co-Pilot producing an entirely different route which differed by an extra 4 miles (Route 2). I chose to follow Route 1 as I would have to pass that anyway to get to Route 2. This was in the BN27 postcode area. Upon arriving at the last road before the drop point, I could see why the later 3 units had chosen Route 2. There was a big sign at the end stating ‘Unsuitable for HGVs’ I drove by to follow the route on the other units. The first 4 units immediately recalculated and persisted in telling me to do a u-turn. That instruction carried on for the rest of the journey. I arrived at the destination which proved to be a good route for any HGV. Parking my lorry up for a break, I walked to where the first route would have come in and it was basically a very bumpy lane with lots of trees along the way. To be fair, a lorry my size would have gone down there but it would have been very bumpy and I would have got a few swipes from branches. I found out that the route I had come in on was built nearly 3 years ago and the road didn’t appear on the maps for the TomToms, Aguri or Snooper.
Drop 11
This was the TN21 postcode area and involved a drop in to a 7.5t except for access weight limit. The NavPal, Snooper, Aguri and Co-Pilot route (Route 1) took me straight in to the zone and to the delivery point. The Garmin and TomToms, however, took me on an 11 mile detour (Route 2) to end up at the destination point. It seems that the NavPal, Snooper and Aguri did not have the weight limit restriction on it’s map. Co-Pilot seems to handle destinations within 7.5t zones where deliveries are allowed (according to it’s documentation). Co-Pilot did have the restriction flagged on it’s road colour legend but never warned me. The Garmin and TomToms did warn me of the restriction before setting off (the TomToms did their usual ‘Route not suitable for vehicle type’ message. Without telling me what the restriction was and not warning me when I approached.). They then proceeded to take me back to a main road before diverting me round and up a road that came out opposite my delivery point so only putting me in the zone for the shortest time (basically 5.5 miles out and 5.5 miles back). It was a valid route but unnecessary as it was perfectly legal to enter the zone for this and no need to add an additional 11 miles to the journey.
Drop 12
This is basically an extension to the previous drop. The next delivery was in the same 7.5t zone just down the road. The NavPal, Snooper, Aguri and Co-Pilot behaved the same as before for the same reasons. The Garmin and TomToms took me back down the same road out of the zone around a block and then up another road that brought me out virtually opposite the destination point. A 2 mile journey to get to a place just 200yds down the same road. They seem to favour keeping you out the zone and the only way you can stop it happening is by changing the lorry weight to 7.5t.
Drop 16
This was the last drop of the day before returning to the yard in the DA1 postcode area. This is not really a routing difference but a traffic difference but significant. Upon approaching the Dartford Tunnel, the Garmin and TomToms sprung up a traffic warning stating there was a 10 minute delay. The Aguri also showed some congestion. The Snooper, however, was showing major traffic problems and was trying to completely divert me around. Co-Pilot did show traffic, but it’s estimate was double the others. It did, however, start to get more accurate the closer I got. The NavPal doesn’t have a traffic facility. Upon reaching the point, it was about 10 minutes delay even though I turned off just before the tunnel. From looking afterwards, the major traffic was long before I arrived due to an accident so it seems the Snooper was receiving old traffic information from about 90 minutes ago.
Drop 21
This was the DA15 area on to an industrial estate to a tyre wholesalers. All the units except the TomToms gave me the same route. The TomToms gave me a route (Route 2) that was 3 miles shorter than all the others. Since I had to go past the Route 2 road to drive Route 1, there was a lay-by at the end of the road so I decided to stop for a 15 minute break to see why the TomToms wanted to take me down there. If I had of followed the TomToms, I would have been in serious trouble. For some reason they wanted me to take that side road, travel through someone’s back garden and then through their house to get to the other side to the industrial estate. Looking at their maps, it showed the road continued straight through, but it doesn’t. There is a housing estate there. If I had of gone down the road then I would have struggled to get out again. All the other units provided a valid route to the industrial estate. The TomToms did recalculate to the correct route once I had passed that turning.
Drop 23
DA14 postcode area. Once again the TomToms seemed to favour the small lanes. I had to go in and re-check all the TomTom settings as it had now done this a few times. There was nothing I could see in the settings that could possibly make it favour these type of roads. It was essentially a dead end road that just had a narrow alley at the end where you could only go through on foot. Once again, there was no way through to my delivery point. The Garmin and NavPal took the most direct route with the others favouring a main road making the route 1 mile longer. All but the TomToms produced valid, safe HGV routes with the Garmin and NavPal producing the shortest route by a mile. No idea why the others favoured the slightly longer route. The road the Garmin / NavPal took was slightly narrower but in no way restrictive for a 12t or even something bigger.
Drop 27
The CR0 postcode area. The Aguri struggled to find the postcode. Every time I entered in the complete postcode, it just brought up a list of similar postcodes. None of them were where I wanted to go. In the end, I had to type in the full address which it did accept. Upon arriving at the destination point, the Aguri wanted me to carry on showing I had another 2 miles left of the journey.
Drop 30
RH1 postcode area. This was again in a 7.5t except for access restriction. This time there was no way in to the zone without going through a sign. All the units except the TomToms flagged it up. They all directed me directly to the destination point but all the units except the TomToms flagged and warned me. It seems the restriction was not on the TomTom maps.
Drop 35
Last drop before heading back to the depot for the 2nd day in the DA1 area. All the units gave me the same route except the Aguri which produced a route 0.5 miles shorter turning me a down a road before all the other units. Before even getting to that road, I could already see a sign saying the road had a 6ft6in width restriction. The Aguri did not have the restriction on it’s map. Once passing the road, the Aguri recalculated providing the same route as the others.
Drop 41
Postcode area SS9 going to SS7. All the units except the Snooper agreed with a single route (Route 1). The Snooper (Route 2) produced a route nearly a mile quicker. I decided to look in to the Snooper route. When approaching the road (which was a road prior to the other units suggestion), it looked ok. A one-way street with 2 lanes. I followed down the road and by now all the other units had recalculated following the same route as the Snooper. I thought things were going well until I got to the end of the road. The road narrowed and I needed to turn left. Unfortunately there were metal railings in front of me and on the side road so to turn left would be very risky as it would be an extremely tight turn with a risk of hitting the metal railings. I chose to turn right. The SatNavs recalculated with the TomToms, Aguri, Snooper and Co-Pilot telling me to do a u-turn at the next roundabout down the road. The Garmin and NavPal also told me to do a u-turn but was showing the second roundabout down rather than the first. When I approached the first roundabout I could see why the Garmin and NavPal did not choose it as it was a mini roundabout and I would have had to execute a series of shunts to get around it. I carried on to the 2nd roundabout which was much bigger and did my u-turn. I could then carry on with my route to the destination to which all the units agreed on the route.
Drop 43
This drop didn’t really cause a problem with any of the SatNavs as such but I wanted to use it to highlight a feature that I felt was important. All the SatNavs brought me here on a correct route when using the postcode. The issue is that when you get to the postcode, the small motorbike shop is nowhere to be seen and you have to hunt around the area for quite a bit to find it. In this area close to the shop is also an 11ft9in bridge and a 6ft6in width restriction that cannot really be seen until you reach them. If you are new to this drop you end up hunting around for the place which takes a fair bit of concentration. Here I find it important that a SatNav unit still monitors where you are driving even though you have reached the end of your route. All the units except the TomToms carry on monitoring once you have reached your destination. Even though I know where this place is as I have visited it a few times I could see how easy it would be for a new driver to the area to be looking out for the shop, make a wrong turn and not think about the bridge. As I was approaching the shop, all the devices except the TomToms were alerting me to the low bridge.
Drop 46
Again on this drop there were not any issues from the SatNavs on finding the route. I have only listed this because I found this funny. This was a Costco in the CR0 area. Upon leaving this drop I typed the next postcode in to all the units and immediately I got a warning from the Garmin saying that it couldn’t find any suitable route due to a 2.2metre height restriction in 0.2miles. I had to think twice about this as I knew I had just got in so there must be a way out. I accepted the route and drove off carefully. None of the other devices had given me a warning. As I was driving, the Garmin was warning me more and more and the distance was counting down. It wasn’t until I got to 0 miles that I realised what it was telling me. It was referring to the 2.2m height restriction of the Costco car park gates. Fortunately for me, I go in via the HGV delivery gate. I just found it kind of neat that the SatNav went down to that kind of detail on it’s maps.
Drop 48
RM3 postcode area. This seemed to affect all the units and shows that all these units are not completely tolerant to the environment. This was a drop I had not done before and didn’t know the area so had to follow the units fairly closely. I followed the routes until there was 0.3 miles remaining. This lead me to a roundabout. As I got to the roundabout, all the units kind of stopped. Not knowing which way to turn, I went straight across. After I did this all the units recalculated and took me round the block and back to the same roundabout. Exactly the same thng happened in exactly the same place. I went straight across again. All the units once again did a recalculation. This time I decided to turn around and come in from the other side as there seemed to be something funny going on at that roundabout. It was diffiult finding somewhere to turn around so I just took a right at the next road. Now all the units recalculated the route with the TomToms showing something completely different to everything else. I followed until all the units went different ways and could see that the TomToms were trying to send me down a road that had a 7.5t weight limit that did NOT have an except for access sign. The other units took me down the following road which then brought me back to the roundabout. Again, as I approached the roundabout, all the units seemed to stop again but this time I took a different road off the roundabout and found my drop point just down on the left. It seems that there is some sort of blackspot at that roundabout that affects the GPS signal. The guy in the tyre place told me that a lot of people seem to get confused at that roundabout with their SatNavs throwing a wobbly.
Drop 53
TN14 postcode area. I was given 3 different routes to this area. The Garmin and NavPal produced the shortest route (Route 1). Co-Pilot, Aguri and Snooper gave me a marginally longer route (Route 2). The TomToms gave me a completely different route (Route 3) that added 5 miles to my journey. I knew this drop point and the route I usually used agreed with the Garmin / NavPal. Route2 used slightly wider roads but I knew from before was a pain to turn in to due to parked cars. I couldn’t find any reason for the third route. Route 3 seemed to be along the main roads coming in to the other side. I still have no idea what inspired this selection. As soon as I turned down the first road, all the units recalculated and agreed with the Garmin / NavPal.
Drop 58
This was another 7.5t restricted zone that was except for access. Once again, Co-Pilot directed me straight through without any warning but it was obvious from the map that it was aware of the 7.5t restriction. All the other units took a diversion adding 4 miles on to my journey by going back to the main road and then eventually down side roads coming in as close to the destination point as possible. All the routes mostly agreed and were valid but just took me a long way out my way for something so close.
Drop 60
TN3 postcode area. Once again here, the Aguri struggled to match the postcode and I had a differing opinion on routes. All the units here showed me a slightly different route and for the first time, the 2 TomToms showed a different route from each other. This appeared to be more about traffic than anything else as I was getting traffic alerts. The Garmin warned me of a 20 minute delay and offered me an alternative. To be fair, I had traffic all over the place on this day as there were heavy queues from people panic buying fuel.
Observations (my personal opinion)
Aguri: The main fault of this device is it is just so slow. It is basically an android app running on a low specification android tablet. It took a long time to start up and going through the options was just so slow. It had a variety of options for selecting your destination and supported multiple truck profiles with basic ADR information. It also had access to the Play Store so you could download your own apps. It does not have handsfree calling. This was quite troublesome connecting it to my phone and took a number of attempts before it connected via bluetooth. It also dropped out a few times whilst in use. When this happens, you get a message saying it cannot access live traffic when you input your destination and it won’t let you go any further until you go back and disable live traffic. The traffic is also not very informative. It just places car symbols on the map in different colours. It shows traffic is there and you can see whether it is light, medium or heavy. But it doesn’t give you information such as estimated delay etc. It also wasn’t brilliant in use and kind of lagged behind. There were quite a few times where coming off a roundabout you had already got to your exit before the map spun round to show you the exit. It was also late in giving directions if there were quick turns in succession. A left turn then an immediate right, it usually didn’t tell you until you had passed the turning. The map itself is fairly informative showing POIs and restrictions all the time. I also didn’t like the pan and zoom features of the map. You couldn’t just zoom the map or move the map like most of the others. You had to change it to a different mode via a quick menu option before you could use pan or zoom.
This was also the slowest unit to recalculate after a missed turn.
The lane guidance was quite informative, but I personally didn’t like the way it was presented at some junctions such as motorway exits. It shows which lane you should be in but takes up the whole screen so you lose all the other information such as distance to junction etc. Then it stays there for quite a while. I was usually nearly at the roundabout at the top of the slip road before the lane guidance disappeared and had no time to prepare as to which way I should turn at that roundabout until the last minute. It also struggled finding some postcodes.
It also missed a fair few restrictions and there were a fair few incorrect road speed limits. It just felt a bit clunky to use and the lag when selecting options did get annoying. Planning routes was average and didn’t really do bad routes except when it missed a width restriction and tried to take me down that road. For the price of this unit I would have expected it to be better. It is priced as a premium truck SatNav, but in terms of performance didn’t do any better than the cheaper NavPal at under half the price.
This did have a good battery life lasting almost 2 hours without being connected to a power source.
Snooper: This was very similar to the Aguri. In-fact, there were so many similarities, you would think that one was designed from the other. The snooper had the same annoying zoom and pan feature where you had to change the mode before you could move or zoom the map. This also had a fair few missing restrictions and incorrect speed limits. But this unit was far faster than the Aguri and never lagged. The startup time is also reasonably quick. Because it was so similar to the Aguri, it had many of the same options plus a few more of it’s own. This did have extra features such as handsfree calling. This was the worst device for traffic. This was the only device using the TMC system which was a pain in itself as you have to find somewhere to put the antenna in the power lead. This also didn’t really create bad routes but they were not the best of the bunch. My main criticism of this unit is the price. This was the most expensive of all the units and I got no speed camera database with it. That was an additional cost. I had no problems connecting it to my phone.
Most of my comments relating to this are the same as the Aguri. The lane guidance was exactly the same taking up the whole screen. Also, the process for updating maps is a pain and you never know whether a new map is available without going on the website and checking. I could also find no update for the software on the unit and all information pointed to the fact that if it needed updating, you had to pay snooper to do it. This does support multiple truck profiles with basic ADR information.
Battery life was around 30 minutes with no power connected.
Tom Tom Go 620 Professional: This unit was a surprise to me. I have only ever used Tom Tom before in my car so I had no idea what to expect from a truck version. To me, this still seemed like a car SatNav where someone had just added a few truck features as an after thought. It only allowed a single truck profile with basic HAZMAT information and all the details of that had to be entered in metric. It didn’t really give you any truck features other than a few lorry parking POIs, fuel etc. The unit itself is very sluggish to use with a delay when you select an option. Out of all the units, this and the other Tom Tom were the only ones that did plot routes that could get a lorry in to trouble. But for trucks, it was fairly featureless compared to some of the others, This does support handsfree calling and connected to my phone with no issues. The traffic information is fairly informative and accurate and lane guidance was easily useable. This and the other Tom Tom were the only units that stopped any monitoring once you reached your destination point. So you couldn’t just use them as a second pair of eyes if you were driving around with no route typed in.
The map seemed fairly up-to-date with restrictions etc and everything was clear. One good thing that I really liked about this unit is the app on your phone (Tom Tom MyDrive). I could use What3Words to pinpoint my exact destination and send the coordinates to the app with a single click. This then transferred to the device so it navigated to exactly where you wanted to be. Not really much more to say about this as it didn’t really have any standout features. But I would imagine people would like this if they wanted simplicity. The device also supports handsfree calling.
Battery life was about 20 minutes with no power connected, but this is an older unit that has been used for some time.
Tom Tom Go Expert (7 inch version): I seperated my review for the two Tom Toms as there are some key differences between them. First off, this is sold as an upgrade for the device above. To me, this is an upgrade that is actually a downgrade. It is basically the same as the above. If you are a Tom Tom fan and know the 620/6200/6250, you will be able to use this with next to no learning curve. It has been made better in the respect that it is faster (but still some lag on selecting icons) and POIs and restrictions show on the main map. But everything else about it is a downgrade. The handfree calling has been taken out and it no longer connects to the MyDrive app. The only use of the bluetooth interface is for internet access and you have to ensure bluetooth tethering is switched on for it to work. On my phone, tethering is not on by default and for the previous unit, this was handled by the MyDrive app. It should also be noted that this cannot be connected to a computer either. On the Tom Tom MyDrive PC version, the screen just switches to a message saying if you want to update the device use the menu options. You cannot use the PC to upload custom POIs etc. Also, because it no longer connects to the MyDrive app, you lose the facility to use What3Words. Other than that, it performed exactly the same as the 620 and produced exactly the same routes. One other improvement I found is if you are an ADR driver, the information in the truck profile can be very specific on this unit whereas HAZMAT was very basic on the 620.
Battery life was about 30 minutes with no power connected.
NavPal: Now I find it very hard to knock this unit. For £79 as a truck nav, it performed every bit as good as the big names and in many areas surpassed them. It didn’t have any traffic facility but that’s not the end of the world. In the menus, it did have a traffic history option but I couldn’t find out any information as to what this was. It had a fast startup, it was very responsive in operation, supported handfree calling and basically just worked. The lane guidance was good and the routes it plotted were as good as any of the others. It found every destination by postcode and easily connected to my phone for handsfree calling.
One thing I cannot comment on is the longevity of this item and how long it would last, I would also imagine that if did go wrong there would be limited support for it and would be a throw away and replace item. I also couldn’t test the map update facility or confirm how often new maps are available although a year was quoted, but this was one of the few units that knew about a new road that some of the big names didn’t. This also had a lot of other apps on it not related to navigation that you would either find useful or just a gimmick (games, clothes size converters etc). But as a lorry nav, it did provide a lot of useful features and was very accurate with it’s restrictions and speed limits.
One annoyance I found with this was it’s use of sliders to enter numbers. For example, entering my lorry’s maximum speed was a pain and I never could get it correct. Instead of just being able to enter 52MPH, you had to adjust a slider up and down and it would either go after the number you wanted or before it. I left it at 53MPH as that was the closest I could get after quite a few attempts. The map itself showed restrictions all the time along with POIs and was easy to move around, zoom and configure with lots of options. It supported multiple truck profiles with basic ADR information. You could also set it up to monitor driving time and suggest breaks and places to stop. The snooper also had this facility, but it was just a bit easier to use on this and a bit more automatic.
The other good thing about this unit is the extended time it will run with no power connected. I managed nearly 2.5 hours on battery alone. This was longer than the Aguri.
Co-Pilot: What an app is all I can say about this. This can easily be used as a standalone truck nav unit and does an excellent job of it. The routes it formed were mostly very good with no dangerous or questionable routes . The maps seems very up-to-date with restrictions and speed limits and even speed cameras. There are no extra costs for any of these items.
Battery life is obviously dependent on the device you are running it on, but every feature you need is there, works and no gimmicks.
I am still a little unsure about the routing in to 7.5t except for access zones. On every occassion this routed me in to the zone with no warning but did put a border around the section of road that was restricted that, according to the documentation, means a restriction is present. The documentation does say that this will warn of restrictions except where access is allowed for deliveries. But I couldn’t find any other information or discussions on this feature. Perhaps if anyone knows for sure about this, they can enlighten me. What I can say is that it definitely diverted me around roads that were 7.5t and were NOT allowed for access. If this is true, it is the only unit that does this.
The interface is very responsive and every piece of information you would need is on the screen and the graphics are very good and clear. It is fast to react to changes and very accurate. It can have multiple truck profiles and also basic ADR information. The only thing I will say about the truck profiles is that they can be a bit confusing until you get used to them. You have to select the type of lorry that is closest to yours and then there are limits to what you can type in. So if you choose the wrong lorry type then it won’t allow certain weights or lengths to be entered. I selected a lorry and every time I entered 12t in the weight, it just reverted back to 20t. I am not sure why it has been done like this as they are all the same.
If I was to ask for improvements on this the first one would be regarding routing in to a 7.5t zone. If it does handle this like I think it does, I would still like a warning that I am going to go in to a 7.5t zone rather than just following a route and suddenly seeing the sign.
The only other criticism I have is with lane guidance. There is nothing wrong with the lane guidance per se, but it seems speed cameras take priority over the guidance. There were a few occasions where it put it’s lane guidance arrows at the top of the screen and then, when there happens to be a speed camera on that part of the route, it removes the arrows and replaces them with a countdown to the speed camera. For me, the lane guidance is more important than the speed camera with respect to getting where I am going safely and easily.
This is one of the cheapest for reliable navigation at £8.99 per month and a good way to pay it without paying out a huge sum of money upfront. Obviously, if you run this on a device other than your phone then the cost increases to purchase that device. But my phone has a screen that is almost 7 inches so more than big enough for the app. The only reservation I have about running it on my phone all the time is the possible long term damage it could do to the screen with fairly static images and screen burn.
This also has fairly accurate and clear traffic information. I didn’t feel it was quite as accurate as the TomToms or the Garmin but certainly better than all the other devices.
The only time I became confused with this app was when I used it without a route planned and went under a low bridge in the car. It warned about the low bridge after I had gone under it but prior to it warning me about the bridge about a quarter of a mile before it warned I was on a restricted route. I assume this is restricted because of the bridge as their are no physical, legal restrictions on that road. The warning could have been a bit clearer.
If you have the What3Words app on your phone, you can also send What3Words coordinates straight to the app.
Overall, I think I will be keeping this app on my phone and up-to-date even if I decided not to use this as my primary SatNav.
Garmin: For me, this was the best device I had in the lorry cab. The interface is instant with no lags selecting menu items and has a whole host of useful features that I would consider useful features and not gimmicks. This was so configurable to get the information exactly as I wanted it on the screen. For routing, it was fairly fast and nearly always amongst the units that gave the best route to a particular destination. I did find a mapping error on the first day which I tried, unsuccessfully, to report to Garmin. Their map error reporting procedure just didn’t work. It was annoying with 7.5t except for access zones where it would take a longer route when it didn’t need to, but this was the same for all the units except Co-Pilot or where a unit didn’t have the restriction on it’s map. Battery life was about 45 minutes.
Even when typing in postcodes you didn’t have the hassle of changing between letters and numbers, it worked out what the postcodes would be and highlighted what was possible to type next. It also showed possible suggestions as you were mid-way through postcodes and in most cases you never had to fully type the complete postcode.
This unit had a lot of useful features that I would use everyday that the other units didn’t have. I can only fill the lorries with fuel at BP garages. Although the other units I could search for petrol garages, it was very hard sometimes to determine whether they were BP. With the Garmin, I could use a feature called up-ahead data where I had a data field on the screen that constantly showed me where the next nearest BP garage was as I was driving along the route. All I had to do was touch the icon and it would instantly navigate to it. The same is true of finding a place to stop to take a break. This had a complete list of lay-bys that I could also put as up-ahead data. Only the Aguri provided a pure lay-by database but to use it you had to go in to the menus and do a POI search. Although all the other units had POIs for parking, they all needed to be searched and then only provided the service stations, car parks or specialised truck parking.
This supported multiple lorry profiles that were very easy to use and you could type in the measurments in metric, imperial or a mixture. They also had full ADR information. Only the Garmin and Tom Tom Go Expert had that level of detail for ADR.
However, there are improvements I would ask for, Firstly, and this is a gripe of mine for all the units, a method to handle routing in to 7.5t except for access zones. For doing multi-drop work you encounter these all the time. It’s as simple as having an option where you can say ignore and just warn and leave it to the driver to ensure they can legally enter the zone. The Garmin does a good job of showing you where the actual signs are and you have to accept the route when it does, so I cannot imagine it’s a complicated thing to add an ignore option so it takes a more direct route.
The other thing I would like is to have the restriction symbols placed on the map. Although the Garmin picked up every single one, they do not show on the map like the Aguri, Snooper, NavPal and Tom Tom Go Expert do. I find this very useful for seeing what is ahead and around before it needs to warn me.
One other thing that I didn’t like was that you cannot change the volume whilst navigating. You had to come out the navigation, change the volume and then go back in again. Fortunately, you do not have to specify your destination again but it would be nice to have a method to directly change the volume.
This also had the Garmin Drive app on my phone. Using that I could send What3Words coordinates direct to the device pinpointing exactly where I wanted to go. The Garmin Drive app was also the only app that would accept destinations directly from Google Maps as well. This also has handfree calling and easily connected to my phone.
Lane guidance was excellent and very clear in most cases.
Traffic was very good on the Garmin. The accuracy was as good as the TomToms but it was presented very well on the screen.
I also found a weakness on this device. The GPS does not seem as sensitive as some of the others. While it was on the windscreen, I had no problems with GPS reception and it never faultered. But when it was laid on the passenger seat, I got a lost satellite reception message on a couple of occasions.
Handsfree Calling
I decided to bundle this together as there was no clear winner here. Out of all the units that were handsfree capable (NavPal, Tom Tom Go 620 Professional, Snooper, Garmin), they all connected to my phone ok and downloaded contacts. They also all had the same issue with the volume just not being loud enough and you having to almost shout to be easily heard by the person you were speaking to. But they all did work.
A word about speed and lag
I thought I would add a small section here about how I have used the terms speed and lag to describe some of the device performance. It was only that my son-in-law owns the Tom Tom Go 620 Professional that was used and he said he didn’t find the device slow. That was until he used the other units. So these terms are very relative and if you only use one device it probably will seem normal. But when you put these devices together it is easy to see that the responses are much slower on some units than others.
So after all the testing, which one would I buy?
This is a difficult one. None of the units tested behaved perfectly. The biggest let down for me is that none of the units (except Co-Pilot) would give you any choice over 7.5t weight restrictions where your drop point was within the zone, even though they were permitted for access. If there was a road where there was a 7.5t weight limit except for access sign at each end, then all of them would send you on a long journey around and then bring you up a side road near the drop point. There were no options or choices where you could say ignore and just warn me. The only thing you could do was change your vehicle profile to 7.5t and then you would get a direct route. This defeats the object of having a device that would warn you of a proper 7.5t zone that was NOT allowed for access.
But having said that, out of 63 drops there were only really 16 issues. Any of these units will get you where you want to go but you do need to use some common sense as well as none of these units did every route perfectly. In some cases it could have caused major issues if you just followed them blindly. A lot really comes down to personal preference and whether you want features or simplicity. I obviously have my personal choices but that’s because it suits how I want to use them.
I decided that the way to select my preferred device was to eliminate the ones I wouldn’t buy.
First on the list is the Aguri. They seem to be trying to position themselves as a premium truck SatNav and charge a premium price but it just simply isn’t. The hardware is slow and it didn’t do any better than the cheap NavPal. Plus it didn’t have handsfree calling. I know there are other options for that but it’s a feature that I personally wanted.
Secondly, I wouldn’t buy the Snooper. It is a very expensive product for what it offers. The traffic information wasn’t very good and the routing and map quality was average. For me, it certainly wasn’t worth the asking price compared to others. Coupled with the initial problem and the way you have to update it, this simply wasn’t a device I would consider spending anywhere near that much money on.
Thirdly, I wouldn’t buy either of the Tom Toms. This kind of really disappointed me as Tom Tom is the only brand of SatNav I have used in the past. But I just couldn’t see them as truck navs. It seems very little effort has gone in to making a truck nav by Tom Tom. They are just trying to sell them based on their reputation as a car SatNav manufacturer. It seems they have just taken their standard car nav, added a couple of truck features and then called it a truck nav. The truck features of the Tom Toms are very lacking compared to any of the other devices and in some cases produced questionable routing. But on the plus side these would be good if all you wanted was simplicity and were used to Tom Toms.
The NavPal I would buy but probably as a backup. For the price of it compared against it’s performance as a truck nav, I would keep one in my bag with reasonable confidence if my main device did fail.
Co-Pilot I will definitely be keeping on my phone. A great app that works reliably and accurately and is every bit as good as a standalone SatNav. In some cases better.
But my favourite after using these for 12-13 hours a day over the past week was the Garmin. This is almost certainly the device I will buy and use as my primary SatNav along with some common sense.
I hope this proves useful to other people. I certainly had fun doing it.
and i’m not very clued up on that dump.
