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Best GPS now that iPhone 5 is out

O

Omacc

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 7, 2012
99
0
Have any of you had a chance to use tomtom usa/ navigon/ or garmin with the iphone 5? and if so what are your thoughts?

apple maps is ok but i want to upgrade to something that does not always take me on highway routes and a GPS app that shows which highway lanes be in.
Also speed limit signs are a great additive within the app.

Which have worked best for you?
 
I did not do a comparison, but from reading reviews I went with Navigon. I have been very happy with Navigon. Finally replaced my Garmin!
 
I use Waze and like it. Free and has a lot of user participation informing you of traffic, accidents, construction and even police location.
 
TomTom USA/Canada has worked fine for me over the past year. User friendly and fairly accurate turn by turn directions. Hadn't tried any of the others mentioned so I can't make a comparison.
 
Navigon turn-by-turn not working for me

JonMPLS said:
I did not do a comparison, but from reading reviews I went with Navigon. I have been very happy with Navigon. Finally replaced my Garmin!
Click to expand...

Hi

How were you able to get Navigon's turn-by-turn working?

I have an iPhone5, iOS6 & Navigon US east, and 2012 Honda CR-V. I have been unable to get Navigon turn-by-turn working in my car. When I get into the car and turn the car on my iPhone auto-connects to my radio via bluetooth. I connect my phone to my usb cable that is directly connected to my car. From this point on I get NO turn-by-turn no matter what I try and what input I choose on my car.

Any ideas?

btw - if I turn off my car that will auto-disconnect my bluetooth connection between my car and iPhone. I can be holding my iPhone with Navigon running and I get turn-by-turn. I also have the WAZE app. WAZE works fine in my car and through the bluetooth connection.
 
user418 said:
TomTom USA/Canada has worked fine for me over the past year. User friendly and fairly accurate turn by turn directions. Hadn't tried any of the others mentioned so I can't make a comparison.
Click to expand...

Same with me. I have TomTom on my 4S and it is great. It is expensive, but very much worth it.
 
LubbersLine said:
Hi

How were you able to get Navigon's turn-by-turn working?

I have an iPhone5, iOS6 & Navigon US east, and 2012 Honda CR-V. I have been unable to get Navigon turn-by-turn working in my car. When I get into the car and turn the car on my iPhone auto-connects to my radio via bluetooth. I connect my phone to my usb cable that is directly connected to my car. From this point on I get NO turn-by-turn no matter what I try and what input I choose on my car.

Any ideas?

btw - if I turn off my car that will auto-disconnect my bluetooth connection between my car and iPhone. I can be holding my iPhone with Navigon running and I get turn-by-turn. I also have the WAZE app. WAZE works fine in my car and through the bluetooth connection.
Click to expand...


Sorry, can't help with this one. I use this only when traveling with a rental car. I just turn up the iphone volume and rely on the iphone speaker.
 
Omacc said:
Best GPS now that Iphone5 is out
Click to expand...
Why would things have suddenly changed? The countless prior threads on GPS nav apps are still valid. I still use TomTom. There's a bit of subjective preference involved in choosing a solution.

LubbersLine said:
How were you able to get Navigon's turn-by-turn working?

I have an iPhone5, iOS6 & Navigon US east, and 2012 Honda CR-V. I have been unable to get Navigon turn-by-turn working in my car. When I get into the car and turn the car on my iPhone auto-connects to my radio via bluetooth. I connect my phone to my usb cable that is directly connected to my car. From this point on I get NO turn-by-turn no matter what I try and what input I choose on my car.
Click to expand...
You mean voice prompts? The app does give you turn-by-turn instructions and the nav screen, right? You should be getting them via A2DP but if you're also using the lightning connector it's possible that it thinks that you have line out connected. I don't know anything about the 2012 CRV's interfaces and can't comment on them specifically.

LubbersLine said:
if I turn off my car that will auto-disconnect my bluetooth connection between my car and iPhone. I can be holding my iPhone with Navigon running and I get turn-by-turn. I also have the WAZE app. WAZE works fine in my car and through the bluetooth connection.
Click to expand...
When you're holding your phone in such cases is a cable still attached to the lightning connector? Does Waze work with a cable attached to the lightning connector?

If you haven't checked Navigon's settings then make sure sound isn't turned down or muted.

miragebg said:
Sygic! The best turn-by-turn navigation.
For me way better than Navigon.
Click to expand...
How so? Best and better really don't help others. They have no idea if your needs/wants are in line with their own.
 
Last edited:
I have used Tom Tom with their traffic data for years. In my experience it reroutes me around car accidents and traffic jams, much better than the others.
 
Kashsystems said:
I have used Tom Tom with their traffic data for years. In my experience it reroutes me around car accidents and traffic jams, much better than the others.
Click to expand...

For all the bad publicity Apple Maps has received (much of it deserved), i actually used it on my trip from Chicago to Ottawa, Canada and it got me to my exact destination!
 
Yousefarman said:
For all the bad publicity Apple Maps has received (much of it deserved), i actually used it on my trip from Chicago to Ottawa, Canada and it got me to my exact destination!
Click to expand...

My problem with Apple Maps right now is the ability to change directions based on traffic conditions.

One time there was a 1 mile stretch of freeway blocked off because of a truck accident. The Tom Tom app had me get off at an earlier exit and then get back on at an exit pass the accident. What would have been a 45 min delay was change to 5 mins.

For consulting, I will drive between 150 to 250 miles in a given day, for my sanity this is my most important feature.
 
takeshi74 said:
You mean voice prompts? The app does give you turn-by-turn instructions and the nav screen, right? You should be getting them via A2DP but if you're also using the lightning connector it's possible that it thinks that you have line out connected.
Click to expand...

btw...what is A2DP? Never mind. Google is a beautiful thing :D
 
Omacc said:
Have any of you had a chance to use tomtom usa/ navigon/ or garmin with the iphone 5? and if so what are your thoughts?

apple maps is ok but i want to upgrade to something that does not always take me on highway routes and a GPS app that shows which highway lanes be in.
Also speed limit signs are a great additive within the app.

Which have worked best for you?
Click to expand...

Navigon is amazing, I really think it's the best out of all of them (Yar-har-fiddle de-dee'd them all a few months ago, decided Navigon was the best). It's 30 dollars for the USA, I believe, and it's worth every penny. (It often goes on sale, too) It's got highway lanes, locations of speed traps (says "caution" when speeding in a known speed trap), around-town lane assistance... so many great features.
 
Omacc said:
Have any of you had a chance to use tomtom usa/ navigon/ or garmin with the iphone 5? and if so what are your thoughts?

apple maps is ok but i want to upgrade to something that does not always take me on highway routes and a GPS app that shows which highway lanes be in.
Also speed limit signs are a great additive within the app.

Which have worked best for you?
Click to expand...

I have tried Tom Tom, NAVIGON, Waze, and Garmin (own only NAVIGON but tried Tom Tom and Garmin on friend's phone) but in the end, I actually prefer iOS 6 Maps app (although points of interest search needs to be a lot better). The UI on these 3rd party apps are all clunky (Garmin and Waze have less bad UI).

That said, routing in many cases are superior on Tom Tom, NAVIGON, and Garmin. Waze have been pretty bad for me, often asking me to take an exit only to get back to the highway (may work better for some people).

So I use Apple Maps for normal use and NAVIGON for times when I need offline access or when Apple Maps routing engine is flaking out. I picked NAVIGON for lifetime traffic in-app purchase option (others require annual renewal), but I strongly dislike NAVIGON's UI and map look and feel.
 
LubbersLine said:
Hi

How were you able to get Navigon's turn-by-turn working?

I have an iPhone5, iOS6 & Navigon US east, and 2012 Honda CR-V. I have been unable to get Navigon turn-by-turn working in my car. When I get into the car and turn the car on my iPhone auto-connects to my radio via bluetooth. I connect my phone to my usb cable that is directly connected to my car. From this point on I get NO turn-by-turn no matter what I try and what input I choose on my car.

Any ideas?

btw - if I turn off my car that will auto-disconnect my bluetooth connection between my car and iPhone. I can be holding my iPhone with Navigon running and I get turn-by-turn. I also have the WAZE app. WAZE works fine in my car and through the bluetooth connection.
Click to expand...

A few thoughts: why do you connect to the cable if the iphone is already connected via bluetooth. It should work fine through your speakers that way. Maybe the cable is screwing something up. Also, you can choose to use the iphone speaker for navigon even when the phone is connected via bluetooth. Its a pain, you have to do each time it connects. Just go to volumn on iphone in the navigon app and switch to iphone speaker.
 
I enjoy the Navigon app. I dont use it much but when I have it was flawless.

Used it on a road trip from Miami to Orlando, and another time in Puerto Rico and it was excellent and the street view is pretty cool too!
 
JAT said:
Power.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah duh! It still might be screwing something up if its the USB cord that is used for data and not just a cig. Light power cord. I have two in my car, one is power only and the other is power plus data.
 
Mac'nCheese said:
A few thoughts: why do you connect to the cable if the iphone is already connected via bluetooth. It should work fine through your speakers that way. Maybe the cable is screwing something up. Also, you can choose to use the iphone speaker for navigon even when the phone is connected via bluetooth. Its a pain, you have to do each time it connects. Just go to volumn on iphone in the navigon app and switch to iphone speaker.
Click to expand...

GPS functionality on an iPhone tends to drain the battery very fast. Trust me, I'm a cyclist and I used to use my iPhone for tracking my rides (etc. Strava.com iPhone app). I could get maybe 80 miles or 4 hours out of the iPhone/GPS before the battery was sucked dry. I switched to a Garmin Edge 500 for cycling. For this reason an iPhone user is pretty much forced to connect to some kind of power supply when using a GPS app.

WAZE is a free GPS app and is working fine with my current setup. I paid a pretty penny for Navigon. No worky which is ridiculous for a paid app.

Switching to using my iPhone's speaker kind of defeats the purpose of Navigon's voice turn-by-turn doesn't it especially if WAZE works fine through BT and my radio speakers?

I found Navigon's support email address and sent them an email about this. I will report back IF I hear anything.
 
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