Ron Bentham's Funky Mercedes Hymer S700 Motorhome blog: USING A TABLET INSTEAD OF A DEDICATED SATNAV

RONS TECHNICAL TIPS NO "WHERE AM I?"

USING A TABLET INSTEAD OF A DEDICATED SATNAV

People seem to like dedicated satnavs, but even the cheap ones are expensive. I use an android 7 inch tablet - you can get brand new ones for £69, and s/h ones for buttons, and I run TomTom for android which costs £15 a year. The latest version of TT is really very good - not perfect, but very good. You don't need a connection to the internet, but if you do, then the traffic information is really excellent, and because the screen of the tablet is so big, it's a really nice display.

The icing on the cake with this solution, is that you can use the tablet for other things. Mine is basically setup as the vans mission control. It is mounted on the dash and isn't used for anything else - it lives there just like a dedicated satnav. In addition to TomTom I have the Wildcamping app, Google maps, and I also have the entire UK set of OS maps, which isn't cheap, but worth it for me. Because mine is always connected to the internet I can do research, messaging, facebook - anything I want really, and all from the drivers seat, while doing 90mph in the outside lane operating the phone with one hand and a beer in the other while steering with my knee. Obviously.

The Wildcamping app is particularly cool if your tablet is internet connected, the map displays the nearest spots, and with a single press it fires up Google street view and displays a photo of the wild spot.

Having Google Street View at your fingertips while on the road is also incredibly useful - saves having to get the laptop out or squint at the phone. As an example, I use it to check if there are any height barriers at shopping centre car parks. The only problem with it is that you have to put the beer down in order to operate the tablet.

If you buy the right tablet, and spend a bit more on one that has a sim socket, so it basically becomes a big mobile phone, and then shove in one of the cheap PAYG data sims from Three or EE, not only will you get real time traffic info from both TT and Google, you can use the personal hotspot feature of the tablet and provide wifi in the van for all your other devices. It is worth remembering that a tablet generally has a better antenna than a phone or a little mifi unit, and when mounted in the clear at the front of the van (see photo) will generally get a better signal in remote areas. Not as good as a dedicated external antenna, but better than a small phone.

So basically a dash mounted tablet/phablet is a very versatile jack of all trades and much cheaper than all but the cheapest Chinese sat navs.

I am very picky about satnav, and have tried them all except Garmin. I must say I am very quietly impressed with TomTom for android. It updates itself and is pretty much always up to date and maintenance free. I am more than happy to pay their reasonable annual fee.

Apple users can achieve all of the same buy buying an old Ipad mini, but unfortunately it has to be one with a sim card, because only the sim card Ipads have GPS. You don't need to have a sim in it for it to be a decent sat nav, but having a data sim in it, or tethering it to a phone will give you TomTom's traffic info - which is rather good. Most Android tabs have GPS - but do check.

Mine is mounted with Velcro, and fed power from a USB socket on the dash, and can be removed in seconds for security.

Finally - I was joking about the beer and operating while driving. They have now doubled the fine and points for operating a device while driving, so even I am now behaving myself, after years of knee steering I now have both hands on the wheel! It's weird! Mine is set up so that while driving it only needs a glance, and the voice instructions are really good. I even have it set up so that I can voice control it - I can say "Hey Google, navigate to the nearest Tesco", and it works. But usually it's just easier to do all the research and set up the journey before driving away. And of course your copilot can also do all the button pressing while you are driving.

I am not saying this is the best way to do things, but it is my favourite solution in my van. It isn't particularly technical, and quite easy to set up. Even if you only use a tablet for satnav - you still get a huge screen for very little money.