Shop4Parts - UK's largest online superstore for FIAT and Alfa Romeo parts

General 500 blue and me satnav any good??

Currently reading:
General 500 blue and me satnav any good??

T

tinkerhell

New member
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
Messages
1
Points
1
Hello, not sure what i am doing here but hope this is right......basically i just traded in my 500c for a 500, mainly because i just didnt use the roof and my 500c was plagued with issues and so wanted to trade before my warranty ran out. So my old 500c had reverse warning thingys and the new one doesnt, i got used to reverse parking without looking behind me! i have £200 vouchers to use and i am torn between using them to get the reverse thingy's fitted or buying one of those satnavs that fit into the dashboard and learning to park without help again! I have heard that the satnav system is a bit crap and so i am after advice from anyone who has used it??
thanks
Tink x
:slayer:
 
I think there are two SatNavs you can get, but the one to go for is the TomTom. It's a new model which is based on the GO 1000 Live called the Blue & Me LIVE 2. It's a very good SatNav and i like the way the bracket means no wires or sticky thing on your windscreen. The integration with the car is cool too, you can drive it through the steering wheel controls and can view trip info and control the media player. You do need the Blue&Me option as well by the way... plus the dealer needs to spec the no charge option to allow the satnav to plug into the dash.

I've only been using it a week but so far I like it a lot. Whether the car integration is useful beyond a gadget I'm not convinced yet, but that aside it's a good SatNav which fits the car nicely. Way better than parking sensors
 
The Blue&Me Tom Tom units are, by all accounts fairly good. Blue&Me Nav, is by all accounts rather rubbish.
 
I had a look at the tomtom version in the showroom and it looked fairly basic... but then what do you need more.

RaR
 
Nick600 said:
I think there are two SatNavs you can get, but the one to go for is the TomTom. It's a new model which is based on the GO 1000 Live called the Blue & Me LIVE 2. It's a very good SatNav and i like the way the bracket means no wires or sticky thing on your windscreen. The integration with the car is cool too, you can drive it through the steering wheel controls and can view trip info and control the media player. You do need the Blue&Me option as well by the way... plus the dealer needs to spec the no charge option to allow the satnav to plug into the dash.

I've only been using it a week but so far I like it a lot. Whether the car integration is useful beyond a gadget I'm not convinced yet, but that aside it's a good SatNav which fits the car nicely. Way better than parking sensors
Click to expand...

306maxi said:
The Blue&Me Tom Tom units are, by all accounts fairly good. Blue&Me Nav, is by all accounts rather rubbish.
Click to expand...

Anytime that I've had a quick look at the Tom Toms I have 'bottomed out'. I was looking for one for the 500 without the dash plug in & one for a Mito (which has one) - the impossible ! Even if I got one for a '09 Mito it may not necessarily work in anther model in the Alfa / Fiat range or may not work fully in a new 500 with the dash plug in. It would be handy if they was a spreadsheet listing which models worked in particular cars.

A particular interest that I would now have is a Sat Nav that would alert me to the position of speed cameras and if I was exceeding the speed limit that they were set at. I was recently caught on a fixed camera that was set to 30mph when that section of the dual carriageway used to be 40mph. It was a pity that my trusty iphone wasn't in trapster mode - it might have saved me €80 and 2 points on the licence.
 
I recommend the blueandme tomtom 2, it integrates very well (if you have blu and the dash port) and does the speed camera thing, economy details, traffic reroute options, music player bits (although the dash LEDs and the steering wheel already do) no flaws so far. I can't beleive with all it's other integration it doesn't use the car speakers, thus interrupting your music to give a command but that is minor.
 
Last edited:
loveshandbags said:
A particular interest that I would now have is a Sat Nav that would alert me to the position of speed cameras and if I was exceeding the speed limit that they were set at. I was recently caught on a fixed camera that was set to 30mph when that section of the dual carriageway used to be 40mph. It was a pity that my trusty iphone wasn't in trapster mode - it might have saved me €80 and 2 points on the licence.
Click to expand...

I've got a garmin nuvi satnav, I think it's this one Garmin Nuvi 1490 Traffic Satellite Navigation System: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics It has the speed cams on it as you approach them and displays the speedlimit on the road you're driving too along with your speed next to it.

I got busted last month myself - got to go on a course :eek: - was busted at 35 by the van that sits next to the 40 sign approached on a 30 road. My OH thinks it's hillarious as he think's I'm a slow driver!
 
I was told by a great sales lady in the fiat I bought my 500c from, whilst I was all excited on ordering and ordering all sorts of extra like here was no tomorrow I enquired about the tom Tom with the in dash port and she said it was about £300, can't remember the exact price, but I was like "what, you joking" she said she had just had a customer who had bought a tomtom from say curry's or somewhere which was the same shape and size as the one thy sell. And he tried it in her demo unit to check it worked and it did and he just bought the in dash cradle/holder and parts sold it for about £40, think she said it saved about £120 doing this way but not sure you'd get like the Eco drive thing on it but then the Eco drive USB will show u all that nd the gear shift up down is on the dash on newer models hope this helps
 
You don't get any of the B&M stuff or integration with the car aside from what you'd get with any other bluetooth system.
 
You can buy a normal Go1000 and a cradle and you may save yourself £80 but it won't do all the B&M stuff like control the media player, trip data or phone integration. I think that's worth £80.
 
I have been using TomTom on my iPhone for about a year and with the cradle it just works great for me. No need to have another device in the car and another device to keep the software upto date. The nice bit about the iphone tomtom app is they add new functions almost in every update... and with every update you get the updated maps without any extra cost.

RaR
 
rockaroller said:
I have been using TomTom on my iPhone for about a year and with the cradle it just works great for me. No need to have another device in the car and another device to keep the software upto date. The nice bit about the iphone tomtom app is they add new functions almost in every update... and with every update you get the updated maps without any extra cost.

RaR
Click to expand...

I looked at updating the OH's Garmin nuvi 255 yesterday put the update cost is £79 :eek:. There was some suggested 'work arounds' ;) but with a very sluggish USB connection I hesitated and thought it might be better to leave it be and have a 'working' satnav or else pay for the update.

One problem with a iphone sat nav is roaming costs but it sounds like a great 'local' option.(y)
 
Nope the iphone has the full tomtom maps in a offline state... I used in in Germany about a month ago... it just takes a bit of time the first time you switch it on in a different country to get SAT lockon. I went for the full eu maps. The one extra nice thing is you can do a google search within the app and then navigate to it... you can also navigate to photos you took with your iphone as the phone adds a geotag to it.

I bought mine about a year ago when I was still in Switzerland and its been working since there... its become much faster with the new versions and the iPhone 4.

You will need to get the iphone cradle as its got bluetooth and gps booster built in.

RaR
 
rockaroller said:
Nope the iphone has the full tomtom maps in a offline state... I used in in Germany about a month ago... it just takes a bit of time the first time you switch it on in a different country to get SAT lockon. I went for the full eu maps. The one extra nice thing is you can do a google search within the app and then navigate to it... you can also navigate to photos you took with your iphone as the phone adds a geotag to it.

I bought mine about a year ago when I was still in Switzerland and its been working since there... its become much faster with the new versions and the iPhone 4.

You will need to get the iphone cradle as its got bluetooth and gps booster built in.

RaR
Click to expand...

Thanks for that update R&R and a good example of how to correct someone.(y)
I would think that there's an opportunity being missed by Apple or Tom Tom on this app because I was of the belief that a 'selling advantage' for Nokia (ok - slightly 'old hat') over Apple was that 'you can download the maps' feature. I had not realised you could download the maps with the Tom Tom app (understand that they are 1GB).
I got a nasty bill from my mobile phone provider in 2010 with the volanic ash trying to re-route a journey home. Shortly afterwards the mobile providers revised their roaming charges. Hence the phobia about switching on the 'roaming' feature which isn't of course needed for this app.
At the end of October last year I was up at the border counties (around a place called Castleleslie based in the Eire) and on a day trip into Northern Ireland got lost on the back roads. When I used the Garmin to get back to the lodge it was sending me in circles. Google maps app on the iphone got me back and I didn't mind paying the roaming charges. Classic example of an outdated Sat Nav.
The tom tom app is an interesting option (particularly with the faster iphone4S, etc) and that cradle is pretty cool with the way that you change the iphone to landscape. Didn't realise that it also boosted the 'GPS'. We've had the 'battle' of the cameras & the smartphone. It might now be the Sat Nav and the iphone/HTC/Samsung Galaxy II.
 
I purchased a Garmin Nuvi 1340 and have not had a problem. It came with a black disc which attaches to the flat part of the dash to the right of the steering wheel. You can than attach/detach the unit from the vertical plane when required.

It came with a lifetime update via the net (free) it warns re speed cameras and possible mobile locations. Also warns when exceeding the speed limit in the area plus alerts you to traffic congestion on your planned route with a time factor and the ability to divert if need be.

All in all a nifty piece of equipment. Being portable I am taking to the States next year when driving and picked up a USA mapping mini SD card (genuine Garmin) for a third of the price. (e-bay).
 
If anyone is looking at an app for their iphone / smartphone came across this copilot app which is a little cheaper at £24.99 as opposed to the better tom tom app at £49.99. You will need to budget for the GPS holder, etc.
http://www.trustedreviews.com/alk-copilot-live-8-for-iphone_Mobile-App_review
it's linked to facebook, twit stuff etc.

Still tempted with getting a proper sat nav after having a quick look at the ones posted.

Has anyone tried putting in their reg no. or a 'mates' on this speed camera database :eek:
http://www.i-database.co.uk/...
 
The cheaper satnav software is good for around town where you have 3G signal, but as soon as you go out of signal range and have to drive with EDGE or GPRS signal your GPS cannot update quick enough. Same problem we have with Google maps. The TOMTOM iphone app is all the maps locally (1.6GB download) so it does not matter if you have signal or not and that is a must for me. Also the tomtom's carkit has a GPS booster in so it does not burn your phones GPS up. The sat lockons are quick and the recalculation is super fast. I took the western EU option as we go driving allot in the EU and its nice to have one piece of kit to carry around.

Again, it where you going to use it.... if you around big towns and cities then the cheaper option is great but if you like to explore then the offline option (full maps) is the way to go.

Hope this helps
RaR
 
rockaroller said:
The cheaper satnav software is good for around town where you have 3G signal, but as soon as you go out of signal range and have to drive with EDGE or GPRS signal your GPS cannot update quick enough. Same problem we have with Google maps. The TOMTOM iphone app is all the maps locally (1.6GB download) so it does not matter if you have signal or not and that is a must for me. Also the tomtom's carkit has a GPS booster in so it does not burn your phones GPS up. The sat lockons are quick and the recalculation is super fast. I took the western EU option as we go driving allot in the EU and its nice to have one piece of kit to carry around.

Again, it where you going to use it.... if you around big towns and cities then the cheaper option is great but if you like to explore then the offline option (full maps) is the way to go.

Hope this helps
RaR
Click to expand...

Thanks for that RaR. The Tom Tom does seem to be the app to have on the iphone and if you can get it on to on iphone4 or even a 4S all the better. The iphone 3Gs eats the battery in GPS mode on google maps & trapster and can barely keep up with the charger. I was always under the impression that the GPS function on the iphone wasn't as accurate as a proper sat nav put this seems to have come on in 'leaps and bounds'. Had not realised there was an optimised app for an ipad2 (not that I have one) which apparently has a better GPS 'chip' than the iphone.
 
Got the Blue & Me TomTom yesterday, so gave it a try to and from work today.
Have to say I'm impressed. Paired with the car immediately and good to be able to have the media player functions/ display on the device. Also, most impressed with the live traffic. You can just have the map on screen without navigation, which shows all the traffic issues in your locality, which is useful. I even varied my route home tonight as I could see there was an issue on my usual route. This is definitely a satnav that will get regular use, not just got out for the odd long journey.
Only real quibble for me is the position of the port. It means the device is very 'in your face' and a bit distracting. Would be better in the centre, as would still be in reach. Also, the touchscreen isn't as fluid as an iPhone. It's not bad but not as responsive as your top end smartphone.
Overall verdict is that it's worth it.
 
Yes the NEW 'Blue&Me TomTom 2 Live' is a very different animal to the original Blue&Me TomTom. It now has all the features you could ever want (more or less) including full postcode entry, multi-level congestion colour coding to show level of congestion en-route, local weather etc etc and of course integration with the car on screen. Check out the downloadable user manual PDF for it... it is about 112 pages mind you. http://download.tomtom.com/open/man...refman/Blue_and_Me-TomTom-2-LIVE-RG-en-GB.pdf
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
  • Question
Technical Blue and Me bypass
Replies
16
Views
2K
TheFlyingBanana2
T
T
Technical Blue and me
Replies
9
Views
811
Piccolo Nero e Bella
Piccolo Nero e Bella
W
Technical Fiat 500 blue and me
Replies
2
Views
861
jackwhoo
J
W
Technical Proxi and blue&me problem
Replies
6
Views
592
Wuuf
W
G
Technical Are all Fiat 500 Blue & Me modules the same?
Replies
14
Views
1K
PuntoHowTo
PuntoHowTo
Back
Top