Sat Nav glove box

[little_pete]

Ok so I fitted a glovebox to my morris bit of fiddling, but not as bad as I thought and I was skeptical about the card liner before It was forced into place it's now nice and ridged.

Anyway I put a satnav in the glovebox and it seems to work ok in that little metal box I was worried no stallites would get to it. It can see 9 satallites, I haven't driven the car yet and noticed if it's sluggish or if there's a problem in built up areas. I think it's quite neat. I had a sat nav desk top dock and just put that in the glove box. Ran the wire to a cigarette lighter/USB combo. Which just went to earth and the only on with ignition side of the fusebox. (well actually the previous owner had fitted a stereo and conveniently (in some ways) made a mimic of the fuse box under the dash for situations like this.)[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

So now the sat nav can be removed and taken with me, the dock put towards the back of the glove box, If i wanted to be extra safe I'll just through in my demisting cloth to cover all evidence to stop a potential break in

(yes I need that chrome strip around the glove box opening)

[bmcecosse]

I too am v surprised it can work inside the Faraday Cage of the bodyshell!

[little_pete]

I'll try driving it before I call it a success, it may constantly loose signal. Which would be useless. Shame they don't have an external ariel

[silloyd]

I've used the Sat Nav on my Android phone with the phone in exactly the same position and amazingly it works fine.

BTW if anyone has a smartphone and want to save yourself a fortune, get hold of 'Navfree' 'cos (a) it's free, as it's name suggests, but as importantly (b) maps are available for a wide range of countries with regular map updates....for nowt .

[MarkyB]

Seconded!
Used it on the MOT this year, you don't have to buy a map, just get Navfree France or Benelux.

[bmcecosse]

I believe phone works by tracking masts - not true 'sat ' nav. The phone signal is much stronger and can reach in to the glovebox.

[little_pete]

Some phones only work like that most of the 'smart phones' actually have a real GPS chip and use the triangulation of phone signal (and wifi) to fill in the gaps if the signal is lost. So yes they should be more robust than a stand alone sat-nav.

Can you download the maps for Navfree or will it use your roaming data to access online maps?

Just did a short run test seems plenty fast enough in there, if it has slowed down I can't tell it's definitely quick enough for pootling around in a Morris. (When I'm in a hurry in my modern car my little sat nav does seem to get 1 or 2 exits behind on the round about.) and in a really convenient place. Also it tells me I'm doing 55 not 60 like my speedo says

[bmcecosse]

Great success then! 10% fast on speedo is not unknown - they were ~ 5% fast when new - and over the years the spring will have weakened..

[silloyd]

Can you download the maps for Navfree or will it use your roaming data to access online maps?

Yes you can download them. I connect to WiFi at home to download the (very large) files. You should also download the 'Postcode' file if you want to use them to locate your destination.

I've never had a problem with lag or lost signals (Samsung Galaxy SIII), though you do need to connect your phone to power on long journeys as the GPS drains the battery fast.

[little_pete]

damn should have just put a phone holder in there. The USB gadget I bought was two USBs and two outlets so I can plug my phone into one and the GPS in the other, I'd prefer just one thing though maybe when I get a new phone, I have an Iphone 3GS and it's full to the brim and a bit sluggish now probably can't handle the sat nav

[MarkyB]

I believe that GPS apps on smart phones use the phone mast signal to get a first fix then satellites when they can be seen for navigation.

Works a lot better than a straight GPS that wants to get a first fix from satellites before route calculation can begin.

I run Navfree on a 3GS, UK only uses 512 MB, France 634 MB.