satnav app on android

About 6 months ago I installed Mapfactor navigator onto my galaxy tab, I use this tool for work and have saved about 150 uk postcodes and it works fantastically.
My question is has anyone got this and used it in europe, because I'm thinking of using this while travelling to Spain in a few weeks?.

Hi,

I installed Nav Free on both my Galaxy Note (n7000) and on Barbs Galaxy S2 and it works fine in Europe as well as here, you have to download all of the maps for the countries you are going to visit, and it works off line so doesn't need an internet connection.

Be careful most of the Satnav systems on the Android and Iphone I believe need an internet connection, which is fine if you have a date plan while in the UK, but watch out when you cross the channel as the date connections can be very costly.

NavFree from the Play Store works OK without an internet connection but when we were in Germany we had to select the destination from the map view as there appears to be a glitch with the search function, but other than that it worked fine.

NavFree details

So is that mapfactor? Because this is the one I use as above.

Hi, No its NavFree, but it looks very similar in the way it works, so I wouldn't think it would be a problem to use while you are in Europe, other than perhaps the same thing that I found with NavFree when in Germany. The search function didn't work when I had the data roaming connection turned off, I had to use the map to sort of point to my next destination albeit that wasn't really a major problem.

Just be-careful that you turn Data Roaming off on your phone when you leave the UK, as NavFree states more or less the same as Mapfactor i.e. it doesn't NEED an internet connection, ?NEED the question is does it use one if its available, only if it does and you leave the Data Roaming turned on you could run up a big bill.

Hope that makes sense

No worries on data roaming as my tab isn't 3g.

How do you find the battery time when using the navigator

No different Brian, when I use it for work I still get at least 6 hours!

I use Navfree in the UK on my iPhone when I don't have my TT but I find it very power hungry in fact even connected to the ciggie lighter power it still uses more power that input, not impressed.

Hi similar problem have purchased a 2 amp 12 volt cigar lighter socket charger from ebay works a treat.
I have downloaded mapfactor and all the free maps for europe going to give that a try as it dosent sound like its so power hungry

Yes I have one of them Brian but it is in the m/h not the car, must get another one

have downloaded mapfactor and all the free maps for europe going to give that a try as it dosent sound like its so power hungry[/quote]

I did put some co-ords in earlier in france for eg, and it was only a few hundred yards adrift...

Hi, I used mapfactor yesterday albeit only locally in the UK, but it works fine, I really can't see any problems with using it in Europe other than possibly the search facility,

As NavFree worked fine in the UK but when I went to Germany it seemed to need a data connection to search for an address albeit in the UK it didn't, which doesn't really make sense. But it was OK when I used the map to pinpoint my destination.

I would certainly use it when traveling abroad, we do carry maps as well, but haven't used them for years.

Thanks for the tip and I have the 2 amp cigar lighter charger just in case it starts to drain the battery in my Note phone.

I have also put navfree on my tablet for france & spain as a backup, is this 2a cigar adapter any diferent from the standard one you get with the device?

Hi the cigar socket charger I had orginally for my galaxy note n7000 Phone was only 1 amp I think most standard cigar chargers are either 1 amp or less albeit they seem perfectly OK for charging most if not all phones but we found that Navfree as a Satnav on our galaxy n7000 was taking more power than the standard cigar charger could keep up with so we purchased the 2 amp one and it seems to work a treat
hope that makes sense
the output from the charger should be written on it albeit if your tablet last 6 hours running as a satnav I doulbt you will have any problems my phone battery could be a lot smaller

Have a look for an app called waze, drivers at work swear by it, not sure if it is data hungry or not but the main reason they use it is to see where each other is and traffic reports, could be handy for a group travelling together

Looks like another job to do -thanks Ken

Just put it on my tab, may get to try it out this week. Ken.

I installed it and tried it out today, it has some good features, the navigation is good as well. Will use data though so be aware if using it abroad.
I have created a group called Motor-Homers.co.uk, use the search option to find it

Also installed on phone but no chance to look at it yet

I don't think I will be able to use it abroad on this tablet as I have no 3g on it.