Best Sat Navs (2026)

A truck sat nav is not a car sat nav with a bigger screen. The difference is the vehicle profile: you tell it your height, weight, width, length and what you are carrying, and every route it draws is checked against the restrictions database before it tells you to turn. Google Maps and Waze route for cars. They know nothing about your 4.2 metre trailer, the 7.5 tonne limit on the village road, or the 6 foot 6 width restriction through the estate. That is why phone apps keep putting artics under railway bridges, and why Network Rail's bridge strike count runs to well over a thousand a year. If you still want to try the app route first, read our piece on HGV sat nav apps and when a phone is not enough.

The three names worth your money

Garmin, TomTom and Snooper are the only three brands we would put in a cab, and they split roughly by budget and habit.

• Garmin has three dēzl units. The Garmin dēzl LGV610 HGV Truck Sat Nav (around £300) is the 6-inch entry point with the full truck routing, HGV parking search and Birdseye satellite imagery for yard entrances. The Garmin dēzl LGV800 MT-S Truck Sat Nav (around £330) is the older 8-inch model with lifetime map updates and several mounting options. The Garmin dēzl LGV820 HGV Truck Sat Nav (around £400) is the current 8-inch flagship with voice control and the wind radar overlay.
• TomTom's TomTom GO Expert Plus 6-Inch Truck Sat Nav (around £280) and TomTom GO Expert Plus 7-Inch Truck Sat Nav (around £320) run the same software. Both ship with world maps rather than Europe only, update over WiFi with no PC involved, and push live restriction warnings for closures on your route. If you run international, the world maps settle it.
• Snooper's Snooper TRUCKMATE S6900 HGV Sat Nav (around £250) is the cheapest way into proper HGV routing and the only one with a UK speed camera database and a constant speed limit readout built in. The interface looks a decade old, map updates go through PC software, and the camera database needs a paid subscription after the first year. The Snooper TRUCKMATE SC5900 DVR with Dash Cam (around £370) bolts a front dash cam onto the same unit; one mount and one cable, but the camera is not as good as a dedicated one and if the power lead fails you lose both.

Screen size depends on the cab, not the driver

In a Sprinter or Transit the windscreen is close and the dash is shallow, so a 6-inch unit on the screen sits about an arm's length from your eyes. A 6-inch screen is fine there. In a Scania, DAF or Volvo the dash is deep and the screen ends up further away, and at 56 mph you want the next junction readable in one glance rather than a squint. That is the case for the 7-inch TomTom or the 8-inch Garmins in a truck. The trade-off is windscreen real estate; an 8-inch unit is a real block of glass gone, so mount it low and to the left where it does not cover the mirror or the near-side kerb.

Live traffic is usually your phone in disguise

Every unit here advertises live traffic, but on the Garmins and TomToms it arrives through your phone. You pair the unit over Bluetooth, the maker's app runs on the phone, and the traffic data comes down your phone's mobile data. The MT-S suffix on the LGV800 means exactly this. Two things follow. First, if your phone is flat or you keep it off in the cab, you have no live traffic. Second, it costs you a little data every day. Neither is a problem for most drivers who already run a phone in the cab, but do not expect the unit to reroute round a closed motorway on its own.

Map updates are restriction updates

Weight limits change. Bridges get re-signed. A truck sat nav with a stale map is guessing about the very thing you bought it for. The Garmins include lifetime map updates and the TomToms include map updates over WiFi with world maps in the price. Snooper updates through software on a PC, which is fine if you have one at home and a pain if you live in the cab. Whichever you buy, plug it into WiFi once a month and let it update.

Wind radar: who it is for

The LGV820's wind radar lays wind speed and direction over the map along your route. If you pull a curtainsider, a double-decker or an empty box trailer over the M62 tops, the A66 or the Severn crossing, that is useful information about whether to press on or park up. If you drive a rigid tipper or a low-loader you will never open it, and the LGV610 or LGV800 gives you the same routing for less.

Car-only Garmins for vans and trades

If you are an electrician in a Berlingo, you do not need truck routing and you should not pay for it. The Garmin DriveSmart 66 Car Sat Nav (around £150) has a 6-inch screen, full Europe maps, Bluetooth hands-free calling and voice commands. The Garmin DriveSmart 86 with Amazon Alexa (around £220) is the 8-inch version with Alexa on top. The Garmin Drive 53 GPS Sat Nav (around £80) is the 5-inch budget unit with EU maps and low emission zone guidance, but no Bluetooth calling. One warning for high-roof van drivers: a long-wheelbase high-roof Sprinter is close to 2.8 metres tall and just over 2 metres wide before mirrors. Car routing will happily take you through a 2.1 metre car park barrier or a 6 foot 6 width limit. If your van is that shape and you deliver into unfamiliar estates every day, the vehicle profile on a truck unit is not wasted on you. See our TomTom vs Garmin truck sat nav comparison if you get that far.

Which one for whom

• Class 1 on curtainsiders or double-deckers: Garmin dēzl LGV820. Big screen, wind radar, voice control.
• Class 2 rigid, multi-drop or municipal: Garmin dēzl LGV610 or the TomTom GO Expert Plus 6-Inch. Full truck routing, smaller footprint on the glass.
• International haulage: TomTom GO Expert Plus 7-Inch for the world maps and WiFi updates.
• UK-only and speed cameras matter to you: Snooper TRUCKMATE S6900, and budget for the subscription.
• Van-based trades: Garmin DriveSmart 66. Add a truck unit only if you run a high-roof long-wheelbase van into strange estates daily.
• Taxi and private hire: Garmin DriveSmart 66 for the hands-free calling, or the Drive 53 if the dash is small. Our taxi sat nav setup guide goes deeper.