Sat-Navs - Seeing as we are having a ranting day

[Herbie]

I have noticed so many claims about time saving that people make. Im not sure I understand where the satnav saves an amount of time that actually changes life as we know it or actually makes money for business by the minute. Being someone who drove with TIME as a major importance factor governing my work and the amount I could achieve in a day.

I see this argument for satnav to be no better than the arguments by motorists who drive in excess of the limit all the time whilst complaining about those that dont and in a given journey save only seconds!

Maybe useful for emergency services but in every day life I think good map reading/sign reading and mermory will do it just as well.

I think people who rely on their own brain more than distracting gismos become better road users for it.

 

[Smiffy]

I have a Garmin 760 and find it useful now and again but the Missus uses it more than me. Her sense of direction is terrible.
Where I find this particular model handy is if I am going away for the week-end with the motorbike club. Earlier this year we went away to Scotland (Fort William) for a long week-end, touring around in a large group.
Somebody arranged two routes that took in the Isle of Skye and Glencoe, posted them on the site and they could be downloaded to your Garmin so that you had them installed ready for when you got there.
A great idea for when you are following a set route in a strange area but there is the possibility that you may get split up at sometime from the main group.
Not all SatNavs allow the downloading of specific routes, but those that do are worth their weight in gold

 

[TonyN]

There is nothing better than having a ciggie, whilst on the phone to your mate asking for the postcode for the offy whilst bombing down the motorway, you guys take life to seriously!!!!

Joke BTW, I dont smoke.....

I have a satnav, And I have a love/hate relationship with it.

I set it before a journey and hardley ever have to pull over to adjust it, if I miss a turning I just follow the redirected route.

I drive new places all the time, I love driving up and down the country exploring new places so the satnav is a god send.

Problem with my satnav is the operating software is sometimes too slow and tells me to turn after I have passed the junction.

Usually best when H.I.D is in the car because she can concentrate on that and me on the road. I often ignore it though and just concentrate on road signs for directions if I am unsure of the route and only use that satnav as a back up. It spends 95% of its life in the glove box under my seat!

 

[forefortheday]

I can get lost in my own house so Sat Nav is a god send for new places, but I don't look at screen just listen to the voice, mines good enough to give me advance warning about which junction etc.

Used in conjunction with proper road signs they are great but like all gadgets you shouldn't mess about with them whilst driving.

 

[Herbie]

Part of lifes experience is getting lost now and then

 

[Cernunnos]

someone earlier said fiddling with it whilst driving should constitute a fine & points... And I believe it now does.

Going off topic for a moment, you are not suposed to eat at the wheel... i.e. you can't eat a mars bar on the move... yet people can still smoke... wafting around what is essentially a naked flame. Drop your mars bar on the fabric all you get on it is chocolate.... drop a fag & someone could set fire to the inside of the car... Now which in reality is more dangerous...

But getting back on topic I've come across numerous secons of new dual carrageway not marked on my TomTom. A section of A5 near Tamworth, a bypass around the south of Gloucester, a section of route into East Anglia, not to mention A bypass in Rutland, to name but a few. But a little common sense & a quick glance seeing your curser in the middle of what should be fields & a knowing grin allows you to ignore the little voice for many miles as it keeps trying to get you to turn down none existent roads that cross over your to it excursion accross fields...rofl Highly amusing to me, but it might possibly put some people off.

The ironic thing is when I recently went to update my unit, as its now getting a little long in the tooth, the Tom Tom Website told me there were no map upgrades for the unit.... what do they mean no upgrades... the maps a wrong in certain parts of the country & need updating...

There is a road I use to get to & from the A38, its a bit of a short cut that avoids a very busy stretch of road that I needn't use, but because the satnave has one small stretch of my usual route listed as unadoptede even though it certainly is an a dopted road... at every rounderbout the voice in the background trys to get me to turn around where possible or use the 4th exit..lol. But like with every female voice I'm able to block the machine out quite easily.

 

[forefortheday]

Part of lifes experience is getting lost now and then

And I still do Satnav or not Herb

 

[medwayjon]

The other thing with sat-nav is that pikeys are inclined to break into motors when they see the suction-cap scar on the windscreen just in case it happens to be in the glove-box.

Seriously, they will do that sort of thing.

Mind you I do live in Chatham!

 

[Herbie]

Part of lifes experience is getting lost now and then

And I still do Satnav or not Herb

That just made me laugh...A LOT!

 

[viscount17]

my excuse for buying a sat nav was that my son was (still is) living in London. Under those conditions, provided it is accurate, it's a god send. I've also used it quite successfully in Spain and France.

however certain things about them (or mine) drive me nuts:
1. I can't get a map upgrade for it (Navman icn 530), instead Navman discontinue the model and expect you to buy another.

2. I can't plan my own route and usually you know (or should) most of the route and it's only the last bit you need it for.

3. they are dumb (at least mine is). the route planning operates on a number of preset preferences (those you can effect don't change them much) and it can't learn better planning options.

 

[Cernunnos]

Whoever designed the Fastest route on the Tom Tom I have wants their head examining.... Generally it seems to mean use a Motorway whenever possible, even if it means putting on an extra 50 miles, when we all know it doesn't save time, mainly due to the way it works out average speeds for "A" roads... Now if the "A" roads I want to use to get somewhere are near enough all dual carridgeway then why Oh why should I go all the way arround my target destination on a motorway...

Of course if you set it up for most direct route, it will do just this its like taking a pencil line & it'll use any narrow country lane, any service road etc to join the two points....

Why the don't also have "Most Convinient route" i.e. Most sensible direct route that Gets you there reletively quickly. I've actually gone so far as to set the damn thing up occasion to "Avoid Motorways" to get what I want... But of course this isn't a perfect solution when you might want to use one stretch of Motorway on the journey, which is OK as long as you know you need to ignore the electonic map reader on one stretch & know the exit you want in advance.

Another good reason to still keep a map in the car so that your other half can take over map reading duties for a simple short stretch...