Crackpot GPS Directions

[Serj]

Even though this country generaly is well signed, sometimes they are not where they are needed, and you can drive miles before you find a sign that tells you that you didn't take the correct turning after all. And this raises another bonus of SatNav, driving on the continent where the signing is usualy nowhere near as good as the UK is made an awfull lot more stress free.

Just to add to that point....not everything is sign posted. Fair enough, Salisbury was signposted as are most towns and villages, but the Hyundai dealership wasn't signposted and the first time i saw it was just after the kind lady said "Turn Right"

 

[iv-tecman]

Fair enough, if you want to faff about with maps then by all means go ahead. So is it all about trust then? You wouldn't trust GPS because you think it's going to send you off a cliff or something? So would you never allow your self to use cruise control in case you couldn't turn it off? Or never use Air Conditioning for fear it would turn you into an ice cube when it stays on?

How old are you btw? You sound a bit like my mum when she first had a mobile phone.....

I'm only 32 you cheeky sod...!! LOL

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Only had my TomTom a short while, but have been very impressed so far.
I've always previously relied on maps and am well versed in navigation. That said, I've forgotten the number of times that I've ended up taking the wrong road in London.

Strikes me that:
- A system like the TomTom does cost a min of £235 more than a decent AA roadmap
- In London it's a bit of a godsend
- I don't have to try to look at a map book whilst driving
- If I need to turn off a motorway to avoid a new jam, it'll recalculate on the fly, so my previous "plan" hasn't gone out of the window
- How many times have you driven to a road that is a mile long, looking for a specific house name? Stick in the postcode and drive straight to it with a GPS
- I find myself getting lazy over longer journeys about picking scenic routes. The TT makes that a LOT easier.
- Chances are that I'll be taking a job requiring far more driving in the near future. If that happens, avoiding being late for appointments may more than pay for the additional cost.

 

[Demon]

I've been sat-nav'ing for a few years..

The reason I started using Satnav was when I had to visit a lot of customers, often on sites in the middle of nowhere. I used to ues Autoroute, print out the overview map for general guidance, and a zoomed in just covering the area immediately around the desitination..

The problem was time and stress.. mainly roadworks/diversions, and continually scanning all road signs when in some built up areas, especially London.. Then if I hit a diversion, or a road block/accident, I was a bit thrown, I had to find somewhere to park, consult the map, etc, etc.. and when you can't afford to be late, it was just a PITA..

So I tried TOMTOM on my PDA.. and never looked back.. sure I can still use a map, but quite frankly it isn't a gimmick for some of us, navigating is just so much easier.. I know the general directions of course, but it's just so easy to have the guidance, and the times it's helped me circum-navigate accidents/congestion it's been a godsend....

To the poster above who nearly smashed his mates sat-nav up, not all sat-nav's are the same, and maps are updated every year.. I've met plenty of people with the same argument against sat-nav, but strangely, when they've been with me, even to places they already know the way to, they are very very impressed with it's accuracy and routing.. in fact, over 80% of our mobile staff now use TomTom and swear by it.. they keep a map in the car, just in case, but this only comes out once in a blue moon.. I've been sat in with a anti-satnav diehard, and everything is fine, providing they roughly know where they are going, as soon as the environment changes, and they are late, you can see them visibly stressing, checking out every road sign, and nearly having accidents with last minute lane changes..

You can of course get by without many time saving devices but I'd rather save the time for something more useful!!

 

[Captain Kirk]

SatNav doesn't have to be expensive. I got free satnav with my PDA phone on contract. It has saved me getting lost at least 3 times. And I have quite a good sense of direction. I always look at a map first and tend to ignore the directions of my satnav until I get closer to the destination. Like recently whenI went up to Scotland (from Nottingham). Looked at map for general route up to Fort William, but also programmed satnav in with exact postcode location. It saved me in Glasgow when I took a wrong turn and got me straight to the door of where i needed to be!

 

[[TW]Fox]

i hate it when im driving along a motorway and it tells me 'In 5 miles go straight on'. What point is there in that! Its not even at junctions :/

It does it where there is a junction where you can join another Motorway or major trunk road.

 

[mr jamez]

I was once a passenger with someone and we were directed onto a road which had been replaced by a series of big roundabouts, however it was out of date so these didn't show up (blank screen). Came over the crest of a hill at 60mph only to see some rather solid looking bollards where it ended, the car was a mini on drums so it was a bit hairy

 

[Morba]

It does it where there is a junction where you can join another Motorway or major trunk road.

at 2 places on the way home from Sunderland it does it twice at bridges that have no sliproads onto or off of the road im on!

tho it might be because its a new road.

 

[Rilot]

I've had Sat-Nav since 1999 when I got my 540i. It was rubbish then because the maps didn't cover much of the UK. These days I find it an invaluable tool. I drive to customers all over the country and would find it much more stressful if I didn't have a lovely female voice telling me where to go.

In the subject of crazy directions. The nav in my RX8 once came up with an odd route.

Norwich to Halifax was the route I wanted to do. The nav decided that the best way to go was:

South to dover
Chunnel to France
Drive through France to Holland
Get ferry at Den Haag to Hull
Drive M62 from Hull to Halifax

Nice direct route that.

 

[Spanker]

One of the best things i have ever spent my money on! I have had sat nav for about 3 yrs, before that if i and the mrs went away we would always argue ( strange it only happend if she was reading the map )

 

[Big Spender]

was in my mates car a few nights ago and we were going accross the forth road bridge and as we were half way across the river it told us to turn left! we looked puzzled and thought better not to, 206's are not submersible

 

[Dogbreath]

My latest AA maps have most of this... Sorry, it's not that I do not get along with them, I just feel they’re a bit like a calculator. Once we used to jot up our totals in our heads. Now we can’t even add up our shopping correctly. We just have a load of barcodes that mean nothing.. and getting overcharged at the till, as we entrust the checkouts and EPOS system.

I do understand where you are comming from, being reliant on technology rather than using your brain is clearly not progress, and it is sadening that a growing number of older school children can't perform mental arithmetic (or even grasp basic literacy in many cases). However, as I said I don't think sat nav is a replacement for a map, they are both usefull in the right circumstances.

Look at GPS on boats and ships etc. This has surely got to be a good idea, but at the same time you would be foolish to go on a round the world voyage without knowing how to use a sextant etc.

 

[ShakenNstirred]

i have a bad sense of direction and hate maps, so my satnav was a great buy.

 

[Jez]

I do onsite maintenance and find satnav utterly invaluble, my job would (and was) soo much more stressful without it. I used to be forever looking at streetmap and printing pages of zoomed in maps of random city centres. It was a nightmare and i'd get lost reguarly in cities i hadent been to before, now i get send straight to the door, and straight back to my home after i have finished the call.

Definately not a gimmick to me, i wouldnt ever be without some sort of system now, my satnav died for a couple of days whilst i was getting a new part and it was utter hell again. I now have a backup system on an old laptop in the boot for emergencies!

 

[Desmo]

I'm actually pretty good with maps myself. I once did a complete journey from here in Essex down to Newquay complete with stops at Stansted and Gatwick airports, followed by another stop at a friends sisters house near Exeter that she'd never been to before. I even knew the road names we were turning into before we got there, all from memory.

BUT.....I'd much rather have the ease of SatNav now. We still use it on the run back to Piggy's parents as it gives a nice update on exactly where we are and how long to go. It's not needed, but is is nice

 

[Jez]

Thats another ncie thing about satnav, i even have it programmed when i know where i am going. I like to be able to see at a glance how long it is until the turnoff, how many miles i have left, how long it thinks i will take to get there etc etc.

If i worked in a fixed place and only used my car for social then i probably wouldnt see the point, but i do hundreds of miles per day in lots of random places, i dont know anyone who drives a lot who doesnt love satnav.

 

[Desmo]

TBH I don't drive a great deal and I still use it a fair bit. Even to find addresses in my own town if I don't know the road. Just pop it in to TomTom and I know where it is, even if I don't need it to navigate me there

 

[Fr0dders]

I’ve been brought up a luddite and a luddite i shall be..

bit nearer the truth

bit like saying you've been brought up on tape players in cars, so you wont bother using an MP3 player.


Embrace new technology, but accept its limitations and never totally rely upon it...

 

[iv-tecman]

bit nearer the truth

bit like saying you've been brought up on tape players in cars, so you wont bother using an MP3 player.


Embrace new technology, but accept its limitations and never totally rely upon it...

Hey now that isn’t strictly true. I’m not against technological changes, but I just think the sat nav are mostly gimmicky to me, but obviously useful for others. A tape player and CD player to MP3 player are changes granted. They make it easier and convenient, but they don’t direct you towards a 100ft cliff.

I don’t like them, I’ll perhaps never buy one, just as I don’t really like text messages so I don’t use them. Not every single piece of new technology released has to be used. If I don’t want it, then I don’t want it, and I was merely expressing my views. Sometimes newer technology is embraced without you selecting to do so, such as VTEC. I own a Honda, and I use this technology even though I didn’t choose to do so, I do. But with sat nav I can choose not to use it. I don’t sabotage my VTEC as it times my valves to work better as I think its taking away the older ways of a car working.

I did concede that if the units help others, prevent crashes etc then that is fine, but I never advocated that no one else should use them. I didn’t launch into an attack saying “you are ALL fools for using them” I merely defended why I use a map. I like to read a map, and I shall continue to read one just as I learnt to do so in school.

I’m not against changes or new technologies. I gladly swapped VHS for DVD. I had no problem swapping from tape to CD. As I wanted to, but I don’t want sat nav, just as I don’t think much to mobile phones with cameras, videos, text etc…

Jeeze.. you say one thing, and you get annihilated for having a view.

 

[Tesla]

Does anybody elses TomTom sometimes go into dumb-ass mode?

Mine says "keep left" which if I did I would go the wrong way.

Also, it once took me up a dead end, cul-de-sac.

Told me to turn right at a no-right-turn junction.

Get's the exits on the roundabouts completely wrong. Second exit is infact third. Large round about near my house, tells me to take the second exit. When infact it always means the first exit. Not as if they are new roads either!

Actually, thinking about it, it gets the keep left/keep right business wrong quite a lot of the time!

EDIT - As far as satnav for business use goes. PRICELESS. Saves me loads of time as I work in all different peoples homes all over Bristol and Bath. I currently have TomTom on my P910i but am considering getting a standalone unit.