Save your money, get a paper map instead.
Discussion
Sorry but these things really are a waste of space, I recently succumbed and bought a unit with European wide map, primarily for finding customers outside the UK. Can’t think why because paper maps have done the job very well until now.
Experimenting in the UK selecting the quickest route to London sends me off in a quite inappropriate direction adding a most odd 8 mile loop to the journey, picking the shortest route as an option includes going via car parks, housing estates etc. However more annoying is the first attempt at use out of Milan Malpensa airport, the unit insisted I take a road that is not in use yet nor is likely to be for some time. I gave up and followed the signs. Later attempting to find a Hotel was also a failure, when I found it fairly easily by looking rather than blindly following the instructions the Sat Nav reported me a well and truly in a field.
No doubt there are restricting terms conditions and disclaimers I have already accepted but the unit (or to be fair I suppose the maps) are not in any way even remotely in my opinion fit for purpose. If you are thinking of buying one of these units my advice would be save the money and get a good old fashioned map.
Experimenting in the UK selecting the quickest route to London sends me off in a quite inappropriate direction adding a most odd 8 mile loop to the journey, picking the shortest route as an option includes going via car parks, housing estates etc. However more annoying is the first attempt at use out of Milan Malpensa airport, the unit insisted I take a road that is not in use yet nor is likely to be for some time. I gave up and followed the signs. Later attempting to find a Hotel was also a failure, when I found it fairly easily by looking rather than blindly following the instructions the Sat Nav reported me a well and truly in a field.
No doubt there are restricting terms conditions and disclaimers I have already accepted but the unit (or to be fair I suppose the maps) are not in any way even remotely in my opinion fit for purpose. If you are thinking of buying one of these units my advice would be save the money and get a good old fashioned map.
I think the general principle is you loo at the map before setting off and note things like M5 - M6 –J17- Congleton – Macclesfield. Job done,
The software doesn’t need resetting, satellite signals aren’t lost and the main benefit is you actually know where you are, also it costs £1.99 When Jane gives up you have no idea where she has left you or which direction you were heading.
The software doesn’t need resetting, satellite signals aren’t lost and the main benefit is you actually know where you are, also it costs £1.99 When Jane gives up you have no idea where she has left you or which direction you were heading.
I've always read maps, but bought a Garmin 660 before Christmas and I'm sold. Went on hols to France and the thing got me everywhere I needed to go and right to the hotel car park.
I can't read a map now when driving, as I need glasses to read and not for driving. Wife not that great at map reading, so stops arguments
Got to say though, you have to use a little common sense, if you know the way then I wouldn't rely on the satnav, when I'm towing my car trailer, if the satnav tells me to go up a dodgy looking single track road, I ignore it.
An idiot with a satnav is an idiot with a map
I can't read a map now when driving, as I need glasses to read and not for driving. Wife not that great at map reading, so stops arguments
Got to say though, you have to use a little common sense, if you know the way then I wouldn't rely on the satnav, when I'm towing my car trailer, if the satnav tells me to go up a dodgy looking single track road, I ignore it.
An idiot with a satnav is an idiot with a map
If you're good enough to use maps, it's no hardship using a Sat Nav. Drive the major part of your route on knowledge of major roads and juntions etc, and rely on the Sat Nav for the final part to get you to your final destination. Works well for me.
At the end of the day a Sat Nav is just a tool and is only as good as the person using it. If you're muppet enough to follow every route suggestion without taking heed of your own knowledge, or what other road signs are telling you, then you'll not get the best from it.
Also my Sat Nav has street level detail of the majority of European countries; certainly of all the countries I'm ever likely to visit. How much would that level of detail cost in paper, not to mention the space all those maps would take up.
At the end of the day a Sat Nav is just a tool and is only as good as the person using it. If you're muppet enough to follow every route suggestion without taking heed of your own knowledge, or what other road signs are telling you, then you'll not get the best from it.
Also my Sat Nav has street level detail of the majority of European countries; certainly of all the countries I'm ever likely to visit. How much would that level of detail cost in paper, not to mention the space all those maps would take up.
Edited by DIW35 on Thursday 7th February 15:12
Have to concede that on my recent trip to Italy it did find the road in which the customer was, which would otherwise have been slightly more challenging. I ended up using it exactly as suggested, followed the signs to the town and then turned it on for close in. Unfortunately however it had no idea of the Hotel or road the hotel was in despite having been there for several hundred years. If I had done “try before you buy” it would be back in the shop. Sorry but until you can trust these things completely a paper map and a bit of planning is better.
DIW35 said:
If you're good enough to use maps, it's no hardship using a Sat Nav. Drive the major part of your route on knowledge of major roads and juntions etc, and rely on the Sat Nav for the final part to get you to your final destination. Works well for me.
At the end of the day a Sat Nav is just a tool and is only as good as the person using it. If you're muppet enough to follow every route suggestion without taking heed of your own knowledge, or what other road signs are telling you, then you'll not get the best from it.
Also my Sat Nav has street level detail of the majority of European countries; certainly of all the countries I'm ever likely to visit. How much would that level of detail cost in paper, not to mention the space all those maps would take up.
Thats my thoughts exactly- I navigate myself to roughly where I think I need to be, then let the sat nav guide me in the last mile or two!At the end of the day a Sat Nav is just a tool and is only as good as the person using it. If you're muppet enough to follow every route suggestion without taking heed of your own knowledge, or what other road signs are telling you, then you'll not get the best from it.
Also my Sat Nav has street level detail of the majority of European countries; certainly of all the countries I'm ever likely to visit. How much would that level of detail cost in paper, not to mention the space all those maps would take up.
use both maps to get an idea of the route and often ignore my becker, sometimes it makes mistakes, but we must follow sat navs and not use any common sense when we see the sign for the place we want on the 2nd and not the 3rd exit from the roundabout ? 
talking map and having the overview set on 3D and high up / far out gives me advance warning of the road to come, can look at the screen and the road at the same time
only use it as a map and so no scamera warnings
paper maps tear and rip, when using one every day - working on site, tend to go thru one in 3 months or so and then when get to a new area for me, am stuffed unless I can find a local street map that covers where I am and where the site is
talking map and having the overview set on 3D and high up / far out gives me advance warning of the road to come, can look at the screen and the road at the same time
only use it as a map and so no scamera warnings
paper maps tear and rip, when using one every day - working on site, tend to go thru one in 3 months or so and then when get to a new area for me, am stuffed unless I can find a local street map that covers where I am and where the site is
steve-V8s said:
Sorry but these things really are a waste of space, I recently succumbed and bought a unit with European wide map, primarily for finding customers outside the UK. Can’t think why because paper maps have done the job very well until now.
Experimenting in the UK selecting the quickest route to London sends me off in a quite inappropriate direction adding a most odd 8 mile loop to the journey, picking the shortest route as an option includes going via car parks, housing estates etc. However more annoying is the first attempt at use out of Milan Malpensa airport, the unit insisted I take a road that is not in use yet nor is likely to be for some time. I gave up and followed the signs. Later attempting to find a Hotel was also a failure, when I found it fairly easily by looking rather than blindly following the instructions the Sat Nav reported me a well and truly in a field.
to swap.
No doubt there are restricting terms conditions and disclaimers I have already accepted but the unit (or to be fair I suppose the maps) are not in any way even remotely in my opinion fit for purpose. If you are thinking of buying one of these units my advice would be save the money and get a good old fashioned map.
Sorry you are so fed up Steve, I will give you my new paper atlas and a tenner to swap.Experimenting in the UK selecting the quickest route to London sends me off in a quite inappropriate direction adding a most odd 8 mile loop to the journey, picking the shortest route as an option includes going via car parks, housing estates etc. However more annoying is the first attempt at use out of Milan Malpensa airport, the unit insisted I take a road that is not in use yet nor is likely to be for some time. I gave up and followed the signs. Later attempting to find a Hotel was also a failure, when I found it fairly easily by looking rather than blindly following the instructions the Sat Nav reported me a well and truly in a field.
to swap.
No doubt there are restricting terms conditions and disclaimers I have already accepted but the unit (or to be fair I suppose the maps) are not in any way even remotely in my opinion fit for purpose. If you are thinking of buying one of these units my advice would be save the money and get a good old fashioned map.
snorky said:
now where on that paper map do you find all the postcodes for Europe....
how do you read the map whilst driving round a huge intersection in a city you've never visited before when you dont know where you are going....
tried that once and got very, very lost - had never had reason to visit the city before, went there recently but to a different area, sat nav got me to the area around the site and then was not too hard to guess where it was - not so good when postcodes are wrong how do you read the map whilst driving round a huge intersection in a city you've never visited before when you dont know where you are going....
You should try threading your way across the Pyrenees on your bike and keeping on track. My Garmin Zumo 550 was great for this and usefully gave advanced warning of hairpins.
Or try reading the map in your tankbag that is now completely soaked in the downpour.
I love maps - so much that I almost went into cartography - but I know a good tool when I see it.
Or try reading the map in your tankbag that is now completely soaked in the downpour.
I love maps - so much that I almost went into cartography - but I know a good tool when I see it.
i used to carry at least 5 small town maps and 4 big a4 ring bound maps (which were about 12 euro each), a big ADAC map of all of germany (but not street level mapping) just to get to different jobs in just one section of germany (rhein-ruhr, düsseldorf, cologne, frankfurt/mainz/weisbaden and a load of small towns round about), and a couple of maps of various parts of holland - trying to find factory units, farms and residential streets
my garmin nuvi is about 4" by 3", cost 160euro and does all that and the rest of germany, france, uk etc etc, tells me where the next petrol station is and means my wife can find her way around too
my garmin nuvi is about 4" by 3", cost 160euro and does all that and the rest of germany, france, uk etc etc, tells me where the next petrol station is and means my wife can find her way around too
Edited by hugoagogo on Tuesday 19th February 09:05
I agree that your nav unit must be a bad one Steve. I like many posters here use a Gamin Nuvi (mine is the model 370 with full Europe and USA mapping built in but regular screen, not wide). Although on the odd occasion it'll take you a funny route, I can't fault it for delivering me to the door wherever I go.
I bought it to replace an ageing TomTom that was running on my Dell Pocket PC. Although I still rate the TomTom software as being technically better, the ease of use of the Garmin sold it to me. The unit has been a boon since SWMBO and I moved to Switzerland - a place I had only ever visited for skiing and where Mrs Roop had never been in her life. It's not let us down yet. Only gripe is that the POI database is a bit shonky and it's not as easy to update some items (such as POIs) as the TomTom was.
I think there's three things you have to have in a good GPS unit. First is good maps, second is a good inference engine to search for destinations (eg: full postcode search) third is a decent GPS receiver that doesn't drop out. The Garmin has never dropped it's satellite lock yet, even in horrendous weather and in heavily built up cities with tall buildings.
ETFT
I bought it to replace an ageing TomTom that was running on my Dell Pocket PC. Although I still rate the TomTom software as being technically better, the ease of use of the Garmin sold it to me. The unit has been a boon since SWMBO and I moved to Switzerland - a place I had only ever visited for skiing and where Mrs Roop had never been in her life. It's not let us down yet. Only gripe is that the POI database is a bit shonky and it's not as easy to update some items (such as POIs) as the TomTom was.
I think there's three things you have to have in a good GPS unit. First is good maps, second is a good inference engine to search for destinations (eg: full postcode search) third is a decent GPS receiver that doesn't drop out. The Garmin has never dropped it's satellite lock yet, even in horrendous weather and in heavily built up cities with tall buildings.
ETFT
Edited by Roop on Tuesday 19th February 09:48
I too am a convert *shame* Years of Duke of Edinburgh and walking in the peaks meant i was comfortable with maps, so when I went into Field Sales I had no issues navigating around new cities with maps and as someone said, short notes on a postit about which junction to come off on which M-way.
Until this weekend just gone. Persuaded a chum that her Micra wouldn't fit 5 and to take the Alfa. She said okay, but she had satnav in hers... Told her to bring it and see how it compared to my maps.
Tom Tom won hands down. MOH has been looking at these things with Europe and US maps too and I think we'll definitely be getting one in the near future.
Until this weekend just gone. Persuaded a chum that her Micra wouldn't fit 5 and to take the Alfa. She said okay, but she had satnav in hers... Told her to bring it and see how it compared to my maps.
Tom Tom won hands down. MOH has been looking at these things with Europe and US maps too and I think we'll definitely be getting one in the near future.
Scraggles said:
snorky said:
now where on that paper map do you find all the postcodes for Europe....
how do you read the map whilst driving round a huge intersection in a city you've never visited before when you dont know where you are going....
tried that once and got very, very lost - had never had reason to visit the city before, went there recently but to a different area, sat nav got me to the area around the site and then was not too hard to guess where it was - not so good when postcodes are wrong how do you read the map whilst driving round a huge intersection in a city you've never visited before when you dont know where you are going....
you do still have to use that grey squishy thing inside your head it is only a tool
Edited by snorky on Thursday 21st February 19:50
Gassing Station | In-Car Electronics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff