How much saving does a satnav produce?

aristote33

Wondering if anybody has heard about the saving a satnav might produce over a year, or over a set period of time, considering:

- it saves time in preparing a journey (while still at home),
- it is meant to prevent mistakes while on the road, therefore saving time on the road,
- it saves petrol too, as it entails a smoother driving style - with helping with directions,

and possibly other reasons...

Wondering if there had been - serious - studies on the matter...

Thanks

dacouch

I have Mr T as the voice on mine, it is great as he scares you into taking the right turns. the only problem I have found is when I try and set the sat nav to take me to the air port. For some reason it won't go anywhere near an airport

aristote33

might be an item to list as a MSE demotivator, then !
preventing people flying and spending on expensive flights and holidays, or at least, giving an incentive to go to the airport with public means of transport...

oldagetraveller

In my experience - non!
After giving satnav a try and been directed the wrong way a few times, thus wasting time and fuel, I gave up and now rely on the, in my opinion, good old map and ask method.

aristote33

I heard of that kind of experience, oldagetraveller, actually from my parents... which came as a surprise as their satvat seems rather top-notch...

Is it not possible to prevent misdirections with checking the whole route before leaving, and that the instructions make sense overall? With a full journey map view, it must be possible to see if there is something wierd, surely?

Lemonade_Pockets

Like others i would say it wastes as much as it saves.

It doesn't tend be problems with the overall route, but things like there might be a new one way system or a new bypass round a town that the satnav is not aware of. The counter arguement i suppose is that if you keep it updated then you avoid this, but thats not free in terms of time or money.

There is no substitute for local knowledge etc.

I have only ever used a satnav to travel into central london - where it was very usefull.

Apart from that a quick look at a map and maybe a multimap print out of the last section if its complicated is all i need. Consequently i know my way round most of the UK which motorways to use at what times etc etc.

trevormax

I once had to drive from Cardiff to Leeds so decided to borrow my parents satnav which was quite a good model. Most of the journey was fine BUT as soon as I hit Leeds town centre, it all fell apart. The satnav was giving me directions too late so I was missing turnings, it didn't say which lane to be in either so when it did give me a direction, I was often stuck in the wrong lane and couldn't get into the correct lane in time.

My suggestion would be use satnav when the roads are quiet or for motorway or country lane driving. When it comes to town centre driving (and especially in busy periods) don't rely on the satnav.

alanrowell

I can get from one end of the country to the other with no problem as most of the time it's a case of pointing the car in the right direction and following the signs - it's the last hundred yards when Sat Nav proves useful

freakybacon

Satnav does stop a lot of arguments between my girlfriend and I over navigation directions and for this reason alone I would recommend them.

sarah_elton

I TomTomed my way into Birmingham city centre a few weeks ago, having never been there before. First time it's let me down. There are so many underpasses etc, and the TomTom display just couldn't cope with showing roads stacked on top of roads, so it was impossible to tell whether you were meant to follow the one that went down rather than up.

They are good in most towns and cities, definitely. As last poster said, when you're doing 200 miles on a motorway and it just tells you to keep right (i.e. not turn off) every 20 miles it's a bit pointless.

I don't think it's going to save much money at all to be honest. I just like mine because it saves the passenger-navigation-argument issues and the frantic looking out for where your turning is since you can tell far more accurately when it's going to appear.

Hintza

Lemonade_Pockets wrote: »

There is no substitute for local knowledge etc.

Aye but if you have that you wouldn't be using the Sat Nav.:p

I think overall they are pretty good. Wait until you try one in Italy!! Some routes are no more than goat tracks or go through some garden that has been gated.