How much saving does a satnav produce?

gilbert_and_sullivan

urbankoala wrote: »

I disagree - have you ever driven through central London having never driven there before? The number of jams and roadworks allows me to select a route via side streets. That wouldn't be possible with a map since legally you can not read a map whilst driving .

And one of my fellow workers ended up turning the wrong way into Marylebone Rd with a 60ft car transporter having followed the directions of the 'spawn of the devil'...cost him miles as he's no London expert.

The useless toy cannot update properly in heavily built up areas.

How we humans evolved as far as this without being told what and when to do it baffles me.

savemoney

I have the old Garmen streetpilot i3 hardly use it tbh as I dont go very far although I will be using it next month for a week and a days holiday in cornwall

Its got full Europe map on it version 9 but not paying to get an update given the amount of usage

Inactive

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

The useless toy cannot update properly in heavily built up areas.

How we humans evolved as far as this without being told what and when to do it baffles me.

Exactly, well said.

[Deleted User]

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

And one of my fellow workers ended up turning the wrong way into Marylebone Rd with a 60ft car transporter having followed the directions of the 'spawn of the devil'...cost him miles as he's no London expert.

A competent HGV driver (not many of those about ) would have known about the intended route in advance. I always do. The sat nav comes in useful when it becomes necessary or advantageous to deviate from the route. I agree that it should not solely be relied on for directions as your colleague found out.

aqueoushumour01

dacouch wrote: »

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

how did you get MR T's voice?

gilbert_and_sullivan

urbankoala wrote: »

A competent HGV driver (not many of those about ) would have known about the intended route in advance. I always do. The sat nav comes in useful when it becomes necessary or advantageous to deviate from the route. I agree that it should not solely be relied on for directions as your colleague found out.

Absolutely agree with all those points....never ceases to amaze me when experienced hands rely on these gadgets to tell them what to do.

Several times he's phoned me all in a tizz needing to be baled out when the toy has sent him where trucks should not go, and still he relies on it....

You are so right about competent HGV drivers....not many left now.
It really annoys me when plainly incompetent fools call themselves ''driver''...thats a term that takes years of learning to earn, and many will never earn it if they try forever..;)

bryanb

[QUOTE
The useless toy cannot update properly in heavily built up areas.
[/QUOTE]

More recent models with the SIRF 3 chipset do OK in central London

aristote33

to answer my own question, i reckon it saves a lot of time, money and stress, indeed.
- no need to struggle with the map book,
- no need to argue with the potential co-pilote,
- the ability to know the road a bit ahead - nice in a deep fog,
- the ability to change plans at last minute easily and quickly with just pulling out at the next services and programming a via point,
- the possibility to choose the petrol station from the list of nearest places given by the satnav, and to avoid paying 104.9p when 100.9p is at avail in the area - without having to drive miles off the planned route, obviously

vikingaero

I had one of the first vehicle installed satnavs made by VDO Dayton. It cost my firm about £2k for the system.

aristote33 wrote: »

- no need to struggle with the map book,

Before satnavs I had a Kent, Essex, London A-Z, Southampton A-Z and A-Z's of most major cities kept in a box in the footwell.

- the ability to know the road a bit ahead - nice in a deep fog,

Even in daylight satnav allows you to see oncoming bends and how sharp they are and allows you to adjust your speed appropriately.

- the ability to change plans at last minute easily and quickly with just pulling out at the next services and programming a via point

I love the fact that satnav allows you to "see" railway lines, rivers etc instead of non-descript bridges. When you drive through a strange area you can see the layout of roads and if there is anything interesting.

On holiday in Cornwall we used the satnav to identify dead-end roads on the coast which often ended in pretty unspoilt coves and harbours.

pault123

With the price of sat navs at the moment its a bit rude not too, but i'm put off by the number of smash and grab robberies to steal these valuable items. Scum will go as far as looking for the circular rubber sucker mark on windscreen as enough reason to break your window. I can't be bothered to polish my windscreen after everyuse!

Is there any way to mount them in the airvents etc?