Can I define my route in Sat Nav?

movilogo

I don't have a Sat Nav yet but planning to buy one.

I understand that Sat Nav will find the best route for me and then guide me.

However, can I myself advise which route to select? Will the Sat Nav then shout turn by turn instruction on my chosen route?

Thanx

bestyman

On tomtom satnavs you have option to select fastest , shortest or avoiding motorways route. After that you can select alternative route if you dont like the look of the route chosen .
Then you do get turn by turn instructions.

Mark

C_Ronaldo

with the garmin i3 you have option to select fastest , shortest or avoiding motorways route. It also tells you "in 300 yards turn right "

Quinny_2

I think you'll find that most of them do that anyhow.

The problem with satnav is,that people buy them,and don't read the instructions and set them up right initially,and then blame the machine when things go wrong.

I have had my Navman for 2 years,and I set it up from the beginning to my personal way of usage whilst driving 44t artics,and it has rarely let me down.

I have it set to avoid toll roads,tunnels,unmade roads,and 99.9% of the time,it is spot on.

So do yourself a favour,and set it up properly when you get one,and you will find it can be your best friend.

Ken.

balsingh

Another thing that most Sat Navs do is allow you to go via places so you can sort of guide it a particular way too.

I have a Tomtom which also allows you to avoid parts of a calculated route just in case you want to avoid a particular road eg. M25.

One final tip about Sat Navs, don't rely on them 100% ... use common sense too. You may have heard about the driver who drove onto a railroad beacuse the sat nav directed them.

swagman

There is an article comparing sat navs on the website https://www.which.co.uk. Their best buys were the Snooper Syrius, the Tom Tom Go 510, the Garmin Nuvi300 and the Tom Tom One UK (watch out that you get v2 of this one).

The units which find and hold onto a satellite fastest are those with the SiRF StarIII chip - the Tom Tom Go and the Garmin Nuvi 300 use that chip.

Some people say that maps supplied by Navteq are the best - the Garmin Nuvi uses Navteq, the Tom Tom does not.

Buy from somewhere that can tell you they are selling you the latest stock as otherwise you can end up with a unit with out-of-date maps. That is a bad start because updating maps for a sat nav can cost almost as much as buying a new unit. I have always found good advice and reasonable prices at https://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk (I have no connection with them other than as a customer!)

no_debts_no_more

The easiest way to "force" a Sat-Nav to use a particular route, is to add "waypoints" to the route. These are simply places you go via on the way. Add enough and it will go exactly where you want.

On some Garmin models (Streetpilot for one) you can download and upload routes from the satNav to a computer or vice versa. You can plot a detailed route on a computer that goes exactly where you want to, and upload it to the SatNav unit. This is great e.g. for motorcyclists who might want to find the twistiest roads, and aren't interested in either the fastest or shortest route.

However, when I've tried this on a Garmin Streetpilot 2610, and deviated just slightly, it didn't recalculate as normal, but insisted on trying to get me to do a U-turn to get back onto the original route at the oint of deviation. I might have not read the manual thoroughly enough though.

movilogo

Thanks for the info chaps.

With so many sat navs to choose from, I'm very confused.

Of course, I want to buy a cheap version, but it should have following capabilities.

* should work on AA size rechargeable batteries
* should have turn by turn voice direction
* should be able to guide me in which lane I should be for large roundabouts

Any suggestion which will be best?

balsingh

I think you shoudl take a trip down to Halfords just to see what is out there.

As far as I know, none use AA size batteries. They all have internal batteries which can be charged via a mobile phone type charger or a charger via the car cigarette lighter.

All Sat Navs have spoken turn by turn insturctions.

I don't think any tells you which lane to use when approchaing a roundabout. Most give quite a long warning so you have time to change lanes etc. The only time I can think of a sat nav telling you to be a particular lane is on a motorway which forks two ways. My Tomtom will say 'keep left' or 'keep right' to make sure you go the right way.

anewman

balsingh wrote: »

I don't think any tells you which lane to use when approchaing a roundabout. Most give quite a long warning so you have time to change lanes etc. The only time I can think of a sat nav telling you to be a particular lane is on a motorway which forks two ways. My Tomtom will say 'keep left' or 'keep right' to make sure you go the right way.

Tomtom tells me "cross the roundabout, x exit" which I take to mean use the left lane, unless signs say otherwise, and for "go left on the roundabout" left lane, "go right on the roundabout" right lane. But yes you get plenty of warning. Most annoying thing that has happened to me is there was a roundabout not marked on the sat nav, so I was a bit less prepared for it than I should have been - so the rule of keeping your mind alert and eyes on the road applies at all times.

swagman

anewman wrote: »

Most annoying thing that has happened to me is there was a roundabout not marked on the sat nav, so I was a bit less prepared for it than I should have been

This is why you need to buy from somewhere that will tell you their stock is new and not on the shelf for months - old maps!