So here’s the thing. I don’t trust my sat nav in the first place. When it gives me a route I go through the whole route with my old fashioned paper truckers atlas and make sure I agree with the sat nav route. If there are any bits I disagree with I make a mental note of where I need to ignore the sat nav along the route. Some might to say to that well what’s the point in the sat nav? The point is that it means I don’t have to memorise every road on a route, I can use my sat nav as a prompt or reminder.
There are plenty of times that I do go a different way to the sat nav when comparing it with the atlas. With this this in mind I simply can never ever trust it when it flashes up saying it has found me a faster route around traffic. I have to go through the route with a fine tooth Combe as it is when stationary, I can’t do this when already driving so I always have to hit cancel and continue on the route I was already on. Does anyone use this tool on there’s? Mine is a tom Tom trucker. I find it OK. But that’s it, just ok. I have to check everything before I set off though.
i have tt with this feature and I have tried it , to be honest the “faster” route is only marginally faster and as you say you don’t have a chance to check through it while your moving I just decline the new route and stick to what I know .
syramax:
i have tt with this feature and I have tried it , to be honest the “faster” route is only marginally faster and as you say you don’t have a chance to check through it while your moving I just decline the new route and stick to what I know .
That’s what I always think, it tells me I might save 3 minutes for example, but then I always think it could well take me more than 3 minutes to get unstuck from somewhere so I don’t take the chance with it!
And you are correct not to trust it, you are doing exactly the right thing, you plan the route and if it happens to coincide with the pratnav happy days, you can let it run doing its own thing and use it for early warnings of various things and for things it’s really good at, negotiating unmarked junctions or roundabouts that you sometimes find in large towns, and to know the name of the road you are about to turn into even if its not marked.
Carry on Rowley.
The problem with using satnav for rerouting, such as to avoid a major delay, is that 2/3rds of the motoring public who would be bolloxed without GPS will be doing exactly that, driving blindly where the idiot box tells them to, the pro lorry driver has a quick think and usually comes up with as good an alternative that isn’t quite so obvious, result often a clear run.
I had the free year that came with it, got it for a second when that expired as I thought it was useful. End of second year I realised that hey, I don’t trust it to do it as I’m seeing the 90 minute queue up ahead and just driving into it anyway. Ah well, when it stops trying to turn me around in miniature little residential streets instead of the roundabout up ahead I might have a little more faith.
My Garmin has an option to route me with historical traffic problems avoidance. I also used the detour route for 10KM due to the Belgian protests last week. I never got stuck once. Fact!
Google Maps is very good in this respect especially given it gets live data about speeds from Android phone users and doesn’t rely on the Trafficmaster network everyone else uses. Saved me from sitting in traffic on the A194M on Friday and cut me through a B road onto the A182■■ As I was approaching the exit junction on the A194M I could see all the traffic sat ahead.
My Garmin frequently gets things wrong, last night it wanted to route me off the M5 because it was closed when in fact it was open, it tries to route me left coming out of Fison Way industrial estate to take me 1.5 miles down the road to the roundabout to then bring me back to where I started from, after the third visit I decided it was quicker and easier to just turn right out of Fison Way it also likes me to drive all the way around roundabouts to then take the first exit. It has lots of little glitches that I have learned to live with, it does make me wonder how many needless miles I have drove when I didn’t know any different.
It does make me laugh when it says things such as ‘roadworks were reported on road’ (err where else would they be lol) I also programmed some of the destinations with funny place name so when I arrive it says things such as ‘arriving at ■■■■■■, yes, yes oh ■■■■, yes, yes’ which, with the prim, sat’ nav’ voice never fails to make me laugh!
MickyB666:
My Garmin frequently gets things wrong, last night it wanted to route me off the M5 because it was closed when in fact it was open
To be fair that isn’t Garmins fault but the fault of the Highways Agency database who regularly mark roads closed when they’re not because the roadworks haven’t occurred for whatever reason or they’ve managed to do the roadworks and leave a lane open instead of doing a full closure.
Mine isn’t actually a “Live” traffic sat-nav,it just avoids well known traffic hotspots as reported by Garmin users in the past. It seems to work pretty well.
We’ve got a Tom Tom and as a general rule I ignore the changes to the route as like you I scrutinise a route when I haven’t been somewhere before. The only I time I do take the diversions is when I know the new route and its significantly quicker or I get a chance to check it. It often tries to take me down B roads which I generally avoid unless I know them.
MickyB666:
My Garmin frequently gets things wrong, last night it wanted to route me off the M5 because it was closed when in fact it was open
To be fair that isn’t Garmins fault but the fault of the Highways Agency database who regularly mark roads closed when they’re not because the roadworks haven’t occurred for whatever reason or they’ve managed to do the roadworks and leave a lane open instead of doing a full closure.
That would explain it as often when the Garmin gets the road closures wrong I find that the road has been closed on the previous day or is scheduled to be closed the following day, if it informs me of a road closure I consider that it’s only a possibility and not a fact and keep an eye out on the road signs.
Mine did me a favour last night, up the a15 to the 180 its saying 50min delay West at 21:00 WTF! It said que ended nr junction so thought I’d go on bridge/rounderbout first and look. Canny see a que so do I believe sat nav or do the easy diversion through Scunny. Took the loose a few mins through Scunny option came back on at 181 and no traffic passed me between there and Donny services, so it was right, later found out there had been a bump and road was blocked.
I used to check the Google Traffic green dots to work out which of the three routes to work I have - would be the best one to use in tonight’s rush hour traffic… Now that “Google Traffic” has been shut down though - I find myself getting stuck in traffic on the way to work all the damned time… NOT happy!
I never trust only my sat-nav. I’ve had them send me on some illogical routes before, and the updates aren’t always 100% accurate (turn right… but it’s a no right turn!!)
I put my destination in, and like you, I then go over my map, and change the suggested route to suite me. The only reason I have my sat-nav switched on is to give me confidence on those unforeseen road closures that send me into the sticks at 1am, to get me back on track from a wrong turn when I can’t stop or turn around, and to sometimes get me through the last couple of miles “through the houses” once I’m off the motorway.
I see it more as a last resort… and insurance (or assurance) of sorts.
There’s nothing like map books, memory, word of mouth, and hand-drawn maps for reliability.
I just decline the new route and stick to what I know .
it also likes me to drive all the way around roundabouts to then take the first exit. It has lots of little glitches that I have learned to live with, it does make me wonder how many needless miles I have drove when I didn’t know any different.