Just watched the stobart episode from last night back… of course anyone else that watched it will have been well impressed with how Fiona didn’t need her sat nav to find customers she had obviously been to on many previous occasions…
I could though relate to the stubborn resistance to even have it on and find your way round on memory. Even if just for speed camera warnings, ETA, or just in case ■■■■ hits the fan with a road closure or something in an area you don’t know that well and you want to find a quick diversion. You have paid for the thing so you may as well make some use of it, right? Well I must admit I keep my fairly expensive kit in my bag quite a lot of the time, sometimes find my day would have been easier if I hadn’t.
Anyway, was wondering what other peoples sat nav useage is like. You have it on all the time, don’t even own one, or just stubborn like me?
I have it on all the time, it is more than just some woman dishing out directions.
It gives me warnings about speed cameras, also gives me traffic updates, shows me where the nearest garages are, and gives me a guide of upcoming bends in the road so I can be prepared for them.
can a paper map do all that
I can’t vote as there isn’t really an option that covers me. I own one but it must be well out of date and I haven’t had it switched on for a 3 or 4 years now. I don’t have a single map or atlas in the cab at all and will just consult Google Maps/Street view the night before if I need to find a new place, once I’ve looked at it I can remember the route the next day, or few days if it is a longer trip over the water. I might also ask one of our other drivers who has already been there for directions.
I got a new htc phone a few days ago and it has navigation on it so I did use it one night last week, just to see what it was like but not to find anywhere as I was going to the same place I had been the night before, haven’t used it since for navigation but I have checked traffic conditions on it which is handy. Apparently I can also download speed camera stuff to it but I’m not bothered about that.
bubsy06:
I have it on all the time, it is more than just some woman dishing out directions.
It gives me warnings about speed cameras, also gives me traffic updates, shows me where the nearest garages are, and gives me a guide of upcoming bends in the road so I can be prepared for them.
can a paper map do all that
I used the Navigation System on my phone to do a multi drop trip this week.
It was complete rubbish, too many alternative routes for it to process as you drive along looking for a street you can actually drive down. Especially in the backstreets of Hove.
The only thing it was good for was the actual addresses like an electronic A to Z.The rest of it was down to me to figure out how to do the drops, then again, that is what I get paid for.
I keep mine on all the time, don’t really need it as I do all the same routes every week. It is useful to see at a glance ETA when someone interrupts my appreciation of whatever CD I am playing to ask me what time I am going to get wherever I am going but the main reason I have it on is it is so nice to have one woman in my life that I can say NO to without any repercussions.
I have mine on all the time if I’m doing multiple drop I programme all the addresses into it in the morning I use it to plan my day where to take breaks refuel etc but most of the time it’s on silent so I still have to pay attention to road signs.
i wish i had mine on when i went to battersea power station, then i wouldn’t of hit that car down that back street whilst getting lost.
mark
use mine mainly for timings from drop to drop to work out what time im going to be there or if i need a break.volume down on it cause it bugs the ■■■■ off me. we get the odd new drop on my job so word of mouth first from drivers and if that dont come up trumps the garmin goes on.
Some people just assume sat navs stick you in the nearest river or kebab house, the sat nav will never ever do that, its always the driver. If you are a good driver then you can use a sat nav to your advantage.
Mine is on all the time, i do a lot of the same runs but keep it on for ETAs and other reasons that have been mentioned, but the other night a driver asked me what junction he needed to get off for a drop he hadn’t done before, and even though I have plenty of times I didn’t have a clue, so it will be taking a back seat for a while to stop me being lazy
i used it coming home from wimbledon one night (to hertfordshire) just to see what the all the fuss was about- it tried to take me over putney bridge and down fulham palace road at 5.30 in the evening!!! i dont think so!!- roehampton lane-barnes-chiswick bridge for me
99% of the time I have my route planned too, as then I can see traffic along the route, garages along route (or if I’ll have to go off route for fuel), etc.
The 1st sat nav I owned was a big pile of ■■■, but they’ve come a damned long way since and I’d be lost without it these days (see what I did there), even though I was a coach driver before sat navs and a taxi driver.
