I can’t go on like this. I wish I’d never got shut of that basket of OS maps now . ■■■■■■■ through housing estates, up hill, down dale since I started using the thing and I’m sick of it. Can’t cope with this ■■■■. And what ■■■■■■■ use are post codes when it says you’ve reached your destination in the middle of field? I mean come on man, seriously?
I ended up in the middle of some housing estate in Preston the other week. Granted, the place I was delivering to was indeed on the edge of a housing estate and I needed to drive up a couple of streets to get to it, but coming up from the south it took me off on M65W then round like an outer ring road type thing all the way round the bottom and west of Preston, and then up a nasty street with a tight bend at the top to get to the place I wanted. I found out from another driver that the ‘normal’ route in is straight along the A59, right at the mini rbt, over a few set of lights then a right turn up a street and you’re there - piece of ■■■■ as the A59 is a major road. Now if only the satnav had brought me in that way.
I think it’s because I’ve bought a cheapo ■■■■■■ Garmin Nuvi 200 which is the basic of the basic-est. It does let you zoom out to see an overview, but the trouble is that it doesn’t name the roads once you’ve zoomed out a few notches, and it doesn’t differentiate between back roads and major roads. Doesn’t show road numbers either in general. Classic example : I was coming along A46 from Cov airport towards bottom of M69 and instead of showing A46 on the screen it said I was on Coventry By Pass Eastern Section or some shizzle like that. That’s great if you’re a local but no use to me; I want road numbers not fancy names.
Spoke to a kid at the place I’m driving for the other day and he’s got a really cool satnav, said it was designed for trucks, big wide screen thing, like a small telly it was. Can’t remember name of it but it wasn’t any of your mainstream Tomtom, Garmin stuff, it was a name I hadn’t heard of, he said they were new and up & coming, cost him £160. I had a collection out of Feltham in London and I was [zb]ing it using my satnav, visions of being taken down residential roads and all sorts. Turned out the place was just off the A312 on Central Way, piece of ■■■■ to get to if you know the area. Well his big screen satnav could show the overview easily, and had the M4, A312, A30 all on there, clearly marked, and the B roads in another colour. That’s what I need, something like that. Any ideas chaps? Really missing my OS street map in one hand and steering with the other, at least I could see an overview with those and see best way in from the nearest major roads.
pavaroti:
Google maps app for my samsung s2 does me. Much more useful than a sat nav and its free.
WADR that’s no help to me whatsoever. Firstly that would mean I would have to buy said phone, but more importantly the screen is smaller that what my current satnav has so how exactly does that help me seeing an overview of the area?
Mr B:
Simple solution buy a decent satnav. You can get tt720 on eBay for about £100 then put truck software and maps on yourself problem solved.
How does this “truck software” actually work then? Explain to me what it does, exactly. I don’t specifically need something truck specific, I just need something with a big enough screen to give me a good overview of the area with all the major roads, A roads, B roads etc and all properly labelled on the screen, just like an OS county map would do. Never had these ‘problems’ when I used my OS county maps and never once got lost or ended up in housing estates either.
pavaroti:
Google maps app for my samsung s2 does me. Much more useful than a sat nav and its free.
WADR that’s no help to me whatsoever. Firstly that would mean I would have to buy said phone, but more importantly the screen is smaller that what my current satnav has so how exactly does that help me seeing an overview of the area?
Most folks phones are given on contract so no cost as you must need a phone anyway. As for screen size its enough for me and satalite view is great allowing me to see the exact yard and bay im heading for not just the street.
Good grief Rob are you and Toby sharing medication? You’ve been on a mad posting marathon for at least two weeks.
You get what you pay for. Cheap satnavs have all the problems you mention about crap map views etc. I’ve always bought a decent satnav and I’ve never had any major problems. But then I wouldn’t turn into a housing estate either, unless my destination was meters away. Plus spend a decent amount of money and get a connected one and you can ignore the matrix signs. Traffic, weather, fuel prices and google search are all very handy tools. It’s one of the few good things about my TomTom
switchlogic:
Good grief Rob are you and Toby sharing medication? You’ve been on a mad posting marathon for at least two weeks.
Is that a complaint, a compliment or just a mere observation? I have been ultra busy with work from all directions this past few weeks and am posting more in a short periods between going to bed and going to work rather than spread out, so that will explain it.
You get what you pay for. Cheap satnavs have all the problems you mention about crap map views etc.
As I’m new to all this it’s not something I’d envisaged. My idea was that I only need a basic one to get me those last few miles to the exact destination but this simple task is indeed proving to a problem with some of them.
I’ve always bought a decent satnav and I’ve never had any major problems.
I reckon that is what I need to do.
But then I wouldn’t turn into a housing estate either, unless my destination was meters away.
I wouldn’t do normally either and of course I did stop prior to entering said housing estates to check for other routes and the actual location of where I wanted to be before continuing. Some times that’s worked out okay and other times I’ve discovered that it wasn’t the best route, hence my thread here to do something about it as being the so-called professional that I am, I can’t go on like this.
Plus spend a decent amount of money and get a connected one and you can ignore the matrix signs. Traffic, weather, fuel prices and google search are all very handy tools. It’s one of the few good things about my TomTom
Yes I would like to add some other POIs etc. One for all the supermarkets would be handy actually. Just going off on a tangent here talking about supermarkets, I decided to call in at Tesco MK on my way to London the other way as your vids make it look like a piece of ■■■■ to get to and park up. Well I managed to find it alright but I couldn’t find a way in !! All roads are marked 7.5t zones. Which way do you go in and where do you park? I ended up going past it then turning left on A421, and 2nd left into Lasborough Rd and parked here after turning right at the rbt. Trouble was it’s like a 2 mile hike to get to the front of the complex and everywhere else appeared to be 7.5t zones.
The truck version routes around bridges weight limits etc but more usefully if it’s a few miles shorter through ■■■■■■ villages or estates it’ll route you via A roads as much as possible. For the price you can’t beat it ask anyone that’s downloaded it.
It was just an observation Rob! As for the Tesco if your coming front the south you need to come off at J13 the Bedford turning and run up into MK. Was easier before they put the 7.5 tonne eight limit by J14 but even so running into Tesco off the M1 from J14 to J13 or vice versa only adds 5 or so mins to journey time. Where you parked was spot on, but you missed the back entrance! If you park there again just walk across the grass to the back of the complex and you’ll see a door straight in to tesco. It’s not as good round there now though, used to be able to park anywhere freely on the industrial estate but now if your not in a marked bay they may ticket you. It’s only changed in the last month or two.
switchlogic:
It was just an observation Rob! As for the Tesco if your coming front the south you need to come off at J13 the Bedford turning and run up into MK. Was easier before they put the 7.5 tonne eight limit by J14 but even so running into Tesco off the M1 from J14 to J13 or vice versa only adds 5 or so mins to journey time. Where you parked was spot on, but you missed the back entrance! If you park there again just walk across the grass to the back of the complex and you’ll see a door straight in to tesco. It’s not as good round there now though, used to be able to park anywhere freely on the industrial estate but now if your not in a marked bay they may ticket you. It’s only changed in the last month or two.
Do you mean near the police sign? I noticed a ‘police’ sign on the back of the complex when I walked back to the truck, is that the rear entrance to the complex, maybe a walkway into it or something? It was about 1am when I was there, loads of trucks parked up on that road and the ‘inner’ circle too, didn’t notice any marked bays.
switchlogic:
It was just an observation Rob! As for the Tesco if your coming front the south you need to come off at J13 the Bedford turning and run up into MK. Was easier before they put the 7.5 tonne eight limit by J14 but even so running into Tesco off the M1 from J14 to J13 or vice versa only adds 5 or so mins to journey time. Where you parked was spot on, but you missed the back entrance! If you park there again just walk across the grass to the back of the complex and you’ll see a door straight in to tesco. It’s not as good round there now though, used to be able to park anywhere freely on the industrial estate but now if your not in a marked bay they may ticket you. It’s only changed in the last month or two.
Do you mean near the police sign? I noticed a ‘police’ sign on the back of the complex when I walked back to the truck, is that the rear entrance to the complex, maybe a walkway into it or something? It was about 1am when I was there, loads of trucks parked up on that road and the ‘inner’ circle too, didn’t notice any marked bays.
Yes the entrance is right by the Police Station. Here’s a crude map I just knocked up showing best way in and out
Mr B:
The truck version routes around bridges weight limits etc but more usefully if it’s a few miles shorter through [zb] villages or estates it’ll route you via A roads as much as possible. For the price you can’t beat it ask anyone that’s downloaded it.
I think there is one where you put your truck dimensions and it works out routes accordingly
I use a garmin navi 465t I find this is brilliant compared to car sat nav unlike a car one it will direct you down the best roads for your truck missing bridges and weight restrictions you enter in your truck height weight and length and it does the rest I have used a car one for awhile and wasn’t very impressed with some of the routes it was trying to send me down with the navi range the T stands for truck this can also be put into car mode so you can double it up and use it in your car on days off etc
Yes I would like to add some other POIs etc. One for all the supermarkets would be handy actually. Just going off on a tangent here talking about supermarkets, I decided to call in at Tesco MK on my way to London the other way as your vids make it look like a piece of ■■■■ to get to and park up. Well I managed to find it alright but I couldn’t find a way in !! All roads are marked 7.5t zones. Which way do you go in and where do you park? I ended up going past it then turning left on A421, and 2nd left into Lasborough Rd and parked here after turning right at the rbt. Trouble was it’s like a 2 mile hike to get to the front of the complex and everywhere else appeared to be 7.5t zones.
Those signs are parking signs, they look like a 7.5 ton weight limit sign, but they actually say “No parking for vehicles over 7.5 tons except in marked bays.” The whole of the Kingsway estate is like that, as is the Brinklow estate opposite.
pavaroti:
Google maps app for my samsung s2 does me. Much more useful than a sat nav and its free.
i use the same on my phone.
Rob,i’ve pretty much ditched my sat nav since i got the new phone,my sat is even cheaper than yours!! lol
i use my phone to get a good view of the place,then use my map,i’ve found this a lot easier than relying on a cheap sat nav & having it take all over the place cos it’s 1 mile shorter than going on a dual carriage way etc.
phone costs me £19 a month,with 1000 txts,2gig internet & 1000 mins anytine/network,if that helps
We’ve got a TomTom for each wagon,apparently all set up with heights and weight limits for wagons.
Until the one I had today tried to send me through an 8’9" height restriction when it would have been much easier to come out of the town, onto the bypass and then back in the other side.
While they do have their uses, big downfalls too. Stick to maps. Much easier.
Get a cheap android phone and use google maps to find your drop/collection, scout out the best way to approach so you dont have to blindside reverse in if its a reverse in off the road place, then use the feature on your sat nav called something like navigate to point on map, point it to your drop and calculate route, then check the route to see if it takes you the way you want to, if it does not just use the navigate via feature, that will let you select points on the map and that will alter your route to satisfy you, most people never use that feature it is invaluable as it lets you overide the sat navs route
I wish I’d never got shut of that basket of OS maps now 
. ■■■■■■■ through housing estates, up hill, down dale since I started using the thing and I’m sick of it. Can’t cope with this ■■■■. And what ■■■■■■■ use are post codes when it says you’ve reached your destination in the middle of field? I mean come on man, seriously? 
that I am, I can’t go on like this.
