Wheel Nut:
I might be a luddite, but I want to keep my maps, I can sit and read a map book, I have a decent picture of the major routes of the UK and Europe,but a map lets you see the bigger picture.
You can see a river or a railway, and it makes you wonder if there is a low bridge or a weight limit, you can plan an alternative route a long time before you get there.
What will future generations make of a bit of plastic with flat batteries. A map is something to treasure, it will reflect changes to the countryside such as coastal erosion and quarries.
What does your sat nav show of Spurn Point? or Lindisfarne Island
Lets address the points…
Satnav shows the display as a map if you want. Like its paper counterpart, it shows rivers and railways. I have yet to see a paper map that shows weight limits.
Unlike its paper counterparts, my Satnav has “Points of Interest”. It has some built in but I can also download them to it or add them manually as I come across them. Currently I have LOW BRIDGES, TRUCKSTOPS, Petrol stations (usually can show Shell/BP/Whatever) and speed cameras although there are literally hundreds to choose from and not just for the UK only. . It’ll also give me an audible warning when I approach any of these or I can ask it to navigate me to the nearest one. Dead handy when you’ve got a “BP Routex” fuel card and as usual, nobody has a Site book. Not only that, when I get home, I plug my PDA into the cradle connected to my computer and it UPDATES THEM.
Flat batteries? What are those then? My PDA sits in a cradle which plugs into the cig lighter socket (either 12 or 24v) which, aside from powering the GPS receiver, charges my PDA.
What does my Satnav show of coastal erosion? Probably a damned sight more than your paper one as it is updated MORE OFTEN. Paper Street Level A to Z’s are updated every 3 to 5 years compared to annually/bi-annually for PDA ones. THe UK Roadmap ones are about the only ones updated “as much” as the PDA ones but they only show the main routes, not street level.
Go back to paper maps meaning lugging a large box of woefully out of date maps with limited coverage and very restricted info on? Not a chance.
Two weeks ago I succumbed and invested in one, circa £220 and money well spent.
I did this in an attempt to gain MYSELF some precious time, as we run to the wire and 30 mins looking for a drop can leave me shafted.
While it’s not infallible, as in some post codes can lead up the proverbial, or new street name not recognised, it does mostly hit the spot. This for me is a godsend, less stress, no need to have the map open every five minutes, leaves me free to enjoy the drive.
I did find it needs some fine tuning with regards to road speeds, otherwise you can end up going where you shouldn’t. I do like some of the features, POI and setting regular drops as favourites, but what I especially find useful is having the time to destination, this in itself is worth it’s weight in gold to me…
What I would like is the option to display road numbers without having to fiddle around with the pointer, I also don’t like the way it maps the route in red and leaves you guessing as whether you’re heading for a motorway or a dirt track. Maybe this is in the fine tuning ?
I still like to have the map open to get the “big picture”, even though the display map is more than adequate. Like some I have an interest in maps, along with the fact that I prefer to cross reference where it wants to send me rather than run blind, I am still naïve as to which connecting type routes I should use or avoid, and only an atlas can teach me this. What I no longer need is a pile of A-Z’s, not referred to one since I got it…
All in all I find it a very useful tool, a welcome addition but not a replacement…
steve_24v:
All in all I find it a very useful tool, a welcome addition but not a replacement…
I think that hits the nail on the head. It can’t beat years of experience of knowing which route to get from Birmingham to Hull during rush hour is best for example and sometimes it does have some wierd ideas for routing from A to B so sometimes I tend to consult my big atlas. Several times it has suggested a route I’d have never chosen and that once I’ve followed, wondered why the hell I’d never used it before. However, the times I have ignored it thinking I knew better, I’ve ended up in all kinds of grief.
I think a good summary would be “Can’t beat experience going from A to B but once at B it’s invaluable.”
I will stay a luddite and keep on using my orienteering skills learnt as a boy scout
Dib. Dib. Dib
I will be able to hand my maps down to some young kids and show them what it was like to go from Birmingham to istanbul before they built the information superhighway
Tom Tom v5 is now available. Quite a major upgrade it allows 6 figure postcode searches almost instantaneously and now there is no need for 3rd party add ons to deal with the poi warnings etc. It’s all integrated.
The GUI is also improved and it now display’s road names as you progress down the road. There is as already mentioned the ability to add your own poi’s such as low bridges as you progress around the Country.
I dont work for the manufacturers or otherwise endorse this product I simply point out the differences in this upgrade.
I haven’t got a SatNav, but I now use Autoroute on a Laptop.
I have only just got myself this set-up and am still a bit doubtful of it, so I always check where it is sending me against my old atlases. I find it very good in towns though, for finding streets and routing me. One of the good points is not spending half an hour looking through the index and then trying to find my delivery address on the map page. Just type the address in, with post code, seconds later an A - Z scale map pops up with the address highlighted.
Brummie:
We live on a main road, perhaps a couple of miles long. At one end of the road are her business premises, at the other end are her sisters’ home and business premises - we live in the middle of the two. She only uses her car to go to work and have her hair done at her sisters’ shop. Why the [zb] does she need a sat-nav?
i only use mine to get me the last couple of miles (if its in a city or town ive not been in ) i also find you end up watching the miles clock down if you use it long distance so time go’s slow as you watch it go from 230miles down to 220miles …210miles…yaaawwnnn!!!
im good with maps if i look at the map before i go home next day i can drive straight there.
BUT i would like a tom tom but i cant afford the £300 plus.
