Travelling from Marlborough to Cold Aston near Bourton on the Water. I managed to put Cold Ashton, Chippenham rather than Cold Aston, Cheltenham in the sat nav. I wondered why she wanted to take us on the M4...then I realised. DOH!
Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Bonce on 04/6/2024
Travelling from Marlborough to Cold Aston near Bourton on the Water. I managed to put Cold Ashton, Chippenham rather than Cold Aston, Cheltenham in the sat nav. I wondered why she wanted to take us on the M4...then I realised. DOH!
Easy to do. I remember I did a spell on the taxis at Stansted Airport many years ago and sat-navs were quite new then. I picked up a fare that wanted to go to Brockley near Lewisham in London. I knew the way apart from the last couple of miles so I put the sat-nav on. Leaving the airport it was trying to take me north on the M11 so I ignored it. Got to roughly where I knew I should be and got out my A to Z and looked up the address, which turned out to be less that a half mile away. After dropping off my passenger I tried to figure out where the sat-nav was trying to take me. It turns out there is a Brockley in Suffolk! Good job I didn't blindly follow it.
We used the car sat nav to get to a garden open for charity this weekend. Satnav offered 3 routes, I chose the shortest. Bad idea: who knew there were single track roads with no passing places & soft verges within half an hour of Glasgow. Some hairy moments - the delivery van we met on the bend was obviously using the same Sat nav route.
We came back via the B roads instead. Yes, I had the OS map but the directions were from the nearest town & assumed local knowledge; I couldn’t find the garden on the map until just before we arrived.
Quote: Originally posted by Fiona W on 04/6/2024
We used the car sat nav to get to a garden open for charity this weekend. Satnav offered 3 routes, I chose the shortest. Bad idea: who knew there were single track roads with no passing places & soft verges within half an hour of Glasgow. Some hairy moments - the delivery van we met on the bend was obviously using the same Sat nav route.
We came back via the B roads instead. Yes, I had the OS map but the directions were from the nearest town & assumed local knowledge; I couldn’t find the garden on the map until just before we arrived.
I have found by bitter experience that the shortest route, particularly from a sat-nav, is very rarely the quickest. I still use maps for the main part of any journey that I am unfamiliar with and look for the route where it seems likely that there will be a minimum amount of stopping and starting. A sat-nav gives you the route step by step as you go, but a map can give you an overview of the entire trip. A fairly constant speed, however slow, will usually get you from A to B quickest, even if the route is longer. Stopping and starting will knock your average speed right down.
I find that where the sat-nav comes in handy is for the last couple of miles. Not always with mine though as it's 10 years out of date and can't be updated.
Pal of mine was raving over Waze mobile phone app a couple of years back, so thought I'd try it (not for caravan, just normal car navigation), and used it on localish trips a few times, mostly with the traffic flow info in mind, knew my way well enough anyway, but followed the sat nav routes out of curiosity – what DIABOLICAL routes it took! They may have technically been quicker (not convinced!), or shorter (got to have been marginal!), but they ducked and dived down all the back roads (London Streets!) never going in a straight line for more than hundreds of yards before turning onto another street – plain HARD WORK, an exhausting way to drive! The fuel consumption must have been truly grim, as all accelerating, braking, and gear changes! The wear and tear on tyres, brakes and suspension didn't bear thinking about! Certainly NOT a 'Green' route planner! Ditched that sat nav app pretty quickly, thankfully never known any other sat nav pick such routes!
You REALLY do have to engage brain first, and use some common sense, not just blindly follow these often really DAFT devices! Even my 'good' TomTom, and a couple of 'good' phone apps, I find it beneficial to force a preferred route on them with a few well chosen 'Vias/Way points' on many occasions – which gets us right back to using a map and planning the route yourself BEFORE using the sat nav as little more than an aid memoir! I find their greatest value is traffic info, and getting you out of the doo doo when an unexpected road closure punts you down unfamiliar roads into unknown places.
I too have certainly plugged a destination into a sat nav, only to find it's NOT the actual destination I want, but a 'clone' in another part of the country, or even a DIFFERENT country (always found the mention of ferries and resuming driving next day to be a clue!)! You have to have your wits about you using these things! - not too difficult to see how the mentally challenged follow routes off cliffs and through duck ponds!
I have even heard of people turning at level crossings onto railway tracks Monty. And into rivers. Some people seem to leave their brains at home when they get a sat-nav!
Our 6 month old Garmin Sat nav packed up when we were in Spain last month, so we had to resort to using Maps again 😳 It was easier as we knew what towns / villages to pass through and you could see the terrain of the area. Our old 20 year old Garmin Sat nav still works, but we're unable to update it. Just received a replacement Sat nav from Garmin as it has a 2 year warranty. The only time we're likely to use it is navigating big cities, using maps is more fun.
OH is a big user of the sat nav on his phone, but having watched him on holiday, you need to be careful if you are given a choice of routes. As Monty pointed out above, for the sake of saving 2 minutes, is it really worth driving down all the single track roads and back streets?
Quote: Originally posted by franbee on 04/6/2024
OH is a big user of the sat nav on his phone, but having watched him on holiday, you need to be careful if you are given a choice of routes. As Monty pointed out above, for the sake of saving 2 minutes, is it really worth driving down all the single track roads and back streets?
Often it isn't quicker anyway. Sometimes sticking to larger roads where you can keep up a constant speed works out easier AND quicker.
Quote: Originally posted by Fiona W on 04/6/2024
We used the car sat nav to get to a garden open for charity this weekend. Satnav offered 3 routes, I chose the shortest. Bad idea: who knew there were single track roads with no passing places & soft verges within half an hour of Glasgow. Some hairy moments - the delivery van we met on the bend was obviously using the same Sat nav route.
We came back via the B roads instead. Yes, I had the OS map but the directions were from the nearest town & assumed local knowledge; I couldn’t find the garden on the map until just before we arrived.
We had exactly the same problem last week when we were down in Somerset! I have never seen so many ridiculous suggestions by the sat nav. We gave up using it after a few days as we realised that most of the routes suggested as the fastest were taking us at least twice as long as the sat nav said they would because many were narrow, or even single track, and we had to keep reversing back to passing places to let other people get by. Somerset seems to have more than it’s fair share of narrow lanes!
My daughter used satnav regularly as she had to visit lots of different places around Cheshire for work, but I've never used satnav myself. The road atlas/OS map is my friend! I've been a passenger in a car that had an Ozzie Osbourne voice for the satnav, saying things like,'At the end of the road turn left - left, you fekkin' moron!' Different... On the return journey the voice was Joanna Lumley, much more calming.
------------- Always edited for sloppy typing - when I spot it!
I sometimes used a satnav as I have a vol job which takes me around north Manchester. My new car has a satnav fitted, so I do tend to use that more, if only to have a map handy in case I get diverted. But it's not very helpful for instance if the M62 is closed, as the satnav always sends me back to the motorway where possible.
The phone satnav that OH uses does tell you if there's a problem further down your route and offers an alternative.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Should have gone to Specsavers
via mobile 04/6/2024 at 7:39am
