caravan sat navs

[Steve L]

"informative" I think everybody is trying to do that steve,it seems being corrected in the name of being informative is something you seem to have trouble with accepting.

Now on the subject of sat navs having problems and then its a good idea to have a map as back up, nice idea, good idea, but still it has its flaws. we have expensive very good scale truckers maps, and guess what, they have faults with some of their bridge heights being wrong, and in the wrong way too. old 52 through Grantham springs to mind the book says 13"6, and the bridge is actually 11"6" ! Its a fault in the 2007 and not corrected in the 2010 version!

So regardless of whether one is capable of reading a map or not,problems can still arise.

Me, I thought open debate involves everyone wehter or not they share my oppinion or yours for that matter!!

If we all followed your option, we would invest hundreds of hard earned in a gizmo that 3 months down the line is out of date as a road will of changed somewhere.

My option of buying this years map for a quid to check your gizmo is sending you along the right road is arguably the cheapest update available.

The rest of the contributers on this forum might have differing ideas on what navigation/mapping works for them.

I think that is called open minded debate and banter that is conducive to a resolution.

Perhaps you might agree on that point?

Steve L.

 

[Parksy]

This topic is starting to descend into some sort of personal argument which will not be allowed to continue.

The original question was simply asking whether sat nav systems cater for caravan users and if anybody has one. Unless there is anything constructive to add to this thread it would be better not to add anything at all.

 

[Philspadders]

i drive one hell of a,lot, all over the counrty, i use Navman Commercial system in the truck, and have 3 other sat nav systems, Tom TOM Navigator, a Navman ( not very good), Garmin, Blaupunkt and a Ovi on my mobile phone.. They do NOT include bridge avoidance software.

What they do have are settings that allow the user to select or de-select cetain types of road.

In the truck we select A and Motorways and or primary routes, sending B and other roads to the back of the system.

Selecting Truck mode allows certain presets and variable to be loaded, such as speed, type of road to select etc

Basicaly truck mode picks primary routes which in itself usually means that you avoid low bridges, so i suppose the system does have some sort of bridge avoidance built in.

There are some very expensive commercial systems that will have bridge warnings and re routing built in but these are very expensive.

 

[Philspadders]

Having said all that , you should always check your sat nav route with a map and thats were the better systems come in to their own.

Having set the route you can review it to ensure that there are no suprises along the way, and lets be honest , to blindly set off with out a clue where your are going is a little irresponsible.

But , in all my years of trolling the roads of this country i have come across very few that would cause a problem towing a van.

I did come across one in Devon a few years ago, where the sat nav directed us on to a very narrow single track lane. I stopped the car, got out my map and checked it... the sat nav was wrong.. but that is the lesson, if it LOOKS WRONG it PROBABLY IS.

good luck and enjoy the adventure.

 

[Guest]

Me, I thought open debate involves everyone wehter or not they share my oppinion or yours for that matter!!

If we all followed your option, we would invest hundreds of hard earned in a gizmo that 3 months down the line is out of date as a road will of changed somewhere.

My option of buying this years map for a quid to check your gizmo is sending you along the right road is arguably the cheapest update available.

The rest of the contributers on this forum might have differing ideas on what navigation/mapping works for them.

I think that is called open minded debate and banter that is conducive to a resolution.

Perhaps you might agree on that point?

Steve L.

please re read the post that you are responding to, again.

because I think I have already, answered your response.. LOL

have a safe journey...

 

[Steve L]

Very well put Phil.

I did point out in the first place that by setting the vehicle options to truck/bus, people should be guided along trunk routes which normally have standard bridge heights.

I totally agree with you that people should keep maps for reference. It is all too easy to "trust" a sat nav and as you found they are not infallable.

I've used my navs fulltime for locating farms where we build poultry units. I swapped to my Tom-Tom because it allows grid reference navigation. I find that useful as some new sheds are quite litterally in the middle of a field at the end of a farm track.

From a safety point of view it is a good idea to know exactly where you are and to be able to quote grid reference's in an emergency. Had to do thta in the middle of the welsh hills once when a workmate practically severed his hand when he slipped while carrying a tin roofing sheet. These days they are thinner than stanley knife blades and about as sharp. It was an air ambulance job and they were most gratefull that we could quote grid references. My mate was happy too as he only just kept his hand.

Atb Steve L.

 

[otherclive]

Gor my Garmin 1490T I can imprt routes developed in Mapsouurce which is an aid when the van is being towed. Also Garmin offer lifetime updates for