Should have listened to Sat Nav

[Sam Vimes]

Over the weekend we tried to do as many tasks as possible in as few a journeys as possible.

Run daughter and grandson to Inverness Airport; Get towbar fitted to new car; collect caravan from workshop in Kirkcaldy; stay over night at site and come home.

The airport drop off was fine and so was getting the towbar fitted the following morning - it was ready by lunchtime. This should allowed us to get to Kirkcaldy by about 15:30 and the dealer closes at 17:00 - no problem, right!

Our Sat Nav is the TomTom App on my phone. It's pretty good but has a habit of trying to convince you to take backroads instead of staying on the main routes. This way it can shave off the odd milli-second on a journey but isn't really worth it - especially if towing. (I've tried different settings but it makes no difference).

So having the basic route in my head I tend to ignore these odd detours and we still get there in good time and with less stopping and starting and negotiating narrow roads.

On Friday after getting the towbar fitted we set off down the A9. The Sat Nav behaved well at first and we didn't really need it. The next instruction was going to be in about 60/70 miles. After a while it did its usual thing of trying to get us to take a back road so we ignored it as usual. It was insistent and then popped up a message saying the road ahead was closed. Nobody else seem bothered and we all kept going. Then it said there was an accident closing the road and sure enough we all came to a standstill. After sitting doing nothing for about an hour and seeing several emergency vehicles and the air ambulance go pass we guessed the Sat Nav knew what it was talking about for change.

The police came along advising that the road was going to be closed for hours so we turned around and rather embarrasingly followed the Sat Nav instructions back the way we came and then along the backroads it originally suggested, eventually getting past the accident spot. It had a smug look on its face.

Of course by this time the dealers workshop had closed and we had to find somewhere to stay over night because no caravan, no stay at booked site- another saga.

Saturday morning we got to the dealers and collected the van and there is an upside to this story. As part of the work which was done a few weeks back they had to replace the front window. When they came to unwrap the new one it was broken. We'd waited about 7/8 months for this window and another replacement wasn't going to be available until October - possibly.

While we were hooking up the van the engineers called to us to say the new window had arrived that morning and they could fit it right away - it only takes a few minutes. Job done and no need for yet another visit.

Had we go there on Friday and left, we'd have had to come back again for the new window.

The A9 is a route we loath and avoid as much as possible but this time it was going to be the shortest quickest way - except it wasn't

 

[Woodentop]

There will be an options page on your phone app which will let you select between shortest route, quickest route and something between - on my it is called the most economical route. My guess is that yours is set to shortest route as I went through exactly that with an early TT as well. When it found the main road that I was on did a number of long bends, it took me through housing estates to cut the corner off the bend. Setting to economical and it was sorted.
In terms of the long route, I use mine as a street map and follow my nose on the faster roads knowing in my head roughly where I am going. You can also force specific routes by entering waypoints. For example I live in Harrogate and if going to anywhere Manchester way I can get to the A1(M) south at Wetherby in less than 15 mins., then A1(M), M1, M62. The TT insists on taking either through Leeds to the M621 and then M62, or more likely through Bradford, round the ring and onto the M62 via the M606. Both of these options will take me between 40 and 50 mins or more to the M62 dependent upon traffic: the motorway route via Wetherby will take me a half hour or even less if the road is not busy.
Most people don't realise that if you start (say) from home and put in a destination maybe some distance away, the satnav will decide on the route it wants to use. If you veer off that route as you know a better way or have heard of traffic holdups via the radio, the satnav will do everything it can to get you back onto the original route. Using waypoints will to a degree stop this happening, but ultimately the human brain usually knows best.

 

[otherclive]

On my very first satnav I set it to shortest route, not realising that on a journey to the Midlands it would ignore bypasses and route me through the towns. I saw parts of towns that hadn’t been changed in years, particularly the back streets and lanes in Burford. Ever since all satnav were set to quickest, although when towing in “ unknown territory” I would program the route using Garmin software then down load to the satnav.

Re Woodentops comment on Waypoints. I inadvertently put a waypoint in on the incorrect carriageway when in France on a southbound autoroute and the way point was located in the northbound carriageway. 🙁 After much squawking my wife found the equivalent of the “ kill” switch and normal service was resumed.

 

[RogerL]

There will be an options page on your phone app which will let you select between shortest route, quickest route and something between - on my it is called the most economical route. My guess is that yours is set to shortest route as I went through exactly that with an early TT as well. When it found the main road that I was on did a number of long bends, it took me through housing estates to cut the corner off the bend. Setting to economical and it was sorted.
In terms of the long route, I use mine as a street map and follow my nose on the faster roads knowing in my head roughly where I am going. You can also force specific routes by entering waypoints. For example I live in Harrogate and if going to anywhere Manchester way I can get to the A1(M) south at Wetherby in less than 15 mins., then A1(M), M1, M62. The TT insists on taking either through Leeds to the M621 and then M62, or more likely through Bradford, round the ring and onto the M62 via the M606. Both of these options will take me between 40 and 50 mins or more to the M62 dependent upon traffic: the motorway route via Wetherby will take me a half hour or even less if the road is not busy.
Most people don't realise that if you start (say) from home and put in a destination maybe some distance away, the satnav will decide on the route it wants to use. If you veer off that route as you know a better way or have heard of traffic holdups via the radio, the satnav will do everything it can to get you back onto the original route. Using waypoints will to a degree stop this happening, but ultimately the human brain usually knows best.

Not in my experience - satnavs will simply recalculated the "best" route from your present position if you veer off route - that may include going back to the original route but not dogmatically so - the recalculation process is constant every time the satnav recognises a new present position.

The inbuilt satnav in my VW displays roads with congestion in red which helps me to decide whether to accept its detour or ignore its attempt to save a few milliseconds.

Mine has a choice of shortest, fastest or most economical - I have it set to the latter.

 

[Sam Vimes]

Below are the options in the TomTom app - far to many compared to years ago - and the other app I have (sygic) only has three; Fast, Short,Economical.

I've tried the different settings apart from thrilling and there seems to be no difference in the planning on the journeys I undertake. Still the insistence that I take routes that are not obvious to me the best choice.

I question the algorithims used to determine these route choices. I stick with Efficient but to me its not doing me any favours trying to take me down slow roads that require frequent gear changes and stop/starts compared with a main route where you can just cruise along at a better speed.

As for rerouting - if you deviate from the plan then they used to recalculate from where you currently are. This doesn't always seem to be the case now. Recently I took a deviation which was more suitable for me but for tens of miles it instisted I turn around and go back and take a more circuitous route which was miles out of our way.

I told it to shut up and live with my decision, which it eventually did.

I still carry a paper map as well.

 

[Raywood]

I understand you problem with the A(. I have used this regularly over the years and on most journeys there have been some dangerous moments with people overtaking when it is not safe to do so.
As for the sat nav we set this two weeks ago for a journey down roads we did not know and it took us down a couple of country lanes that slowed us down rather than using the main roads which should have been quicker.

 

[otherclive]

I understand you problem with the A(. I have used this regularly over the years and on most journeys there have been some dangerous moments with people overtaking when it is not safe to do so.
As for the sat nav we set this two weeks ago for a journey down roads we did not know and it took us down a couple of country lanes that slowed us down rather than using the main roads which should have been quicker.

Used the satnav in the Kia yesterday for the first time as a lesson in setting it up. Only a short trip of 6 miles for afternoon tea in a hotel in Castle Combe. I’ve not been there for years so was quite happy when it took us via the race circuit. Then it told me to turn right which I did. Unfortunately the hotel has a one way system and I found myself facing an automated exit gate. After much shuffling around in a tight lane we found the IN gate. Thank heavens for a rear view camera and sensors.

 

[Sam Vimes]

Ours is quite amusing at times as it has a speech impediment.

Today the Airport came out as Airieporrit and the other week Dunfermline came out as Dun Fur Ball Lin.

 

[Hutch]

Our Hyundai is similar, I th ink it uses Navteqk or something, "Strasbourg" is very amusing.