Which Satnav??

[otherclive]

I have been offered a satnav for Xmas, probably because 'The Navigator' finds routing through France too stressful! Looking at the main brands such as Tom Tom, Garmin and Navman none seem to describe features that I would find helpful. I would like to be able to plan mmy own route on some occassions so as to use the satnav to get me right to the campsite. I would also like to be able to exclude some areas where I know that I would not want to take the van such as the London CGZ. I would like to be able to do the above on the PC rather than on the satnav itself. Then I read reviews that say Garmins are unreliable and the maps will freeze on route. So at the moment I am not convinced that satnav is for me. I would welcome any user views and indications of the type of stanav used.

 

[JimD1]

Hi Clive,

Can only comment based on my experience . We bought a Garmin Nuvi 255W earlier in the year. It came with full European mapping, & we bought extra maps for all of N America. We used it for a 2 week holiday in New England during end of September / early October & have used it regularly since.

The unit came with PC software & we were able to load all of the European & N American maps into it. It also had all of the point-of-interest which are on the unit itself. We could then plan a route on the PC, & download "via points" onto the sat-nav. These really just end up being loaded into the favourite locations on the sat-nav, but even then it did make programming the route very easy, as all we did was tell it where we wanted to go to, then tell it the places we wanted to go via.

As regards it freezing, we've never had that happen, either in the States or when we've used it since.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[David_from_Ashby]

Hi Clive

Personally I would not buy a dedicated satnav. I am now on my 3rd Phone based satnav program, which is by far the best I have ever used. ALK Copilot V8 on Android, Windows Mobile phone and iphone. I run it on a HTC Hero and it is brilliant.

We used V7 on a windows mobile phone in France the last two summers and the routing is excellent. Yes it does pay dividends to plan the routes in advance, using waypoints to define key roads to use, whether on the phone itself or on a pc, and these can be saved.

It will warn/avoid the london CGZ and also gives an option for avoiding toll roads.

Although phone based, it stores the maps locally so does not need a data connection to work. If you have a compatible smartphone, then the EU version costs around

 

[James_374408700]

Hi Clive,

Have a Garmin Nuvi265. Never had any probs/freezing

Jim

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Clive,

I am confident that the vast majority of stand alone Sat-Navs don't freeze, unless the owner is either asking it to do too much, or they have made an adjustment to some aspect of the maps or programme.

I must explain what I mean by asking it to do too much. The Sat-Navs comprises of several functional blocks. The key to the process is the GPS receiver, that accepts the radio signals from the GPS satellites and by some clever mathematics decodes the signals to derive the relative position of the receiver.

Then there is the mapping software that takes the GPS position and superimposes it on the map to show where you are.

And then there is the routing software, which accepts your inputs to tell it your destination, It then works out gets your current position, and by some clever algorithms it works out a route, taking into account your selected preferences. It also concurrently works out your speed, and can provide additional journey information such as road names, next turn instructions distance and estimated time of arrival

If that isn't enough, then may Sat-Navs will also allow you to add points of interest, and some of the options you have is for the Sat-Navs to advise you when you are approaching a POI, (such as a speed camera or caravan site etc)

The more you ask the unit to do, the slower it can become, as it works out what information needs to be displayed and in some case what has priority over what. I had a quite an old unit and it was fine until I tried to update it with speed cameras. It could not work fast enough to give turn information and camera warnings when they were within 100yds of each other.

Even though I appreciate the technology, and my current unit (a phone based Tom Tom) seems to pretty good, I still plan major journeys using a map book for the bulk of the journey after all towns don't generally move

Where the Sat-Navs usually comes into its own is in town centres. Here its ability to keep track of where you are and thus to be able to calculate the next turn or lane assignment is great especially when travelling solo.

However having said that it there are two instances that I know of where it seems to do the opposite of what seems it should be doing, in Birmingham and in Coventry where for some reason it refuses to take me to a particular car park, which almost made us late for my daughters graduation.

I find it a very useful tool, but it is an aide rather than a total solution. - and what happens if its battery goes flat? - Aren't maps wonderful!

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

what a brilliat answer as usual johnL, however 2.points I would like to make in addition

1. as sat navs come with 2 power cables one for the car and one USB for connection to your computer there is never a need for the satnav to run out of power as both will charge the battery.

2. the secret "allthough it is not really" is in the settings and preferences you have to go through the menues and select only the relevent ones you need then it will run smoother and dont forget to update the software regulary from the data base as cameras, road changes and improvements need to be updated or the satnav can get lost and confused.

mine is a garmin nuvi with bluetooth and SD expansion slot it is updated once a month and I have never had a problem of freezing up or getting lost with it. a great bit of kit and well worth the money.

colin

 

[otherclive]

Thanks all for the information. My son hasa Garmin bike satnav ( Expensive) that allows routing inputs, so I am going to look at a Garmin 765T, or 1490T as the two options. I fully agree the comments about towns and still needing to be map-aware, and Iguess that will stay with me for the rest of my driving days.

Cheers

Other Clive

 

[Sedo]

Clive on the ProNav you just set the options once for your rig, length, height, weight etc. and then that's it, it does what it says on the box.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello colin

Thank you for your kind words,

With regard to the battery and charging, When my current phone uses sat nav, it uses quite a lot more power, and I guess it would only last 2.5 hours. With the Sat-Nav turned off it lasts much better.

I agree most times power can be available, but on one occasion I forgot the car charging cable as I was using another vehicle, and eventually the battery gave up.

On a previous phone (without Sat-Nav) the charging socket would not work, and I had to rely on dropping into a desk charger. If that had Sat Nav it would dies quite quickly.

And what happens if you drop the unit and the screen breaks!

Basically it is always a good idea to have some kind of back up that doesn't need power.

Nuf said.

 

[RogerP]

I've used SatNavs on either a PDA or currenly on my smartphone. I also had a Navman dedicated unit (until it was nicked).

PDA was TomTom

Smartphone is Garmin Mobile

Both allow you to plan a route and navigate by way points or avoiding roads etc etc.

I really like the Garmin Mobile as its easy to use , I can change maps as they are stored on memory cards (you can download if you have enough memory.

Finally you can set various settings such as car , motorbike , truck , pedestrian etc etc. Setting as Truck when towing really does work , the system will warning if there are low bridges or narrow lanes.

I also use it when 'off road' say walking or cycling and again this comes into its own , most dedicated units are purely road based and once you venture off the highway they become useless

 

[trucker]

Ill go along with Johnl with the back up. Our Garmin sometimes takes you off the main road far too early and across county, once through a farm yard with the caravan on the back in France. We always check the route on the pc with via michlin before we go anywhere with the van. and of course we have the atlas for an easy view of any route if were not happy with the sat nav.

Sat nav is a great piece of kit however it should not be used as a replacement for common sense!!!

Kevin

 

[ProfJohnL]

Ah Trucker!

The spectre of common sense has risen again.

The concept of common sense is fundamentally flawed. It is often used to describe what the majority of people would do in a given set of circumstances, and because the majority do it it is seen as being aright or correct.

By that virtue speeding is common sense, Drinking too much is common sense, enjoying football is ........ and so on

I prefer to use good sense, which if it is applied correctly produces the right outcomes.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

hi all

sorry johnL. I forgot you were talking about mobile phone based satnavs dedicated sat navs do indeed have a better battery life for instance we used the garmin while touring the south east and only needed to charge it once. after 10hrs of use more than enough time to get allmost anywhere, if you turn it off when not needed ie: on long motorways or when you acctually know where you are going. afterall it is only needed when either you get lost or are going somewhere unfamilier. you dont turn it on when going to work or popping down the town do you?.

Trucker. if your satnav does as you describe the setting are not right or it needs an update. yes I know the cheaper ones don't have some of the options but thats another story.

of course commonsense is required it is allways worth carrying a map and checking your route before hand noteing exit numbers ect, but at the end of the day you still have to think when the satnav is on don't you???????. of course you do if the satnav is set to the shortest route and your farm track is 800mtrs shorter than the main road "IT WILL SEND YOU THAT WAY" you just have to think "WHY" is it sending me down here when the main road is down there?? ignore it carry on and then it will recalculate the route. if it tells you to take the next left up another farm track, the setting are WRONG.

simple seeeee.

 

[otherclive]

Ill go along with Johnl with the back up. Our Garmin sometimes takes you off the main road far too early and across county, once through a farm yard with the caravan on the back in France. We always check the route on the pc with via michlin before we go anywhere with the van. and of course we have the atlas for an easy view of any route if were not happy with the sat nav.

Sat nav is a great piece of kit however it should not be used as a replacement for common sense!!!

Kevin

Trucker, can you comapre the Garmin route and the Via Michelin route both on the PC or do you have to 'drive' the Garmin route and do cross-comparison? When I first started looking at Satnavs I thought great, all I have to do is use Google Maps to plan my route and make sure I don't go down unsuitable roads, then eh presto load it into the satnav. Henec I can have a print out in the car as a fallback such that if we have to re-route with the van on then there is some measure of control still with me as to which roads I would select. Solo I would be quite happy for automatic re routing.Technology does not seem to have gone that far yet!!

 

[emmerson2]

Being a brand-new novice at the satnav game, I must say that my Garmin Nuvi 660 is a wonderful toy!

one thing I have found is that when you are given a verbal instruction, it pays to check the screen, because they are not always the same.An example: we were approaching Kings Lynn from Thursford, and wanted the A47 towards Peterboro. Emily the satnav told me to take the fourth exit from the roundabout, so I took up position in the right hand lane. Checking the screen, however, showed that I should be in the left lane, to go over the flyover, therefore missing out the roundabout.Fortunately I was able to switch lanes without too much hassle, but it could have been awkward.As has been said many many times, satnav is an aid, not a master.

In my case this afternoon, I think the voice was programmed before the fly-over was built, but the screen was done later. Is this possible?

 

[ShadySadie]

A common problem leading to Satnav freezing can be bad positioning of the Satnav in the car. Position to the right of the steering wheel and on the windscreen so the aerial is nearer the road centre and has less chance of being blocked. Garmins and most decent Satnavs can be fitted with an inexpensive additional aerial.

Driving a RH drive car in europe, place the satnav on the passenger side or place supplementary aerial on that side closer to the road centre.

We've just returned from a biking tour of India, the whole trip was planned on Garmin Zumo's and no one in the group had a problem. Zumo's (550 and 660) are routable bike based Stanavs and come with a car mount, water proof for biking they do not come cheap but include MP3 etc.

 

[Clive-Cardiff]

Hi Clive, I bought a Snooper Ventura earlier this year after my Tomtom was stolen from the car. I have used it a lot on a recent tour down through France, Spain and Portugal and it has performed very well.

It has the option of routing for a solo car or for a car + van, the dimensions of the van can be preset. I have tested this on a number of occasions and it does give a better route for the caravan.

The Snooper comes with ACSI sits pre installed so we were guided straight to the gate of the site every time. There's nothing worse than struggling to find your overnight site.

I would thoroughly recommend this kit.

 

[trucker]

Trucker, can you comapre the Garmin route and the Via Michelin route both on the PC or do you have to 'drive' the Garmin route and do cross-comparison? When I first started looking at Satnavs I thought great, all I have to do is use Google Maps to plan my route and make sure I don't go down unsuitable roads, then eh presto load it into the satnav. Henec I can have a print out in the car as a fallback such that if we have to re-route with the van on then there is some measure of control still with me as to which roads I would select. Solo I would be quite happy for automatic re routing.Technology does not seem to have gone that far yet!!

Clive Ive got the Garmin maps on the pc as it camer with a cd years ago and I just update it as I update the maps on the unit. I have changed the unit since I got the maps on the pc but it still works exactly the same.

Kevin

 

[Guest]

Hi Clive, I bought a Snooper Ventura earlier this year after my Tomtom was stolen from the car. I have used it a lot on a recent tour down through France, Spain and Portugal and it has performed very well.

It has the option of routing for a solo car or for a car + van, the dimensions of the van can be preset. I have tested this on a number of occasions and it does give a better route for the caravan.

The Snooper comes with ACSI sits pre installed so we were guided straight to the gate of the site every time. There's nothing worse than struggling to find your overnight site.

I would thoroughly recommend this kit.

I have had a lot of experience of phone-based satnav and although they are a good alternative to a dedicated device if that is all you have they are never as good as a Tom Tom, Garmin dedicated system.

The biggest disadvantage IMO is that Phone and PDA based satnavs have such small screens. When driving you need a screen that can be read and understood at a glance. If you have to focus and concentrate on the screen to take in the information then not only will you miss the information but it will be dangerous. Nothing should require more than a quick glance to understand it. If it needs more than that then don't use it as a driver. Can be useful with a passenger navigating though.

I have a Tom Tom. It is easy to use and very easy to read when on the road. It has a lot of menus and it gets a bit of a ribbing for that but in my view this is not a factor as you shouldn't be going through menus whilst driving.

The Tom Tom Live works very well as it uses historical data on journey times from all participating Tom Tom owners, the day and time etc to determine best route and ETA. It also get real time traffic info and advises of potential faster routes. Care needs to be taken using this feature when towing though lest it take you down small roads. I tend to plan the route before departure on the PC so I know which route we will take beforehand and then I turn off rerouting. However, it is a nice feature when we are not towing.

Just a small point... the 540, 740 and 940 are the same device but with different map sets. The 540 is UK only. The 740 includes Europe. The 940 is worldwide. I got the 540 and will buy the maps separately if/when I go abroad.