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Sat Nav so frustrating......!!!


jxedwards
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Bought a Garmin Nuvi with European maps a few months ago.

Test drove it in the UK from South Wales to Silverstone. Took us off the main A road onto a B road which ran adjacent to teh A road for 15 miles then back on teh A road!!!!

When using it in France similar effect whilst heading for Toulouse airport and knowing the route well it tries to send me off down 'farm yard' lanes....!!!

Wife yesterday dricving from Figeac to Calais on her way home via Rouen. It led her a merry dance around Rouen as she was on her lonesome with no shotgun.

So bottom line is I am not impressed. Maybe the setup is not quite right but initially just a toy to play with.

 

Thoughts anyone?

 

John

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I have the same issues, as yet unresolved.

Near us we drive on a main road to the next village then make a right turn to the following village - all very simple you would think. But Garmin takes us off the main road about 10 metres before the junction, around the back about 4 houses which sit on the junction (down narrow alleys) and then back on the road about 10 metres down the right turn ! Takes about 2 mins longer to negotiate the alleys and may save 2 metres in distance. Madness.

I've tried changing settings but it still happens and I have the latest downloads.

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Think the Tom Tom XL Europe is marvellous, got us out of Brussels in a trice.

Have not had any problem except one roundabout which was new was not in the system.

Very useful and reassuring when driving alone and unable to consult map.   Even if it appears to take you a few miles/kilometers out of the way at least it gets you to your destination, bearing in mind the distinct lack of signs on country roads in France - you come to a cross roads and no signs at all or only in one direction!

Good investment.

WendyG 

 

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Looked at the settings and there does not appear to bethe feature on the Garmin for 'quickest' route or 'use main roads' etc.

I can see the benifit if lost as Wendy G wrote but to send OH way out of the way (her words not mine) is annoying.

Think I'll just stick to my old sextant.....!!!!! Is it ok to use one when driving or against the law?

 

John

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The trouble is that a GPS is there to help you navigate, not to take over all the navigation. Just as you used to look at your paper map before, or during, your journey, you can still see the map on the little screen.

If you let the GPS advise you what route to take instead of letting it force you to take that road, then you will get along fine with the thing.

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hi

 

i have the same nuvi. and ive found it to be great.

yes ive gone down a tractor tack in france once, but i knew i was on the wrong road and should have diverted.

however, the advantages are great, and its got me on the right track more often than not, in france, holland and belgium.

and hey. i just updated my maps

kim

 

 

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I don't think this phenomena is exclusive to Garmin and as Bob says, it is not an excuse to throw common sense out of the window. Witness the depressingly regular stories in the news about drivers suspending their's resulting in juggernauts getting stuck down narrow country lanes or coach drivers ending up in Lille Belgium instead of Lille France.

I think the main problem is that whoever compiled the maps cannot possibly have travelled each and every road so what might look like a reasonable or shorter route on paper might, in reality, be anything but. Maps unfortunately make no allowances for places which the human brain will instinctively tell you to avoid like the plague, big cities in the morning rush hour for instance. Is there any SatNav which, when requesting a route from say Limoges to Calais, will NOT automatically take you through Paris? At 02:00 in the morning it can be an excellent choice but at 09:00 on a weekday, no way Jose [:-))]

I have a Garmin Nuvi 360 and although there is an option for 'Shortest' or 'Fastest' route frankly for the most part it seems to make very little odds. If I'm on 'Fastest' route and on a motorway and it 'sees' a corner it can cut by taking an A or B road which it is decides is faster simply because it is shorter then it will try to take me that way. A little basic preparation though will usually tell me that it is not the way I want to go plus the map view on the screen will show me what it is trying to do and I can make a judgement based on those factors. There is also a 'facility' to tell it what type of vehicle you are, ranging from motorcycle to Bus. You'd be forgiven for imagining that telling it you are a bus might prompt it to conclude that a 2m wide twisty mountain lane is perhaps not the ideal route to be taking but no, the only thing it actually does is put a graphic of a bus on the screen, very useful - NOT [:'(]

Locally in France it often has great difficulty in discriminating between small tarmac roads and graded tracks and I have often found myself a couple of km up a road only to find it turn into a track, sometimes barely navigable in a private car, but to be fair, in terms of getting to my destination, track or not, it will always get me where I'm going - eventually [blink]

My biggest gripe with my Garmin, as I've recently mentioned in another thread, is the lack of waypoints (only 1 [:(]) and for that reason alone I am considering switching to TomTom as I have been pointed to a neat little programme - HERE - which allows you to plan a route on Google maps and then transfer it to the TomTom, you can even share your routes with other TomTom users. The term for this sort of thing which makes a particular item or piece of software a must have is 'killer app' and for me personally this is one [geek]

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I have a Tom Tom one and 98% of the time it is great (France/England) but we have had some problems with new roads and non-existing new roads mainly in France. Seems the maps are either to far in advance and think new roads have been build or the opposite new roads have been build but we appear to be off roading[:-))]

My last hiccup was my fault when after using it around Perigueux, I had set it for walking around the streets, I then programed it to take me somewhere else in the car and was surprised that it tried to take me the wrong way around a roundabout!! Then next day in Sarlat it was sending me the wrong way down one-way streets (don't worry I didn't go). It was then I realised some thing was wrong and I remembered I had set it to walking and not driving.

Funny thing was I had not noticed it had said at the beginning of my trip it was going to take 13+ hour to get there instead of 1h 15m doh!!

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Sat navs are great, but only as an ADDITION to your normal navigation, not a replacement.

Following it blindly will got you lost sooner or later. Plan your route before you leave looking for towns or junctions along the way that YOU cn use as a direction finder or waypoint to check your direction is good, Pay attention to where you are, watch the road signs, know your general direction, and dont be afraid to ignore the machine. Be prepared to switch it off and carry on without it for a period.

 

I learned this the hard way on a visit to spain with my old Navman. All was going well untill it lost itself and decided we were on a completely different road to where we actually were. It was telling is to turn at non-existant roundabouts a to take non-existant turnings. Stupidly, we followed it as best we could and got badly lost. It was a daytrip for fun, so it wasnt a catastrophy, but it was annoying that our journey took so long.

I gave it to my sister, and did without for a while, but found a bargain tomtom one europe, so use that now. If Im driving along what I know to be the right direction and it starts its nonsense about turning off, it gets uplugged for a few minutes till I am past whatever road has caught its eye.

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[quote user="Maricopa"]

Hi all

I have to say that this thread has simply re-inforced my long held conviction that you can't beat an up to date paper map of an appropriate scale and a good sense of direction (and a compass if out walking in the wilderness).[:D]

[/quote]

I would not agree with that at all. If you do get lost a paper map cannot tell you where you are, nor where an address is.

I use a GPS in the microlight, but the law says that I must also carry a paper map and it would be stupid not to pre-plan a route on both. At the end of the day a GPS is an AID to route planning, and not a gadget that forces anyone to follow the route it gives without question.

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[quote user="Bob T"]
I would not agree with that at all. If you do get lost a paper map cannot tell you where you are, nor where an address is.
[/quote]

A good map at the right scale, in the hands of a competent user, should tell that person exactly where they are[:D]

[quote user="Bob T"]
At the end of the day a GPS is an AID to route planning, and not a gadget that forces anyone to follow the route it gives without question.
[/quote]

I agree entirely[:D]

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[quote user="Maricopa"]A good map at the right scale, in the hands of a competent user, should tell that person exactly where they are[:D][/quote]Far too many prerequisites there and I've yet to see a map that 'tells' you something [Www]

Seriously I know what you mean and you are right however I'd venture that very few average people possess, much less routinely carry around, maps of adequate scale nor possess the skills to pinpoint precisely where they are at any instant as accurately as a SatNav.

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[quote user="ErnieY"]I've yet to see a map that 'tells' you something [/quote]

You're right.

I should have written "A good map at the right scale, in the hands of a competent user, should provide ample information for the user to deduce their location"

I sit corrected.[Www]

By the way, did I say how much I LOVE maps![:-))]

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[quote user="Bugbear"]Don't forget the moss on the trees Sweet 17...................................[kiss][:)][/quote]

Bugsy, I don't rely on the moss on trees, but on my wristwatch as long as the sun is out.  Now, you work that one out, OK?

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