Sat Nav

hi. yarlington  yep i am one of those victims .300 hundred quid for one and its ready for its final journey to the bin .only last weekend went to bishops castle .trotting along nicely then a right hand turn into a lane .which had a wide entrance so looked ok by me .low and behold a few yards in lane down to virtualy  a foot either side of van . and a lovely shiney new tractor and trailer.with a very startled driver as was i .and the oh.its happend numerous times went to ireland 3 weeks ago .and honestly you realy dont want to know the !"" it got us into .what a waste of money .its all upto date .all the settings are correct ...what else can i say ..(ever been had )  we have now 

Personally I have found TomTom sat navs and their mapping far more reliable on a journey than I even did with a Garmin I once owned. Perhaps I was unlucky but I would be reluctant to buy another. Might be worth looking at the TomTom Truck which allows to to select a series of vehicles including a motorhome or if you wish, just enter the size of the outfit. Not used one yet but I am thinking this will be my next purchase.

David

I do hope that both of you will take up the matter with the manufacturers and the Club? Surely it's worth a try? In fact I seem to recall there being one if those reviews of sat navigation and I believe Garmon featured. Sorry I don't know when it was reviewed nor do I keep the magazines.

What about a letter for the magazine about the equipment too? Probably won't be published but at least it's another attack line 😉.

Maybe they'll be a comment from the club on this thread?

Is this another duplicated thread? 

one basic tip with pretty much all satnavs is NEVER set it to 'shortest route' if driving a MH or towing a caravan....

any satnav will take you down a narrow short cut just to save a few metres...

you may not even realise the device is set up this way, so worth checking and always set to 'fastest route' as this will favour wide fast A roads over slow (but shorter) B roads and lanes.

also remember that the 'Camper' software for determining if the road is too narrow for your unit can only be used if that road has a restricted width sign and is therefore officially 'narrow'.

even slimmer lanes with no formal width measurement are treated exactly as other 'wide' roads so hence the need to favour speed over distance with the 'fastest route' setting.

good luck. 

Just his evening I've order a Garmin Drive 60LM

It has a 6" screen and has lifetime European map updates. No traffic information (have found it to be completely inaccurate on other devices) and no pre-loaded points (as I'm quite capable of loading a destination).

No abilty to tell it that I'm towing a caravan, because I always look at the map as well when planning an unfamiliar route and take note of any restrictions noted on the caravan site's web site.

It was £120 from Tesco, less £10 for a voucher code on the same page as the advert. So £110.

This is to replace a TomTom Start 60 which drives me mad with it!s faulty screen that continually jumps through the menus while driving along, as though someone is pressing the menu buttons.

I'll report back on how it performs.

I have the Garmin Camper and whilst it has it's quirks, I like: the large screen, the link to my phone for real time traffic updates and the lane warnings for next junction etc. But yes, it has tried to send me down narrow roads, 'unsuitable for HGV's'.

On an earlier thread others have advised: set to fastest route (as suggested above) use it as a 'guide' and always read the road signs. Good practice is to have a look at a map and if you are able use street view to look at the actual road, especially the last couple of miles which always seem the most challenging. Also read the C&MC handbook for route recommendations.

I use the maxim, if in doubt stay out. What did we do before satnavs?

as i said .all settings are correct .these things are made to eliminate the need for maps etc.doing what apperly suggests defeats the object of having a satnav .vannings about (hopefully stress free) leisure time so you buy one of these widely advertised satnavs.and to my experiance and others .they just dont do what it says on the tin .i could give numerous examples of its misguidance .its got to the point now its not

worth using ..perhaps i should hire an outrider that should do the trick

the satnav is a tool that can be 'programmed' using a program (settings and the inputted start and end points) and data (the mapping provided inside the unit).

based on these, it will spew out an answer....the suggested route...

i always look at that 'suggestion' prior to leaving and compare it to a decent map, after all, as you say ypu just want it to take the strain of checking for loads of signs at each junction...

however, its only stress free if that 'route' is a satisfactory one for ypu and your vehicle, sometimes it might not be.....for many reasons.

once the route has been checked, it can be changed should the 'suggestion' not be the one you (the user) wants it to use....

so check prior to departure and change it if youre not happy....but do all this before turning the key, not halfway through the trip, swearing at the unit.....

good luck.

Another +1 BB, I find satnavs invaluable. I spend most journeys solo, the ability to detour live congestion/jams is a boon. It gives verbal guidance. As BB says, it's good to check the route it offers to ensure no nasty surprises. It's like all things that need Human input-ensure the input is correct. I use the tomtom Go mobile App on my phone, it suits me well.