Satnav: avoid unclassified roads

We have found that some narrow and unclassified roads are Bus routes

Sat Navs have settings for either major roads or quickest routes and the latter will choose the major roads - as opposed to shortest route which will use back lanes.

The foolproof way is to check your route on a map first and then you’ll know which roads you expect you use. I’m not sure it’s for the club to do the work for us.

Hi Tinwheeler, I have tried the "Shortest Route" setting and the "Quickest Route" setting on my satnav but very often they give the same route along a narrow unclassified lane which actually IS shorter and quicker as long as you don't have to reverse up when you meet a car coming the other way.

The club does test tow cars so why not try to help caravanners find the best sat navs to make their journeys safer and less stressful? I can't memorize the entire route I've planned from a map so have to rely on the satnav (which is the whole point of a SatNav).

Even the clubs route finder is not that Good as it will take any one towing a caravan via Sutton Bank  on  some journies between sites

Sorry, I can’t help you if it’s your sat nav playing silly beggars.

As for the club testing sat navs, you could contact them and ask but remember it’s not club staff who do the testing of cars so you could be at the mercy of whoever they acquire the test report from.

I use “My Drive” with my Tomtom and have found it to be the only certain way of avoiding unsuitable routes for a caravan. It takes a bit of time and research using Google maps and Street View to select the most suitable route but once saved into My Drive and then downloaded to the satnav, you can be confident that there won’t be any nasty surprises.

Co-Pilot and Map Factor used to allow you to avoid classes of roads but both have dropped this function against howls of protest. It is rumoured that Co-Pilot intend to restore it but Map Factor's position is uncertain. If I find out for certain I will post the result here.

peedee

The problem with Sat Navs avoiding unclassified roads is that according to this Government website 60% of all roads in the UK fit into that category which is a lot of roads? The only foolproof method with avoiding roads you don't like is to review the route before setting off and make adjustments via the settings. Most sat navs allow you to do this. Having said that My old TomTom with the Camper Maps installed where pretty successful most of the time in avoid unsuitable roads although I do have to keep an eye on the built in TomTom in my motorhome which one would have thought we be set up for such a vehicle but that often seems not to be the case!!!

David

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

You can download a free  version of Mapfactor Navigator, I have just done this for my Android smart phone and had a very quick look at it and it does allow control over roads and you can set the type of vehicle you are using.

Suggest you have a look at it and try it. If it turns out you like it you can always move to the paid for version which uses TomTom maps rather than Open Street Maps not that there is anything wrong with the latter.

 

peedee