As for you saying most sat navs take you in a circle and back to where you started............are you sure the person didn't key in their start-off point for their destination?

i said

you cant beat a good map [for diversions if you are unsure of the area] as most sat navs will take you in a circle and back to where you started

meaning if you try to divert because of accidents roadworks etc... make doesn't matter unless you have paid for very expensive one with TMC built in [which most people don't]

a stretch of road near to where I live that is placed on a slight bend which is totally out of view until a driver is about 2 yards from it!

are you on about the one halfway up Tittsy hill ???

hi LUCI

Not impressed with Sat Nav. We have a Garmin one and it couldn't find the car parking facility in Edinburgh as the road had been changed. If we try it on routes that we are familiar with, it wants to takes the strangest back roads that we would never dream of using

I have the GARMIN NUVI 310 and its great but what you must watch is having it on "shortest distance or fastest route".
yes ive had it on shortest route and you it takes you some strange ways !
the roads in EDINBURGH are a joke just now with them digging everything up for the new tram system, this confuses everyone not just the sat nav

There is no substitute for a decent map and a bit of time spent route planning.

I used to instruct on mountain walking courses and we kept being asked why do we have to waste time on maps and compass why not just use Sat Nav?

Simple answer was common sense. What if you drop it and it breaks or the batteries go flat?

Not much good if you are in the middle of nowhere.

Sat Nav is an aid no matter how sophisticated. I use one when walking but also have a map, route and compass which I also use

Having bought this for the car I will still use it - but only when I get near to where I want to be or I have to divert.

Councils and others do have a bad habit of closing roads without warning - then it helps get you back on track when you have to divert.

fwh

At the end of the day, any Sat Nav system is just an electronic map. Nothing more and nothing less. You still need to be able to read it in order to make a proper driving judgement.

Mark

A while ago, I was reading about these sat navs being used in Spain and one bloke got fined 300 euros.
This is a very grey area because the law says you can't have screen based devices, except those needed to directly operate the car and yet I've seen these gadgets for sale in the department stores in Spain.

It seems they are not illegal if you position the screen so that the driver can't see it and you have the voice directions only, in fact Spain is trying to make it that they are voice only.
One thing is quite clear though, if you have them set to detect speed traps and road speed restrictions, they are illegal.
I know nothing about sat navs, but whatever signal they send out to detect speed cameras, the police have the equipment to pick it up too, and they will seek and search you out and present you with a fine.

So, from what I can make out of all this grey area, it's ok to use sat navs in Spain as long as it's not mounted on the windscreen and the driver can see it, and the facility to detect speed cameras must be turned off.

http://www.idealspain.com/Pages/Information/DrivingSpain.htm

The speed camera detection feature has been illegal in the UK for a few years. Assuming you buy from a high street store what you get now is simply registered sites plotted on the map (and you can get exactly the same in a decent road atlas costing £2.99 from a clearance bookshop like "The Works"). Where I live we don't have any fixed cameras, the police just registered a load of places where they might (but probably won't) take the mobile unit. The Sat-Nav companies duly plotted all these locations on their systems, brilliant! The users drive slowly and the tax payers only had to stump up for the cost of the paper-work!

Thanks Ray. I think we did change it from shortest route to fastest route and didn't notice a lot of difference. Will have to check it's on the right one.

Re Edinburgh, will give it a go again wherever we may be going, but I still think I will print out a route map as a back up. I actually did have instructions from the car parking facility in Edinburgh as well as the Sat Nav, but they were very confusing and I don't normally have trouble with instrucions.

luci

When I bought my new car sat nav was fitted in it. This is something I never thought I would use but after using it a few times I think its great. Put the postcode in push a button and on my way to every shopping centre in Britain

Luci
as Ray said roads in Edinburgh are a complete shambles at the moment I dont think any sat nav would be able to cope. Parking is just as bad in city centre and they have taken away half of the spaces.

Lynn

steve8482 wrote:

The speed camera detection feature has been illegal in the UK for a few years. Assuming you buy from a high street store what you get now is simply registered sites plotted on the map (and you can get exactly the same in a decent road atlas costing £2.99 from a clearance bookshop like "The Works"). Where I live we don't have any fixed cameras, the police just registered a load of places where they might (but probably won't) take the mobile unit. The Sat-Nav companies duly plotted all these locations on their systems, brilliant! The users drive slowly and the tax payers only had to stump up for the cost of the paper-work!

The GPS speed detection feature is totally legal in the UK. I bought my TomTom (brand new) last year and that feature was already installed, and my sister has it in her one too, which she bought back in March.

A GPS works via a satellite - it isn't just a map you follow - it pinpoints your position as any satellite would do. That's how it is able to put you on to a different route to avoid trafic jams; something a map couldn't do (unless you pulled over and worked a new route out). The other benefit of a sat nav is not having to constantly look at your map to make sure you're going in the right direction or haven't missed a turning.

With the speed cameras the sat nav picks them up by laser - it isn't just registered sites plotted on a map. And new speed cameras are being put up every day, so whilst a sat nav would detect them by laser, you would have to wait a year or so before a new edition of a map was printed.

As for understanding how to read a sat nav - ANYONE could read one. And what's more, you can see your actual position along the route. Large green arrows point you into the direction you need to go (with the names of the roads - and a compass if you like to know which direction you're travelling) but if you so choose you can just listen to the instructions rather than looking at the sat nav.

As with anything, it's always wise to have a back-up, so I still carry a map in my car - but I do think TomToms are fantastic in many ways. Especially for avoiding traffic jams. Maybe the cheaper models are less reliable, or the older models, but I've never had a problem with mine - ever.

Each to their own I guess.

Strawberry

GPS plotting from registered coordinates and display on the map is what I meant and is legal. But detection of and alert to the radar was made illegal some years ago.

GPS plotting from registered coordinates and display on the map is what I meant and is legal. But detection of and alert to the radar was made illegal some years ago

100% Correct.. navs work by preloading the positions on to the map data base to locate them, that is one reason if your going to waste your money on one you need to throw more cash at it for the monthly internet updates

The main reason I bought Sat Nav was for alternate routes.
In Dorset where the centre road markings are mostly still grass there is one main road across the county.
Nowadays one only has to break a toenail and with health and saftey guidelines, the police or council will close the road. Eventually they may put in a few diversion signs, later they may even join them up.

The only alternatives are the long diversions or taking a chance on winding side/country roads where it is very easy to take a wrong turn and end up back at the same queue or going in completely the wrong direction, hence the decision to try Sat Nav. A recent local road closure highlighted that the official diversion to travel the required 100 yards was in the region of 16 miles as they have to use main routes where possible. Local route was about 1.5 - 2 miles. Things will only get worse in the Weymouth area as part of our road improvements process involves closing the alternative routes completely.

The Dorset roads are often so narrow there is no place to stop and look at a map, but if this is the main reason for purchase then as a review, I am not sure if the TurboDog package on the Navigo is the best solution as I have great difficulty in using the map exploration features!

Re Speed Cameras: not wanting to start a debate, it is obvious from the GPS data that the speedometer reads low on my vehicle, now in our area if the police don't like you they will prosecute you for doing 34 in a 30 limit, nothing to do with safety as they themselves beetle about at far greater speeds on their way to tea. However they mostly have the same speedometers as us!
So the GPS logging information is useful, as is a reminder that one is approaching an accident blackspot area.
One chap programmed a logger into his GPS phone and when prosecuted for speeding, stated that he was not guilty, their speed camera(laser) was obviously faulty and he would be producing the GPS logging evidence in court to prove his claim. Surprisingly the case was quietly dropped.

Back to the subject:
Decide what you want from the system and check all the reviews that you can find to decide on the best one. A cheap system is not cheap if it doesn't do what you want, on the other hand by well defining your criteria, you may find a slightly more expensive cheap solution that matches perfectly.

I quite like the idea of being able to take a picture on the trip with the SAT Nav and then later reviewing it and finding out where it actually was as opposed to "somewhere we drove past that day", although I do not think the current price tags for such systems, particularly as I am not doing much driving, justify it enough for me.

A GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) pinpoints exactly where your car is - and exactly where a speed camera is by satellite; not by pre-loading the positions onto a map. Since having mine I have never needed to download any additional data at all; but with the one that I purchased most of the downloads are free if I wanted them (maybe they were doing a special deal when I bought it) but they are of no interest to me - my TomTom has all the needs I require. As I said before, if a road suddenly becomes a NO ENTRY it simply redirects you.

I know the TomToms still have speed camera detection feature, and as they are still selling them they must be legal. Maybe some people are confusing sat navs with simple speed detection devices?

Stevebell, you've made a very valid point; it isn't always possible to pull over and study a map. And not just on narrow, winding roads (where sometimes the road sign is obscured and you're not even sure you're driving on the correct road) but it can be very easy to drive past a turning you should have turned into if you're unfamiliar with the area.

A sat nav also prevents you from missing a turn off on a motorway by giving you plenty of warning; it's quite dangerous when you think about it if a nervous driver is looking out for which lane to cross in to and which turn-off to take by having to check road signs whilst driving at 70mph. In that respect a sat nav is a great safety feature too.

I know that ambulances use sat navs and I'd imagine that must have saved quite a few lives.

At the end of the day a Sat Nav is a brilliant device (and the inventor must have made millions out of it) so that speaks for itself really. I bet it's saved a few arguments too between a husband and wife when they each blamed the other for getting lost!

Strawberry

Wizard HT Mod

hat is one reason if your going to waste your money on one you need to throw more cash at it for the monthly internet updates

i have a garmin one and the updates are free...i like free things

You wouldn't need to update every month anyway - if that was the case it would mean having to buy a new road map/A-Z every month too. Roads don't change that[i]frequently[/i]

Strawberry

the updates are for the speed cameras they will add/delete especialy the sars [speed averaging cameras] for road works etc, and any major priority changes [ no entries/new one way streets/no through roads etc]

A GPS picks up speed cameras by satellite - you don't need to download new cameras onto your TomTom - the satellite detects them when you're driving.

As for the new No-Through Roads/One-Ways/No Entries....................the TomTom will take you on an alternative route automatically. It also will ask you if you want to avoid traffic jams/works etc and will take you an alternative route on that too.

Not only that, but it will direct you so that you don't even HIT a traffic jam, whereas if you're driving just by a map and you hit a jam you could easily become stuck in it for hours. Anyway, how often do they bring new maps out? About once a year?

Which sort of GPS do you have, Wizard? I'll check my model number as I have never had one problem with mine and certainly wouldn't want to be without mine now. I think they're brilliant. As do all the people I know who have them.

I don't know about the older versions but the ones you buy now are bang up to date and can pinpoint your car's position to the metre.

Strawberry

"A GPS picks up speed cameras by satellite - you don't need to download new cameras onto your TomTom - the satellite detects them when you're driving."
How does this work? I thought GPS was what it say; global positioning system. By what means does it detect he cameras? Just curious.

The satellites don't pick up the cameras. The camera positions (which are openly published in Britain) are included in the data along with whatever other landmarks that particular brand wants to show. The details are updated whenever the data is. Your GPS unit knows where it is by taking bearings from satellites (the more it finds the more accurate the location), it can therefore tell that you are close to a camera. It cannot tell you whether a mobile camera site is actually in use or not (not being the usual around here but the sat-nav users still slow down !)