Don't Follow Your Sat Nav

 
 
 
 
 
 
manta356
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Don't Follow Your Sat Nav

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Posted: 14.01.2017  ·  #1
Dont just follow your GPS :(

It translates as Carvan goes of the edge of a mountain, man found dead believed he was following his GPS as the road was signed closed for the winter.

http://www.dici.fr/actu/2017/0…ges-955668


presstout1
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Re: Don't Follow Your Sat Nav

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Posted: 14.01.2017  ·  #2
Poor souls.
Must have had a Garmin Camper 760.
And that is said not tongue in cheek.


JJF
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Re: Don't Follow Your Sat Nav

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Posted: 14.01.2017  ·  #3
IT really is a real issue...... We have lots of HGV's following sat navs on the little roads close to where we live as its a shorter route to the N15 and it's not suitable at all for large vehicles. Accidents not uncommon because of this.


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Re: Don't Follow Your Sat Nav

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Posted: 14.01.2017  ·  #4
Satnavs are brilliant and a great tool to have in car or motorhome when travelling in unfamiliar roads and cities.
They do have severe limitations and have to be used with common sense
At first I thought I don't need to have a decent map with me now with satnav - wrong
Having a good up to date map in the van is still in my view the best way to go. I use the map to route plan and only use the satnav for the detail stuff

When driving with the assistance of a satnav you still have to use your brain
Occasionally it will try to pull you off on a narrow road (shortest route)
If it doesn't "feel right" pull over and check your map. or googlemap on your ipad if you have one and have internet coverage

Sadly in my personal experience they have not really improved
10 or 11 years ago I bought my first satnav - a TomTom
we got great service out of it.

4 or 5 year ago it it was just as cheap to buy a new Garmin for the same price as updating the maps on the TomTom
so I bought Garmin.
I was expecting great things - newer hardware technology, newer software algorithms, better mapping etc
I was wrong the Garmin was worse in nearly every respect
Worse at route planning, worse at taking right options for navigation
It was really disappointing - the advances in the technology did not translate into real improvements in the product

Back in the 19080's I drove thought much of France and some of Spain and Italy with four young ones in the back and me and Mrs Drifter trying to get to where we were going using big fold out paper maps and road signs. We took a few wrong turns and we had a few arguments here and there but we always got to where we were going

Yes use satnav but dont' be a slave to it


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Re: Don't Follow Your Sat Nav

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Posted: 14.01.2017  ·  #5
Wise words Drifter.
We tend to use it near the destination, a road map up till then is the order of the day.


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Re: Don't Follow Your Sat Nav

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Posted: 14.01.2017  ·  #6
Quote by drifter

Satnavs are brilliant and a great tool to have in car or motorhome when travelling in unfamiliar roads and cities.
...
(snip)
They do have severe limitations and have to be used with common sense

When driving with the assistance of a satnav you still have to use your brain

Yes use satnav but dont' be a slave to it


Very will said.. :up: I have a Nuvi 200 for years and only ever use it to find my final location.
I usually have the route well planed out before I go. Sometimes I turn off the sound and start the route and I glance at it every so often, I have noticed that it wanted to take me on back roads several times, I just ignore it.
As Drifter said always have a good Map for backup. We do a lot of Mounting walking and therefore I normally have maps and a compass.


unhappy camper
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Re: Don't Follow Your Sat Nav

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Posted: 14.01.2017  ·  #7
Decided to try our Sat nav on the way home one day it told us to turn the wrong way into a one way system will stick to maps


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Re: Don't Follow Your Sat Nav

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Posted: 14.01.2017  ·  #8
Sat navs have been the bane of my life on occasions! We are more often in new territory than known to us places, If it's long distance, I always have the relevant map to hand, and I get an idea of where we should be from that. As we near our location I always rely solely on the sat nav, because following a map through towns is nigh on impossible. Having said that, I now follow road signs if there's a conflict between what the sat nav says and what the signs say. Each to their own of course.


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Re: Don't Follow Your Sat Nav

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Posted: 15.01.2017  ·  #9
We do what some have already said.
Set the destination on the sat nav wth volume turned down then follow the road signs until we are in the last few minutes.
It can be handy to find an entrance you don't know.


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Re: Don't Follow Your Sat Nav

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Posted: 26.12.2017  ·  #10
Bit late to this thread but have to agree about sat navs. I’m on my third for the MH. When using the sat nav I don’t have the same perspective. I know where exactly I am but don’t necessarily know what is around me without zooming in and out on the screen. I still carry maps. In our early years I relied on maps, then bought a fluxgate compass after getting completely lost in Yugoslavia. At least I knew what direction I was heading when lost.


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Re: Don't Follow Your Sat Nav

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Posted: 01.01.2018  ·  #11
We always check the satnav route against a map and are often really glad that we did.
I know it is supposed to work logically but sometimes it is hard to figure out how it comes to the decisions that it does!
Very handy in a town though and when motorways get complicated in the u.k.


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Re: Don't Follow Your Sat Nav

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Posted: 01.01.2018  ·  #12
I never use them, it's a map and sense of direction for me.
This also adds an element of adventure, if I end up somewhere else, so what, as it will probably be somewhere I haven't been before. The latter rarely happens.


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Re: Don't Follow Your Sat Nav

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Posted: 10.01.2018  ·  #13
Good information on this thread, all common sense stuff.
has anyone any experience with the Garmin Dezl 770 LMT-D. Thinking of investing, with a reversing camera, or has anyone any better suggestions.


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