On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav

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Mon 9 Jan 2023 10:21
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - mhenderson

I wonder if anyone can explain this. I was helping move one of the grandchildren into her university accommodation on Saturday. Her little Hyundai i10 couldn't hold enough of her things, hence using the Octavia. I was using the built-in SatNav, and was in the middle of Birmingham, when it stopped communicating with me, and when I managed to stop and reprogram it, it sent me to various quite wrong places.

I wonder if it upset the system when I had phone calls though the car, after we were separated, and if that somehow stopped the navigation system working. Or has it developed some fault ?

Any thoughts ?

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Mon 9 Jan 2023 10:24
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - Bromptonaut

Is this the Skoda built in Sat Nav (Amundsen?)?

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Mon 9 Jan 2023 12:25
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - mhenderson

Is this the Skoda built in Sat Nav (Amundsen?)?

Yes. It's a 2019 model.

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Mon 9 Jan 2023 12:30
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - Adampr

Let's just say Skoda's on board navigation is famed for being a little more Scott than Amundsen...

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Mon 9 Jan 2023 13:15
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - mhenderson

That's interesting. I'd put in the address of the student flats, and after I restarted it, it took me to the Q.E hospital, then some dead ends, before I gave it up. Daughter was doing better using her phone.

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Mon 9 Jan 2023 14:12
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - Crickleymal

That's interesting. I'd put in the address of the student flats, and after I restarted it, it took me to the Q.E hospital, then some dead ends, before I gave it up. Daughter was doing better using her phone.

I used to work at the QE. Satnavs have trouble round there with roads being closed to vehicles but not to pedestrians. Sometimes you have to travel half a mile to achieve 100 yards as the crow flies.

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Mon 9 Jan 2023 14:52
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - mhenderson

How odd. Was trying to get to some flats in Elvetham Road, not far away, but it just wouldn't work. At least I know it wasn't just me.

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Mon 9 Jan 2023 13:10
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - elekie&a/c doctor
Don’t think it would be related to phone use . More likely a fault on the nav system.
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Mon 9 Jan 2023 14:45
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - Bromptonaut

I think Amundsen was an option on my Skoda but I just use my phone and Android Auto.

It usually works fine but just before Xmas I needed it to pick up something from Halfords in Coventry that was not available closer to home - a Balance bike for my Grandson.

It sent me M1/M45/A45. All good until I crossed the Fosse Way, at which point it decided I'd left the A45 onto that road and started giving me impossible turn directions onto non existent roads. Only sorted itself after I pulled into a service road and re-set the thing.

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Mon 9 Jan 2023 14:54
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - mhenderson

What a horror story. I don't think I'll use it again. I never had any bother with the one in the Focus before.

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Mon 9 Jan 2023 15:04
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - elekie&a/c doctor
I don’t bother with the factory sat nav in the wife’s Vitara , I use apple I- play and Waze , displayed on the media screen.

Edited by elekie&a/c doctor on 09/01/2023 at 15:05

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Mon 9 Jan 2023 21:36
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - catsdad

My 2018 Golf satnav is a joke. It seems to a VAG failing.

I mainly use it as a map to see where I am rather as a trusted guide. Today coming down the M5 I forgot to ignore the fact that it always directs me off one junction early when aiming for the Swindon turnoff. I was treated to a route through Cheltenham via tortuous back streets rather than an easy, and much quicker, motorway and dual carriageway route.

This is not an isolated instance. I have several regular routes where it always recommends the same crazy diversions. When these are ignored the estimated arrival time invariably updates to a much earlier time. It’s a common issue according to the VAG forums.

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Mon 9 Jan 2023 21:42
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - maz64

I was treated to a route through Cheltenham via tortuous back streets rather than an easy, and much quicker, motorway and dual carriageway route.

I've had the same sort of thing happen with both Android Auto and my Mazda2's sat nav. Both have tried to send me down what were literally farm tracks.

Edited by maz64 on 09/01/2023 at 21:42

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Tue 10 Jan 2023 03:22
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - Crickleymal

Yes that happens with my satnav too although mine is an android free satnav. I always get directed to come off at the Tewkesbury junction rather than the Cheltenham junction but when I ignore the satnav it recalculates and shows a shorter time via Cheltenham.

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Tue 10 Jan 2023 08:55
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - RT

Yes that happens with my satnav too although mine is an android free satnav. I always get directed to come off at the Tewkesbury junction rather than the Cheltenham junction but when I ignore the satnav it recalculates and shows a shorter time via Cheltenham.

When satnavs use adifferent route to the expected route, the settings need checking because most satnavs have a choice of "fastest", "shortest" or "economical" - using the latter is a complicated algorithm.

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Tue 10 Jan 2023 11:48
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - Crickleymal

Yes that happens with my satnav too although mine is an android free satnav. I always get directed to come off at the Tewkesbury junction rather than the Cheltenham junction but when I ignore the satnav it recalculates and shows a shorter time via Cheltenham.

When satnavs use adifferent route to the expected route, the settings need checking because most satnavs have a choice of "fastest", "shortest" or "economical" - using the latter is a complicated algorithm.

Mine is always set to fastest route.

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Tue 10 Jan 2023 07:31
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - FoxyJukebox
Sat navs can sometimes be cleverer than the driver in anticipating traffic jams and sending a driver on an alternative route. Coming north from Kent and heading for N London, via the Blackwall Tunnel I have been sent to Dartford tunnel instead and on one occasion M25 was so congested sat nav sent me right round to the M40 and hence N. Circular to Muswell Hill.
Didn’t take that much longer
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Tue 10 Jan 2023 09:09
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - mcb100
When it lost contact, were you surrounded by tall buildings?
I’m wondering whether it’s lost sight of the minimum number of GPS satellites needed to know where it was and consequently thrown a wobbly?
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Tue 10 Jan 2023 10:06
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - catsdad

Re comments VAG satnav issues. Rest assured I have checked the settings and I know some satnavs will redirect around jams etc. What I am referring to are consistent daft doglegs that appear at the same spot on the same routes every time. You get used to it on familiar routes but in new territory you need to take a view as to whether the guidance is wrong or not.

For long journeys I pre check the route and try to stick to motorways and the map until I get local when I rely on satnav. It’s local navigation is as good (or bad) as the many other satnavs I’ve used.

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Tue 10 Jan 2023 10:47
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - mcb100
A manufacturer’s inbuilt nav, yesterday, wanted me to leave the M62 at junction 18, take the second exit off the roundabout and rejoin the motorway.
I’m sure, in its own ruthlessly logical thought process, it would have saved a few seconds in traffic but it would have added a few lane changes and a busy, light controlled roundabout.
No matter what brand or OS, they all make odd calls sometimes but I do use them even if I know the route door to door because they have the bigger picture regarding traffic.
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Tue 10 Jan 2023 10:51
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - RT

Re comments VAG satnav issues. Rest assured I have checked the settings and I know some satnavs will redirect around jams etc. What I am referring to are consistent daft doglegs that appear at the same spot on the same routes every time. You get used to it on familiar routes but in new territory you need to take a view as to whether the guidance is wrong or not.

For long journeys I pre check the route and try to stick to motorways and the map until I get local when I rely on satnav. It’s local navigation is as good (or bad) as the many other satnavs I’ve used.

Sometimes the traffic sensor networks give wrong information for days on end - as a prelude for the sliding of a HS2 bridge over the M42, the traffic sensors were disconnected but on my VW Touareg satnav this showed as a closed motorway for weeks with re-routing around it, despite the motorway being open except for a few days - but then I think the Touareg gets the same satnav as Audi and Porsche, not the version fitted in VW and Skoda.

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Tue 10 Jan 2023 13:05
On Skoda Octavia - Sat Nav - mhenderson
When it lost contact, were you surrounded by tall buildings? I’m wondering whether it’s lost sight of the minimum number of GPS satellites needed to know where it was and consequently thrown a wobbly?

I don't think so, just normal town buildings, and near the A38 it was fairly open. Some streets were more enclosed, but it didn't come back in more open places. Interesting thought though.

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