I spent a frustrating evening on thursday, westbound on the A57 from the A1 to Sheffield, where some lowlife has spray-painted the signs on the roundabouts west of the M1, obliterating all mention of the Sheffield or A57. Nowhere nearby to stop and check the map, or to turn after having done so, so all I could do complete circuits of the roundabouts to guess the correct exit. Not legal, not fun, but best of a bad set of options :(
Then, to add the fun, here was a diversion, the signs for which abandoned me at another roundabout (they are big on roundabouts in thse parts), leading to a half hour of guessing my way around backroads with the help of my inadequate road atlas.
Finally made it to my destination, and then got lost three times at 11pm trying to get out of Sheffield.
So I decided that it's satnav time, and after reading the reviews and having taken advice here, it'll have to be a TomTom ONE.
I got mine for £219 from PC World, but if you don't mind waiting a few days for delivery you can order them online this weekend for £204 from The Link (with free delivery): see www.find-uk-deals.co.uk/sat_nav.htm. (Note that when you enter the discount code, it isn't enough to press enter - you need to click the update button for it to register the £15 discount)
I spent an hour last night testing it out around the edges of town, and my initial reaction is that it is a brilliant gadget.
Usefully slimmer than a TomTom ONE, it doesn't seem to be missing any features I need, and it was up and running within four minutes of walking out the door of the shop. The only downside so far is that it is yet another piece of kit to carry around with me :(
|
I agree they are usefull gadgets but dont get too trusting of it as they are flawed in certain areas, and can catch you out when you least expect it !
I use a PDA navigation system based upon ViaMichelin mapping, which is probably not as good as the TOMTOM software in a lot of ways, but I was more interested in the non-UK mapping which (being French) the Viamichelin does quite well.
|
You're right, Roly — they do have their moments, and I'm not going to throw away my maps. I spotted two glitches last night:
1/ when I set it to take "shortest route", its response in Bradford city was to send me down back alleys to save a few yards. Unfortunately, it had no button for "not that short a route, you pedantic gadget" :(
2/ The back alley mapping isn't that sophisticated: it can't distinguish between an alley that's wide enough for a car and one that isn't.
I do know that they sometimes chose daft routes, but having just been entering my favourites this morning, it's doing a better job that the transportdirect.info site which I used to use, and which choses some really dumb routes (it sent me in a circle around the Nottingham exit from the M1 a few months ago).
|
|
It's nearly always better to set it to "Quickest" rather than shortest - there have been stories about a mountain track above Swaledale and an impassable ford (water, not side-valve Popular) in the Cotswolds.
|
And show your average speed as "SLOW" the software apparantly assumes you're driving an artic and won't try to divert you down narrow lanes. Another gain is that the ETA shown on initial programming slwly improves as you crack along at a ton*
*this may be illegal in your country or territory, may lead to a prison sentance, heavy fines and other sanctions. but they'll have to catch and convict you first !
|
Does the Tom Tom ONE, or indeed, any satnav system use (or can be easily enabled to use) grid ref figures (as on OS maps)?
Thanks Waino
|
No TomTom does. Nor do any purely automotive sat navs. Native GPS does not provide that information, only by adding some post processing conversion via software can that be done.
To do clever stuff like this you are best using a Pocket PC with the appropriate mapping software or a specilaist satnav like the garmin quest 2
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
Thanks, TVM, that's a pity. I'm interested in grid refs because my work on overhead power lines takes me way off the beaten track and I normally find my way around using OS maps. I have a Garmin 111 hand-held GPS unit which gives grid refs.
I'm surprised that the emergency services don't make better use of grid refs. Some months ago, I rolled up at a sub-station out in the sticks to find a poor chap in the process of ending it all in his car with a length of hosepipe from the exhaust. After dialing 999, I was to say where I was and give my grid position to the nearest metre but, to the girl at the other end, I might as well have been speaking Russian.
|
You need a programe called memory map then Waino, You can load the OS landranger 1:50,000 into a pocket pc and navigate it using a GPS. www.memory-map.co.uk
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
A friend has recently invested in some sort of system used together with his hand-held pc - it could well be this system. I'll quiz him about it. I must admit, being an avid reader of OS maps, I've been a bit sceptical of the joys of satnav.
I'm completely ignorant of car satnav; I assume you'd have to tell it where you want to go using a post code or road name. Unfortunately, electrical sub-stations in the middle of nowhere don't have post codes or road names - so, I imagine that a grid ref is the only location description I could use.
|
|
You could use a GPS description measured in degrees though. Of course it would only tell you where the nearest road was and ask you to make your own way off road - so not much use if the substation were at the bottom of a sheer drop and the road nearer to the top...
|
Latest edition of Memeory Map also has 1:25,000 maps of "Tourist/popular" areas, Snowdonia, Lake District, yorkshire dales etc. Seems remarkably accurate - gives 10 fig grid refs! (accurate to a metre??)
Its a marvellous system with all sorts of route plotting, shows exactly where you've been so you can retrace steps, 3D views and "flyovers "etc. Free trial at
www.memory-map.co.uk/
--
Phil
|
Memory map is all very good but they have an agreement with the Ordnance Survey that means you end up re-buying it just about every year. We bought it three years ago and have had to buy it again since and it's complaining again.
We use it with a Garmin Vista and a hw6515, both of which work well but the licensing makes it annoying.
Think borasport know a lot more about these things...
Lee -- There\'s no place like 127.0.0.1
|
"it's complaining again"
How do you mean?
--
Phil
|
Think borasport know a lot more about these things...
Not really - hand helds for outdoor use are more my kind of thing.
Which is why I'm asking if anyone has any comments on the Navman ICN 520, currently going for £152 at costco. Is it any good ? what is the mapping like ? are updates available ?
--
Go on, get out of the car...
www.mikes-walks.co.uk
|
Hi Mike,
The Vista is a handheld for outdoor use, I saw a lot of info on GPS things on your very good website - apologies for the assumption.
The 6515 is a PDA but with GPS built in and Memory Map will allow you to use it as a navi device - but it's no good in the Lake District as it has the water resistance of a sponge..
:-)
Lee -- There\'s no place like 127.0.0.1
|
|
|
Does anyone believe Tom Tom Jane ?
I know of at least four local roundabouts where I'm told to "take the third exit" when the map display shows a different exit. The display is always correct and If I follow Jane's instructions TT makes a route recalculation allowing for the wrong advice. It's the same on some main road routes, I'm uneccessarily told to "keep right" when passing service area's. On the other hand, when audible directions would be useful, Jane stays silent. One south coast eastbound four lane road splits into two dual carriageways, each one taking you in a different direction, not a beep from Jane, yet a few miles further on she's telling me to keep left or right when just following the road would do.
I can't help thinking that the Tom Tom cpu is the male driver, and Jane is the female map reading passenger.
|
Sack Jane and put Tim on the job.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
|
|
|
Jane is normally very reliable but for some reason she doesn't like Glasgow. She kept directing me the wrong way up one way streets (and it wasn't Killarney, where I could have said 'I'm only going one way'), and then she was totally unclear as to which fork led on to the M8 out of the city, so needless to say I got the wrong one.
|
TVM and Pugugly
I can't sack her. She's the only one left. I've killed Tim and Basil doesn't want to download. Anyway, I'm beginning to like Jane in spite of her faults.
Must ask her out for a drink sometime.
|
At the moment, I'm alternating between Basil and Homer. Homer is fun at first, but I think that Basil has more staying power.
Unfortunately, the TomTom ONE has a few corners cut to keep the sticker price down: carry case and mains charger are both extras (cheap on Ebay, v expensive if you buy genuine TomTom kit), and the supplied 128MB SD card is almost full. So to add points of interest, extra voice, I've also had to trek off to dabs.com to order a bigger card. Only £14 delivered for a fast card, but it still feels like irritating penny-pinching by TomTom.
Even if they had been the same price, I'd have bought the ONE rather than the GO 300 because of it's slimmer shape ... but it is a nuisance to have to go Ebaying for some near-essential extras., and leaves a bot of a bad taste in the mouth.
Methinks that TomTom's marketing people were badly advised, but then I see that they are selling lots of ONEs, so maybe in my ignorance about marketing I underestimate the success of cyncial tricks.
|
|
NowWheels - you can get a 1GB card from Scan for 14 pounds IIRC.
|
NowWheels - you can get a 1GB card from Scan for 14 pounds IIRC.
Thanks David, but it's actually a bit more than that: add VAT and delivery and Scan's price comes out at over £24. The 512MB card I ordered from dabs.com was £13.80 all-in.
512MB will be plenty enough for me. It's 4 times what my TomTom came with, and will hold all the voices and POI lists that I could possibly need.
|
|
www.ebuyer.com have 1Gb cards at £18.82 incl shipping or 512mb at £10.65.
|
www.7dayshop.com just beats the above on the 1gb at £17.24, but misses the 512mb at £11.94.
Tim{P}
|
Sven is available as a freebe at the moment:
"Bear left, oh no she's got a bear right also. Put some clothes on you naughty Swedish TV personality"
|
|
|
|
|
