Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Varche on 07 March 2012, 12:21:41
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The Sat Nav thing has been all over TV these last few days. I don't know but suspect that it is only as accurate as the last update which presumably is how they make their money (like printers and buying ink?).
One of my aunts lives in Portpatrick and has a van or a lorry a week fall over and get stuck, going down the old military road which is a footpath after her house but as its name implies was the short cut for marching soldiers in days of yore.
How much use /reliance do you make of Sat Nav?
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The last mile to an unknown place really.
In saying that I let it run for speed camera warnings too.
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I always use it going somewhere new, but I like to think I'm smart enough not to blindly follow it when it looks like it's directing me into a field/lake/down the railway tracks.. and as the Captain says, it's the last mile it's most useful for anyway - motorways and so on it's really just there to tell me where cameras might be and make sure I don't go sailing past the exit I really wanted ;D
I also think if I was driving an artic I'd have the good sense to use something other than a satnav - or at least use a satnav that's aware of the size vehicle I'm driving!
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I do use mine when I'm abroad but still have it on with no destination set in the uk for camera warnings :y
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Got two, one for the UK and one for the States. Use `em both
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I definitely find it valuable in an unfamiliar place, and I find the ETA a useful function for longer journeys. I always use a map/atlas to plan a journey though.
I don't use it much in the car but it's always mounted on the bike. I would probably rely on it more on the bike as it's impossible to take a sneaky look at a map while riding, unlike being in the car.
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I always use it going somewhere new, but I like to think I'm smart enough not to blindly follow it when it looks like it's directing me into a field/lake/down the railway tracks.. and as the Captain says, it's the last mile it's most useful for anyway - motorways and so on it's really just there to tell me where cameras might be and make sure I don't go sailing past the exit I really wanted ;D
I also think if I was driving an artic I'd have the good sense to use something other than a satnav - or at least use a satnav that's aware of the size vehicle I'm driving!
Me too... And the rumours of mine directing me through an area of mining subsidence this weekend are just that. :-[
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Please add to the poll, Have got one, will use if I can be bothered to find it. ;D Only joking.
Speaking as a man I have a reasonable sense of direction anyway. Buy I am also never afraid to ask for directions, I have no idea why some people are so againgst that.
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Went to Go Outdoors in Coventry once, following my Sat Nav, took me down a dead end with a railway embankment blocking my way, I could see Go Outdoors the other side of the embankment with the Sat Nav saying 'Destination'.
I had to go on a 5 mile detour to get there. >:(
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I use mine for most of the journey but still check google maps before I leave to get the main location points along the way
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I always use a map and / or atlas to plan my route, but I do find sat nav useful in large towns and cities when trying to find a specific road.
I generally prefer, my routes and short cuts as they are better than sat nav routes and then you get 20 miles of nagging to do a u-turn at every junction which is worse than SWMBO. ::) ::) ::)
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will the answer "no" be helpful ;D
planning to buy one currently :-\
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I always use it going somewhere new, but I like to think I'm smart enough not to blindly follow it when it looks like it's directing me into a field/lake/down the railway tracks.. and as the Captain says, it's the last mile it's most useful for anyway - motorways and so on it's really just there to tell me where cameras might be and make sure I don't go sailing past the exit I really wanted ;D
I also think if I was driving an artic I'd have the good sense to use something other than a satnav - or at least use a satnav that's aware of the size vehicle I'm driving!
Me too... And the rumours of mine directing me through an area of mining subsidence this weekend are just that. :-[
;D
Mine has, before now, tried to have me turn off the M25 into a grit depository as it was firmly of the belief that it was a junction - needless to say I ignored that one ;)
Autoroute 2000 (remember that?) used to tell you to turn off the middle of a bridge in Slough in order to reach the lower (perpendicular) carriageway ;D
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Use mine all day every day going from job to job. Hardly ever use the A-Z these days. Also used it to drive all over europe too.
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Use it for speed camera warnings, and as a "useful tool" when going somewhere new .. but NEVER "rely" on it, windows and signposts far more important. Mine is very old (TT 700) .. but fully up to date (at no cost), latest map 2 weeks ago. :)
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Sold our (very rarely used) TomTom Go 910 when we moved in to smartphone territory a couple of years ago.
On the odd occasions we do decide a sat nag is needed (new area/country), we use a modded version of Google Maps.
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i use the garmin very useful speed cameras and traffic hold ups and you can input a postcode :y also if you are somewhere where you havent been you can take a 'snapshot' and its put in your favourites if you ever want to go back :y
the funny thing is using the garmin and the ncdc2013 sat nav together they contradict each other and you end up waiting for a full scale argument ;D ;D
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I use mine quite a bit as im always going to new places.....
However it does make the brain lazy....i had my first one (probably 6-7 years ago) and could remember a lot more places were than i can now.....and no, its not old age, without sat nav you pay more attention of how you got there.
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None of the options fitted, so kinda went for bottom one, based on both cars have it built in, but I tend to only use it when required.
If I pop in a new disk that updates the software (unlikely now its mature), I'll use it everwhere for about a month, to learn/understand the audio instructions without looking at screen.
I worked fixing customers' phones for years, in a rural area, so pretty good at finding 'last mile' without maps or technology, but satnav is quicker - if used as aid, not commands.
I dont see an issue with the technology (OK, portable windscreen units are shit, and should be banned), but unfortunately we have bred a retarded society, and tolerate this idiots, rather than shooting them. And the parents.
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Same for me... I use mine all the time to help with speed camera's and finding the garages (plus it has the garage 'phone numbers in it ;)) but I don't just blindly follow it ;) ;)
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If I pop in a new disk that updates the software (unlikely now its mature), I'll use it everwhere for about a month, to learn/understand the audio instructions without looking at screen.
Oh, those. I turn them off. Increases the probability of the unit arriving with me rather than on the central reservation half way there. ;)
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got a garmin and I put my little girls voice on for comical value on a long journey, mainly use the phone though
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Voted the bottom one as I have no idea where it is :-\ ??? Strange how this has happened since I had females move in ::) ::)
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If I pop in a new disk that updates the software (unlikely now its mature), I'll use it everwhere for about a month, to learn/understand the audio instructions without looking at screen.
Oh, those. I turn them off. Increases the probability of the unit arriving with me rather than on the central reservation half way there. ;)
Been a while since my Satnav hasn't made it with me to the destination. I 'accidently' mislaid my crappy tomtom unit at the end of the Aston Expressway ::)
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I'm on my third. The last two were bought the same day that their predecessor became unusable(one was stolen, they other refused to charge).
I used to have a box of A-Zs under the back seat of the truck, some of which I only used once, like the one for north Wales. When you get to a job, and you find there and then that it's going to Liverpool, it really helps to have a bloody good idea of where you're going and how to get there BEFORE you leave! Try driving 200 miles up the M1 and then going into the services to look up where you're going(IF it's in the books!) and having to decide whether it's worth buying the damn thing or that you can remember how to get there. Now I have most of europe in a box the size of 2 fag packets for a fraction of the price.
Sat Nav is a seriously useful tool. It does have drawbacks, and it always helps to have a rough idea of where you're going. Ending up 200 miles from your actual destination in a town of the same name is not the gadget's fault. It's yours for not checking. You wouldn't blame an atlas if you went to the wrong place would you? The UK does better than most with detailed to house number postcodes; the one for dad's house in France covers 3 villages!
In the same way, turning onto an unmade country track in a truck 'because the satnav told me to' is entirely your fault. If a passenger with a map on their knees told you to, you wouldn't so what's the difference? The driver is responsible for where he goes, the rest is directions!
Being able to reroute on the fly is incredibly handy. Knowing the distance remaining is useful, if depressing sometimes! Speed cameras on roads you don't know is worth having. The current ones, Tom Tom are my preference are easy and quick to use, cheap to buy, and just do the job that it was bought for. What's not to like?
My peeve with them is that although paper maps of the UK are regularly and frequently updated(yearly for altases) the sat navs aren't.
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Big snip .......
My peeve with them is that although paper maps of the UK are regularly and frequently updated(yearly for altases) the sat navs aren't.
TomTom release new maps 4 times a year ... now I KNOW they are not actually "mapped" by TT .. but it is an attempt. TT also do a continuous "map update" from reports sent in regarding problems.
New maps can either be bought from official sources or obtained in other ways. Map updates are done using TT Home.
As you rightly say .. an excellent tool, now you wouldn't try and navigate on a 5 year old paper map .. so why use a 5 year old satnav map.... :(
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I still think in analogue and pre-decimal. I use a map.........and I never ask for directions..... :)
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Sad to say but I couldn't do without mine. Genius invention.
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I have never had one and also told swmbo not to buy me one at Christmas / Birthday times.... :y
I will use a Map but must admit to Google being my friend as I will often print out a street map of where my final destination and often use the street view to further assist my final approach to a destination sometimes... :D :D
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never had to use one even for europe look at map and find my way :y :y :y
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ive got one for work gives me access points on the railway,and stations and low bridges.used it to go to cardiff the other day but found the one in my car better.
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Went to Go Outdoors in Coventry once, following my Sat Nav, took me down a dead end with a railway embankment blocking my way, I could see Go Outdoors the other side of the embankment with the Sat Nav saying 'Destination'.
I had to go on a 5 mile detour to get there. >:(
Been there and done that ;D ;D
Spent a fortune once I got there though :(