SatNav

[ramz]

Ive just brought one a Garmin I3, well i havent yet, but will have when it decides to damn well get here!

but has anyone got one, what do you think of them?useful or just a waste of money?

have you any funny stories, like it making you drive through a ditch or a fence or whatever?

[James_N]

shouldn't you have researched this before buying the sat nav ;)

[ramz]

i did, just wanted know if anyone had anything weird happen to them...:P

[Alec Dawe]

Ive just brought one a Garmin I3, well i havent yet, but will have when it decides to damn well get here!

but has anyone got one, what do you think of them?useful or just a waste of money?

have you any funny stories, like it making you drive through a ditch or a fence or whatever?

I've just won a Garmin i3 at the BKV!!

So far, so good, much better than my friends £400 system.
Has a few odd quirks, like telling you to turn 'left' well before the junction, but if you keep an eye on the distance countdown thingy (300ft to turn etc) that's not a problem. I've just downloaded the latest software update from the Garmin site.. totally painless, just follow the instructions in the book.
Keep a couple of AA batteries for it, makes start up faster, and stops it from loosing trakc if you have to restart the car engine and turn ignition off.

[Track_Rod]

Personally, having been in a few cars with the driver using one, I think they can be a dangerous distraction.

In every case it has been the driver fiddling about whilst driving. So, more down to the individual I guess.

From what I have seen, they are often out of date especially in areas where they is major ongoing re-development - Liverpool for example.

What's wrong with a decent map and a little (5 minutes) planning ?

It seems to me that it's more a case of 'so-and-so's got one I must get one' without much forethought.

I am sure they have their advantages, I've just not yet seen any.

[James_N]

From what I have seen, they are often out of date especially in areas where they is major ongoing re-development - Liverpool for example.

What's wrong with a decent map and a little (5 minutes) planning ?

It seems to me that it's more a case of 'so-and-so's got one I must get one' without much forethought.

I am sure they have their advantages, I've just not yet seen any.

I have to agree. I did debate getting a european sat nav for my le mans trip but they were so expensive, I settled for a set of autoroute 2005 instructions, and a £12 european map.

The map did the job fine. I didnt have to worry about the sat nav getting stolen out my car, and it was a lot cheaper than a sat nav!

[gnhuk]

I haven't bothered with one of the car specific systems as I have a laptop and a Garmin GPS-12 which will interface to Autoroute. This solves those "where the f*ck am I" problems. The GPS-12 also works when sailing.

[Alec Dawe]

I have to agree. I did debate getting a european sat nav for my le mans trip but they were so expensive, I settled for a set of autoroute 2005 instructions, and a £12 european map.

The map did the job fine. I didnt have to worry about the sat nav getting stolen out my car, and it was a lot cheaper than a sat nav!

I have to disagree with this opinion. Trying to drive round the back streets of London, or any other of the major cities, looking for obscure schools, businesses etc, and attempting to do this whilst trying to navigate from an A toZ balanced on the passenger seat, or from an AA route on a clip board is worse than dangerous.
Sat nav is a godsend, as I discovered when I borrowed one for a lot of work in London, and I found that I could prepare, set the thing up BEFORE driving off, then concentrate on the driving and the traffic, whilst the little electronic box did the navigating.
I must confess it does help if you have a quick look at the map first, so that you have a general idea of where you are going, so you don't get caight by changes to one way systems, etc, but I think, properly used (i.e don't fiddle with it when driving) they are a excellent.

[Track_Rod]

Perhaps you are one of the few who use them properly Alec ?

I've yet to see that in person !

[ramz]

well, ive got it now. and i have to say that it is brillant.It just knows everywhere. All the places i drive to it knows. everywhere i wanna go to, it knows.

the awesome thing about the garmin I3 is the POI or points of interest bit. I found a site that i could download a load of them for free. Is hundreds of thousands of places on there to go, any place you can generally think of, is covered. Some it doesnt know, but for the most part it knows everywhere.

very simple to use, even an idiot like me has figured it. when im on hoiday in the middle of no where, i should be able to find my way around. well worth the money if you are considering buying one. Easier than a map, smaller too!

[CTCNetwork]

HI,

I prefer the combo of my Sony P910, a Bluetooth GPS and nhGPS or TomTom.

Always know how to get to places that I don't know...
And to know exactly where you are..

But it is alway useful to have a rough idea of where your going to as well.
Just in case... So it pays to plan your route/direction to your destination..

Des. . . ;)

[fyggy2002]

I must confess it does help if you have a quick look at the map first, so that you have a general idea of where you are going, so you don't get caight by changes to one way systems, etc, but I think, properly used (i.e don't fiddle with it when driving) they are a excellent.

I agree with you on this Alec. I do a lot of driving up here for my job and it's easier to set it all up and just "follow the voice", as it were.

I have a Mio 268 +