Where to buy a sat-nav?

It's (comparatively) easy to find your way to any given town -
memorised directions, road signs, that sort of thing. For me, the
satnav comes into its own when I get a couple of miles from the
address and (or when) things start getting a bit urban and traffic a
bit heavier. I'd have no chance of memorising and recalling thirty
'turn left at the Rose and Crown, right at the papershop, straight on
for three mini-roundabouts and left at the fourth then right at the
park' sort of directions, for a start.

Having the disembodied voice advising me on lane changes is very handy
when there's a choice of five and only one of them goes where I want
to and the other four are full of buses, taxis and white vans. I've
tried all sorts of ways to navigate, but short of having a passenger
with map or A-Z in hand and an idea on how to use them, the satnav
wins every time. Dunno how I managed without, tbh.

 

Oh, I agree, but as I said, it's rare that I'm in that situation.

Look, stop being so bloody reasonable, will you? I'm trying to get a
proper SatNav vs. maps argument going here.

 

Then do it properly. You can't fold a satnav into a fashionable hat,
or use one as kindling to set fire to a tramp.

 

I disagree. Garmin could replace it and/or stop supporting it
tomorrow, whereas it should continue to be useful for many years to
come.

Which is not exactly hard to define in this case.

It is in Garmin's interest to bring in new models periodically, and to
encourage people to upgrade. It is not, however, in its interest to
demonstrate that its models have a limited useful life, particularly
the most expensive ones.

 

Well you're heading in the right direction.

 

That's because I'm not using a SatNav.

 

Damn. I got that wrong.

 

Why not?

Every other hardware manufacturer I've dealt with has have some kind of
planned lifespan for their products. I see End-of-Life announcements for
products all the time at work, many of which are for systems which still
work just fine. And these aren't tinpot manufacturers.

 

gold sink. there has to be some way of getting the money out of the hands
of those who have too much of it, to prevent stockpiling and balance the
economy.

hence bottled water, satnavs, chelsea tractors, etc.

 

equally, you can't make a map not work any more by dropping it (or in the
case of bear, looking at it) or forgetting to feed it.

 

Because people would choose Tom Tom instead.

Of course. I used "limited" rather than "planned", perhaps wrongly, to
imply inappropriate foreshortening.

 

did you have a pwcram# btw? if not please feel free to take one, not one
that's already in use of course, although i can't for the life of me
remember who has what.

 

I already have #6 thanks. I'm quite evangelical about this, you know!

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk.rec.motorcycles/msg/1873ef2f24446eb7

 

Er, correct me if I'm wrong here, but you are going to fit this mounting
kit to an R1, not some touring bike, yes? Seems odd to me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm just as much of a gadget fan as the next man.
The only GPS unit I possess is my old Garmin GPS III+, which I have
the mount for, fitted to my RGS. It isn't used any more. I know the
UK well enough to be able to travel efficiently to any particular
part of it and just remember the last few miles from a map. A couple
of road numbers, followed by a few street names, etc. Easy peasy.
There is some merit to using a GPS when travelling further afield,
however, it's still no real substitute for:

A) Knowing the route.
B) Having studied the maps.
C) IMO having the paper maps with you. They're so much more
tactile and fun to study, over a coffee during the day,
or a beer at night.

There is also merit in it if your are using it for a job, multiple
drops/site visits in a day are difficult to remember, some routing
ability also comes in useful too.

I'm with Andy on this one, cheap'n'cheerful is the way to go. For
the amount of use you'll put it to, in fact the amount of use
anyone except maybe a dedicated tourer or some RBRer nutter type,
would put it to, it doesn't justify the cost. If it's bling fine,
call it bling, but please, no justifications, just admit to your
inner, consumerist magpie.

Besides. GPS on an R1? Fucking gayboy.
;-)

 

Ah, but I fully admit and embrace it. I feel no shame in
admitting to my inner geek. C'mon, you know I'm right.

Admit it.

 

<backs off>

It's journey you must undertake at your own pace.

 

Yes, but to be fair, you can use the satnav packaging and manuals for
that purpose and you _still_ end up with usable directions afterwards.

So satnav is clearly superior to regular maps for the above described
requirements.

 

Your house is made from cards, sir.

 

didn't you have some incredibly complicated pillion intercom system which
you had to wire into your head and your helmet at the same time, and
which took about a quarter of an hour to take on and off, and which you
used to wear religiously even when you didn't actually have a pillion?

 

Not entirely. They don't prevent you from typing in the wrong destination,
and if you're just following orders and don't really have a clear picture of
where you should be at any given time, then the first thing you know about
it is when you pitch up at the wrong place and find you're in the wrong
fucking country, and 105 miles from where you wanted to be.

The moral has to be, trust no-one, especially lanky cunts.