Where to buy a sat-nav?

It does - because it takes you there as well. Which, I venture to
suggest, is the whole point of the exercise.

 

And a hole lot more interactive in a 'looking at a map' sense than
just pumping in a post code etc. And unlike looking at a map the GPS
hasn't forgotten where I was going the next day. ;-)

Plus it automatically deals with all the detours, diversions to avoid
the unpredictable (crap, that looks busy, let's try this way) and
works just as well in the dark without the need for a torch. ;-)

Yes I managed before a GPS like I managed without a mobile or 21 gears
on my cycle but it all makes life so much easier.

Yep, had one for 10 years now and they have saved me (us) a fortune in
wasted time and fuel, let alone the confidence of knowing you can find
Z when you initially set off to find Y 'without' having to pour over
the maps again. [1]

T i m

[1] When Y is a campsite that says 'No Motorcycles' when you arrive at
7pm and Z is another that welcomes them.

 

Because if I say I'm going to meet someone at 8pm, I'll be there for
8pm, unless on the rare occasion that something extraordinary happens
to stop this.

It actually pisses me off when people don't give a shit that they're
late just because they can let me know that they're going to be late,
and it's usually after they're already late anyway.

 

<nods>

No more so than finding campsites in the back_of_beyond. You ride 300
miles with not a single wasted second en-route then waste an hour+
trying to find the campsite through the back of some housing estate or
up 20 unmarked single track roads.

To be fair there are some shit GPS's out there. A mate had use of some
very fancy built-in full Satnav jobs but preferred his Garmin
Streetpilot III every time.

I've heard tales of GPS's trying to send you down the embankment to a
road that doesn't actually have a junction with the one you are on!
Never had anything like that with the Garmins (III+, V, Quest and
2610).

They do take some practice to get the best out of them though (as with
most things). Like, I always use North up (so the map stays upright
not spinning around like some drug induced trip) and generally have
the map view zoomed out so I can see the entire journey (helps me keep
my bearings). I take a turn as advised then note the distance to the
next turn, so I know to bother to overtake slower vehicles or not (as
they may turn off at the next junction in any case (this is when in
the car of course <g>)).

Having an accurate ETA is also good for planning things ... or knowing
that you won't actually make somewhere on time so not to bother
trying.

We have also explored (on the fly) many places we didn't even know
existed had it not been for the GPS. Find, nearest, attraction ...

When camping we often mark the local supermarkets as we approach the
campsite. Nice to know where they are when you realise you have
forgotten something important (like beer or bacon).

It's also comforting to know 'Nearest fuel' or 'Nearest Hospital' is
only a click away.

T i m

 

On my last three tours (bicycle all of 'em), I got by perfectly well
without GPS (although on trip 3 (Burgundy), the iPhone was with me, but
that's not 'real GPS'). My biggest concern is that this technology will
get better, and cheaper. I love poring over maps before a trip, and
sitting next to a CampingGaz stove in a pitch-black forest, trying to
plan the next day's route using a tiny torch. But I'm probably just
weird.

In ten years time, will we still be able to buy paper maps [1]?

D.

[1] of course, in less time than that, I'll be dead after Iran bombs
Northern Eretz, but I still feel concern for you all..

 

This is the one place where I think the Zumo falls down - it
consistently gives optimistic arrival times - at least in the UK. I
tend to add another 20% or so to whatever journey time it estimates.

 

'Got by' though? Like I said, we all managed somehow before GPS,
mobile phones (well I had 2M / CB but), washing machines etc etc.

Bound to.

So do I, if only electronic ones. It gives me more of a feel of the
general trip. Not essential in the main though as most of my trips are
simply get from A to B jobs. ;-(

Yep, been there done that (and enjoyed it at the time) but if I really
loved that so much I'd go out orienteering or geo-caching (but I
don't). When motorcycle / camping we use our motorbikes (more
adventure than the car) to take us from A to B., B being more relevant
to the job in hand than how to get to B or what is between A and B.
However, having the GPS means we 'can' explore stuff between A and B
if we want to and have the time, knowing that even from a+ we can
still easily find B (without pouring over maps again).

Isn't a love of maps similar to being interested in the tracks rather
than the trains? Maps were invented to help us move around this globe
and unlike say 'art' (and I know maps are art to some, inc me to a
degree) were simply the GPS of their day, as the sun and stars were
before maps? I guess once we had maps we stopped looking at the stars
to some degree (and probably some loss).

I'm not sure that's open for discussion is it? ;-)

Probably but with this shrinking world would we be able to afford to?
Like, for 50 quid or so I can update all the maps for Europe and have
them available on my GPS. How much would a decent road map of the same
area cost?

Meh, there go any of us ...

T i m

p.s. Des, after a bit of a delay that security swivel cycle headset
came in and yesterday I picked up a second hand pair of Control Tech
bars, as the current ones had an oversize centre section (so wouldn't
fit in the (foc) security headset (doh).

 

I'm always impressed by how accurate the ETA is on my Zumo. I doubt if I
travel faster than you - it seems to be good even in the Discovery. This is
in France/Switzerland/Italy, though.

 

Yep, and that's where a bit of common sense and an old fashioned
sense_of_direction all help. The technology is good but not infallible
so you let it work with you.

I guess all the 'good' (popular / mainstream) units will be constantly
refined and updated. ie, I would imagine the built-in aerial on your
910 is better than that on my GPS V or even Quest (1). I have found
that if in a heavily built up area an external aerial helps a lot (but
not enough to bother putting it on for the occasional trip).

T i m

 

Will answer the rest later, but ...

Good-o. Want a centre stand for a bicycle?

<http://is.gd/n3ar>

Too heavy for loaded touring, and incapable of keeping a bike upright
with four panniers and loaded rear rack. So it's coming off.

D.

 

I set my 'typical' speeds to that of a Lorry, the ETA's then seem
pretty close! [1] ;-)

I think the reason I got the Garmin GPS V and Quest (not sure about
the 2610) is because of how programmable they were. You can pretty
well get them to display anything you like in any mode. Not something
I tend to change much once set-up but I like to have on screen what
*I* want in the first place.

T i m

[1] Even overestimating the ETA slightly and that makes you think you
got there faster, even when still traveling slowly! ;-)

 

Nice bike, nice bags (are the Vaude as waterproof as the Ortlieb?),
not so sure about the stand. ;-)

Yep, we found similar with the solos and haven't even tried with the
Tandem.

If you cant find a good home for it over there and before it goes in
the bin though ....

Cheers, T i m

 

I really must get up to date maps for mine. It threw me a dummy round
South Queensferry due to new roads, but TBF Jane got me there another
way.

Most amusing so far with TomTom was in Spain. Showed a road across the
river Ebro to the Templar castle at Miravet. Only there was no road or
bridge, just a ferry (river Severn Hampton Loade stylee - Alex will know
what I mean). It being February there was no sign of a ferryman and the
ferry was 'parked' on the other side. Perhaps if I had tooted my horn
someone may have appeared, but I suspect it doesn't operate out of the
tourist season. A fair old detour to reach it otherwise so we didn't
bother.


--
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest * 2 Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

 

They're (so far) 100% waterproof. On one occasion, I left one of them
lying open on its side, with a bathtowel inside. The towel was bone dry
the next morning, despite torrential rain during the night (I was less
dry, curse the Hennessy Hammock). Only thing not quite right is that
there's only one pocket inside, a mesh one attached the 'spine' of the
bags, and which is only accessible after you empty the pannier. Bah...

Well as I can't be arsed creating an ebay account to sell it, and I
don't really give much of a shit about money..

All our books are up for grabs, too, if anyone wants 'em. First box's
contents ..

<http://dl.free.fr/v4UxHWGiH> (simple text file, and the URL _doesn't_
point to my Mac).

My 'teacher's pet' from last year has already made her choices in that
box, and so the list is greatly reduced. But anyone wants 'em, just ask.

D.

 

The Zumo is good here as well - gives you plenty of warning and
detail, and option to reroute, well ahead of any delays.

 

That for me is essentially the attraction of any satnav, finding the
hotel/campsite/whatever at the end of the journey. Any fool can find a
town, (usually) or an airport.

I had a Hertz 'neverlost' with my hire car last month. It did seem to
have a fair bit missing in Bresica, however, its attempts were loads
better than my colleague who'd elected to rely on his innate skills. I
ended up using it to find him and guide him to the hotel after he'd
spent 90 minutes wondering around the town.

They've all got some faults in the maps, some worse than others and
some of the faults are deliberate as a form of watermarking.

 

Indeed. The Zumo forums generally agree that this is a problem
confined to the UK. On motorways and on the bike one can usually get
quite close to estimated arrival times, but in the car on other than
very quiet roads it's pretty difficult. I guess it comes from journey
times being estimated based on speed limits.

 

I suspect that you'd laugh a bit less if you actually knew how we
pronounce the name of that town.

D.

 

Handy. I only left 'Track up' on once and a rapid combination of
junctions and Sautf Lundin one-way streets had the Quest and I
completely disorientated for a second and while I was waiting for it
to sort itself out I was completely bolloxed. That was because I
didn't have that general 'fee' of what way I was going. <Stop, map
settings, North UP', Ok> Sorted. ;-)

I don't think any of mine are that new. ;-(

Heated front screen?

And that's good / important. What about if you were going through a
long avenue of trees or the woods etc (in the car, not rain coat).

Shame, not had to deal with them but Garmin have been OK (I can't
quite say brilliant as a Co but far from the worst). And I think the
(my) Garmins are the last of the 'Non consumer' units so possibly a
bit more flexible that more modern / consumer orientated units might
be [1]?

Hehe.

I used a TomTom One the other day and actually quite liked it (the TV
adverts actually put me off the whole brand!). I think I might get
something similar for the old dear across the road (I suggested she
got a Quest jut before the equiv TomTom and other units came out) and
as you say the UI takes a bit of getting used to. She's happy with a
straight swap for something 'easier' and Daughter can use her Quest on
her MZ / the Maj (as it's properly 'waterproof') or the Ka when she
passes her test (and I hope she takes it soon as I'm getting bored
being DaddyCab / instructor). ;-)

T i m

[1] A Tech at Garmin mumbled something about the new range of consumer
GPS products and stuff not being what it was etc.

 

That's pretty good.

Nice design? It's funny isn't it, how many products seem to be
perfect then you get the gotcha. In many instance there seems to be no
rational reason for them doing what they did though?

Ok, well if you wouldn't mind sticking it in the post I'll cover the
cost (email addy still works etc). I should be able to find a good
home for if somewhere.

That comes up in some weird foreign language here? ;-(

T i m