Where to buy a sat-nav?

! ;-)

I guess that combination is important to someone though? And I suppose
that's the rub, these things often emanate from a specific field (like
aeronautics or maritime) and can have features left over that aren't
relevant to the new more consumer orientated market (whilst not fully
catering to the needs of that new market). It's funny though, I bet
everything we look at it (we = sensible reasonably switched on people
let's pretend) has some basic flaws, like your lack of way points or
an answering machine that doesn't apply a date / time stamp or display
in real numbers the quantity of unread messages it's currently
storing? I mean, who wouldn't want an AM to have those features?

And talking of features ... I think it's important that they fit 'us'
(human beings). Loud things are too loud when they make us flinch,
bright things are too bright when we lave to look away [1], motorcycle
switches should be useable when wearing gloves etc etc. Same with
GPS's, of course a unit designed to be used 'outdoors' should be
waterproof, and backlit and able to cater for a reasonable number of
favourites or waypoints or trackback etc

Ah, no, my experience of Garmin T/S hasn't been like that. Ok, they
may not have been able to 'cater' to my request "sorry, we used to be
able to do that ..." sort of thing but generally give the impression
they are doing their best for you.

I've just bought a Nintendo DS (family use) and as I walked out of
Argos I see a poster for the new DSi! (and then the words you just
heard "And this product is non-returnable ... " go though your head
...).

Ah, you mean the power lead stays with the cradle (not that there are
no leads)?

Gotcha, like the Quest then. Having said that I have had a mount
permanently stuck on the binnacle of the Sierra and Rover and for
everything else use the windscreen jobby (which is removed if leaving
the car, GPS goes in pocket).

I'll check for that with whatever I get for her (thanks).

T i m

 

And there is something quite smug about hearing it (I don't
personalise my technology) <g> announce "Arriving at destination on
left", looking up and seeing the exact house number through your left
window. ;-)

And that's a common counter argument isn't it, "the GPS took me all
over the place and I know a quicker route ..." and that's fine if you
know you way round every town and village in the country (or
continent), I for one don't.

Oh, not heard of that before (but it makes sense).

I used to think the old GPS V was funny as it's 'lock on road' wasn't
as good as they generally are now. It would sometimes display you as
going along a river or across a field. ;-)

I have also used the GPS to good effect in the fog when driving slowly
down twisty country lanes. Zoom right in and you can get a feel of
what the road is going to be doing ahead even though you can't
actually see it!

T i m

 

<Big fucking ding!>

It's just plain inconsiderate.

 

Yep. You need to buy a GTM12 or GTM21 [1], which come with a lifetime
subscription to the UK Traffic Master service.

[1] I have the former, £25 off Ebay, which is useable on the bike. The
latter is combined with a power supply, so neater for the car.

 

Bad form and all that, but on closer inspection I don't see any
advantage to the GTM21 at all.

 

Does your TomTom use the freebie service? I always thought it was a
chargable thing. I've got an old Navigator 5 running on my PDA, which
only has the option to bluetooth to a phone and obtain traffic updates
through it.

 

Well when you've got a motor pushing you along, that's understandable.
The only 'A - B' jobs on my bike are the daily 30 km commutes (which
will have to begin in earnest again on Monday, as my sick line comes to
an end).

Well I don't think I'm giving away any state secrets to recount that my
old man (z``l) was plod. At the time of the Cold War, there were plans
in the event that the balloon went up, to get plod out of towns and into
the hills. Once the radiation died down, they were to come back in to
restore laura noder. Only problem is that families weren't included at
first, and the Powers That Be were told that there'd be insurrection in
the ranks if it came ever to pass. So families were included in the
roster. I believe our plod were destined for the Kilsyth Hills if Boris
ever came calling, but I couldn't swear to this (and the above ---
whilst completely honest --- is only hearsay, so I can't vouch for
whether it's true or not. I'm just reporting what I was told). Anyway,
to cut a long story short, my father was navigator for his particular
'column' or whatnot. He was chosen because he was ex-RAF and thus used
to looking at a map strapped to his leg, whilst flying his Tiger Moth
(and latterly Airspeed Oxford) across the South African plains (not to
mention in Guernsay and from Scotland to Belfast etc). .

Anyway, what all this means is that from an early age, I'd be at his
side as he studied maps for no other reason than pleasure. Some of it
rubbed off on me, and so the first thing I do when planning any trip is
get the maps. I've already got a stack from Paris to Bern, for when I
head to Israel in a few months. Another anecdote which I may already
have recounted, was when I was doing my English assistant stint in Lyon,
and got on well with the German assistant at the school, Wolfgang. He
had a little green Ford Fiesta and we'd explore the environs of Lyon,
him at the wheel and me with the map. 'In four and a half seconds,
there's a bend to the left, six seconds after that, a T-junction...' or
whatever. 'You're taking the piss...' he responded (in French [1], 'cos
we only ever spoke that, despite his English blowing away my German).
It wasn't that difficult, as even at that time, everything was in km
over here (which are much easier to calculate (for me) than miles). So
it was just a simple application of s=d/t (fx: squints .. is that right?
It has been a long time..).

There's weird and weird.

There is that.

?

D.

[1] "tu te fous de ma gueule?" [2]
[2] even more slang: "tu te paies ma fiole?"

 

And when we haven't I still do as it's even more important we don't
waste energy. The Garmin GPS V takes 4 x AA and they can be recharged
off the solar panel when we go cycle camping.

I guess the point is I think I'd rather be motorcycling / cycling /
driving that thinking about where I'm going to go when I do. The
exception being when on holiday and even then our plans are very
loose, still making the GPS the most versatile solution. We look at
the map (often electronic as you can't zoom in and out on a paper one)
and choose likely destinations for our stops. I then find a suitable
campsite near that destination, make a waypoint then repeat for the
rest of the trip. I then transfer said waypoints to the GPS and then
off we go. If circumstances change en route then we don't have to
consult the map but just choose a different waypoint as our
destination (it's the destination that's important here, not the
actual route of the journey, we are on a motorcycle / camping holiday,
not a sightseeing one (as such).

I feel some of my map_reading skills have rubbed of on our daughter as
when she was an early pillion and pre GPS I used to get her to
navigate with her holding the map (in a waterproof bag) and talking
directions to me via the intercom. It gave her a reasonable idea about
the geography of the UK but it wasn't any good when dark, she was
tired, she needed to turn the page etc etc. She still doesn't have a
good sense_of_direction though?

They are talking of beefing up the security round here ready for the
Olympics (whenever that is) <shrug>

T i m

 

Ah, I just bought one of 'em. Which one you do have? This is mine..

<http://minilien.fr/a0jnhj>

'haven't had a chance to try it in the field, as it were. The battery
charged in seven hours hanging off the back of my Mac, but as I'm never
more than a metre from my iPhone at any one time, I ensure it's always
charged. So I can't test the charger.

The waypoints sound about the only interesting thing from my POV, but
then that would only be any good for when I get back and wrote up the
roadbook. That was why I asked about Autoroute and such like a few
months back. I eventually got AutoRoute and was able to do stuff like
this..

Ah. Well if the 'religion of peace' has its way, expect carnage in
London.

D.

 

Yeah, a bit whacko. Other than that, they're very good. Solid as ****,
although the lurid silver is a bit gash.

I'll prise it off soon. Want the sidestand that was on the bike, too?
****, we need to empty this place, and I can't be fucking arsed filling
those boxes. I'm dead when she gets home.

The ones with 'E' after them are in Blightyspeak.

D.

 

Pffft, I wasn't paying attention to the whole thread.

Thanks for the info.

 

That's a bit fancy. Mine's just a basic panel.

Awww, how sweet. I have aPhone somewhere ... ah yes, 6310i. ;-)

So is mine. I do it once a forthright, even if it doesn't need it.

I had my panel on top of the BOB Yak trailer when on the road and just
propped up at the appropriate angle when in the tent.

Ah, I think this may be a terminology thing. 'Waypoints' are generally
set by the user, be it on the PC then transferred to the GPS or on the
GPS directly (like on my Garmins if you hold the Mark / Enter button
it allows you to set a 'Man overboard' waypoint. Handy for finding
where you parked when visiting a new town). When you move with the GPS
it can create a breadcrumb trail that again can be uploaded to yer PC
upon return. On mine this shows the speed, location and altitude every
so many yards using a rolling log (FIFO) dependant on memory available
etc.

Neat, I used to use that before it was Microsoftified and then got
Mapsource with the Garmins. Interestingly for the tiny minority who
can't manage Windows <g> there is now a OSX equivalent to Mapsource
(called something else / bizarre of course, like PenguinNosher
probably) but you still need Windows to convert the maps over (and
although it sorta works I don't like it, too 'Macky' for me).

Not that it would notice in most areas and we would still complain if
the bus was late ... "I don't care if it hasn't got a roof or
windows, it's still late and it's bloody poor show!".

T i m

 

My old GPS V liked to direct me through the Greenwich foot tunnel on
the way home from south of the river.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CB1300SA-9/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..99843../..00000.../..32117.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 WG*
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 PM#5
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 YTC#4 two#11
'^' RBR Clues: 00 Pts:0000 Miles:0000

 

K lived in a charming little village just outside Swindon. I grew
rather fond of it. Maybe some day we'll go back there (but I doubt
it).

 

Ah, I think this may be a terminology thing. 'Waypoints' are generally
set by the user, be it on the PC then transferred to the GPS or on the
GPS directly (like on my Garmins if you hold the Mark / Enter button
it allows you to set a 'Man overboard' waypoint. Handy for finding
where you parked when visiting a new town). When you move with the GPS
it can create a breadcrumb trail that again can be uploaded to yer PC
upon return. On mine this shows the speed, location and altitude every
so many yards using a rolling log (FIFO) dependant on memory available
etc.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that's what I meant. Set out, create 'waypoints' regularly, and
when I get home, create a map to put on some website or send to friends
with photos of the trip.

Tried it at the same time. 'didn't like it. Maybe it'd have impressed
me more if I'd _had_ a GPS ..

D.

 

Yeah, that's what I meant. Set out, create 'waypoints' regularly, and
when I get home, create a map to put on some website or send to friends
with photos of the trip.[/QUOTE]

Ah, so it was / is a terminology / use thing. I generally only use
waypoints preemptively. The automatically generated 'breadcrumb trail'
is what I look at to see where I've been.

Probably, yes! ;-)

When I was using the little Garmin GPS V regularly I also could carry
a Toshiba Libretto (video cassette sized PC) and up/download maps and
waypoints to the GPS and edit digital photos when in the tent etc.
Luckily the Libretto had a Serial port, not something you see so often
these days.

Cheers, T i m

 

The Tomtom can use either (if you have the plug-in RDS thingy).

I've used the BT one for the last year - it ran out a few weeks ago and
I've not arsed myself to renew yet and am using the RDS thingy - which
seems to be as quick and as accurate as the paid for BT service.

Camera updates I tend to get from elsewhere as the Tomtom ones seem to
have plenty of false positives and one or two false negatives (far worse).

 

I'm not sure it's any better than it's ever been - but it does seem OK.
Not had a problem yet.

http://www.easydevices.co.uk/products.asp?partno=TT910TMCV2&model= Not
even with one of these? Swat I've got.

http://tinyurl.com/bikeSatNav - seems to be the thing for Sir if he wants
SatNav on two wheels.

True - There were a load on a route I took regularly that drove me mad as
Tomtom carried on warning me 9 months after they'd gone.

 

Worth a 25 quid gamble to see if it works - or next time you go past
Leicestershire pop in and try my one.