Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Sat Nav without power point

Thanks Graham

If you have problems with vibrations, buy a combination of garmin zumo 660, touratech vibration dampened holder and ram-mount attachment of your choice. This unlikely combination for a car (originally for motorcycles) would work just as well in a car, but takes a lot of abuse. I can list the part numbers you would need from each vendor.

Pictures of my system is on the way after I get moved into my new apartment, I use my iPad with the tomtom app now, as I just sold the motorbike with the zumo...

Reading this thread, with great interest, I am beginning to wonder if I am the only one who still uses maps, rather than a Satnav?
Should I buy one, or should I remain happily stuck in the past?



Recommendations please.

Bud

__________
2003 - 4/4

If you're happy I'd stick with the maps. I've been down to Spa for the couple of years on the bike. Although I wired up the satnav it wasn't easy to read and we soon reverted to maps which was much more fun somehow. It's also a good excuse to stop for a beer when you're not quite sure of the way.

I like maps, I'm in no rush to acquire a satnav - though I would definitely have one if I did a lot of city driving

Bud

I have used satnavs for years and have learned a thing or two. I have also seen some "interesting" bits of country and roads that I would not have otherwise seen.

Like all computerised systems (and in the end a satnav is a specialised computer program and hardware)they are not intelligent in any sense of the word. If you give it a destination it will take you on what it has been programmed to see as the fastest or shortest route, depending on what you have set. It will literally lead you up the garden path, if that is in the map, or over a mountain goat track. It will take you through the middle of a city where it thinks you can travel at 50 km/h because it has not been programmed that the average speeds on those roads is actually 5 km/h. These days most satnavs have map update services and even live traffic avoidance systems for a subscription fee but these still rely on accurate inputs.

What I am saying, in my usual long winded way, is that they are a tool that you have to use intelligently. If it tries to turn you up a narrow lane when you are on a major road that you know leads to your destination or one of your waypoints you need to ignore it and continue on. It will eventually recalculate the route for you, sometimes after several attempts to return you to its chosen route. This applies particularly to such things as ring roads to avoid city centres. I have even had the strange experience of having the satnav take me off the motorway across the roundabout and back onto the motorway because it was fractionally a shorter distance than following the motorway.

Having said all that I would not be without one. I find they are invaluable when you are in unfamiliar territory. The best option is a good navigator with a map in the passenger seat plus a satnav.

I would recommend the Garmin sets with the usb computer link and the free Garmin Mapsource software. Planniong an interesting route is not at all easy on the small screen of a satnav, but the PC link allows you to plan a route on the big screen, zap it down to the satnav and then follow on the road. this is a far moire useful option if you are "out for the day" as opposed to simply going to a destination - allows you to chose your route rather than just the fastest or shortest.

dont know about the TomTom but my old Garmin allows you to set typical speeds for different types of roads as well as to set avoids for different types of roads so when it works out the quickest it does so on realistic times.

TomTom have lost the plot in this area. I prefer the TomTom on screen display to the Garmin but the latest TomTom systems, since they changed operating system, do not allow PC route planning and you can not download a route from a PC. This is causing a lot of angst in the TomTom community and many are looking for alternatives.

I know people sometimes experience difficulty with their satnavs, but thay really are a great piece of kit, and it is one of those areas of technology where the speed of development has been amazing. In 1981 I sailed an Ocean 71 from Fort Lauderdale in Florida to Kos in Greece. Said boat was fitted with the very first satnav I'd ever clapped eyes on - a Navidyne ESZ 4000 - the same one as fitted to Polaris submarines I was told, and it had cost $12000. It was enormous, the size of a telly but twice as deep, and as it was prior to the chain of geo stationary satellites it only got a fix every 4 hours or so when there was a satellite pass - in between times it gave a dead reckoning position. We took great delight in calling up passing freighters and asking them if they wanted a fix (until then something yachts were always asking merchantmen). Who could have imagined that within a generation they'd be in every car for a few quid ?

I find my satnav useful mainly for finding an address rather than navigating from a to b, but on a long trip I'll put it on for the speed camera warnings ('tho not in France of course....)

Oh yes! I forgot about warnings. Actually not much has changed in France, under the latest agreement with the French Government the satnav companies can "warn" of danger zones where a speed camera may be installed. It is just that they are not allowed to be specific. In effect it is almost the same thing. On our recent trip it seemed to work quite well but with a few more warnings than actual speed cameras. It seldom actually pinpointed a camera but the zone idea is good enough.