Sat Nav for Motorhomes

[duffers]

handyman - 2009-10-15 8:44 AM

 

http://stuff.tv/Top10/Sat-nav-Top10s/Sat-nav/

the top ten according to stuff magazine

 

 

thanks,

so,

now just toss a coin ????? >:-)

 

 

[Guest JudgeMental]

duffers - 2009-10-15 4:21 PM

 

handyman - 2009-10-15 8:44 AM

 

http://stuff.tv/Top10/Sat-nav-Top10s/Sat-nav/

the top ten according to stuff magazine

 

 

thanks,

so,

now just toss a coin ????? >:-)

 

 

Not really....:-D

 

these reviews are from a car drivers perspective and not a motorhome touring one. They mention nothing about consumer service or replacement or returns policy. My Nuvi 770T is a USA and Europe version of the 765T that came 3rd I think. read my previous post regards back up, and call/visit hellfords and ask the replacement position with different manufacturers.

 

If you have one and are thinking of replacing it I would wait, as according to my Garmin contact there are some very interesting ones just around the corner....and as new models start appearing the competition tend to do likewise.

 

 

[Butty]

wow thanks handyman that link is great

[pgw]

Has anyone tried the Ventura range specially that is designed for motorhomes?

Peter

[Mel B]

peter - 2009-10-14 11:20 PM

 

duffers - 2009-10-14 8:49 PM

 

peter - 2009-10-14 8:34 PM

 

I must say I'm more than a little surprised that Mel B has kept this silliness up so long. Come on you two kiss and make up.

 

perhaps there is a history to this that I have missed - but why pick on MelB, the aggression was initiated by rgs - in a classical example of trolling - which seems to be his main - if not only - contribution to this forum

 

whilst it may be entertaining I am surprised that [commercial] mods haven't acted to preserve the integrity of the forum, it's like watching a spoiled brat in a kindergarten - and is not a good ad for the magazines etc

I'm not picking on Mel B. I'm a bit surprised because it is out of character for her, RGS on the other hand is an old hand at being abrasive.

 

Sometimes I like it rough :D and sometimes I like to be silly! (lol) After the last exhausting few weeks at work, I needed some 'light relief' and having a bit of fun with Rupert has taken my mind of things there ... I shall now go back to my sensible self and stop picking on poor defenceless trolls. :-)

 

As for sat navs ... now that I feel 'safe' to answer:

 

We've had PDAs with sat nave on (Co-Pilot, Tom Tom and Igoe to name a few of the programmes), and now have a dedicated Tom Tom unit. All have their limitations but, used sensibly, can all do what you want most of the time. The Co-Pilot was a good little system, the only problem we had was when it crashed and the only way to activate the software was by ringing a UK phone number 3 times (being given different codes each time for a staged activation method), fine if your in the UK, but not so fine when in France! Igoe was miles ahead of the competition at the time when we had it but didn't have as many add ons as Tom Tom. Tom Tom has the POI add ons/downloads which really do make life a lot easier.

 

On a usability front, the dedicated unit is easier than the PDA but the PDA, at the time, was a much cheaper way to get sat nav (and a much smaller unit) and we had the benefit of being able to choose the software we wanted, rather than being 'stuck' with what came with it.

 

We're sticking with a dedicated Tom Tom unit for the time being, simply because it does what we need and has the facilities etc we want, but I certainly wouldn't say it is the best system for everyone. My only real complaint about the new unit is that it doesn't always seem to keep up with our location as well as the older PDA Tom Tom software did so we have to be a little bit careful when looking for our turning on roundabouts with a lot of exits etc so we don't end up playing 'magic roundabout' several times!

 

One thing we have found useful though, not as a 'sat nav' directional unit, but from one of the POI add-ons is the information it stores about services etc in the area - when we wanted a vet in Holland, we just put in the town we were going to be in and searched for nearby vets, it gave the vets' addresses and also contact details too, which were very, very useful and our call to the 2nd vet on the list came up trumps. You just have to be careful as some of it can be a bit out of date though but that's down to the POIs, not the sat nav itself.

 

I certainly wouldn't be without it now.

[brooke123]

Hi

 

I have used a Sony unit for over three years now, and would not be without it. Toured in Spain and France, and the unit functioned perfectly, even in the centre of Paris.

 

I have not updated the unit since 2007, and I have had no problems at all. If I was on a "new bit of road", the display shows that I am floating in the middle of nowhere.

 

The only downside to sat nav units are that they do make you lazy, and my map reading skills are not as good as they used to be.

 

Thanks

[Guest peter]

duffers - 2009-10-15 4:19 PM

 

peter - 2009-10-14 11:20 PM

 

I'm not picking on Mel B. I'm a bit surprised because it is out of character for her, RGS on the other hand is an old hand at being abrasive.

 

 

:$ :$ sorry

No problem. I can see it would be easy to misinterpret what I said. *-)

[Brian Kirby]

Ris - 2009-10-12 3:43 PM There are new models out now that enable you to input size and dimensions of your vehicle so as to avoid narrow streets and low bridges. Do not have one but have seen one in action and it looked good. Ventura comes to mind but at around £400 it is costly. We have a 28ft vehicle 3.1 mtrs high and our Garmin does try to send us down some very narrow lanes!!!!!, however the other half using a map always tells me the right way.

Just a (very) belated comment on these units.  My understanding is that neither of the electronic mapping suppliers has yet completed the mapping of weight/width/height restrictions for the whole of Europe, although UK, France and Germany are fairly well covered.

I also understand that neither Navtec nor TeleAtlas include road width data in their current mapping (apart from whether a road is a dual carriageway), so none of the presently available sat nav units can tell if a given road is actually suitable for a 2.3 metre wide (typical motorhome) etc. vehicle, or merely for a quad bike!  Indeed, in a number of cases, the (latest 2010 version) Navtec mapping does not yet accurately identify unbound roads.

Thus, at best, all these units can achieve at present, is to avoid setting routes down roads (but only in countries where the relevant restrictions have been mapped), where vehicles of the size/weight specified by the user would actually be illegal (at the time the mapping data was compiled with, it seems, at least a one year lag), as opposed to undesirable.

Under the circumstances, unless my information is wrong, it would seem these units have little additional benefit to offer in return for their additional cost.

[Bodgit]

Get a life boys (lol)