Sat nav new query

[johnsue]

We are looking to replace our Blaupunkt navigation system which came with our Swift Bolero 2 years ago & have read the observations on a couple of other systems on the other threads. We have been advised by a very reputable distributor / installer for motor homes to look at the Traffic master Smart nav.

Has anyone got this system ? Would be interested in your comments.

 

8-)

[flicka]

Hi John & Sue

It's a totally different system to what you have.

 

Not cheap and rolling subscription + option of vehicle tracker available.

Their website is somewhat lacking on information (especially for a prospective buyer) unless you are a subscriber.

Not for me, but depends what you are looking for.

Best infor I could find at:-

http://www.carfi.co.uk/html/smart_nav.html

But again not much technical info.

You do not have a storage of maps, but input your destination & then it responds from a central computer to your unit & restricted to 365 journeys or days (which ever id 1st) before you have to buy more access.

May be useful if you wantthe Tracking facility.

[johnsue]

Thanks flicka

 

Yes, had picked most of that info up on their website & did realise very different to what we have at present. The Blaupunkt we have is at least 2 years old ( got it with the new motor home so probably older ) & rather than trying to update it , if possible, we are trying to find the best sat nav / system like the Smart Nav most suitable for motor homes, here & abroad, that's the criteria.

We don't need the tracking system as the motor home already has one.

We have heard some negative comments on the Tom Tom truck, which we had considered hence why we were looking at other options.

 

thanks again

[flicka]

With the Blauplunkt, I doubt it would be worthwhile upgrading.

Their newest model can be bought for under £100 and I personally do not rate them.

The Tom Tom Truck is expensive compared to a standard Tom Tom / Navman / Garmin unit, but has the ability to input the vehicle dimensions / weight limits.

As far as I am aware the Smartnav only has this facility for the UK, not Europe. (I may be corrected on this).

You can achieve a partial answer with a car size Tom Tom units by uploading free POI's for Bridge Heights in the UK from the Tom Tom site. But I have not found any free POI's for Road Weight limits.

 

The UK Bridge Heights POI's I found only added approx 5k data to the card.

 

Also there are other POI's for sale http://www.lowbridges.com/bridgex.htm

 

Alternatively this may be of interest

http://www.gpsaffiliate.co.uk/khxc/gbu0-prodshow/PNN200.html

[johnsue]

Hi Flicka

 

That's useful, have had a good look at the GPSaffiliate site, looks quite interesting, half the price of the Smartnav albeit again a totally different system. If the ProNav PNN200E Europe HGV does the job, it says it does, could well be just what we are looking for, as Sue has just started driving the motor home & her biggest concern is not driving it but following a SatNav that takes her down unsuitable roads for motor homes like the Blaupunkt does. Might check it out on the forum to see if anyone else has it.

 

thanks again for the info.

[Brian Kirby]

Two things to be aware of.  First, so far as I know, there are only two providers of electronic mapping for Europe, Navteq (owned by Nokkia and used, among others, by Garmin) and TeleAtlas, owned and used (among others) by TomTom.  Neither has yet managed to update their maps with all weight, width, and height, restrictions for the whole of Europe (though UK, France, and I think, Germany and pretty well covered, with other countries varying down to nil).  So far as I know, both are pretty much neck and neck, and there is little to choose.  Not identical, but simply providing similar overall cover on a "swings and roundabouts" basis.  Unless someone else has entered the field, therefore, whatever system you get will be limited by the same underlying map data.

Second point.  It is legal restrictions that are mapped, neither company storing map date on road widths so, when you input your vehicle dimensions, it will select routes that avoid contravening actual preventions, but will still be liable to send you down narrow lanes where there is no width restriction in force.  Therefore, before spending extra cash on more expensive versions, do interview the makers technical people very closely on these points, to see what they say.  I'd be grateful, if you do this, if you'd report back, because the picture changes continually as the technology improves, and my information may well now be out of date.

So, unless you have a very large vehicle, say an American RV, or one that is abnormally high, your best bet will probably be a "standard" Garmin or TomTom unit, because they have reasonably good back-up, and both have means to obtain continual updates for the, always out of date, maps.  So many road improvements are made here and there, that maintaining the map data fully up to date is a practical impossibility, and whatever you get, due to the lag in updating the underlying maps, will always be wrong somewhere.  Sod's law being what it is, that somewhere, will always be where you are!  :-)

Golden rule No 1.  Never leave home with a GPS and no (recent) maps! 

Golden rule No 2.  Always check the GPS's proposed route against a map before setting off, and alter it if you don't like the look of it (insert waypoints), before accepting it.

The technology is fantastic, and they are very clever bits of kit, but with an infallible capacity for being totally dumb at critical moments! :-) 

Oh yes, and don't bother with the ones that broadcast a signal to your car radio, so you hear the guidance over the radio speakers.  Good idea, but the frequencies vary as you travel so, sooner or later, a local radio station will be using the same frequency as the sat nav - usually just as you get the the really complicated bit.  Can't win, can yer?  :-D

[skyrider]

Does anybody rate the snooper ventura systems 8-) as we are thinking of one for the auto-sleeper

[Brian Kirby]

But see my post above.  What do you expect the Snooper to do, that a cheaper system can't do?  I don't think Autosleepers have made any particularly large or heavy vans, so would you really gain much advantage from the extra expense?

[Stormy]

Brian Kirby - 2010-10-20 5:31 PM

Golden rule No 1.  Never leave home with a GPS and no (recent) maps! 

Golden rule No 2.  Always check the GPS's proposed route against a map before setting off, and alter it if you don't like the look of it (insert waypoints), before accepting it.

Sound advice, after trusting the sat nav implicitly we ended up hopelessly lost travelling around some Parisian sink estate with traffic calming bollards and chicanes, awash with kids playing football in the street.When we did finally extract ourselves from that one, it was only to join the Boulevard Péripherique in the rush hour a lesson learnt.

On our return journey home the sat nav tried to pull the same stroke, no chance out came the map and we veered East of Paris by a healthy margin that said the sat nav by and large offered a pretty good service.  The only other time it caused a bit of bother was high up in the hills of the Ardèche, we were following a narrow country road which eventually took us to an old village, road repairs were underway forcing us to travel through the tightest of gaps between the buildings. All I did was jump out walk a few hundred meters just to check we could exit, and then slowly but surely drove through – I like a challenge lol  

[John J Thompson]

flicka - 2010-10-20 3:39 PM

 

With the Blauplunkt, I doubt it would be worthwhile upgrading.

Their newest model can be bought for under £100 and I personally do not rate them.

The Tom Tom Truck is expensive compared to a standard Tom Tom / Navman / Garmin unit, but has the ability to input the vehicle dimensions / weight limits.

As far as I am aware the Smartnav only has this facility for the UK, not Europe. (I may be corrected on this).

You can achieve a partial answer with a car size Tom Tom units by uploading free POI's for Bridge Heights in the UK from the Tom Tom site. But I have not found any free POI's for Road Weight limits.

 

The UK Bridge Heights POI's I found only added approx 5k data to the card.

 

Also there are other POI's for sale http://www.lowbridges.com/bridgex.htm

 

Alternatively this may be of interest

http://www.gpsaffiliate.co.uk/khxc/gbu0-prodshow/PNN200.html

 

Hi Flika

 

Road widths and weights are also available from the Low Bridges web site. I have both loaded into my Garmin Nuvi 5000. Although this unit was sold as suitable for Trucks and RVs with it's larger than Tom Tom screen, it has no provision to enter vehicle dimensions. It will however accept download POI information in abundance.

[John J Thompson]

Brian Kirby - 2010-10-20 5:31 PM

Oh yes, and don't bother with the ones that broadcast a signal to your car radio, so you hear the guidance over the radio speakers.  Good idea, but the frequencies vary as you travel so, sooner or later, a local radio station will be using the same frequency as the sat nav - usually just as you get the the really complicated bit.  Can't win, can yer?  :-D

The Garmin Nuvi 5000 has this feature which we use often. Yes you can get interference from a local broadcast if you are unlucky, but the information can easily overpower this signal as the FM receiver captures the strongest signal and attenuates weaker ones. The very top or bottom of the available frequencies, we have found are the best to use. Engine noise can easily make the on board speaker instructions inaudible.

[Brian Kirby]

Hi John.  So, it seems how successful this is may depend on the sat-nav model being used.

Ours is a Garmin Nuvi 760, which merely looks for a "silent" area among the broadcast stations, to which you set it to transmit, and then manually tune the radio to the same wavelength.

Such is the proliferation of local VHF stations in most of mainland Europe that, on my experience with the 750, after about 100 miles, sometimes less, some other station is using the "Nuvi" frequency with a far stronger signal.  We then need to stop and find another "silent" bit of the waveband.  Tedious, and the signal is usually hi-jacked on entry to a town, just when you want the detailed guidance. 

I've now totally given up with it and rely only on the Nuvi speaker, which has always made itself heard over background engine etc noise.  Quite strident, in fact!

I guess how well this feature works may relate to where you travel, your radio, your sat-nav model, or how quiet or otherwise your van is, but from my experience it is not reliable, so it seems reasonable to advise others accordingly.  Then they can decide if they want to pay extra for the pleasure.

At least it seems yours works, so maybe we should invite contributions from others on models to say which are the models on which the feature works, and which are those where it does not.  Might be interesting!  :-)

[Big Momma]

skyrider - 2010-10-20 8:43 PM

 

Does anybody rate the snooper ventura systems 8-) as we are thinking of one for the auto-sleeper

 

I purchased the Snooper S7000 many months ago and find it quite superb. Cannot deny that it was expensive compared to other popular brands but it does the job quite well. As advised by Brian, I always have a road map for the 'just in case' scenario but so far have not needed it. I have an Autotrail Comanche that is 8.7metres in length and weighs in at 5 tons, I travelled to some remote locations in Scotland earlier this year and didn't encounter any problems. The Snooper comes preloaded with lots of very useful POI's and lots of pre-loaded UK & European Campsites (ACSI, Caravan Club and C&CC (including CL's). The 'Live' Traffic Alert information is spot on.

 

Ask what you want from your Sat Nav, if it is simple A-B directions then there are a lot of cheaper units on the market. If you want something with bells and whistles then maybe the Snooper S7000 will fit the bill.

[scramblers]

POI files can be interchangable between different SatNav systems, so you are not restricted to the POIs you can use.

 

All SatNavs use POI files with a set file suffix ie .csv or .ov2, etc. Each SatNav manufacturer uses a different suffix. If you can convert one suffix into another suffix then, in theory, you can use any POI file designed for one SatNav to be used by any other manufacturer.

 

POI Edit is a free download which very simply accomplishes this transformation

 

http://www.poiedit.com/

 

 

[clay]

hi, had the traffic master installed on my bessie when i bought her , made contact with them and the yearly fee of £120ish was rediculous, far easier to purchase a new tom tom every year and save money. ripped it out and binned it. >:-(

[johnsue]

Hi All

 

First of all thanks for your contributions, we decided in the end to go with the Snooper Ventura, took advantage of the MMM offer in the Feb edition. Any body else out there besides Stalwart who has purchased this ? We have only really ' played' with it so far & can see an MP3 option on the ' my favourites' menu but not sure how to work this as there aren't any instructions on either the booklet or on the CD.