european camp sites on sat nav

[IVAN]

Hi all...........rare for me to post, but ! Does anybody know of a sat nav that has European camp sites pre installed.We travel in Europe every year and although we have a number of sites we go to, we sometimes find ourselves late in the day struggling to find a site. I have a Garmin 660 which i was going to update, but after reading some of the posts, it may be better to buy a new one that does all i want it to do.......Any help would be appreciated...Ivan B-)

[Robinhood]

I use POIs for both point-to-point navigation, and to locate items within a given area.

 

I would be wary of relying on any pre-loaded sets of POIs (as they are rarely comprehensive, and "date" very quickly).

 

I would always want a SatNav that will support a significant number of POIs (either in memory or on an SD card), and then choose my own POIs to load and work with.

 

FWIW, the most comprehensive list of European Campsites I have found is from this site:

 

http://www.archiescampings.eu/eng1/

 

..... it's free, it supports various makes (including Garmin), is regularly updated, and from my experience has been pretty accurate in both existence and location terms.

 

(It was used to find campsites in the immediate location 4 times on our latest trip to Europe).

 

Whether or not you need a new SatNav to meet your requirements will depend on exactly what your requirements are (and possibly on the cost of a map upgrade if you want latest maps), but AFAIK your current device should support the use of the above POIs (possibly by loading onto an SD card) so should be quite capable of fulfilling that requirement.

 

If looking for a new unit, I would certainly get one that you were capable of loading POIs to (and I would be looking at SD card use for this), and would source my POIs from the web (and update them periodically).

 

Again, FWIW, I have two SatNavs, an old TomTom Go700 which still does most of what I ever wanted from a SatNav, and a newer Blaupunkt Unit which came with my latest 'van (and incorporates a rear-view screen).

 

Since I've sorted out how to load POIs to the latter, I now prefer it, but I would have found it difficult to justify replacing the Go700, as it still does everything I want (and the interface is pretty good).

[Matrix Meanderer]

Ivan - When we replaced our MH earlier this year I pushed the boat out and bought a Snooper S6000 and a custom mount for the Fiat Ducato dashboard. We have used it a lot in Europe this year and found the pre-loaded ACSI,Bord Atlas, Camperstop and UK CC and C Club and CL sites accurate and up to date. I've also got the French Aires loaded and they are pretty good but not fully up to the book version. You can download updates at any time and choose up to 20 POIs from an extensive on line list.

 

So I'm pretty happy with the purchase - also very good for actual and potential (mobile) speed cameras in UK and France/Germany/Belgium. Nice wide screen and you input your MH dimensions - not gone down a narrow lane or near a low bridge yet! Traffic management Control is also built in and free with the unit, has saved us several hours in queues so far. Not some many gizmos/voices as others but perfectly adequate.

 

Have a look there may be some good discounts at the NEC/Shows.

[terryW]

What I do is spend the long winter hours researching the sites I like and then add them as "favourites" Just another way of approaching it and cheap.

[bolero boy]

Been away with pals and he was impressed with the POI files I had on my TomTom for CC sites and CLs and C&CC sites and CSs. When navigating to any of these you can use 'nav to place on map' and just tap the site you need, so easy. He asked me if I could load the files onto his Snooper S5000, I think.

It seems that loading user POIs are definitely not what Snooper want you to do - I've seen many a frustrated user posting - but they say that CC and C&CC sites are per-loaded. Anyone use these and are the CL/CS entries present?

Cheers.

[Sophie]

"a Snooper S6000 and a custom mount for the Fiat Ducato dashboard. We have used it a lot in Europe this year and found the pre-loaded ACSI,Bord Atlas, Camperstop and UK CC and C Club and CL sites accurate and up to date"

 

It won't find what Robinhood calls "point-to-point " (along the route) POI's for most of the databases though

[Guest 1footinthegrave]

Ah sat nav's, mmmmm, well my take on it is this, you use one to head for a CL say, only to find that it is full or has closed down last week, invariably taking you the pretty way round in the process. On approaching a CL recently and negotiating a lane so narrow it was a joke, the owner said he always knows when someone has used sat nav because they always arrive from the wrong direction ! We have two, a TomTom and a Garmin, both with pre loaded poi's,and updated ones from the net, you know what they have given me more reason to swear than any other device I've ever owned, period. Set it to a large vehicle and you tend to spend your time on motorways,or the like, set it to a smaller vehicle and you can end up directed down farm tracks.

 

Lets face it when travelling around most of Europe, camp sites in any where your likely to want to stop are so prolific your falling over them all the time, especially France. For me at least, on doctors orders to keep my blood pressure in check, mine are going on Ebay, I'm reverting back to old fashioned maps and books. ;-)