Garmin Satnav minor roads

[frankie0308]

Hi everyone. We intend to take our 28ft Bessacarr to France and Spain early next year and would like some advice on Satnavs and minor road avoidance. The last time we went abroad with our old 21ft Apache, our Garmin took us on a number of minor rds which our Bessacarr will not navigate. I do know there are Garmins for HGVs but they cost an arm and a leg, so any advice would be welcome even a change of supplier model if necessary. We went to Halfords today as they had an offer on a new Garmin 1490 with free updates for life but the shop assistant says that it may be possible to download some s/w if we contact Garmin. Anyone out there can recommend a model? Thanks Frank

[Brian Kirby]

So far as I am aware, none of the base mapping (TeleAtlas or NavTeq) carries information on actual road widths. All the mapping carries is information on legal width restrictions. So, even those that claim to cater for larger vehicles can only avoid the restricted routes, but may still route you down unrestricted narrow roads.

 

Your best bet generally will be to select the "quickest" route between points, avoiding toll roads if you prefer, but then to use a map to confirm the route you think looks best, and insert waypoints to ensure the Garmin (or whatever) goes where you want it to go.

 

It is unwise to simply set a destination from your point of departure, and then rely on any sat nav to get you there down roads you would prefer to use. They are aids to navigation: they should not be allowed to set the course.

[postnote]

With our TomTom I normally pick Eco route and no Toll roads. We normally get a nice mix of dual carriage ways, normal roads and small minor roads. We have a Burstner now but before we had an Autotrail 696G and never had problems on French roads.

 

Would suggest you buy a good TomTom

[Colin Leake]

We use a Tom Tom and some good old fashion common sense. We roughly look at the route on a map so that we have an idea what roads should be used. Hopefully if the satnav tries to send us down an unsuitable short cut we can remain on the main road and avoid unsuitable roads. If it does try to send us down a road that looks dodgy we ignore it and stay on the main road. After a time it will simply sort a new route out.

[lennyhb]

Don't rely on satnav in France, we do have our Garmin on in France but run Autoroute on a netbook with a GPS receiver as well. Autoroute gives a better idea of road widths but not infallible.

 

My reading of the situation is since the French re-classified their roads a few years ago a D road can be anything from a very narrow single carriageway to a dual carriageway. The satnav software when working out a route has the choice of say 2 D roads a Dual carriageway or a very narrow single carriageway the single road is 500m shorter so it chooses that one as the quickest route based on the information is they are both D roads therefore of the same standard.

 

I have also noticed very few French drivers use satnav.

[Basil]

Our van is similar in size to yours. We have used our Tom Tom in France for many years, we no longer bother with a paper map it is superfelous last one was 2005, we have been all over north, south, east and west and not once have we had a problem on any road we rely totally on the Tom Tom, Mk 1 brain and eyes. Can't speak for modern Garmin but the one we had was not good at all and the Tom Tom beats it hands down We have been down some narrow roads, as we have in the UK, where we kept our fingers crossed that nothing would come the other way but nothing too worrying.

Whilst I couldn't say whether the French use satnavs or not, as they mainly buy French cars like Renaults that have them built in how would you know, if you see how much after market ones cost in the supermarkets over there it would not suprise me if they didn't.

 

Bas

[scramblers]

I use the 1490 with free lifetime map updates, although when you say "new" I purchased mine in December 2009.

 

Invaluable for our 3 month motoring tour of New Zealand and California, when used with additional micro SD map cards bought from Amazon.

 

We use it with our motorhome when travelling through the UK and Europe, I would classify it as an essential tool. But like all tools, you have to know how to use it and its limitations. I would echo the other members views - once the SatNav has plotted your route check it with a good motoring map.

 

As for the 1490, it is an excellent SatNav and the Lane feature is worth its weight in gold, knowing which lane you should be in when approaching a motorway junction/intersection saves a lot of embarassing quick manoeurves which can put a lot of strain on what should be a pleasant holiday. The lifetime map updates always keep it current. However, just a word of caution, if you are on a limited broadband bandwith each map update uses approx 4GB.

[peterjl]

Hi

 

For us we use Tom Tom but also do a "common sense" check at the road junctions as we go - it has tried to take us down some quite unsuitable roads and i just drive on whilst my wife consults a paper map for a general direction till Tom tom reconfigures a better route.

 

Sat navs are not perfect, we have ended up in a field in germany on the wrong side of a valley - there may have been a road across but not one i could drive!

 

Peter

[laimeduck]

I use a lowly Garmin Nuvi 200 all the time in France, Germany, Belgium Italy etc & have done for the last 3/4 years.

 

As Brian Kirkby says a Sat Nav is absolutely fine as long as you use it in conjunction with a map, and that applies to all Sat Navs. If you go off route it WILL take you cross country to get you back on route!

 

Plan various stages along the route you want to follow (from the map), put them into SatNAv as favourites, and you shouldn't go off track!

 

We learned this by experience - when we first got it, the worst one we had was in the Somme near Mesnil Martinsart where "Matilda" (our SatNAv) took us down a cart track for about 2 miles, then over a ford :D . We did arrive at the Graveyard of Great Uncle Tommy - slightly wet, muddy & shaken.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lennyhb]

Basil - 2011-11-28 5:01 PM

 

Our van is similar in size to yours. We have used our Tom Tom in France for many years, we no longer bother with a paper map it is superfelous last one was 2005, we have been all over north, south, east and west and not once have we had a problem on any road we rely totally on the Tom Tom, Mk 1 brain and eyes. Can't speak for modern Garmin but the one we had was not good at all and the Tom Tom beats it hands down We have been down some narrow roads, as we have in the UK, where we kept our fingers crossed that nothing would come the other way but nothing too worrying.

Whilst I couldn't say whether the French use satnavs or not, as they mainly buy French cars like Renaults that have them built in how would you know, if you see how much after market ones cost in the supermarkets over there it would not suprise me if they didn't.

 

Bas

 

If you are using an older Tom Tom with an older map database, it will not be using the latest French road classifications so would probably be better for use in France.

 

As for the use of satnav in French cars virtually any car brought in the UK is available with built in satnav but we still see thousands of cars driving about with after market satnav's you just don't see them in the same quantity in France.

[lennyhb]

scramblers - 2011-11-28 5:11 PM

 

As for the 1490, it is an excellent SatNav and the Lane feature is worth its weight in gold, knowing which lane you should be in when approaching a motorway junction/intersection saves a lot of embarassing quick manoeurves which can put a lot of strain on what should be a pleasant holiday. The lifetime map updates always keep it current. However, just a word of caution, if you are on a limited broadband bandwith each map update uses approx 4GB.

 

I have a 1490T yes the lane guidance is good also the traffic very good far better than the Navman S90i I had before, however I find it almost useless in France apart from in towns but then we don't use the Autoroutes in France prefer to stay on the RN & D roads.

[postnote]

What I would suggest if you are Sat Nav dependant, you should have a second unit and always switched on.

 

I learnt the hard way this year when trying circumnavigating Paris trying to get to an Aires we were staying at that night. Ours developed a fault and lost all Sat signals, so we had to pull over and look at the road map as to where we were and how to get there.

 

Not as simple as it sounds as we broke the cardinal rule and hadn’t been following our route or progress on a map. If we had a second Sat Nav working then we would not have lost.

 

The Sat Nav problem was down to me. I had downloaded a corrupt POI off the internet. I have now reformatted the SIM card and reinstalled the maps and no further problems.

:-(

[Retread24800]

Hi i have a garmin neuvi 1340 which i use here in France, full Euro mapping, good lane advice etc.

the road classification scheme here is different over here A auto route, Route national paid by the state, D Paid for by the Departement C, Commune and voie rurale an occasionally maintained track, nothing to do with widths etc.

To avoid narrow roads zoom out a bit before a turning to see if its a 'short cut' use your eyes, if it looks too narrow etc........Always select fastest route never shortest. theres no substitute for common sense.

[Caroline]

lennyhb - 2011-11-27 10:36 PM

 

Don't rely on satnav in France, we do have our Garmin on in France but run Autoroute on a netbook with a GPS receiver as well. Autoroute gives a better idea of road widths but not infallible.

 

Sorry if this is a numpty question, do you require a dongle of something to work this?, is Autoroute a softwear package?, can you tell me more or how to get more information.

 

Tahnks :-S

[Robinhood]

Caroline - 2011-11-29 10:56 AM

 

Sorry if this is a numpty question, do you require a dongle of something to work this?, is Autoroute a softwear package?, can you tell me more or how to get more information.

 

Tahnks :-S

 

Autoroute is Microsoft Route planning software that has been around In annually refreshed versions) for years.

 

Though I don't use it whilst travelling, I find it useful for pre-planning routes, and as it also has the ability to process "POIs" I can have roughly the same data on both the SatNav and the netbook.

 

To use it as a real-time navigation aid you need to link your laptop/netbook or whatever to a GPS receiver, which will then integrate with the software to give real-time location and route direction.

 

There is comprehensive information on the Microsoft website, but a good summary is provided by the following Amazon link.

 

http://tinyurl.com/csxhg34

 

It can be bought with or without a GPS receiver (this link is with) and other GPS receivers which are compatible are available.

 

HTH

 

 

 

[Basil]

lennyhb - 2011-11-28 6:10 PM

 

If you are using an older Tom Tom with an older map database, it will not be using the latest French road classifications so would probably be better for use in France.

 

As for the use of satnav in French cars virtually any car brought in the UK is available with built in satnav but we still see thousands of cars driving about with after market satnav's you just don't see them in the same quantity in France.

 

We use an older Tom Tom Go720, but it has the latest Navcore and mapping as it is updated four times a year with the latest new maps from Tom Tom, currently using Navcore 8.351 OS:315187 and map V880.3810, with all known road number changes (have been for many updates now).

As I said we have not experienced any problems whatsoever and have not bought paper maps since 2005 as we find then completely superfelous, never worried about a "belt and braces" attitude, but each to their own.

 

Must be the cost of them over there then, can't say I have ever bothered to notice what others have in their cars.

 

Bas

[Caroline]

thanks

[Colin Leake]

Before the days of satnav we were passing through France and my navigator was doing well until unnoticed by me she fell asleep! At least the Tom Tom stays awake all the time.

[Madmaggott]

We use the Garmin in France but I also have an AA large scale map book on my lap and keep an eye on this in order to avoid any surprises in the form of narrow roads etc.  The only time the pulse rate escalated considerably was when navigating the centre of a city we were diverted due to road works and rounded a corner to see the roadway disappearing below ground with the signage suggesting that we had 100mm clearance!  We proceeded very slowly (to the annoyance of following traffic) and hoped the road had not been resurfaced since the signage was placed.  Such fun!