Sat Navs

[Tracker]

We too have experienced most of the phenomena that Brian highlights and we too have had no problem in resolving them without anyone's help, common sense being a really useful ally!

[Pete-B]

Derek Uzzell - 2021-10-18 9:02 AM

 

Pete owns a 2020 Auto-Sleepers Warwick XL panel-van conversion and - from what I can glean from earlier postings - has used a TomTom ‘camper’ sat-nav in the past.

 

The equivalent current TomTom product is the “Go Camper”

 

https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/navigation/camper-gps-sat-nav/go-camper/

 

that’s reviewed here

 

https://caravansatnav.com/tomtom-go-camper-review-test.php

 

Both of my last two motorhomes have been wider and higher than a Warwick XL (and no shorter) and being able to input their dimensions into a sat-nav has never attracted me. And - as I said above - ‘camper’ features (eg. campsite data) haven’t been of interest to me. I’ve relied on a Garmin nuvi 2559LM ‘car’ sat-nav (now discontinued) that has sufficient capabilities for my requirements without features that I don’t want.

 

If Pete is TomTom familiar and has found having a ‘camper’ sat-nav beneficial, updating to a “Go Camper” would make some sense.

Hi Derek,

 

Yes I've still got the TomTom but it's been a bit unreliable just lately and to cap it, I went to do updates and couldn't, it said, your device isn't recognised? I had it about three years and not had this problem before! So, what with other problems I've had with it I thought I would seek advice from others on the matter!

[PJM]

Try updating or reinstalling your updating media, not sure if its my tom tom or something similar. Log in and try updating again

[Pete-B]

PJM - 2021-10-21 7:30 PM

 

Try updating or reinstalling your updating media, not sure if its my tom tom or something similar. Log in and try updating again

Thanks for hat mate, I found out there's a new home page for TomTom My Drive. I downloaded that and there was no problem with doing updates.

[DavyS]

Brian Kirby describes a process for finding an accurate location for the entrance to campsites etc. I think that many might find that a bit laborious.

A simple solution is to use Google Maps on a computer. I view the approximate location in map view, switch to street view which will show me signage pointing to the site and the appearance of the entrance.

If that doesnt work I switch to satellite view which generally makes it easy to determine the entrance.

So I can then set off confident of the location AND what to look out for.

[Brian Kirby]

DavyS - 2021-10-23 6:34 PM

Brian Kirby describes a process for finding an accurate location for the entrance to campsites etc. I think that many might find that a bit laborious.

A simple solution is to use Google Maps on a computer. I view the approximate location in map view, switch to street view which will show me signage pointing to the site and the appearance of the entrance.

If that doesnt work I switch to satellite view which generally makes it easy to determine the entrance.

So I can then set off confident of the location AND what to look out for.

True, but I was describing how to get a precise location onto a Garmin sat-nav device assuming one's starting points were a) a Garmin sat-nav and b) the Garmin mapping downloaded to a PC for viewing via the Garmin MapSource (or BaseCamp) program.

 

The coordinates are then stored permanently on the PC (or any other PC the data files are copied onto) in .gpx or .gdb file format (as part of a, for instance, "Campsites" data set) that can be transferred to any Garmin sat-nav via the Garmin "POI loader".

 

I was not advocating the approach I described as a way to check the location of a single site for one-off use, or for use with alternative devices. Once it is done, and the data set is updated, that site location is retained, and will be transferred to the sat-nav whenever its POIs are updated, so it (or any replacement Garmin device) will then navigate to those same coordinates whenever you decide to visit.

 

So yes, it takes a bit longer, but it only needs doing it once for each new/different location. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

[slowdriver]

DavyS - 2021-10-23 6:34 PM

 

Brian Kirby describes a process for finding an accurate location for the entrance to campsites etc. I think that many might find that a bit laborious.

 

Surely you meant encouragingly detailed?

Personally I am not inclined to expend quite so much energy on it.

But then, as they say "your mileage may vary"

 

My challenging belt and braces approach is to run Co-pilot and Google maps concurrently on an Ipad. The big screen is a bonus for me.

I am reassured when they concur and get to quickly double-check on the odd occasion when they diverge. In a recent 2,800 km trip to Europe this only happened twice. It does mean choosing what map to display (normally Co-Pilot) and then getting two audible instructions, normally at different times as you approach a junction, but for me at least it appears to work. I believe it's possible to split screen an Ipad and show both maps but it seemed a bit of a faff when I looked into it. In my case I prefer the way Co-Pilot displays junctions and that I can configure the audible alert notifications as you approach a junction. So that's the default map I use.

It's not quite the "Wisdom of Crowds" (as if that exists!) more the "Concurrence of Apps".

I use Search for Sites to do the initial identification of the stop-over in part because it provides one-click links to multiple navigation options (Gmaps, Apple Maps, Co-pilot, Waze, Tom Tom Go and Sygic Truck) from the site detail page.

 

So not laborious but perhaps confusing, for some.

 

 

 

[DJA]

I use the Tomtom GO Camper unit, with the dimensions etc of our MoHo installed, along with the Free Mapcodes App on my phone. The Mapcode App, developed by TT many years ago, enables you to input Addresses. Postcodes, Long/Lat or Mapcodes or move the Map around to find a location. So if you input a Postcode that takes you to the Postcodes central position and you can then, with the map in Hybrid mode move the Google Earth satelitte type map around to find the precise position you want like the entrance to a Campsite then you are given an address, Long/Lat and Mapcode for the position . You can then enter the Mapcode, ie GBR DH.FX in the GO Camper and it will create a route to the exact point which in this case would be the middle gate at the front of Buckingham Palace. Mapcodes can be used to find a Pitch on a Campsite or any other location on a world wide basis.,

[Tracker]

What amazes me is how so many people can make so many issues of such a simple navigation end point?

 

Simple postcode in the UK or lat & long if abroad, plus the application of common sense and observation at times, have always worked for me.

[Brian Kirby]

Tracker - 2021-10-26 4:04 PM

What amazes me is how so many people can make so many issues of such a simple navigation end point?

Simple postcode in the UK or lat & long if abroad, plus the application of common sense and observation at times, have always worked for me.

It just reaffirms my delight at the sheer variety of human nature, Rich. As they say, "we are all different" and long may it be so! :-D

[Tracker]

Brian Kirby - 2021-10-26 6:12 PM

 

Tracker - 2021-10-26 4:04 PM

What amazes me is how so many people can make so many issues of such a simple navigation end point?

Simple postcode in the UK or lat & long if abroad, plus the application of common sense and observation at times, have always worked for me.

It just reaffirms my delight at the sheer variety of human nature, Rich. As they say, "we are all different" and long may it be so! :-D

Quite so Brian, but it does make me wonder how people would cope these days with a map and a printed sites book, with often inaccurate directions, pre post code era let alone pre electronics era!

 

You needed a real sense of adventure to tour in they days - and a willingness to spend ages looking for a CL!!

[Bulletguy]

Tracker - 2021-10-26 7:25 PM

 

Brian Kirby - 2021-10-26 6:12 PM

 

Tracker - 2021-10-26 4:04 PM

What amazes me is how so many people can make so many issues of such a simple navigation end point?

Simple postcode in the UK or lat & long if abroad, plus the application of common sense and observation at times, have always worked for me.

It just reaffirms my delight at the sheer variety of human nature, Rich. As they say, "we are all different" and long may it be so! :-D

Quite so Brian, but it does make me wonder how people would cope these days with a map and a printed sites book, with often inaccurate directions, pre post code era let alone pre electronics era!

 

You needed a real sense of adventure to tour in they days - and a willingness to spend ages looking for a CL!!

It's a generation thing. For elderly folk maps came first as satnavs didn't exist. I learned to read a map from family holidays as a young kid, plus it also helped enjoying maps. I've got the full set of OS maps and mapping for every European country I was touring. I didn't buy a satnav until the late 90's as I was still doubtful over their reliability.

 

Now we're in a tech age todays generation take these electronic gizmos for granted. They'd see hard maps as "clutter" which I suppose to a degree it is, but I like my maps and still have all I bought. When I open a map I see a work of art, but when I switch my satnav on it's nothing special.

[Brian Kirby]

Bulletguy - 2021-10-26 9:28 PM.............................It's a generation thing. For elderly folk maps came first as satnavs didn't exist. I learned to read a map from family holidays as a young kid, plus it also helped enjoying maps. I've got the full set of OS maps and mapping for every European country I was touring. I didn't buy a satnav until the late 90's as I was still doubtful over their reliability.

Now we're in a tech age todays generation take these electronic gizmos for granted. They'd see hard maps as "clutter" which I suppose to a degree it is, but I like my maps and still have all I bought. When I open a map I see a work of art, but when I switch my satnav on it's nothing special.

We still take country maps just in case! :-) Carole is a whizz at map navigation and has taken us to all sorts of odd places at home and abroad. But, it is a full time occupation and she gets to see little outside the van for fear of losing her place on the map.

 

The sat-nav was a consequence of trying to navigate To Haller Camping in central Budapest in 2008 (amazingly, apparently still there!), on a busy night, and being unable to find the entrance despite what seemed to be two laps of Budapest in crawling traffic. The sat nav wouldn't have solved the traffic problem - but at least we'd have known where the entrance actually was, and how to get there! And so it has proved.

 

We've had three so far, and used them from Portugal in the west to Croatia in the East, and from Germany in the north to Greece in the south.

 

Flawless and fault free? No, not always, but with the aid of my database of POIs, and a bit of pre-planning of routes, we've got to where we wanted to go, at about the time we expected to arrive, without mishap or major hiccup - and, if it does send us the wrong way Carole sits and gloats that she doesn't have unravel the mess! Its a win-win: we arrive friends, and Carole gets to relax and see all the things from the cab windows that she couldn't see when she was navigating. Gets my vote! B-)

[lancepar]

I still have a Navman somewhere that has a built in camera which not only saved the image but recorded the Coordinates.as well.

The file could be posted online for others to use and other peeps files could also be copied and used to navigate to locations like a CL for example providing someone had already been there of course.

I never got into it and I think it ceased being used.

B-)

[lancepar]

Time allowed for editing expired so this explains the system better than me...........

 

"Navmam Satnav NavPix was developed to offer users an alternative way to navigate, by selecting an image rather than entering an address or post code."

 

B-)

[colin]

Have had a couple of TomTom's also have Windowsphone's with Here and MS maps, having a XLWB PVC there are few roads we can't go down that a car can't, they have made a few mistakes in routing such as trying to do a right turn where there is a restriction, but that's been balanced by me 'Knowing better' than the sat nav only to find it was trying to avoid a traffic jam/accident.