SatNav...worthwhile ?

P

portboy

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Hearing lots of ad's on Radio/TV at the moment for SatNav's and think it would make a great christmas present. Anyone think they are really useful or are they a bit of a gimmick. Given they cost about €200 I don't really want to splash out if they are a bit crap
 
No gimmick! SatNav allows you to concentrate on conditions on the road around you without getting tangled up with figuring out which lane is appropriate for your destination as you approach crossings, roundabouts etc. You can plan your journey properly and most SatNav give journey-times. Advise getting the best you can afford.
 
For my tuppence worth, I think Irelands roads are still being developed so it's too early to get the Sat Nav, maybe in a few years.

Two examples of Sat Nav getting it wrong.

1. Car coming from Cork to Bunratty, turns onto the Limerick Bypass, road not on software, the driver eventually ends up near the ferrybridge on the N69 (Coast Road) flags me down looking for directions.

2. Car travelling Limeirck to Sligo, Sat Nav guides the driver into Galway rather than turning for Tuam/Claregalway at one of the roundabouts near Oranmore.

This was some back so the software may have improved but you can't beat a good map and the excellent roadsigns on Irish roads.
 
I think they are a great invention IF you need one (ie do a lot of driving to places you don't know).

But if you spend most of your time in the car going places you know and routes you know (like most people with satnavs I feel) then they are a gimmick.

I have also used my bro's recently and it seemed to take me the wrong/long way a couple of times. But it was always able to recalculate (suppose its hard to keep up with all the new roads being built).

Didn't Jade Goody drive into a lake because he satnav told her to??!!!!!
 
I would have said a Satnav in Ireland would be brillant because of Irish roadsigns. We have one and it's fantastic, occasionally it gets it wrong, but you learn how to deal with this after a while.
 
If you are a sales rep or the like travelling to a lot of places you've not been to before I'd say they are probably the business.
Now that I think of it I know a foreign guy who is a tiler and he has a Sat Nav to find the clients.
Appears to work for him.

Personally I won't have a requirement for one on a daily basis.
However, while on hols in Italy this year the whole extended family travelled in two cars to a villa in the tuscany.
My father-in-law had a Sat Nav which ended up guiding us up and down dirt roads.
I was driving the second car going "we're $&%*ed".
We hit the place first time, couldn't believe it.
I have used them in the US.

Sat Navs have there uses, just make sure you are getting for the right reasons.
 
Most useful in towns and cities you're not familiar with and will get you right to the door if you enter post-code or street name. Obviously not worthwhile if you do little more than a regular home-work commute.

Regarding up-to-date-ness TomTom and Garmin Nuvi and other high-specification satnavs update themselves via satellite on an ongoing basis, alert driver to speed-camer zones and can be programmed to route you by predominantly-motorway or predominantly 'other' (minor) road systems.
 
TomTom and Garmin Nuvi and other high-specification satnavs update themselves via satellite on an ongoing basis, alert driver to speed-camer zones
Click to expand...

Is this true? I have a TomTom One Europe. It uses Navteq software which now is at least 12months old. I was under the impression that the next update needs to be downloaded from the TomTom websit and will have to be paid for - quite a chunky bill too I believe.

Also, traffic updates don't work for me in Ireland.
 

Nope, afraid not. They send updates out periodically over the web, not over satellite. How would they? They don't own the GPS network! You'll have to pay for new maps every couple of years.

There is no traffic information system in Ireland, limited to UK and some areas in Europe.
Leo
 
NavTeq have the best coverage in Ireland, Garmin and TomTom use these.
Leo
 
sta navs are the business when you are in unfamiliar area
 
Have had one for the last couple of months now, doing a lot of drivng in unfamiliar territory. Think it is great if you use it as a guide rather than the bible of how to get there. Still need to use common sense to avoid traffic jams [where possible], choose your own rough route, take new roads that aren't mapped etc.

Just a pity you can't search for business parks by name eventhough they are mapped .... anyone ever buy POI of Dublin industrial estates?
 
I purchased the Garmin nuvi 660 recently and found it wonderful, travelling to Cork, Waterford, Kerry and Galway, it guided me right to the door in many places that i would have found difficult to locate such as little known streets in cork.

I also found it excellent in built up areas or city streets with several lanes of traffic it gave you advance notice of which lane to move into and which exit to take.

I found it contributed to stress free driving not looking out for signs etc.,i do agree with others it is only valuable if you are travelling to places you are not familiar with.
 
I have a Tom Tom and it took me from Cork straight to the Land Registry in Waterford then to my friends in Lucan. It went wrong on the new toll road going to Galway.

In Europe it took me straight to the door from Milan to the hotel in Malcesine Lake Garda and has done me well on 3 trips to France from Calais to Royan and from Cherbourg to Royan and St Jean de Monts. If you use the advanced planning on Tom Tom it makes life very easy.
 
I am thinking of buying one as a present for a friend who currently lives in Italy. Are there models which are better than others for mainland Europe roads (particularly Italy)?
 
I use tom tom go 910, the only prob I had was that it wanted to go on the ferry across Lake Garda, apart from that it was fantastic. It is worth bearing in mind that it is worthwile buying it in the country of use as this will give the home map and will be the best map.
 
How often do you need to update and how much are the updates, how much to add a new country, are the updates downloaded from the net or by CD?
 
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