Has anyone got Sat-Nav fitted ?
I would like to know if it is worth paying out £1,800 to have it fitted as it would be very handy for my job, but the cost seems a bit much when I have survived using maps for so long.
I do an awful lot of traveling both in the U.K. and europe so would I need to buy different CD-ROMs for different countries and how much do these CD-ROMs cost.
|
|
Mate of mine has it on his comapny Jag. Went to Paris in it recently with him. His CD was a European one and all the streets in Paris were on it. This was helpful at times BUT it's all rather a novelty unless you are seriously dim and don't know where you are. The annoying voice announcing where you are and what to do can thankfully be turned off I would never dream of spending £1700 of my own dosh on it. Now, if it comes as standard or the company's paying, well it's a nice little toy to show off.
|
I'd agree with BtB.
I haven't ever used one in the UK, but I did use one quite extensively in the US, mind you its a much cheaper option there.
However, useful as it was, and it was still useful even after the novelty factor wore off, it wasn't #1700 more useful than a road-atlas.
I'd love to have it on a car, espécially in the UK/Europe where there are so many streets in the cities, but that is an awful lot of money.
M.
|
|
|
|
|
similarly to others, never used it in UK but was with a friend in Tokyo where he used it quite a bit until his local knowledge took over and he ignored the system. I think it was just a toy but was impressed as to how accurate the thing was
|
Don't some of these systems tie in with traffic jam monitors and guide you round the jams to your destination?
If they do: that would make them quite usefull, even if you knew "your" route.
But again, only the user can put a value on that usefulness.
For some it's probably a pocket-money toy.
At the kind of prices quoted I'd abandon the car, get a taxi, and buy a "new" car when I got home!;-(
|
|
|
|
Has anyone got Sat-Nav fitted ? I would like to know if it is worth paying out £1,800 to have it fitted as it would be very handy for my job, but the cost seems a bit much when I have survived using maps for so long. I do an awful lot of traveling both in the U.K. and europe so would I need to buy different CD-ROMs for different countries and how much do these CD-ROMs cost.
Hi Marcos,
Yes I have Sat-Nav,
Only used in UK. It is good although I am not sure that I would shell out an extra £1,800.
It is good at alternative routes. You can alter the parameters to change the route (shortest roads, fastest roads etc). You are much less likely to end up lost.
But route selection can be bizarre. The map used in the system is based on the OS mapping for 1995! It is therefore out of date, for example my home address does not feature on the system.
Also, guiding voice cannot differentiate between a turn or bearing right or left. In addition it can get easily confused in Cities.
I was quoted £122 for a European CD.
Hope thats useful,
regards
Vercin
PS you need to wade through manuals written in geek.
|
I also have sat nav ?on same car (C5) as vercin
I use it a lot to amuse passengers and if travelling alone as an aid....especially good for roundabouts but always ignore it if you think it doesn't make sense or you'll land up in a field.
It is an inflexible friend with a lisp and a rather effete accent which has tried to send me up a street in London with bollards in the way and which persists for mile after mile if you don't chose to go the route it choses.....it can't differentiate between a bend in the road and a junction and is a bit of a menace on motorways at intersections but the map is quite entertaining and it adds interest in telling you if you are going past golf courses etc if you aren't in a 4X4 to see over the hedges!
of course it cannot possibly be worth the ridiculous cost but then what is?....and if it gives more amusement and relaxes you it might just save your life if the alternative is to be map reading while motoring alone.So if you won't miss the loot go for it!...but you might be better spending it on a car with credentials in other departments 'cos no way will you get the cost back on resale
christoph
|
I use a Destinator portable Sat-Nav on an iPaq hand-held PC clipped to a vent grille. It's not perfect but seems no worse than permanent installations, judging by other comments, and it's easy to swap over between cars so you have it for ever.
Cost including enough SD memory cards for the whole of the GB to street level and a CD with the whole of Europe in similar detail was about £450. (Not including the iPaq, which I already had but hardly used so I was happy to dedicate it to Sat-Nav.)
I chose Destinator over the similar Navman because it can recalculate routes and give revised directions on-the-fly so it copes with diversions automatically. The voice commands are not as accurate as the visual display though.
David
|
|
I've got the ipaq with the sat nav add-on. They're currently around £900 from PC World. Not bad, but it majors on SE England. Windscreen mount pretty c***py, so I made my own for each vehicle, and it works best if you get nearish to where you want to go before listening to it's instructions. It does recalculate a route if you ignore it, and just as well, as it doesn't recognise no-entry signs. It's also a little confusing if you want to join another road via a slip road, as if you are technically right onto a dual carraige way, it tells you to turn right, when of course you actually have to go left down the slip road, which then takes you right (if you see what I mean). Having said that, it does show a map aswell, and counts down the distance, so as long as you have half a brain, you shouldn't go wrong.
|
The Destinator copes well with complex junctions and slip roads at motorway interchanges. And it hasn't told me to go the wrong way up a dual carriageway yet!
I'm less happy though with it on ordinary r'abts (or "circles" as it calls them in voice messages) as it can't count reliably. So I just ignore it's "take-the-whatever-exit" instructions and just glance at the display to see which exit I actually need.
Like you I find it better to use commonsense on long journeys, but Sat-Nav to find specific addresses.
David
|
I have done it on the cheap.
2nd hand lap-top £350, Info-map and GPS unit £220.
I already had Route-66 for UK and France, and Autoroute 2002. The GPS unit has a USB interface and works OK with Route-66 and Info-Map but not with Autoroute 2002 which does not seem to like USB Interfaces. The laptop has sit on the front seat.
Quote from Autoroute Help
"When you use a serial-to-Universal Serial Bus (USB) port adapter to connect a Global Positioning System (GPS) device to a USB port, AutoRoute may not recognize the GPS device. This may also happen when you connect a GPS device directly to a USB port.
This behavior can occur if the serial-to-USB port adapter uses a program that emulates the communications (COM) port or creates a virtual COM port."
Another bit of Bill Gates that does not work!!
|
|
|
|
Well, I - well Heather, really, I am her chauffeur - had it on a Daewoo, a Leganza with all mod cons. It kept up brilliantly on a trip to Wales until the car navigator (my brother, as opposed to I the driver) gave the wrong direction, or we came to a diversion that was not on the CD, or something. It then went berserk, or told us to make a U-turn on a motorway(!) or something.
That's two years ago and they may have advanced, but I wonder!
Tomo
|
|
|
![2021 Nissan Qashqai 1.3 DiG-T 160 [157] Acenta Premium 5dr DCT](http://images.honestjohn.co.uk/imagecache/url/crop/90x60/https/assets.heycar.co.uk/t_default-export/f_auto/application_assets/vehicles/pictures/da990225dbcac5ecfadc85d8ad4e2654/690936625217cd1efba5c9cdd4bc42f1.jpg)
