I have a Navman as the Jag's own sat nav doesnt work (it thinks its parked on the M6 now) and first time i used one i was skeptical but i gave it a chance and it helped me find a car dealer in a town i'd never been to and i just know that without it, i'd have been driving round that town for three hours instead of the 15 minutes i actually was. They really are fantastic things.

Mine has this annoying feature of flashing red lights when im going too fast (not that i ever do) and it brings the speed limit up on the screen. Yeah, if it knows im going too fast, distracting me to stare at a screen is not a good idea!

I work out any unfamiliar places on Google maps or the AA routeplanner website and make a printout of the list of directions, which I put on my passenger seat or ask my passenger to read to me. This helps if the passenger is a teenager as they don't look where they're going but most can read.

My phone has GPS and will direct me using Google maps too, which is great if you can keep a GPS signal. I've tested out a proper satnav on a journey I already knew; Preston to Manchester airport. It suggested I go via the M61/M60 on the way there, and then when I was due to drive home, it told me to get on the M56 and M6. I really have no idea why as traffic conditions and time of day were identical either way!

If I'm going somewhere unfamiliar in busy traffic I'll put the traffic alert from local radio on. I always have a UK atlas in the car too. The UK is pretty good for signposts to be honest; having driven on Greek islands and Cyprus you do come to appreciate that Britain isn't so bad!

As mentioned earlier the Jag's sat nav is broken and im considering making a thread featuring daily updates on 'where Jamie's sat nav thinks it is'.

Anybody interested?

Really? Still thinks its parked on the M6 today.

I dont like Fiat's

And they say i make pointless posts?

Im probably of the last generation brought up to read a map, all the kids born today will grow up to have sat navs in every car as standard but when i was a kid and my family would go on holiday my job was to read the map in the back, and due to a good angle i could get from behind the drivers seat i could see when the road was clear on a straight B road to overtake so i was useful :)

In the days before sat-navs, if we were travelling somewhere unfamiliar, then I, as the driver would make a point of not looking at the route so that my wife would work out the way to go. This way we avoided a row as I had no idea of the route and had to rely on her navigation.

I agree that sat-nav can be brilliant, I often use it to find an unfamiliar address or navigate an unfamiliar town. Map reading is still a very useful skill to have though!

"Don't they do orienteering in the Scouts anymore? "

No they do 'modern' stuff, such as internet, anti-bullying, drugs, sex, eating-disorders, self-harm, diversity and get given free condoms and Chlamydia testing kits.

We did Orienteering, Hiking, Abseiling, Canoeing and lots of stuff with knots, knife and axe stuff. Building stuff, lashing it together. Best time of my life. It's a crying shame to think that kids don't get to do that kind of thing anymore.

We even sank our Transt van on a tidal causeway.

I loved it.

I got my advanced scout standard and was working on my chief scouts award. All round good outdoor manly fun.