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Topic: DONT blindly trust Sat Navs!
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19/7/2024 at 11:48am
Location: London Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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I've been using Sat Navs and Route Planners for a VERY long time now and a range of brands, and seen countless mapping errors on the underlying (up to date!) maps, then you add the routing errors on top of that!
I've encountered a 'non-continuous' road with a pedestrian only section that a previous poster mentioned, but the Sat Nav refused to acknowledge, it was near my Sister in Law, and a place I visited frequently over years, but the mapping was never corrected. I've also got a road only a few hundred yards from home with a vehicle barrier across it, been there for decades, but not all Sat Nav maps acknowledge that either!
I use Sat Navs, and wouldn't wish to be without, but I CERTAINLY don't blindly trust them, especially with the caravan, with it's restrictions on suitable roads and a near total inability to turn around if route goes wrong on a narrow lane, I verify the route with some other source/device in advance, which brings us right back to the OP and checking of route only to find it was trying to take me down a totally inappropriate road!
I've since checked a few more online route planners/sat nav phone apps, and it's a mixed bag, some despite being primed with 'caravan' as vehicle still insist on the 'wrong' road, others pick the sensible route!
And the really good news is TomTom online route planner now seems to be fixed (I did submit two error reports by different methods!), it's now routing without being forced (it wouldn't even allow me to do that before!) to pick the sensible route!
I'm fully with Colin, pre-planning and checking is the only sensible thing to travel with confidence, and if paper maps are to hand, why not. I use OS paper maps all the time for hill walking (batteries don't die, phone signals don't fade away, and technology go faulty with a totally reliable paper map when you're in the middle of nowhere!), so perfectly at ease with the notion.
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19/7/2024 at 5:14pm
Location: East Herts Outfit: 1992 Elddis Wisp 450CT + X Trail
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Yes, sat-navs and other modern aids are fine, nothing against them, but I'm from an era where they hadn't been invented and we managed just fine using only paper maps. Ok, so they can go out of date, but most roads don't change that much except maybe in towns, and I try to avoid going through towns with the caravan on where possible. And of course there is always that other alternative, road signs.
I do occasionally use my sat-nat for the last few miles to my destination, but I never totally rely on it, I just use it as back-up.
------------- Best Regards,
Colin
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30/8/2024 at 11:55am
Location: North Somerset Outfit: Freedom Microlite
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Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 19/7/2024
Yes, sat-navs and other modern aids are fine, nothing against them, but I'm from an era where they hadn't been invented and we managed just fine using only paper maps. Ok, so they can go out of date, but most roads don't change that much except maybe in towns, and I try to avoid going through towns with the caravan on where possible. And of course there is always that other alternative, road signs.
I do occasionally use my sat-nat for the last few miles to my destination, but I never totally rely on it, I just use it as back-up.
With you all the way, there, Colin21! I have a Garmin SatNav which behaves itself sometimes, then seems to have a funny turn and suddenly decides to re-route me off the main road for reasons know best to itself.
I too just use it for the last few miles: it seems more reliable over short routes. For the rest of the journey it's a good old fashioned road map. It's a huge AA 2.5 miles/inch scale, bought new in 2021. I keep meaning to buy an updated one but I haven't got lost yet, using the old one.
By the way, going back to the link of the old chap towing his caravan over rocky terrain... I wonder whether his caravan still had any flooring left when he eventually reached his destination?
------------- Life without dogs? I don't think so!
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30/8/2024 at 1:39pm
Location: London Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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Well, back from my Hols in the Lake District, and my favoured route to the caravan site, down the eastern side of Derwentwater was a doddle, even the 'daunting' double hump bridge (with it's sign for the mysterious 6"6' width restriction that I never found!) to Grange was nothing to worry about.
On the other hand, I did drive (solo car) the Oh-So sat-nav favoured unclassified mountainside lane up the west of Derwentwater, and very scenic it was too, not too challenging, even perhaps towing a caravan, UNTILL just outside Keswick! There, you'll find the snaking hairpin 'S bends' with something like a 1:5 gradient! NOT caravan friendly in the slightest! Not sure with a front wheel drive car I would have got enough traction to successfully have made that! Bit further towards Keswick I did see a couple of 4x4s towing caravans that seemed to be heading that way, reckon even they would have found it a challenge, but likely just doable!
So VERY glad experience has thought me to do my homework and not blindly rely on sat-navs and route finders! TBH, think that road should have a 'Not Suitable for Caravans' sign on the approach.
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