Casa Santo Estevo

No; but they are simply a waste of money... Of the long list of our customers we think that the majority that are late because they have got lost are GPS users. It seems they can neither find us or they switch off and when miss a turn and never find it back…then they do not know where they are. Once lost you do not have an overall picture of where you are….So what do you do? Use the paper back up…a map... So why purchase the gizmo in the first place?


Sorry rant over.

Mitzyboy

There are satnavs and then there are satnavs
I just changed from an old one to a new one and the display, even of rough track roads, is brilliant
Then there are those that dont update maps

Econ

I totally disagree, I find them of great use, just finding out how long a journey will take is worth having one. Granted there are some places you can have trouble with finding and they can make the odd mistake but then not everything is perfect, my problem is that they make most trips too easy.

Maybe if they can't find you... the information you give them is wrong! Anyone passes on coords and it takes me right to them, a number in a street and generally it takes me right to it. Something else they are very handy with is if someone takes you somewhere or you end up at a shop or some place that you want to get back to, just enter your location in the memory and the next time it takes you right there.

On saying all this I used to have a SONY 4 years back that was the greatest load of rubbish on the market, this put me off GPS's until I went to the States and drove 9000 Klms with a Garmin, saved me a a load of time when navigating through or to addresses in all the cities I visited from LA to New York, I was so impressed when I got back I bought a TomTom (I was told Garmins where having problems with quality, probably sales ploy) and have found it to be very handy with work. I hate TomTom's PR people (plastic dummies) and support (parrots) but the GPS is great.

Casa Santo Estevo

Suddenly it is our fault that the coords are wrong … We think it is the dozy twats that use these things, They take their brains out and go into autopilot mode. Why think? Especially when you have a machine telling you what to do?

Fred James

So where do they get the coordinates of their location from?

Which GPS datum is their source or map using?

Is it the same datum that the GPS uses?

It just isn't that simple!

Mitzyboy

So suddenly I'm a dozy twat now am I????

Casa Santo Estevo

Depends do you switch off when using it..do you get lost too?...sorry

Casa Santo Estevo

We got it from Google maps and had it confirmed by several GPSs..so from your question these things may not be infallible!

jdr

If you follow them on a route near where we used to live you end up in a dead end dirt track, the local farmer used to like it though cos he earnt from all the recoveries he did.

Mitzyboy

If you use a satnav properly it can be a useful tool. In business in the Uk I would have been completely lost without it .... literally.

I dont know why you have such a thing about people using them though. I wouldn't say I switch off, as you put it.

Many hotels give their coordinates now when you book, or will do if you aske them. If your map is up to date then more often than not its pretty accurate .... although the fact that Tom Tom run a map correction service with info from users shows that theres still some margin for error

Casa Santo Estevo

We have added our house to TOM TOM but never checked it this was successful.
The road to our house is not in the mapping system, in fact a lot of raods around here are not..and that just confuses the users. There is a road along the Rio Miño. The longest river in Galicia. The road is not in the system and some Dutch customers said their system said they were in the river and that they should look for an alternative route!! We do not know if that last bit is true or not, but it sounds good.

Mitzyboy

Ahh OK, then its not really the users fault ........ you just live in the middle of nowhere (Joke, honest)

Fred James

Absolutely - but to get the best out of them they require the optional HBWB accessory pack which is not always available.

Casa Santo Estevo

Yep Galicia the back of beyond (B.O.B.)! and the campo of Galicia, is the B.O.B of the B.O. B.
No noise from mopeds, only birds singing, no hordes of neighbours listen to Cliff Richard whilst laying by the pool...Only a 12th century church...The pits...anyone want to buy a house?

Tele Addict

Sounds like you are used to hearing that excuse (and believing it) so you think the satnav must be to blame.