Sat Nav test

I know the subject of motorhome specific sat nav keeps coming up, usually without a conclusion. Ii was wondering if your device allows you to prepare routes in advance whether anybody would care to prepare a short route for me as a test.

What route does your devise propose to go from the Alderstead Heath CAMC site (RH1 3AH) to the Esso filling station in Hooley (CR5 3EG).

My sat nav turns me right out of the site straight down Dean Lane. I wont go that way in my Smart although Heather will take her Clio that way. It is certainly not suitable for a motorhome or caravan. A more sensible way is to turn left out of the site and right at the end of the road down Shepherds Hill.

Has anybody got a "camper" (or normal?) sat nav that suggests the sensible route?

I just happen to be sat at my laptop so I tried google maps which doesn't give any options to choose vehicle size etc and that takes the same route. I then thought I would try the Caravan Club routing which uses google maps and that does the same with the proviso 'route may include roads unsuitable for vehicles towing' - that's good innit?

There is a width restriction sign at the bottom of the hill. I must check what it says. Of course it is wide enough for ONE Nuevo but if you meet anything else in Dean Lane one of you will have a nasty bit of reversing to do.

Maybe Gromit will be along with a GoPilot result soon.

I just tried freightjourneyplanner where the default is a 12mt lorry and even that uses same route.

Paulmold wrote:I just tried freightjourneyplanner where the default is a 12mt lorry and even that uses same route.

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No wonder the lane is often blocked with large vehicles that have nowhere to go.

Although this shows a problem when relying on technology, I'm not sure you would be any wiser using paper maps.

dbroada wrote:There is a width restriction sign at the bottom of the hill. I must check what it says. Of course it is wide enough for ONE Nuevo but if you meet anything else in Dean Lane one of you will have a nasty bit of reversing to do.

Maybe Gromit will be along with a GoPilot result soon.

No - Gromit uses the Tom Tom Go smart phone App now, along with "My Drive" on the computer. It's even better than CoPilot since they "improved" it - and spoiled it in my opinion.

The huge advantage of this system (well, one of them ) is the ability to sit at the computer and force a route where you choose to go using My Drive. You just insert way points or ask it to offer you a choice of three different routes, one of which may be just what you want, making it even easier. You then save it and it goes to The Cloud.

Then you switch on your phone or tablet and the route is immediately downloaded onto them and away you go. It can all be done on the phone or tablet but it's a bit fiddly on the small screen - but whatever route you save on any of your gadget is synced between all of them.

You can install the App on up to five gadgets (I'm almost sure it's five) so we have it on both our phones and Sian's tablet. She uses the tablet to follow the route, and if we hit a deviation she can easily zoom out on the bigger screen and navigate us round the closed road.

The App can be downloaded for free and tried for about 50 miles each month - fully functioning and for nothing. This is enough to learn how it works and to see if you like it. Thereafter if you decide to buy the App it's about £35 for three years, including free map upgrades and live traffic.

I'll have a look later and see what route it suggests from "Alderstead Heath CAMC site (RH1 3AH) to the Esso filling station in Hooley (CR5 3EG)", but my soup is getting cold. Will try it later and report.

Soup devoured! 

The App usually offers three alternative routes, but in this case there are obviously only two options. (A quick look on Google Street View reveals why Dave doesn't fancy Dean Lane. )

I think we've passed the test (more or less) although it would have gone for the shortest route if I just told it to go to the garage, rather than using the planner. The route options are instantly available even then, so if in any doubt it's dead easy to re-route using one of the options - or force a route by using waypoints. It only takes a few seconds.

All satnavs are the same, whatever the sales blurb claims!!! It makes very little difference whether or not you enter your vehicle dimensions unless the mapping software has sufficient information about road widths - which they cannot possibly have for every situation.

I didn't use the "Avoid" option b.t.w., but that makes it even simpler to avoid a known problem.

I am not surprised at the failure rate of these sat navs but it does make you wonder why there are so many "excellent - never let me down" reviews on Amazon.

Out of interest Dave, can you check out how to get to Alderstead Heather from the M23, say starting in Crawley? Again, I would assume its favoured route is via Dean Lane. This one isn't even covered in the CAMC handbook!

dbroada wrote:I am not surprised at the failure rate of these sat navs but it does make you wonder why there are so many "excellent - never let me down" reviews on Amazon.

Out of interest Dave, can you check out how to get to Alderstead Heather from the M23, say starting in Crawley? Again, I would assume its favoured route is via Dean Lane. This one isn't even covered in the CAMC handbook!

And on here Dave!!

I sometimes wonder if some folk have any idea what route they have taken when they finally arrive at their destination??   I find satnavs are excellent for most of the journey, but sometime at the start, and quite often when nearing the finish, they can become a bit confused by minor local roads.

The App suggested exactly the same routes as before when exiting the M23. 

None of them is perfect, but would we want to struggle with a map these days, when the road systems get ever more complicated!!

The problem is knowing when to stop using the sat nav's advice. Dean Lane gives you plenty of clues from the Hooley end that it may not be suitable but you are pretty committed to using it from the other end before you realise you have gone too far.

Heather has said we should never turn off a main road irrespective of what we are told, but most campsites are not just off the main road so its knowing when to take that final deviation. I usually Google map my route before heading off but I got caught out last week when going to Leek in the Peak district. I could see by Google that I would be on major roads all the way so followed the instructions onto the wrong main road. This main road quickly became unsuitable with no obvious alternative and no obvious place to stop and read a map.

As for the M23 to Alderstead Heath, the M23 ends in Hooley so Dean Lane is the first turning you come to. Once you have decided not to go up Dean Lane it isn't obvious that you should turn south again heading towards the M23 but stay on the A23 until Shepherd's Hill, at which point it all becomes easy.

rgermain wrote:I have just tried it and it takes me via the Channel Tunnel! Mind you we are in Reims on our way South at the moment.

Richard

I must go back there to see it the GP circuit bits have been restored yet.

Years ago, going from Oxford to Alderstead Heath using a TomTom Go25, we found that, if I asked it to go to the CC POI for the site, which we had put onto the satnav as part of package of campsite POIs,  it would avoid Dean Lane. If I put in the coordinates only then it would go via Dean Lane. It clearly had some partial route information as part of the POI destination “package”, which surprised me.

I’ve never known it do this for any other routes we have planned anywhere.

I have a Garmin (Zumo 660), I never let it choose my routes, instead, I create my own in Mapsource, using Michelin maps (they show the width of the roads) then download them into my unit.

I know exactly where I'm going, and have never had any issues.

Les W wrote:I have a Garmin (Zumo 660), I never let it choose my routes, instead, I create my own in Mapsource, using Michelin maps (they show the width of the roads) then download them into my unit.

I know exactly where I'm going, and have never had any issues.

I’m afraid most mornings we wake up not knowing where we are going that day. We do tend to bumble. No time to create routes; we have lots of paper maps for long distance planning and use our sat nav for the more complicated bits when we get close to a possible destination. Having a set of POIs for aires. Park4Nights etc is a great help.

Quilter wrote:Years ago, going from Oxford to Alderstead Heath using a TomTom Go25, we found that, if I asked it to go to the CC POI for the site, which we had put onto the satnav as part of package of campsite POIs,  it would avoid Dean Lane. If I put in the coordinates only then it would go via Dean Lane. It clearly had some partial route information as part of the POI destination “package”, which surprised me.

I’ve never known it do this for any other routes we have planned anywhere.

I suspect that feature has been updated (extinct). I have a TT6000 and adding your own POI is not documented. The CAMC handbook does tell you to leave the M25 at J8 (ideal for Oxford) but it doesnt tell you what to do if you find yourself on the M23.

Maybe we should catalogue our Sat Nav "interesting" routes and see how the different systems cope.

Les W wrote:I have a Garmin (Zumo 660), I never let it choose my routes, instead, I create my own in Mapsource, using Michelin maps (they show the width of the roads) then download them into my unit.

I know exactly where I'm going, and have never had any issues.

Out of interest, what width does Michelin give for Dean Lane, Holley?

dbroada wrote:

Les W wrote:I have a Garmin (Zumo 660), I never let it choose my routes, instead, I create my own in Mapsource, using Michelin maps (they show the width of the roads) then download them into my unit.

I know exactly where I'm going, and have never had any issues.

Out of interest, what width does Michelin give for Dean Lane, Holley?

Sorry never been there, or heard of it.

dbroada wrote:
I suspect that feature has been updated (extinct). I have a TT6000 and adding your own POI is not documented

I find this very irritating. We bought a top of the range Tom Tom just before Christmas. I can add datasets of POIs BUT, not only can’t I put on my own carefully crafted bitmap photos I can only allocate the selection of 6 icons given for all POIs to them. These are basically coloured triangles, hexagons and circles. Thus I have to have a piece of paper to tell me that LPG garages are yellow triangles, campsites red squares and so on. 

Progress ? 

I’ll have a go tomorrow ( its in the van) with the Alderstead Heath route but don’t hold my breath that she will even know where it is. She managed, driving down a Roman road, to site herself in a field parallel to it.

Quilter wrote:

dbroada wrote:
I suspect that feature has been updated (extinct). I have a TT6000 and adding your own POI is not documented

I find this very irritating. We bought a top of the range Tom Tom just before Christmas. I can add datasets of POIs BUT, not only can’t I put on my own carefully crafted bitmap photos I can only allocate the selection of 6 icons given for all POIs to them. These are basically coloured triangles, hexagons and circles. Thus I have to have a piece of paper to tell me that LPG garages are yellow triangles, campsites red squares and so on. 

Progress ? 

I’ll have a go tomorrow ( its in the van) with the Alderstead Heath route but don’t hold my breath that she will even know where it is. She managed, driving down a Roman road, to site herself in a field parallel to it.

Why am I not surprised. My Tom Tom has lots of features I like offset by features that drive me (no pun intended) to destraction.

One feature I HATE is the route clearing as you get to your destination. I know you no longer need to know where the place is but if you have to "drive around the block" to find a parking spot you (I) might need directions again.

Les W wrote:

dbroada wrote:

Les W wrote:I have a Garmin (Zumo 660), I never let it choose my routes, instead, I create my own in Mapsource, using Michelin maps (they show the width of the roads) then download them into my unit.

I know exactly where I'm going, and have never had any issues.

Out of interest, what width does Michelin give for Dean Lane, Holley?

Sorry never been there, or heard of it.

Sorry, I misunderstood you. I though you were describing how you prepared a route to somewhere you hadn't been.

Mike187 wrote:Just tried your route on my aged Snooper S7000, it is kept up to date with maps and software and it did your preferred option of turning left out of the campsite. But I had to use the POI of the campsite, if I used the postcode it started off much closer to the A23 on Dean Lane and the whole route was about a third of a mile.

Mike

looks like POIs are they way forward.

dbroada wrote:
looks like POIs are they way forward.

Snag is that to find up to date datasets online is becoming increasingly difficult.

I know many people rely on a mobile phone or tablet to navigate by but, given the stringent rules that apply to even touching a mobile phone while driving and the size of screen you are allowed to use without it being deemed distracting, I wonder how legal either of these methods are ? We’ve just bought a new car with a built in TomTom sat nav with huge screen and joystick control. There is no way I could drive and fiddle with the sat nav but it seems that is not seen as an issue.