I bought a map upgrade today and just as the map was half way through installing the computer froze. It wouldn't do anything and told me it had no maps. It wouldn't restore a backup either so I was stuffed. I logged on to the tomtom support site and while I was searching FAQs a window popped up and asked if I wanted a one to one chat with a support engineer. To cut a long story short, she emailed me a complete set of instructions on how to format my tomtom, reinstall a new application and reinstall my maps. It took 2 hours to do but it worked. I love my Tomtom.
You can buy relatively detailed road maps of the whole of Europe for a GPS for a hell of a lot less than it would cost to have the same thing on paper. Not to mention the trailer you would have to tow around to hold all the paper maps.
Paper maps do have advantages for some applications though, obviously. (Never needing a tech support person to talk you though a reinstall, for one. :-) )
I still keep a South Yorkshire map book in the car. It's easier to plan 4 different jobs in a reasonable travel order than a sat-nav (which now does all my final directions).
On my TomTom (On a PDA) I use Itinerary planning, you select where you want to go and the order you want to go to them, the TT just says which roads to use to get to each place .. ;)
Or simply a clue and a memory. I've never owned and have no intention of owning a satnav - I've absolutely no need for one. If they'd been around when I was couriering, I'd probably have had one then, but only if the price was sensible. I enjoy using maps, always have, and have seen too many utter fuckwits blindly relying on their satnavs make utter cockups to want to join the brainless brood, thank you very much.
Perhaps you never go anywhere new. And/or stick to motorways.
Far cheaper than buying maps for the entire area they cover. And rather more convenient.
And a f****it reading a map while driving won't have accidents?
I'm sure there are those around who blindly follow sat nav instructions. But then there are lots around who shouldn't be driving for other reasons too. Probably approaching 50% of those on the roads.
That's one hell of a memory if you can use it to take to a street that you have never been to before!
That was my view until a few years ago when I bought a SatNav. I still use my memory or a map book to get to the town I want but I let the SatNav do the final few miles directions.
It has over the years come up with some surprising routes that I had not thought about.
Of course we also have very good signposts in this coutry so why anyone would need a SatNav for directions on a motorway is beyond me.
We went somewhere new yesterday and I got her to program the GPS. ;-)
My Mrs is probably a better biker than she is car driver.
Daughter has recently passed her car test (passed her bike test a couple of years ago) and her first real trip was driving up to her boyfriends parents place in Scotland (mit GPS of course).
Try asking a map where the nearest petrol station is, at night, in the rain whilst wearing thick leather gloves and on a motorbike making good progress.
Maps are still fun though but more as art or a hobby, or when planning an intercontinental tour (or when you 'have to').
Driving at night and now lost.
See name of place on road sign.
Find somewhere safe to pull over and stop.
Search road map using interior light, struggling with tiny font index for place. Not there.
Look for name of bigger place. Check index. Memorise page and grid.
Find page and grid location, not there. Re-check with Index. Get right code, right page and grid.
Drop map, start again.
Repeat for destination.
Memorise line between dots and hope there are no diversions, wrong way streets or major road changes.
Drive 5 miles. Stop and repeat ... or risk reading and driving ... (and of course I 'managed' doing all that along with everyone else in those days).
Versus, 'Find Postcode' > Go > Quickest ... 'Oh, ETA 17:15, oh, I should make it in time then ...' ;-)
OOI, Is there a TomTom PC app (Garmin has a Windows one called 'Mapsource' that's a bit clunky but works and an equivalent for OSX) that lets you see / plan routes / waypoints on your PC and then transfer them to the GPS? Or upload tracklogs to the same app carrying such information as speed and altitude for tiny increments of the entire journey? And I mean to the PC app rather than Google maps or some other Internetty solution?
And if so is there an equivalent for Linux (one of my biggest hurdles to being able to use Linux as a daily desktop)?
Once the school run mums are out the way then 10% of drivers are still driving with vision that is so poor it would get them a ticket. We know school run mums cannot see the no parking signs or the zigzags outside the school but that is selective vision.
You stop, look up the street in the A-Z, remember how to get there, and follow the route you've remembered. It worked (mostly) before we had satnavs and online mapping.
But it's bugger all use if you don't have an A-Z or similar for the area you are heading for in the car, possibly because there isn't one.... (Though if you didn't know the street name when you set out, presumably someone's phoned you to tell you where to go. They'd better look up the directions for you too.)
Yup, we would do the first few hundred miles on the way to our next campsite (motorcycle touring) without a single wrong turn then sped 'ages' finding the actual campsite in some remote village.
The GPS then took us straight to the door. Quicker, safer and more economical.
And that's only for the A to B stuff. When you are on your way to B and you get the call to go there via F then there is nothing easier.
Find, Location. 'Would you like to make that a 'via'?' > Yes, Go .. ;-)
Nope, our GPS's have saved so much time and so many arguments if I lost them all I'd spend my last money on another.
It's nothing to do with dumbing down or not being able to manage ... it's all to do with ease speed and efficiency (and all the other info they give you access to like nearest hospital or other POI).
Of course, like any 'tool' they are dangerous in the wrong hands [1]. ;-(
Cheers, T i m
[1] And like tools there are good ones and bad ones. ie, My Garmins have never tried to direct me off a motorway onto a non-junction road that it happens to cross, unlike my mates TomTom Rider. Luckily he was on a Motorcrosser ... ;-)
Yup. My (old) TomTom takes the shortest route. This may not be the best way when having to cross London at the start or end of a journey. But the way it updates the route as you take your own preference is very useful. I often visit my brother when he's on tour with his caravan. Caravan sites may be easy to find when you're in the Caravan Club or whatever - but can be a nightmare without instructions. As can trying to follow an A to Z when it's dark. ;-)
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