Crazy SatNav

[Guest MaD.VeZ]

  A bit of a rant.

 Had to go to Manchester uni today with college, instead of going on the college bus I decided to ride there. Haven't had the chance to ride enough recently with the weather etc.  Borrowed my dads satnav for a bit of help and had it on earphones in my pocket as I don't have a mount for the bike. Getting there wasn't too bad and it seemed to work well.

 The way back was a different story, I was going home and not back to college, but didn't think it would make a huge difference, was i wrong. After about 10 mins of the return journey i realized it wasn't going the same way i had come, so stopped and checked the satnav and it was taking me through Oldham, Ok  seems right enough. It got worse, before i knew it i was going along a rough looking road following a transit van(lilly lanes for those that know the area), it can't be that bad if a van can go down here i thought to myself. Then the van pulled into a driveway and the road got worse, much worse. The road was definitely not drivable for a car and even a 4x4 would struggle. 30mins of heavy off-roading later i'm home with a flat front tyre, sore arse, sore arms and most of the mud i rode through stuck to myself and the bike. 

This will be the last time i trust a f***n satnav, no matter how convincing the girl sounds.

Ok, I feel better now.    

(Before anyone says it, yes the DT125RE is an on/off-road bike but these roads/tracks are really bad with boulders, ditches and ruts that would bottom out a landrover)

  

[barkwindjammer]

That sounds grim m8

maybe your speed is what confused the unit?

remember these devices are designed by the military-for the military

try again tomorrow

at 655 knots -altitude 1800m, vector 1 niner zero

HTH

[drewpy]

never used a sat nav, always pre check the route before hand and then ask people if i lose me way.(rare)

the thing is, the more you do it this way, the more you tend to get a better sense of direction!

[oldtimer]

sat nav? its less than 9 miles in to manchester from mossley and she sent you the wrong way and drewpy wonders why i dont bother with these new fangled inventions.

cant even figure a mobile phone out when we went to stafford drewpy had to tell me my phone was ringing (must wear my deaf aid more) but at least i can read a map so got through europe no problem no chance with sat nav,

[Guest MaD.VeZ]

try again tomorrow

at 655 knots -altitude 1800m, vector 1 niner zero

HTH

Callsign DTR2SLOW, Roger wilco, Request takeoff clearance on runway 1

never used a sat nav, always pre check the route before hand and then ask people if i lose me way.(rare)

the thing is, the more you do it this way, the more you tend to get a better sense of direction!

I normally take an a-z and plan ahead, but my dad took it when i was without wheels for a while. I asked him for it back and he suggested the satnav instead, see now why he didn't want to part with the a-z.

Was reasonably familiar with Manchester around 2004, used to go all over the place with work. Roads have changed alot since with all the metrolink lines being put in.

sat nav? its less than 9 miles in to manchester from mossley and she sent you the wrong way and drewpy wonders why i dont bother with these new fangled inventions.

Even less from college in Ashton

[John-R6]

yea if i am going some where i always pre check the way 1st and its normally sign posted. but have satnav on if im going to a particular address

[Ttaskmaster]

SatNav all the way for me!!

Then again, I have a proper bike one.

I must point out that SatNav is a navigational AID only, not the ultimate word of God.

If you suddenly come across an impassable obstacle - road closure, accident, poor track road etc - You just select teh option to avoid that part of the route.

Only reason I can think of, for not taking you back the way you'd come, is if there were one-way streets.

It takes a little skill to use a SatNav effectively, but whether you're in the middle of nowhere or just exploring a new part of town, I've never had any problems.

[Gas up - Let's Go!]

I like your satnav...... Rutts, mud, sounds like heaven. If you want impassable, get yourself up here!!

There is alot of Solar activity at the momment, and this will have an effect on the cheaper SatNavs in the market (this isn't a dig, it's just that there is a reason why some are cheap and others aren't) first as the signal from the satalites is upset by the electro-magnetic pulses from the solar flares. So don't be suprised if they start to do silly things. If you have a one capable of supporting WAAS, the land based augmentation system then you will be fine as these are not affected.

(WAAS has different names in different countries but the technology is the same, and it's most likely to be listed as WAAS on your GPS)

But I still like your SatNAv, which one, I'll crack out the TTR and get dirty!

[Steveocee]

I hear stories like this all the time!

I work for an in car audio shop and we sell so many different sat navs it boggles the mind, even then we will get usually about once a month the story of how it went completely the wrong direction.

Theres a lot of reasons as to why they will generate different routes, the most common being the units pre-set estimation of road speed, sometimes it will take you down a very long windy off road track, as the mapping company wont have pre-set a speed value, so it will default to 70 which makes the route seem faster, until you get onto it.

As somebody pointed out above though, they are only an aid, when people start abiding by every word they say, thats when things go wrong, such as cars in rivers, cars through houses, and a customer of mine the other day, at the top of a multi storey car park !?!

[Guest MaD.VeZ]

I like your satnav...... Rutts, mud, sounds like heaven. If you want impassable, get yourself up here!!

There is alot of Solar activity at the momment, and this will have an effect on the cheaper SatNavs in the market (this isn't a dig, it's just that there is a reason why some are cheap and others aren't) first as the signal from the satalites is upset by the electro-magnetic pulses from the solar flares. So don't be suprised if they start to do silly things. If you have a one capable of supporting WAAS, the land based augmentation system then you will be fine as these are not affected.

(WAAS has different names in different countries but the technology is the same, and it's most likely to be listed as WAAS on your GPS)

But I still like your SatNAv, which one, I'll crack out the TTR and get dirty!

It runs tomtom 7, funny thing is thats its my dads who uses it for work and he drives a truck

As for WAAS i'll look into it, thanks for the pointer.

I would have had a load of fun if it was expected, even considering going back over it on the DTR when it comes out of hibernation.

[up.yours]

i use sat nav in the cage all the time,always set on fastest route(never shortest) as this takes you down back streets and the off beat tracks.