Sat Nav - A Cautionary Tale

[Desmond22]

Last week I went to Nottingham for the first time for years. I knew that the road layout in the city centre had changed since my day and there were tramways and stuff so I set the sat nav to find the Victoria Shopping centre car park. Not too bad a journey considering it was a Saturday but it did seem a convoluted way that the lady chose to tell me, taking me in past Clifton when Derby Road was a better option.

The real problems though came when leaving to come home via Newark. Nobody had told my sat nav lady that some streets had been closed and others made one way. This must have been fairly recent because my DVD is 06 but there I was going round in circles with "recalculating route" flashing like a maniac. Then suddenly I found myself well and truly stuck facing the wrong way and a tram halfway up my exhaust. This was when I switched the sat nav off and relied on the not very clever road signs and some vague memories of how and where I used to drive round Nottingham years ago.

I don't suppose the Toyota sat nav is any better or worse than anyone else's but the moral is never, ever take sat nav routes as gospel because when things go wrong they can be a damn sight worse than no help at all.

[madbrit]

Last week I went to Nottingham for the first time for years. I knew that the road layout in the city centre had changed since my day and there were tramways and stuff so I set the sat nav to find the Victoria Shopping centre car park. Not too bad a journey considering it was a Saturday but it did seem a convoluted way that the lady chose to tell me, taking me in past Clifton when Derby Road was a better option.

The real problems though came when leaving to come home via Newark. Nobody had told my sat nav lady that some streets had been closed and others made one way. This must have been fairly recent because my DVD is 06 but there I was going round in circles with "recalculating route" flashing like a maniac. Then suddenly I found myself well and truly stuck facing the wrong way and a tram halfway up my exhaust. This was when I switched the sat nav off and relied on the not very clever road signs and some vague memories of how and where I used to drive round Nottingham years ago.

I don't suppose the Toyota sat nav is any better or worse than anyone else's but the moral is never, ever take sat nav routes as gospel because when things go wrong they can be a damn sight worse than no help at all.

TIme to get an updated disc, or a tomtom, you have my sympath, I drive all over the place using a tomtom., and i now need updated maps, have you been to Bodmin recently, all the roads have changed, i spent 20 min going across a field so the tomtom tole me.

MAD

[bjw]

I am afraid TOM TOM are no better and even paying for the updated maps does not guarantee you anything.

I updated my Tom Tom in December and some major new roads which have been open 18 months are still not on the update .

[Moffmo]

yeah it happened to me too many times and i started just using maps or trying it with just the signs etc :)

[Chris Dance]

I have learned my lessons relying only on sat/nav alone. I now get an AA route by putting the post codes in. If the SAT/Nav deviates from that route I ignore it.

I have borrowed my neighbours TOM TOM and has been stated this can be as bad as Toyota Sat/Nav.

What is annoying is when the Toyota Sat/Nav lady tells you to take an exit off a roundabout you do it and then she comes up with "DO A U TURN" you know you are on the right road. What is that all about?????? This happens in Milton Keynes and on the Oxford ring road roundabouts.

[chatman]

I have learned my lessons relying only on sat/nav alone. I now get an AA route by putting the post codes in. If the SAT/Nav deviates from that route I ignore it.

I have borrowed my neighbours TOM TOM and has been stated this can be as bad as Toyota Sat/Nav.

What is annoying is when the Toyota Sat/Nav lady tells you to take an exit off a roundabout you do it and then she comes up with "DO A U TURN" you know you are on the right road. What is that all about?????? This happens in Milton Keynes and on the Oxford ring road roundabouts.

TomTom and alike do not make the maps...They get them from TeleAtlas who do all the surveying....So if TomTom buy new maps and then takes them 6 months to put into a new TomTom device, then there are going to be some niggles (as they say) the newer devices now have the ability to change routes and update your maps real time, so if you find yourself looking at red faced motorist going the rong way down a road...you can update your map and upload for other's to see as well. unsure of where Toyota get there maps for the DVD rom Sat NAv

[uumode]

I did a Tom Tom Vs Toyota comparison, and the Tom Tom sent me in the wrong direction (with newer maps)

but that was for my specific journey.

Tom Tom also tends to give out too many instructions in one go, Toyota system gives on a need to know basis.

I do like the speed limit indication on the Tom Tom though, and the true speed (if that is true speed) and more dynamic ETA time, the Toyota one is reliant on you inputing your average urban, A road and Motorway speeds.

I don't really like the mature lady voice, can I change her for a younger model? :)

'I think' on Tom Tom you can even use the voice of Darth Vader!

[chatman]

I did a Tom Tom Vs Toyota comparison, and the Tom Tom sent me in the wrong direction (with newer maps)

but that was for my specific journey.

Tom Tom also tends to give out too many instructions in one go, Toyota system gives on a need to know basis.

I do like the speed limit indication on the Tom Tom though, and the true speed (if that is true speed) and more dynamic ETA time, the Toyota one is reliant on you inputing your average urban, A road and Motorway speeds.

I don't really like the mature lady voice, can I change her for a younger model? :)

'I think' on Tom Tom you can even use the voice of Darth Vader!

I have a lady called LIZ guiding me on TomTom and very nice she is too.... A friend has John Clease telling the directions and it's fun just getting lost (would drive me mad after a while)

Only realy been miss guided once by TomTom but that was on old v5 maps...upgraded to V6 and all seems fine....still have a map handy just in case though....

[Chris Dance]

Using the Toyota Sat Nav today to come from Lincolnshire to Buckinghamshire the good "Toyota lady" told me to do a U turn at the next roundabout???? Luckily I knew I wanted the A1 South. So I ignored the Sat Nav instruction. It soon picked up the correct route. Why does it keep wanting you to do U turns at certain roundabouts? I would like to hear if other users get this.

[bjw]

Using the Toyota Sat Nav today to come from Lincolnshire to Buckinghamshire the good "Toyota lady" told me to do a U turn at the next roundabout???? Luckily I knew I wanted the A1 South. So I ignored the Sat Nav instruction. It soon picked up the correct route. Why does it keep wanting you to do U turns at certain roundabouts? I would like to hear if other users get this.

Yes I have had this with the Toyota system and also the Tom Tom system which sometimes wants you to do a U or a right turn on a motorway I think its down to mapping errors .The new A1 improvements near Leeds you are still driving through fields despite maps updated in January

The Tom Tom which I have use tele atlas maps I do not know what Toyota use

[Desmond22]

Using the Toyota Sat Nav today to come from Lincolnshire to Buckinghamshire the good "Toyota lady" told me to do a U turn at the next roundabout???? Luckily I knew I wanted the A1 South. So I ignored the Sat Nav instruction. It soon picked up the correct route. Why does it keep wanting you to do U turns at certain roundabouts? I would like to hear if other users get this.

That was the kind of problem I was having around Nottingham. I put it down to out of date mapping. I have a Gamin Nuvi as well but that isn't any better than the Toyota one.

There's a double problem here though - you get distracted by the sat nav and her wrong instructions and that helps you to miss the road signs! :censor:

[Trafficman]

Toyota use Navteq maps. IT takes 18 months from the publishing of a map to them getting onto a disc!

[Realistbear]

I also find the Toyota sat-nav confusing (I have a 53 plate T3s). It has taken us weeks to work out how to turn it on! FWIW I also have a basic Navman 20 and find it works well 95% of the time. It got confused on the M1-A1 on the way from Birmingham to Durham. Must have been the new M-way link which you would have thought would be programmed into the Navman which is only about 4 months old.

Bottom line: seems none are perfect.

[dnicoll]

I have a Trafficmaster Smartnav in my 'other' car (not a Toyota) and it gets round may of these problems by not having the maps on board, but downloads them for each journey - so the maps are about as up to date as you an get. Not always totally accurate for road closures, but with a patch into the traffic camers is excellent for avoiding delays and so on.

In my non-toyota it was a dealer fit when I bought new and was competitively priced. the after-fit price was awful last time I looked. That said it does have some other flaws compared to a TomTom (for example it relys on you having O2 coverage to download the maps) but it includes Europe.

Compared to my TNS in my Previa it is brilliant though - better and more accurate routing being the main thing, as well as being the easiest system to use by far.