Sat Nav woes

[Jocko]

I keep saying I have moaned enough, but this Garmin satnav is rubbish. The maps are so out of date, and the second biggest hospital for miles around is not included in the list of hospitals you can navigate to. The Western General, in Edinburgh, is hardly a cottage hospital.

[culzean]

I keep saying I have moaned enough, but this Garmin satnav is rubbish. The maps are so out of date, and the second biggest hospital for miles around is not included in the list of hospitals you can navigate to. The Western General, in Edinburgh, is hardly a cottage hospital.

I don't have a problem with mapping on my Garmin Drive 51,  but the battery life is absolutely abysmal - after driving for hours in the car with it plugged in if I put it in glovebox for a couple of days ( by holding down power button until a message to turn it off appears and then OK'ing it ) if i turn it on after even a couple of days just to put a postcode in or something the battery warning appears - it literally needs to be plugged in all the time even though they claim a 30 minute battery life,  which is derisory anyway.   I have contacted Garmin who suggested firstly that I was not turning it off properly ( if you just let it turn itself off apparently it is not really off ) and then suggested I was not charging it properly.  Also the contrast and visibility of the screen is not as good as my 8 year old Nuvi -----

[Jocko]

If you leave it connected up all the time (as I do) the battery is always sitting at 100%, and as you have said yourself, this is detrimental to the battery. I got 45 minutes out of mine when it was new, but what the life is like now is anyone's guess. The TomTom had map errors too, but nothing like the amount on the Garmin.
I don't find the screen a problem at all, probably because it is twice the size of my old one (and on the CD player against stuck to the windscreen).
As an aside, it looks like I won't be going to the Western General after all, because my wife's chemotherapy in Kirkcaldy, will not be finished in time for her appointment

[culzean]

The battery life on my 5" Garmin Nuvi was about 3 hours - I did replace the battery about 4 years after I got it as the life was getting shorter - down to less than 2 hours. On my original 3.5" Garmin streetpilot ( bought in about 2006 ) the life was 8 hours ( I still have it,  put a new battery in a few years ago and I carry it when hill walking - just press the car icon when I park the car and have a record of where the car is - useful even though the device does not have off-road maps ) you could use those for a whole journey and not plug them in - the battery life on the Drive 51 is so bad it will not last even the shortest journey without being plugged in to its life support.... that is progress I suppose

[JimSh]

I keep saying I have moaned enough, but this Garmin satnav is rubbish. The maps are so out of date, and the second biggest hospital for miles around is not included in the list of hospitals you can navigate to. The Western General, in Edinburgh, is hardly a cottage hospital.

Glad I stuck with Tom Tom now.

[John Ratsey]

Glad I stuck with Tom Tom now.

I'm also a Tom Tom user due to the much more frequent map updates. Tom Tom also provides a relatively easy way for users to report map errors.

The last Garmin satnav I bought (several years ago) included one free map update which I applied just before going on the main holiday of the year. The "new" map was at least a year out of date and got totally confused when it thought I was driving through fields when I was on the Porthmadog bypass.

[Jocko]

I found an interesting anomaly with the Garmin. To explain, I use it all the time. Even on routes, I am entirely familiar with. I like how it warns of traffic issues and gives an estimated journey time.
Now when I am on my way home from the Queensferry Crossing I have two options. The A92 and the A921. Because we have been running back and forward from the Western General in Edinburgh itself, I noticed that the satnav always sends me on the A92, my preferred route. However, when I come back from Danderhall, on the south of the city, it wants to send me on the A921. Now both ways involve me using the QFC. The algorithm it uses for calculating the route sees a distinction. Maybe it rounds to the nearest mile or something. Strange.

[VicW]

Jocko, have you got your satnav set to calculate the quickest route or the shortest route?

Vic.

[Jocko]

Quickest. Shortest sends you across cities using every lane and vennel.

[culzean]

Quickest. Shortest sends you across cities using every lane and vennel.

+1   

I stopped using shortest route on satnavs a few weeks after I got my first one in about 2006 ( a Garmin streetpilot 510 with a 3.7" screen - still got it and it works fine,  with an 8 hour battery life compared to the 30 minutes or less with new Drive 51 - and battery would stay charged for months,  every time I turn the Drive 51 on it is saying low battery - even if I only used it a couple of days before ).

I quickly realised 'shortest' would just draw a straight line from your start point to destination and take you down every narrow lane and goat track.  At least fastest tries to keep you on better roads,  but a lot of single track lanes are still 60mph speed limit - so it will still sometimes try to take you down one to chop a corner off,  you get into the habit of ignoring any turning that looks a bit dodgy and let it recalculate.   I also learnt that if any conflict between spoken instruction and the screen arrow always follow the screen ( I had a few sweary times when voice said turn left and screen was showing right and learned the hard way to follow screen ).   Must have been a mismatch in the messaging occasionally in my earlier satnavs,  have not had this on Drive 51 yet.

[Jocko]

My 51 directed me down this road when I took a route I preferred over the prescribed course.



If I had been a stranger, and lost, I might have taken it (doesn't look too bad).

This is the other end of the road, two miles further on.



Look close, and you will see the locked gate!

[John Ratsey]

Now when I am on my way home from the Queensferry Crossing I have two options. The A92 and the A921. Because we have been running back and forward from the Western General in Edinburgh itself, I noticed that the satnav always sends me on the A92, my preferred route. However, when I come back from Danderhall, on the south of the city, it wants to send me on the A921. Now both ways involve me using the QFC. The algorithm it uses for calculating the route sees a distinction. Maybe it rounds to the nearest mile or something. Strange.

Might it be that if going in one direction there is a junction / roundabout where, under normal traffic conditions, there is a delay but you go straight through when going in the other direction? I presume that average junction delays are programmed into the calculation.

[Jocko]

Both routes are in the same direction QFC to Kirkcaldy. Where I have come from before that should be immaterial. Once I am on the bridge, northbound there should be no difference.

[richardfrost]

Both routes are in the same direction QFC to Kirkcaldy. Where I have come from before that should be immaterial. Once I am on the bridge, northbound there should be no difference.

Time of day? Time of the month? Er, maybe not the second one.

[Jocko]

Time of day? Time of the month? Er, maybe not the second one.

Time of day doesn't seem to matter, only the point of departure. Could be the latter as it is a lady who gives me my route instructions