Satnav: avoid unclassified roads
Comments
-
What on Earth did we all do before satnav?! I will no doubt make myself very unpopular but how about taking responsibility and applying common sense for your route decisions? I get fed up at the number of presumably blind drivers following their satnav down a nearby track, even on one occasion a driving instructor. Nature provides us with a built-in fantastic tool, in fact we have two of them….. eyes.
0 -
Even the most died in the wool luddite must recognise the benefits a satnav can bring, but obviously we need to exercise judgement. I certainly wouldn’t be without one when touring in unfamiliar territory, particularly busy traffic areas where advance lane warnings and route directions allow you to concentrate on driving and not navigation - much safer and less stressful, saves fuel too.
6 -
I've had some more success with Mapfactor Navigator as suggested by peedee on a previous page using a second test route. This small test route is from Winterbourne Dauntsey near Salisbury to Firsdown also near Salisbury (in case anyone wants to try a test with their satnav). My TomTom (as well as Google Maps) directed me off the A338 down Old Malthouse Lane, an unclassified road, as a short cut. This road is probably ok in a car, but not towing a caravan, which was why I was asking about satnavs which allow unclassified roads to be avoided.
In Navigator's Route Setup, by setting the "Small Local Road" preference option to less than 50%, or completely off, it stayed on the main road which is very good. I will try another route next.
0 -
I only use my satnav when traveling to & around areas I’m not knowledgeable of.
0 -
I'm struggling a bit with Mapfactor but haven't given it a fair enough trial yet. It is definitely not so user friendly as Co-Pilot which could be my problem. Looking at my Co-Pilot they have sneaked in a mod obviously during one of their updates and you can now once again set up road preferences in 5 categories, strongly favour, favour, neutral, avoid and strongly avoid. Not quite so selective as Mapfactor but it does work and is possibly better than Mapfactor but of course it is not free and worse it is available by subscription only.
I cannot remember when I bought Co-Pilot, perhaps over 5 years ago when it was available for a flat fee. It has never let me down yet although I have the Truck version even though it is now called Co-Pilot GPS because I can set Hazmat settings!
peedee
0 -
When on journies it will try to take me on diversions ?from the route I have checked on a map , so I tried it several times in this area and it does the same,
and even when driving solo, not with it in towing mode
It is a Gamin that let's you put in vehicle sizes when solo and with caravan on the hook
0 -
Can you change the routing profiles JVB? e.g. the very basic ones are Quickest, Shortest, Practiacal or even Fastest. Never had a Garmin so don't know how they set up but as advised above don't use shortest. Quickest/Fastest might keep you out of trouble? Co-Pilot uses only two at the top level, Practical or shortest but the next level down allows road preferences to be set as I stated up thread.
peedee
0 -
Can't think why you would use it locally / in an area the you know well
One should use a satellite navigation system in an area that you know well so that you can establish just how good or bad it is to get an idea how much it can be trusted in an area that you don't know,
2 -
I tested Mapfactor Navigator on another short route, this time in the Gower in Wales, from Oxwich to Southgate village. My TomTom Go 50 took us on a shortcut up a steep, narrow and rough, barely a road, into a housing estate, luckily we weren't towing. It isn't even marked on my giant scale 2021 AA roadmap.
I tried the route with Google maps which passed the test and avoided the bad road.
Navigator, with "Small Local Road" turned off, also avoided it.
So, after 3 test routes I can conclude that out of the 3 satnavs I have tested (my TomTom 50 Go, Google Maps and Navigator), Navigator performed best or equally best on all 3 routes.
I am very pleased with Navigator and looking forward to trying it on the road. What I like about it is that it does have the option to avoid unclassified roads, which is what I was looking for. It takes a bit of getting used to at first but I found that when I switched to my TomTom from by previous satnav.
Thanks to peedee for telling me about it.
1 -
Interesting…
I took a look at Navigator tonight. I selected a village about 7 miles from me. The direct route would involve using a combination of narrow Cornish lanes and OK B roads. Many satnavs habitually send tourists through the narrow lanes which can be fun in summer! Navigator took the long way around, but the only route suitable for towing. Impressive!
2 -
I wonder how the Satnav is programmed to deal with this width restriction? The panel van featuring towards the end of the video is painful to watch - that could be your £60k motorhome.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-59641534
0 -
We have a similar restriction for the same reasons near where I live. While there is plenty of evidence of scuffing of wheels, I have not heard of anyone actually hitting it like in the video. My sat nav warns me of the restriction if I force it to route down that road. Both of these show on my sat nav as width restrictions
peedee
0 -
The width restriction in the video is apparently 2.1m (7’) so wider than some, amazing it caused so many problems.
0
