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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to despise satnavs?

67 replies

StuckintheBellJar · 01/07/2012 17:59

Rant: Was made lost by one again for the thousandth time (being kindly driven by someone else to somewhere) and would never buy one.

What is wrong with a sodding map? What???

Don't give me all this gibberish about not being able to check a map while driving; I rode a motorbike for years and you simply memorise the route. If it's a long trip you should be taking breaks anyway.

Grr.

OP posts:
Shodan · 01/07/2012 18:03

I quite like mine, but treat what it says with a large amount of scepticism after it directed me to drive into a river when what I was looking for was the pub.

I nearly did, too, cos it was dark and snowing. But it got me to the right vicinity at least. (After it had taken half an hour to find the satellite thingy)

enimmead · 01/07/2012 18:06

My DS has just found out you can replace the picture of a car with a picture of a flapping bird, walking boots or a bouncing wall. He's changed the mode to pedestrian mode and lost our map.

I think they're great - I work as a supply teacher so very helpful. But they do occasionally give me strange choices which just don't seem right.

I like just looking at a map though.

Bunbaker · 01/07/2012 18:08

"Don't give me all this gibberish about not being able to check a map while driving;"

OK, so how do you check a map while driving in three lanes of one way traffic in a city centre during the rush hour with nowhere to stop and without running into the back of someone? I can memorise a route to Cornwall say - M1, A42, M42, M5, A30, but can't memorise the last twiddly bits.

I tend to use my TomTom satnav which works perfectly well (except in Bradford) along with a map for backup.

Snowboarder · 01/07/2012 18:11

YABU. If it wasn't for my SatNav I'd never go out of the town I was born in.

I am useless with directions. I have no natural navigational skills unlike DH who is amazing at finding his way to places, even if he's never been there before. I need to go somewhere at least 10 times to have a hope in he'll of ever finding my way there again, even then it's not a given.

A map is ok but there's no way I could memorise a route beyond a couple of streets so I'd have to keep stopping, and resist the urge to sneak a look whilst moving which is obviously v.dangerous.

Nope, you're defo BU - having a sat nav has given me almost as much freedom as having a car. More probably. Yes, I occasionally end up going the wrong way, or the long way around but since my sat nav recalculates my route I always get there eventually which is the main thing.

Sirzy · 01/07/2012 18:17

Sat nav is great, the issues come when people expect them to be perfect, nothing is.

The learn your route argument is crap, if people are travelling long distances to new areas or visiting multiple places it's simply not that easy.

Whatmeworry · 01/07/2012 18:22

They are great if you have to navigate on your own.

cardibach · 01/07/2012 18:23

I use my Sat Nav to help with timing as much as for directions. I also use the speed limit reminder, so have it on even when I don't need a route to let me know if i have gone over the speed limit. If I am going a long way I look at a map too because I like to and to be sure the SatNav is correct. Mine has never been wrong yet, though.

YABU - but if you don;t get on with them, don't use one!

NettoSuperstar · 01/07/2012 18:29

I love my Sat Nav, it's given me so much more confidence as a new driver than a map ever would have.
You can't always stop to read a map.

ENormaSnob · 01/07/2012 18:31

My sat nav has an attitude problem.

Meglet · 01/07/2012 18:35

yabu. I can't drive safely and read a map while trying to bellow at the small people in the back. I'm a LP so never have anyone in the car with me.

We have taken the odd strange detour thanks to it but it's always got us there safely and on time. I always check my route before we go and do a print off the AA route planner so I can check whevever we park up, but the Sat Nav does all the fiddly bits for me.

Scholes34 · 01/07/2012 18:35

How on earth did we ever cope without them?

An example of how an over-reliance on technology will make us lose useful (map-reading, in this case) skills.

NettoSuperstar · 01/07/2012 18:36

Mine does make up weird pronunciations of street names, but as it's a free thing on my tablet I forgive it.
I want one with a sleb voice, Jedward, to be exactGrin

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 01/07/2012 18:49

I adore my satnav and shall never be parted from it. As long as rivers and motorways are the same colour on papermaps, we shall never be friends...

uselesslife · 01/07/2012 18:55

haha, but he emptied the dishwasher!!

uselesslife · 01/07/2012 18:55

sorry wrong thread!!

Snowboarder · 01/07/2012 18:56

Grin @ Lyingwitch

RedHelenB · 01/07/2012 19:00

Same as Snowboarder - honestly my driving instructor couldn't believe how bad a sense of direction I had. Love my bargain £30 satnav!!!

Flobbadobs · 01/07/2012 19:03

I have less than fond memories of our Satnav going slightly mad in the arse end of Shropshire and trying to send us through the same village 7 times before we managed to get a phone signal and call Farmer Phil for directions...
Strange thing is that when we tried to actually find the village on the way home we couldn't find it...

SoupDragon · 01/07/2012 19:13

YABU.

Everyone driving alone can memorise a route in the same way that everyone following a Sat Nav doesn't get lost.

SoupDragon · 01/07/2012 19:15

"How on earth did we ever cope without them?

An example of how an over-reliance on technology will make us lose useful (map-reading, in this case) skills."

And isn't it a shame how people have to rely on a map now rather than navigating by knowledge, the stars and a compass.

duffybeatmetoit · 01/07/2012 19:28

YADNBU .

Everyone I've ever known get one has always tried it out on a route they knew and without fail the satnav has taken them on an odd route. God knows how far out of their way they get taken on routes they don't know.

I get the point for people with absolutely no sense of direction but I disagree with the safety point given how many people seem to do whatever they are told without checking their mirrors.

CharlotteBronteSaurus · 01/07/2012 19:33

YABU.
i have to drive for work, often to places that fall off the end of my a-z. I reckon i can complete my out of office appointments in about half the time they took me before sat nav, as i don't have to leave loads of spare time to keep pulling over and pouring over road atlases and shitty printed out maps.

EasilyBored · 01/07/2012 19:33

I can read a map, but I really really struggle to memorise directions. It's always the last bits (when you come off the motorway for example) where I go wrong. And I cannot check a map without stopping somewhere. I don't have a satnav though, so I have to leave lots of extra time for journeys to places I don't know well.

My sense of direction is shocking. Really really shocking. I once tried to drive from my flat (in central Manchester) to the Trafford Centre, and ended up IN WARRINGTON. I think when I saw the signs for 'North Wales this way' I figured I had gone wrong somewhere.

SoupDragon · 01/07/2012 19:38

" I disagree with the safety point given how many people seem to do whatever they are told without checking their mirrors."

That's because they are crap drivers, not because they are using a sat Nav.

difficultpickle · 01/07/2012 19:40

I've just got my first sat nav and I love it. A real novelty to have. It doesn't even get upset when I ignore it, it just works out an alternative route! Before I used to print out a route which was mostly ok but not for the end of the journey. I also have a map in the car.

Sat navs are fine so long as you also use commonsense.