If I knew where bloody east was...

[villainousbroodmare]

Is there anything more annoying than hearing the disembodied satnav voice instruct "Head east!" in a sprightly tone? For fuck's sake, if I knew which way east was at this moment, do you think I would be consulting a sat nav?

And worse, when it takes a moment, evidently decides it's talking nonsense and amends it to "Head north!" or "Make a U turn!"

As ye were...

I used to look on online maps and draw a quick sketch of the major roads of the city/area and any junction numbers that I needed on a post-it note. Little visual graph of, say, Leicester and I'd ge tot he house I wanted no problem.

Satnav and I have many arguments, basically about it's need to shut up or get punched I found the mute button. If DH and I are on a motorway and things are grinding to a halt by a junction it's my job with an old fashioned book to find an alternative route. I'm awesome at map reading fortunately. Both my DDs have a AA book in the back of the car and I get them to practice route finding. Sat Nav won't take you two/three major roads over from an incident to avoid the obvious (to everyone else) diversion.

The roundabout exit thing we worked out after a fractious journey in Spain is when there is a lump at an exit so it looks like two exits so sat nav counts it as two. So it will say second exit is third exit.

East is to the right of West. Simples.

I love Google maps for satnav (had a Garmin that was stolen, never reolaced it). It just makes driving so much easier, especially through London where one obstruction can cause ripples of traffic jams for miles.

Though there's part of Sussex and Norwood where reception cuts out, and in Wimbledon there's a lag and it gives you directions 30 seconds too late. Still way better than all the times I'd get calls from very dyslexic DP saying 'I'm somewhere in Hornsey. Or Homerton. Near Bennett Street. Or Road. Or was it Beckett... "

I don’t often use the sat nav because I find it irritating but mine does say to ‘take the next half left’. What’s a half left!!?

Not read the thread op but completely agree. "head south west"
Unless there's a big sign pointing to "the south west" that is no help at all

Someone like me I thought I was alone 🤪

I started casual supply teaching before Sat Navs and had recently moved to a new county. I made good use of my A-Z, and would bullet point/ sketch map key points of the journey. There would be times in the last mile or so where I would have to pull over somewhere safe for a last check (can still happen now if the postcode zone is vague) The legacy is that would find it very difficult to get lost within my county as so much of it is familar because I had to pay attention. DH's sense of direction is rotting away rapidly.

I will still check the route in advance so I know 95% of it. It's normally just the last few streets that are the issue.

I did once borrow DH's Sat Nav for a Brownie trip. I had a good idea of most of the route, and halfway we had to go through my home town. There were some very quiet, mildly alarmed looks from the back seat as I chuntered a commentary back at the Sat Nav along the lines of "no, why on earth would I go that way??? I'm going this way you fool!) It seems that wasn't a normal experience to them

You'd be OK for South West signs if you're on the correct side of the M5 heading away from Birmingham

It's the near lack of The Midlands signs that bemuse me compared to the abundance of The North and The South.

Yes Yabbers, I read them while driving. When they consist of, for example, ‘J41, M62, A235’ or whatever written in large print and they’re propped up on the dashboard it’s no more distracting than glancing at your speedometer or indeed satnav.

In the peak district, somewhere around ashbourne, my sat-nav gets confused and decides it's 150 miles to dovedale.

Sat-navs are a great help - yes, they go the wrong way at times, (or more likely they go a slightly shorter way, but not the way you want.) but they help you find places you could never manage easily without.

They really do need a way to mark a road interactively as (temporarily) not available - as they will always try to steer you back to the motorway you are trying to avoid.

On a recent holiday ,delightful Sat Nav decided to break down!Right in the middle of nowhere( of course)!.Had to find way back to Hotel( just followed road to nearest large town !.)Next day headed out ,when got to nearest town ,nowhere to buy a road map until we got to Smiths!. Got home by following road along the coast!.(Re booted SN now)just hoping it doesnt do it again .as we are going to lunch at a country hotel soon!(In the middle of nowhere of course!)

Not read the thread op but completely agree. "head south west"
Unless there's a big sign pointing to "the south west" that is no help at all

Depends on the car. Both mine and my wife's car have a compass in the instruments that says which direction the car is heading... including south west.

I don't think I have ever heard a sat-nav giving compass directions.

RottnestFerry now that is helpful!
It doesn't happen very often, it's usually when the journey starts. There might be four options of roads all heading in different directions and you're told "head south west"

I have no sense of direction at all, so I love my satnav. When I'm at home, it isn't so useful for local travel (it will get me to the right village and after that I can guess or phone for help), but I do use it because I'm genuinely unable to get anywhere otherwise. It doesn't help that directions from other people (including my husband who should know better) are along the lines of "Ach, you'll find that no bother, it's just past the cattle grid where Angus whose brother is the postie broke his leg, you turn left at Mairi Mhor's granny's house and carry on until you can see the big rock that looks like Queen Victoria".
On the mainland, the satnav prevents death and/or divorce. My husband can navigate anywhere at sea using charts and magic(or something), and when we are at home he knows exactly which way is north, how far it is to anywhere, and the best way to get there. Once we step off the ferry in Uig, he loses all basic sense and gets lost constantly. Due to my usual ineptness in the navigation department he won't listen to me giving directions (even if I got them online) but he will listen to the satnav.

I'm not rural but have exactly the same problem with people giving me directions. Turn left, left, right, bear right, go past where the old school used to be and take a sharp left then look for the church in front of you (which I do then discover the thing I saw was a Chapel not a church) then six more lefts and you're there, you can't miss it. I can you know.

East is to the right of West. Simples!

unless you are travelling South and then it's left

RottnestFerry now that is helpful!

It is actually very useful although, to the best of my recollection, neither of the sat navs ever give compass directions unless off-road.

Oh is that where South West is? I'm going to get a screenshot so I can use it in future :o

My satnsv was retired when it started taking me off at every motorway junction only to make me go straight over the island and get back on. Or halfway through journey it would start spinning and telling me to make a u turn over and over

We once had a hire car in the US that told you the direction you were going, we found it very helpful but have never had it since.

Good point Hecateh. That's how I ended up on the Scottish borders when I was heading for Cornwall (joke)!

I like satnavs.