To think people who own a Sat Nav are lazy sods or just probably not intelligent enough to read a map?

[GordontheGopher]

They only send you into a field anyway.

Complete waste of money.

I used it this weekend to lead a convoy of wet campers to a nearby leisure centre (Via numerous farm tracks/country lanes) and back again.

We lent it to my frind who bought a pram from ebay (or here?) and had to drive miles in the dark to pick it up. She said it got her straight to the door and she was soo nervous at driving on her own.

The best though, is in France we set the Caravan as "home" and it gets us around & back brilliantly.

i google map where i have to go and print it out, road signs could be better though.

I love mine, and I do think it makes me a better driver. I can map read (Gold D. of E award) and pre Tom Tom printed out route planners for new places, but sat nav is so much easier to follow. It also pre-warns you of motorway exits, roundabouts, sharp bends etc coming up, so helps you to anticipate what's on the road ahead. And it's taught my ds hi left and right (though, bless him, he did get somewhat confused and asked me one day where his straight ahead leg was!)

I drive 35,000 miles a year. I love my satnav. It's built into the car so it can't be stolen. It saves me hours in printing off maps. And it tells me of any serious traffic jams and offers an alternative route.

We took the car to France this summer and it got us to all of our destinations there too.

It is superb.

Oh, and I do know how to read a map.

ok, i have never used one myself, but have been in cars with people using them,. the voice annoys me.

i look up where we are going on the map, write down basic directions ie A1 till juntion 10, then take whatever road to here, then etc etc.

and have a small printed multimap of the actual area depending on how much detail is needed.

i stop and get my bearings, which also gives me a break from driving, and then find my location.

or i follow roadsigns.

dh would however pefer sat nav as he has no sense of directuion at all.

i want one im not very confident when im driving somewhere i dont know,it can be a bit dangerous to drive and map read at the same time

I love my satnav. I'm good at reading a map, great in fact, but it is a bit of a trick reading a map and driving at the same time.

If you drive alone, or with kids who are too young to reliably read a map, they are great.

Ours is scary. Works fine and then suddenly it goes absolutely nuts: "TURN LEFT! TURN RIGHT! TURN LEFT! TURN RIGHT!' on and on and on until we switch it off. Usually on the main A road between our house and the next town - which is a straight road going nowhere else.

Once in East Anglia it confidently announced we were at our destination, Southwold, in the middle of a field six miles from the sea...

I love my sat nav.
I admit I just cant read maps. I am very clever in lots of other areas, just hopeless at map reading! Add driving at the same time and I am in trouble!
With my sat nav I am confident to go out and about on my own and with the kids without stressing.

I so want John Cleese's voice on mine though - where can I get it????

I think it is fast becoming a marriage saver actually.

[hijack - how things MB? Have been away]

Haven't read all thread. Used to agree with OP but got one when we had a weekend househunting and had to give up because we just couldn't find the estates we were looking for and wasted so much time.

I also get car sick trying to read maps while going along, and my DH often takes the wrong road and then won't turn round. We drive for miles out of our way

[Break away was good, but hard graft as dh needs rest, and my kids, like labrador dogs need regular exercise, it also peed down with rain. But thanks to sat nav, found lots of good places. Windmill excellent]

Sat navs are fabulous...they have enabled me to drive through France including Paris without fighting with DH once.
If you programme them correctly and purchase a good one then you should not end up in fields.
I can read maps, but quite difficult to do while driving!
What a bizare thread, how on earth is using the latest technology lazy? It just makes sense...
You are definitely unreasonable!

[Good, but yes, impossible two needs to meet. Windmill sounds great. Shall we always talk in brackets from now on? I like it. It's like whispering in the back of class]

I think the OP may be right.

I'm not intelligent enough to read a map and by god, I'm lazy. But I will not be parted from my Tommy. And neither will DH.

TomTom has saved us from Relate.

2point4- if you have a `tomtom, go to the website and look under voices. About 7 quid, I think.

Pshaw, what about the lightweights who use that new fangled Latitude and longitude system?? eh? Losers , the lot of them!

Satnav is great - dh's car came with in built sat nav, very useful for negotiating around trsffic jams.
I can assure you he is not lazy nor stupid. Many a time he has diverted off the suggested route as he knows a better one and invariably he is always right - he happens to be a map fiend and whenever going a new journey he gets his road maps and looks over the route first.
The satnav for him merely confirms he is going the right way and an approximate time of arrival.

traffic not trsffic!

this is what we all need to sstart doing

so pass me my sextant! A vast Behind!

I just use a sundial, a bit of string and my lucky cheese.

Can't go far wrong with that.

H can't read a map. I would love one. We're not even allowed to stop a passer-by once we're nearly there. Too un-male (if there is such a word).

oooohhh Hunker, where did you buy your lucky cheese?

Buy it, MB? How very dare you!

I fashioned it myself.

Out of breastmilk

It has an ear wax rind.

And nestles in a little box lined with bellybutton fluff.

[whimsical]