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 to do exactly what you do WendyWeber until I got my new car.

It is much much faster to type in the name of the town and the name of the road, than to make handwritten notes and print off a multimap.

And if the road is closed, then it re-routes me. It is a godsend. Especially in the dark or heavy weather as I don't have to look to the side to read my directions - they're right there in front of me.

I am an excellent mapreader too (but only when going south - otherwise I have to turn the map round )

No, I mean north!!!! (See? )

I am seriously tempted to get one actually, esp now they are getting so cheap.

How easy are they to set up and operate?

LOL Lapin, yes, next week - sorry to scare you like that!

Piece of piss, WW - you'll love it.

hate them.
hate all gadgets.
In fact hate the world today.
Not good

Mine is built into my car and it is a doddle. My dh has a Garmin and it is just as straightforward.

Literally type in the town and the street and off you go. Or alternatively type in the postcode - this doesn't work so well if the company has a PO Box address as you end up at the central post office of the town, rather than the company you have an appointment with!

Oh, Jasper.

That doesn't sound comfy

pmsl Lapin

hunker I may even start a new thread about hating the world but it would notsit well on mumsnet as it involves 2 out of 3 of my employees ( I only have 3 ) bringing my small business to its knees by taking loads of time off work basically for being pregnant

I'm a great mapreader - when I'm a passenger.
When I am driving with my toddler in the back, not needing to drive with the A-Z in one hand and the wheel in the other is pretty handy.
My TomTom doesn't send me through fields as there aren't too many of those in London. It is great for visiting friends on the other side of town, and navigating annoying one way systems.

Are they taking the piss and being the only women ever to have been pregnant in the world ever?

Or are they genuinely in need of time off?

I think how you answer that would depend how the thread went!

hm prob is I don't know.
One is 7 weeks pg and off with backache. I love her dearly , just think she is being a lightweight . Those of us left to run the place are seriously on the verge of collapse. There is no way of replacing them short term as we don't know from one day to the next whether they will be in or not.

Backache at 7w pg? Maybe start a thread asking how likely it is to be pg related? I mean, I know relaxin has an effect on ligaments, etc...

It must be very hard for you to plan things though.

HM thank you .
That's all I needed.I can go back to being sympathetic lovely employer lady now.

Aw, glad I could help

Hope she is back at full strength for the next, oh, 30 weeks for you now!

Sat nav is great, especially for navigating in Belgium where the road signs aren't good/obscured by trees/confusing, and there are too many bloody motorways.

If I can use one (technological moron, me)then anyone can. DH looked covetously at mine, so I got him a bigger one which has kept him happy for the moment. V useful for retrieving gliders and their pilots from odd locations on the continent.

I don't personally have a satnav but then I don't drive or have a car either. I do go hiking lots and teach kids how to map read so I don't have any problem using a map. When I do actually start driving though I will be buying a satnav but I will keep to the good old map and compass for the hiking.

Satnavs have their pro's and con's like all gadgets they can fail and go wrong. In addition there are many places with identical names around the world and it's easy enough to accidently select the wrong one.

However as others have said they do make navigation much easier. If you use a bit of common sense and either have a good sense of direction or have a quick look at your route on something like mapwise before you go then you will know if the satnav is sending you in the wrong direction. Also no harm in keeping a road atlas in the car "just in case".

Margaret (think polite Oxford librarian type) has become a valued member of the family. Despite the fact we often argue with her and sometimes ignore her completely - she is entirely dependable, never holds a grudge and, especially abroad, always comes to the rescue. We love her and couldn't do without her.

Sat nav is great. We've used it all over europe. I hate map reading because I get car sick looking at the map (dh drives).

We also use it when visiting a new town to find places to eat and places to see.

I love my SatNav. Although it does want to send us down a road near our house that has a traffic barrier halfway down to stop people cutting through.

Once when I was waiting for an ambulance we heard it coming and then it didn't arrive for ages - sent down the dead-end by the SatNav!

Although I love Tom, I still have a map in the back of the car for emergencies. What I love most about the sat nav is that it automatically works out a diversion if you need one.

I remember once having a huge diversion when the road I needed was blocked by an overturned milk tanker. It was so stressful as I was on my own in the car, and didn't know the diversion route at all. With Tom , all the stress would have been taken away.

We've just got back from a rather soggy short break, and I loved being able to plug in the postcode of museums, and avoided the hassle of driving round trying to find the place.