SatNavs: hmmm

[holidaywonk]

They're a bit weird aren't they? I asked it to direct me back from the tip today (two miles from home) and it tried to send me via the M25 (ie a journey of about 10 miles).

Am also finding the constant beeping very distracting. I don't break the speed limit very often so I don't NEED to know where the speed cameras are so STOP BEEPING AT ME

Can you tell I got one for Xmas?

There are SO MANY possibilities aren't there. We could be sitting on a goldmine, ladies.

Nancy, do tell us how it works. DP wants to know if you just do phonemes (or is it phenomes?) and they stitch it all together in post-production.

Oh sorry.... have been entertaining guests/settling unsleeping baby all evening.

It's not for tomtom or garmin.... so no megabucks payment involved I'm sorry to say. Can't actually say which system as it's then googleable back to my rl name [paranoid]

Um... it was a while ago... I didn't have to do any place names, just the directions and numbers of metres/yards etc. Took about an evening to record, but I am fairly clearly spoken, so we didn't have to re-record many phrases. Was quite fun in a way (and is in no way linked to my normal day-to-day career) but is exceptionally fraeky to listen to ... as I'm sure anyone who ever catches themselves speaking (eg ansafone, radio etc) will recognise.

Am heartily amused at the thought of me being the Mr. T voice... I am about 1/6th his size....

REally? Post-Chrsitmas am currently 2.5 his size.

Poor Brian, he has a rough old time of it.

for some reason I seem to have spent more time cooking than eating this christmas...
OK, so 1/6th is exaggeration... but am pretty small nontheless.

I tried out several of my Garmin voices last night. I ditched American Jack fairly rapidly after he said "rowt" instead of "root". I am back to reliable old UK Daniel.

RE Elfred's "thinking.. thinking...", it took me a while to work out why he was squeaking "ding ding" at regular intervals. DS1 pointed out my error.

Oh, the type of route is under Tools, Settings, Route (I think) on my Garmin.

Ooh but where are the voices?

Tools, Settings, Language.

You need to download ones like elfred from Garmin although there's not a lot of choice and the Yeti looks particularly useless

I fecking hate the things. I like maps.

The only time we have ever used one was going away for our anniversary - it packed up on the motorway. Unfortunately DH has a strange obsession with not keeping maps in the car but keeps them in the boot (very useful) - it was a bloody good job I had looked at the map before leaving otherwise we'd never have got there.

I don't like autoroute either

We went to Strathconon for Christmas, and drove up on Saturday Dec 19th, we got to Inverness about 8pm, and by the time we got to the glen it was after 9 and pitch black. The Sat-Nav on DP's iPhone took us on the shortest route, but this involved a very small, rarely used, wiggly, hilly road that went over the dam, it was positively frightening! ( this is the bigger glen road after we got off the Short Cut over the dam!)

We've been there before, and could probably done it with out the Sat-Nav, but the heavy falling snow and darkness made us doubt ourselves......

Maps are all very well and good provided you have someone to read them for you. It's impossible to map-read and drive.

I'm not much of a fan, but have used my dad's one to make new complicated journeys, though I find they often add extra complications of their own!
My dad had his set to 'no motorways' once when he was taking me to the airport. We drove past SO MANY signs for the airport while 'she' took us on a longer, more wriggly route, until I rebelled and forced my dad to get on the motorway

I always think satnavs need a kids button, so that when you get the inevitable cries of, "when are we there?" you could just press a button and the satnav could answer them.

GreenMonkies, I would suggest never, EVER following a satnav in a very rural area.
I heard a very sad story from a local b&b owner about a couple coming to stay with her before a wedding who followed their satnav (as many do) down the track with a big IMPASSABLE TO MOTOR VEHICLES sign one evening . . .

They then burnt out their clutch at the ford down the bottom - got out of their car to try to walk - got lost . . . no mobile phone signal . . . no torch (city types) . . . she got a very, very forlorn phone call at 2am the following morning when they finally found a house. Ironically, they can never have been more than about 50m from a house at any point, as they countryside is dotted with small farms, they just couldn't find them in the dark!

"I always think satnavs need a kids button, so that when you get the inevitable cries of, "when are we there?" you could just press a button and the satnav could answer them."

Mine displays an ETA in the bottom corner. DS1 spent a lot of the journey to my parents telling me that we'd lost another minute.

over my dead body will we get a sat nav. i have successfully and skillfully navigated dh and i to many places and am evidence that women CAN read maps. even dh says so and he is a geographer

they are for lazy people and will make maps obsolete unless we revolt...

I love my Garmin sooooooooooooooooooooo very much! If you print out directions from AA Route Finder or similar, they're all well and good until you make a mistake and have no bloody idea where you are or how to get back to the route. And while directions and maps are easy enough with two of you in the car, it's darned tricky when you're on your own.

My Garmin had changed my life. Sure, every now and then it does something stupid. But DH did far more stupid things when he was my navigator!!!

"they are for lazy people"

Really? Can you read a map and drive the car at the same time then?

I drive a lot to unfamiliar places and really like both the satnavs I've had.

One mildly irritating thing is that sometimes the postcodes don't actually get you to where you need to be. You end up in a field in the middle of nowhere and Jane proudly announces "You have reached your destination".

After mistaking Gloucester Road, Bristol for Bristol Road Gloucester, I do tend to double check with a map...

We really like our Garmin too.It got us out of a half built development in Spain in May.We only had it because oh put it in his pocket when we parked the car in UK.We were soooo lost in Spain at night and we plugged in 'Netty' more in hope than expectation.After a few minutes[we had put in name of village]she said,'Turn left then turn left and enter roundabout'.We were off and were about 15 miles in wrong direction but she got us straight to our hotel.Netty was my new best friend!

DH wants to get a satnav. I like maps. And I have always managed to read a map and drive the car albeit not quite at the same time - red traffic lights, pull over to the side, stuck in queues - all give opportunities. I keep the map open at the right place on the passenger seat.

I hate autoroute and various other thingies that tell you where to go - some of them are out of date and others plain wrong - and you are left with a bunch of directions that are MEANINGLESS. Grrrrr.

We don't have one, we prefer the quaint old fashioned tradition of using a map