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nigelpugh
Member Since: 31 Jan 2005
Location: West Midlands , UK close to LR Solihull!!
Posts: 215
  
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Guys,
I am starting to have my doubts as to how well the sat nav actually works.
Let me explain further.
Myself, the Wife and Wilbur the Boxer dog, went off to the pembrokshire coast for a three day doggy break this week.
As usual we loaded the disco up with all the stuff needed for such a trip, dog food, dog water, dog bed, dog towels, dog toys for the beach, you get the picture, still cant belive that we can mange to fill such a big car to the gunnels, even for only two of us, and the dog though!!
Any way I wanted to get full use out of the sat nav for the trip down.
I had the address of the hotel in Cardigan bay, and despite knowing the route in my head I said to the wife, lets trust the Sat Nav!! Oh Dear you know whats coming dont you.
So I duly punched in the Postcode of the hotel, as I have found this to be the best and most accurate choice normally!!
The sat nav duly showed the location of the hotel, just on the river, close to Cardigan Bay, as we had seen from the hotel web site.
So we chose that location, then a choice of three routes came up.
Quick, Normal and an alterantive route, - so let the adventure begin!!
The first two routes would be my normal choice from the midlands, down the M5 and across the M4, or the M50 as an alternate.
But "No" I said, we want a relaxed journey, lets take the scenic route, and trust the sat nav, the wife just sighed, as did Wilbur the Boxer, as if they knew what was coming.
So we set off, the sat nav giving an arrival time of about 4 hours from the start of the journey, full tank of diesel, 500 plus miles range on the computer, about 180 miles estimated on the sat nav.
Now I must say at this point, I have the option on the sat nav of only major roads selected, it gives a picture of a motorway bridge on the menu you know!
Hmm, wonder what the LR definition of a Major road is, A Motorway? A Dual Carrigeway? an A road perhaps?, well lets see shall we.
Now I should also say that as a very experienced off roader, both in 4*4's and Motorcyles - Enduros and Trials to be precise, I have probaably taken just about every road known to man, from the midlands to wales, for my previous off road jaunts.
Oh yes I forgot, before traveling I also like to get the OS Explorer map for the region I am going too, I did not have one in my huge store of them from the past, so off to halfords and bought the OS map for north pembrokshire.
The wife asked why with a sat nav system we needed one, quick think Nige what can you tell her to keep her off the scent.
"Umm, oh we need that map dear to show us all the secluded beaches we can take the dog too!!"
Phew got away with it this time!!
The real reason of course was that I had allready marked out the locations of all the RUPPS and BOATS, in the area we are going to for some potential off roading!!!
Sorry I digress, ( thought - hope that Martins server can take such a long post as this - ummm!)
So the first part of the route was quite normal, down the M5, traffic not bad, cruise set at 85 (KM of course!!?!)
I had turned off the voice guidance as it gets in the way of the CD selection, so was just watching for the turns.
I had thought that we were going down the M5, M50 etc, but the Disco had other ideas.
The first surprise came at the second Worcester turn on the M5, it told us to come off at the main turn for Worcester, so we followed the guidance.
The wife said, " we are not going through the town are we?" of course not dear I said, hoping the sat nav would save me that embarasment.
Phew, thankfully it routed us down the bypass, towards the malverns, great I thought a good scenic route.
But no, it changed its mind at the bottom of the bypass, and went with the new road to leominster and hereford, again not a bad choice I thought, I have taken it before.
By the way you might want to take a break now for a cup of tea, there is lots more to come, and this is only part A, the route home - or part B, will be another thread to be published, so you have been warned.
On second thoughts though, lets all take a comfort break now, I need to take Wilbur to the Riding Club for his Sat Morning exercise, so I will park it here for a while and return later today.
Bet you cant wait, eh?
To be continued.................
 Nige - 2014 Disco 4 TDV6 HSE Luxury - Scotia Grey
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 19th Feb 2005 9:29 am |
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Martin
Site Admin and Owner
Member Since: 06 Nov 2004
Location: Hook Norton
Posts: 18563
 
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Ooooooh the suspense Roll on Part B....
And the server seems to be fine 
Martin
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| 19th Feb 2005 10:00 am |
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FamilyMan
Member Since: 10 Jan 2005
Location: UK
Posts: 119
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 2005 TDV6 SE Silver/Black Manual + Alpine
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| 19th Feb 2005 10:12 am |
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Pelyma
Member Since: 06 Jan 2005
Location: Patching, Sussex
Posts: 15496
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Mine always wants to go via the M25 and through town centres. It particularly likes the road works there, so like most women telling me where to go (directions that is) I ignore it and let it recalculate 
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| 19th Feb 2005 5:34 pm |
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simon
Member Since: 11 Jan 2005
Location: Shropshire
Posts: 18296
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Glad I never stumped up the £1,500 for this added amusement
Will continue to use my manual map and instincts.
-s
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| 19th Feb 2005 9:38 pm |
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Outrageous
Member Since: 10 Jan 2005
Location: New Hampshire, USA
Posts: 44
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Nigel, you left us in suspense!
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| 3rd Mar 2005 2:51 am |
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nigelpugh
Member Since: 31 Jan 2005
Location: West Midlands , UK close to LR Solihull!!
Posts: 215
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yeah!!
Is it working?
`do you want it?
do you want it really bad?
Well youll have to wait```!!!!!!!!!!
Nige - 2014 Disco 4 TDV6 HSE Luxury - Scotia Grey
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| 3rd Mar 2005 8:20 am |
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Pelyma
Member Since: 06 Jan 2005
Location: Patching, Sussex
Posts: 15496
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Mine still wants to go through town centres rather than using by passes, despite being on the large road setting. I drove to north croyden on Tuesday and I have to say there it was brilliant, much better than trying to drive and read a printed multi map 
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| 3rd Mar 2005 8:43 am |
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Gareth
Site Moderator
Member Since: 07 Dec 2004
Location: Bramhall
Posts: 26775
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I would not be without it now. I have customised it a bit, by adding a few avoid points, and putting in way- points to help it follow my preffered routes. The desination accuracy is remarkable. I have also been adding my local off-road routes as I drive them (no point really - but all part of the fun!)
I have setup the preset destinations as my regular return points, such as home, office, parents house, in-laws, and the chalet in Wales.
I find the TMC reasonable, it is as good as the information transmitted. The re-route is still a bit of a mystery, as it does not always seem to kick in, and you have to stop to review it, which is not possible on the motorway!.
Does anyone get the message "You have insufficient fuel to reach your destination" when entering a route? I have seen this a few times, but the problem is, it came up the other day when I entered a journey of 50 miles and the tank was full!! Last week I had a return journey of 500+ miles, and the tank was on 1/4 when I entered it, and it did not display the message!
Could this be related to the occasional missing POI fuel stations when the lamp comes on I wonder!
Apart from those small niggles, it is an excellent system.
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| 3rd Mar 2005 9:04 am |
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Pelyma
Member Since: 06 Jan 2005
Location: Patching, Sussex
Posts: 15496
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I agree Gareth, it is good and in my job where I travel to client's homes it has proven to be a real boon, I probably just need to program some avoid areas as you have done!
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| 3rd Mar 2005 12:32 pm |
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Ecosse
Member Since: 07 Jan 2005
Location: Grampian, Scotland
Posts: 889
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Gareth wrote:
Could this be related to the occasional missing POI fuel stations when the lamp comes on I wonder!
Gareth - they updated the software on the sat nav on my car which seems to have resolved the mising POI issue (so far) but I don't know what version or how to check it. May be worth asking the dealer to update yours? 
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| 3rd Mar 2005 5:25 pm |
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simon
Member Since: 11 Jan 2005
Location: Shropshire
Posts: 18296
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Have you looked the installed DVD to see if its a new disk ?
Just a thought... not got the Sat Nav but its probably stated on the disk.
-s
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| 3rd Mar 2005 5:32 pm |
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FamilyMan
Member Since: 10 Jan 2005
Location: UK
Posts: 119
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I have'nt got as far as sussing out how to set waypoints nor asking it to take an alternate route. Is it easy enough to do? 2005 TDV6 SE Silver/Black Manual + Alpine
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| 3rd Mar 2005 6:01 pm |
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Gareth
Site Moderator
Member Since: 07 Dec 2004
Location: Bramhall
Posts: 26775
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I have not looked at the dvd, the dealer can do that for me tomorrow.
To set a way point is easy. For example, I always like to go across country to j18 to get onto the M6 southbound. The sat nav wants to take me via Stockport town centre, onto the M60, M56, A556, M6. On a Sunday morning, the suggested method may well be quicker, but at most other times, the M60/M56 is a place to avoid. So I have set M6 J18 as a stored memory point. When I set a route that will use the M6 south, I set the J18 memorypoint as a waypoint on the journey.
I also have M62 J18/Simister Island set as a memory point. This has the effect of making the sat nav take the M60 anti clockwise around the east side of Manchester, which although longer, is far quicker than the roadworks infested west side.
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| 3rd Mar 2005 10:34 pm |
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DiscoMad
Member Since: 11 Jan 2005
Location: Warwickshire, United Kingdom
Posts: 190
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Ecosse,
Please remind which POIs were missing ?
My system wont show LR POIs at all.
You can get the software version by trying one of those navigation hidden menu settings....
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| 3rd Mar 2005 11:11 pm |
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