A random thread for small things that don't really warrant a thread of their own

[citoyen]

Otoh, you don't have to buy a new satnav every sodding year because they've changed the roads again, and it's easier to listen to voice commands while driving than try to keep your place on a page while also keeping an eye on the road...

[spesh]

I asked my daughter to pass me the phone book. She laughed and said I was old fashioned, I should use her iPhone. Well, the spider might be dead, but the screen is cracked and she's a bit mad with me.

Though I would point out that the jokes thread is that way... <points>

[robgul]

My daughter ridiculed my keeping of a roadmap in the car when it has a tw@tnav, I pointed out that a map doesn't have any batteries to fail or fuses to kaputt

I have only recently upgraded my in-car road atlas (new one from The Works, £1.99) - the old one had the M4 from Maidenhead to Swansea drawn on with a blue felt pen - ditto the M11 and M25     No point in wasting money.

That said, I've had a SatNav in the car for about 3 years now - A Garmin plug-in in the car my daughter now has, and a built-in model in the car I now have - the latter is crap for data (Renault/Dacia/Nissan thing) so I have the Garmin wired up too.  Running them both is interesting with different directions being offered 

[hellymedic]

If you drop your road map, it will work.
Your map will work if there's no mobile reception or a power outage in the sticks...

[ian]

I keep pointing out that you can see much more on an unfolded map that you can on a tiny phone screen

It's also really difficult to make a papier-mache glider to escape from prison if you've only got a phone to work with. Maps have plenty of paper. That said, it's easier to fit a phone up your bum if there's a cell inspection than a spirally bound A-to-Z of Britain. OK, that's an experiment I'll leave to the residents of HMP Bellmarsh.

[citoyen]

It's also really difficult to make a papier-mache glider to escape from prison if you've only got a phone to work with.

If you have a phone, you can probably order a microlight from Amazon.

[Mrs Pingu]

You can't wipe your bum with a GPS either.

[citoyen]

You can't wipe your bum with a GPS either.

Although some garmin users would argue that’s all they’re good for.

[Tim Hall]

If you drop your road map, it will work.
Your map will work if there's no mobile reception or a power outage in the sticks...

OSMand has maps loaded onto the phone, so no mobile reception needed.

(The battery still goes flat though, esp if ones powerbank goes intoa a sulk)

[Tim Hall]

My daughter ridiculed my keeping of a roadmap in the car when it has a tw@tnav, I pointed out that a map doesn't have any batteries to fail or fuses to kaputt

I have only recently upgraded my in-car road atlas (new one from The Works, £1.99) - the old one had the M4 from Maidenhead to Swansea drawn on with a blue felt pen - ditto the M11 and M25     No point in wasting money.

On my recent jaunt to Devon I took with me a Bartholomew map of Exmoor, half inch scale, published 1955. Distinct lack of M5 and many more railways than found these days.  (I wasn't navigating with it, but there are pencil marks on it made by my Dad when he was doing somekind of motorbike trial in The Olden Days)

[citoyen]

I’m sure I’ve told this story before but... on a hiking trip in Snowdonia in the 1980s we came down the wrong side of a mountain because the map we were using was from the 1960s. Turned our 12 mile loop into >20 miles.

We had a compass but it was too foggy to be useful.

[Jurek]

My daughter ridiculed my keeping of a roadmap in the car when it has a tw@tnav, I pointed out that a map doesn't have any batteries to fail or fuses to kaputt

I have only recently upgraded my in-car road atlas (new one from The Works, £1.99) - the old one had the M4 from Maidenhead to Swansea drawn on with a blue felt pen - ditto the M11 and M25     No point in wasting money.

On my recent jaunt to Devon I took with me a Bartholomew map of Exmoor, half inch scale, published 1955. Distinct lack of M5 and many more railways than found these days.  (I wasn't navigating with it, but there are pencil marks on it made by my Dad when he was doing somekind of motorbike trial in The Olden Days)

You have ventured into the past....

[ElyDave]

I’m sure I’ve told this story before but... on a hiking trip in Snowdonia in the 1980s we came down the wrong side of a mountain because the map we were using was from the 1960s. Turned our 12 mile loop into >20 miles.

We had a compass but it was too foggy to be useful.

They moved the mountain?

My daughter ridiculed my keeping of a roadmap in the car when it has a tw@tnav, I pointed out that a map doesn't have any batteries to fail or fuses to kaputt

I have only recently upgraded my in-car road atlas (new one from The Works, £1.99) - the old one had the M4 from Maidenhead to Swansea drawn on with a blue felt pen - ditto the M11 and M25     No point in wasting money.

That said, I've had a SatNav in the car for about 3 years now - A Garmin plug-in in the car my daughter now has, and a built-in model in the car I now have - the latter is crap for data (Renault/Dacia/Nissan thing) so I have the Garmin wired up too.  Running them both is interesting with different directions being offered 

I'm not sure how old mine is, I think it was two cars ago.  This is also my first car with in-built nav, not sure I completely trust it yet, being a Nissan.  It's not asked me to perform hari-kiri for failing to follow orders, yet, but time will tell.  I still keep my plug-in Garmin with full euro mapping though for work travel, such as it may be.

[citoyen]

They moved the mountain?

They moved the path.

ETA: just looking at a map to see if I could work out which mountain it was... I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Glydr Fach or Glydr Fawr but seeing their names has given me an earworm of HMHB’s Evening Of Swing Has Been Cancelled, which is still the best song about the apocalypse ever written, and also has a good line about satnavs.

[Wowbagger]

I just accidentally mistyped the word "British" on a forum on which it is not possible to edit posts. It came out as "Brutish" which seems pretty appropriate.

[Wowbagger]

Otoh, you don't have to buy a new satnav every sodding year because they've changed the roads again, and it's easier to listen to voice commands while driving than try to keep your place on a page while also keeping an eye on the road...

With a lot of car stan-navs, you do. My Nissan Leaf satnav was totally ignorant of all the roads around the massive container port at Tilbury. I've seen SD cards for sale on Ebay with allegedly updated maps for £95.

[Beardy]

When I bought my current car 5 years ago I deliberately didn’t spec the integral satnav. After Owning 2 cars with integral stat nave for some 13 years I’d learnt that although it’s tidy, updating the maps is very expensive and has a long update cycle. I bought a separate unit with life time updates, live traffic and speed camera locations for less than a map update would have been for the hideously expensive fitted unit.

[citoyen]

With a lot of car stan-navs, you do. My Nissan Leaf satnav was totally ignorant of all the roads around the massive container port at Tilbury. I've seen SD cards for sale on Ebay with allegedly updated maps for £95.

Even with a smartphone app the maps aren’t always fully up to date, as I have found a few times. The difference is they will be updated at some point without needing user input.

[Mr Larrington]

They moved the mountain?

They moved the path.

ETA: just looking at a map to see if I could work out which mountain it was... I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Glydr Fach or Glydr Fawr but seeing their names has given me an earworm of HMHB’s Evening Of Swing Has Been Cancelled, which is still the best song about the apocalypse ever written, and also has a good line about satnavs.

I'm not from round 'ere, mate, you should have got the bus

[Ham]

Anyone who uses SatNav without reference to a paper map at all deserves all they get. Likewise, those that stick to paper maps eschewing the benefits of satnav.

I confess that, while I would never have specified inbuilt satnav as an option, my current car has it as standard along with very effective live traffic which is worth its weight in unburnt fuel, and I rather like it.

[ElyDave]

Yes, I wouldn't have specc'd one with it either, it just happened to be fitted in the SH car I bought.  TBH it's not bad, much easier to use than the one in the Seat family bus, but I've not used on any journey of note yet.  There is definitely an attention bonus through following a decent satnav vs a post-it stuck to the steering wheel and a road atlas whilst also trying to read the road signs in central birmingham - BTDTGTTS

One thing you will never find me doing though is being on a hill with just a hand held GPS, everyone should be forced to learn to navigate properly before being given a little black box

[mrcharly-YHT]

I have just discovered (well, a friend told me) that Bing maps have an OS map overlay option. Yes, full OS map data.

I have also discovered that I can't access Bing maps on my phone. Locked out from Android.

Google, you suck. Just licence the sodding OS map data you skinflints.

[ElyDave]

Been using that one for years, doesn't print very well though.

[citoyen]

Anyone who uses SatNav without reference to a paper map at all deserves all they get.

Oh yes, I do know this but sometimes have been guilty of not bothering...

Learned my lesson when trying to escape from Manchester a few years ago. I knew the route in and out from the south well enough, but on this particular occasion I was heading north and foolishly trusted the satnav to tell me the way without looking at a map beforehand. Got confused at a junction and ended up doing a major diversion from Salford to loop round the airport before finally getting on the right road.

[robgul]

I’m sure I’ve told this story before but... on a hiking trip in Snowdonia in the 1980s we came down the wrong side of a mountain because the map we were using was from the 1960s. Turned our 12 mile loop into >20 miles.

We had a compass but it was too foggy to be useful.

They moved the mountain?

My daughter ridiculed my keeping of a roadmap in the car when it has a tw@tnav, I pointed out that a map doesn't have any batteries to fail or fuses to kaputt

I have only recently upgraded my in-car road atlas (new one from The Works, £1.99) - the old one had the M4 from Maidenhead to Swansea drawn on with a blue felt pen - ditto the M11 and M25     No point in wasting money.

That said, I've had a SatNav in the car for about 3 years now - A Garmin plug-in in the car my daughter now has, and a built-in model in the car I now have - the latter is crap for data (Renault/Dacia/Nissan thing) so I have the Garmin wired up too.  Running them both is interesting with different directions being offered 

I'm not sure how old mine is, I think it was two cars ago.  This is also my first car with in-built nav, not sure I completely trust it yet, being a Nissan.  It's not asked me to perform hari-kiri for failing to follow orders, yet, but time will tell.  I still keep my plug-in Garmin with full euro mapping though for work travel, such as it may be.

Mine is a 2019 Dacia Duster (that's a Qashqai in a cheaper suit!) with a combined radio + satnav etc - the data is poor, often denying the existence of postcodes or the numbers of houses (I used to live at #38 in a road with 92 houses - it denied there being a house number greater than 21???) - and it also has an interesting feature whereby it changes the radio station when you switch off the ignition?   Been back to the dealer 4 times but have now given up on it being fixed.  Oh, and they have the gall to try and charge about £100 a year to update the mapping.
My Garmin in the car cost £110 (British Cycling discount at Halfords), has lifetime map updates fore free ... and the data can't be faulted - it found a cottage in a very small country lane in the depths of Poland.