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Couldn't contemplate a journey without implicitly relying on it

1 (2.6%)

Always use it for new places

25 (65.8%)

I'm a man and have built in direction sense (and an atlas on back seat in case)

7 (18.4%)

Never use it. Just a gimmick

1 (2.6%)

My butler does that sort of thing.

0 (0%)

 Have got one, will use if I can be bothered to find it.

4 (10.5%)

Total Members Voted: 32

[Martian]

Sold our (very rarely used) TomTom Go 910 when we moved in to smartphone territory a couple of years ago.
On the odd occasions we do decide a sat nag is needed (new area/country), we use a modded version of Google Maps.

[fiend61]

i use the garmin very useful speed cameras and traffic hold ups and you can input a postcode  also if you are somewhere where you havent been you can take a 'snapshot' and its put in your favourites if you ever want to go back 
the funny thing is using the garmin and the ncdc2013 sat nav together they contradict each other and you end up waiting for a full scale argument 

[Taxi_Driver]

I use mine quite a bit as im always going to new places.....

However it does make the brain lazy....i had my first one (probably 6-7 years ago) and could remember a lot more places were than i can now.....and no, its not old age, without sat nav you pay more attention of how you got there.

[TheBoy]

None of the options fitted, so kinda went for bottom one, based on both cars have it built in, but I tend to only use it when required.

If I pop in a new disk that updates the software (unlikely now its mature), I'll use it everwhere for about a month, to learn/understand the audio instructions without looking at screen.

I worked fixing customers' phones for years, in a rural area, so pretty good at finding 'last mile' without maps or technology, but satnav is quicker - if used as aid, not commands.


I dont see an issue with the technology (OK, portable windscreen units are shit, and should be banned), but unfortunately we have bred a retarded society, and tolerate this idiots, rather than shooting them. And the parents.

[Lazydocker]

Same for me... I use mine all the time to help with speed camera's and finding the garages (plus it has the garage 'phone numbers in it ) but I don't just blindly follow it

[Kevin Wood]

If I pop in a new disk that updates the software (unlikely now its mature), I'll use it everwhere for about a month, to learn/understand the audio instructions without looking at screen.

Oh, those. I  turn them off. Increases the probability of the unit arriving with me rather than on the central reservation half way there.

[plym ian]

got a garmin and I put my little girls voice on for comical value on a long journey, mainly use the phone though

[waspy]

Voted the bottom one as I have no idea where it is  Strange how this has happened since I had females move in

[TheBoy]

If I pop in a new disk that updates the software (unlikely now its mature), I'll use it everwhere for about a month, to learn/understand the audio instructions without looking at screen.

Oh, those. I  turn them off. Increases the probability of the unit arriving with me rather than on the central reservation half way there.

Been a while since my Satnav hasn't made it with me to the destination. I 'accidently' mislaid my crappy tomtom unit at the end of the Aston Expressway

[Nick W]

I'm on my third. The last two were bought the same day that their predecessor became unusable(one was stolen, they other refused to charge).
I used to have a box of A-Zs under the back seat of the truck, some of which I only used once, like the one for north Wales. When you get to a job, and you find there and then that it's going to Liverpool, it really helps to have a bloody good idea of where you're going and how to get there  BEFORE you leave! Try driving 200 miles up the M1 and then going into the services to look up where you're going(IF it's in the books!) and having to decide whether it's worth buying the damn thing or that you can remember how to get there. Now I have most of europe in a box the size of 2 fag packets for a fraction of the price.

Sat Nav is a seriously useful tool. It does have drawbacks, and it always helps to have a rough idea of where you're going. Ending up 200 miles from your actual destination in a town of the same name is not the gadget's fault. It's yours for not checking. You wouldn't blame an atlas if you went to the wrong place would you? The UK does better than most with detailed to house number postcodes; the one for dad's house in France covers 3 villages!

In the same way, turning onto an unmade country track in a truck 'because the satnav told me to' is entirely your fault. If a passenger with a map on their knees told you to, you wouldn't so what's the difference?  The driver is responsible for where he goes, the rest is directions!

Being able to reroute on the fly is incredibly handy. Knowing the distance remaining is useful, if depressing sometimes! Speed cameras on roads you don't know is worth having. The current ones, Tom Tom are my preference are easy and quick to use, cheap to buy, and just do the job that it was bought for. What's not to like?


My peeve with them is that although paper maps of the UK are regularly and frequently updated(yearly for altases) the sat navs aren't.

[Entwood]

Big snip .......


My peeve with them is that although paper maps of the UK are regularly and frequently updated(yearly for altases) the sat navs aren't.

TomTom release new maps 4 times a year ... now I KNOW they are not actually "mapped" by TT .. but it is an attempt. TT also do a continuous "map update" from reports sent in regarding problems.

New maps can either be bought from official sources or obtained in other ways. Map updates are done using TT Home.

As you rightly say .. an excellent tool, now you wouldn't try and navigate on a 5 year old paper map .. so why use a 5 year old satnav map....

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I still think in analogue and pre-decimal. I use a map.........and I never ask for directions.....

[Webby the Bear]

Sad to say but I couldn't do without mine. Genius invention.

[Vamps]

I have never had one and also told swmbo not to buy me one at Christmas / Birthday times....
I will use a Map but must admit to Google being my friend as I will often print out a street map of where my final destination and often use the street view to further assist my final approach to a destination sometimes...

[bored bigyin54]

never had to use one even for europe look at map and find my way