anyone use a garmin sat nav?

[RichardM]

I have an atlas in the car and take individual laminated sheets when traveling on the bike (map got soaked one year!).

Garmin settings you can alter route type, shortest/ fastest etc. You can also alter road types. there'll be a manual online for your model somewhere.

Use a Givi sat nav case on the bike, lets me use a car sat nav.

 

[Morris]

Had my second Garmin for 10 years now with full European and North America maps. Bought for a Florida trip and buying it was the same price as renting one from the car hire company. (Before it was common for hire cars to have them built in).
Have free lifetime map updates. It's pretty good but has taken us on a few erroneous routes in France with the caravan on the back which were less than ideal. We normally have an AA atlas on holiday in France and my wife keeps an eye on it and has an idea of where we need to be heading and will sometimes 'over rule' the sat nav.

We are doing a USA road trip later in the year. I'm not sure how true it is but I am told that the hire cars have disabled sat navs so that they can charge for a sat nav as an extra.
Hopefully we will find out, it will decide whether we buy a sat nav or sort out one of our phones with roaming or something!

 

[RichardM]

@Morris When we went (15 ish) years ago , it was cheaper to buy a sat nav over here with USA maps than pay the rental charge from the hire company

 

[steveo3002]

or see what walmart want for the cheapest one and find your way there

 

[outofthefire]

I've still got an Acer PDA (the one on the left) with built in Satnav, the bit on the top is a fold out GPS antenna.

View attachment 406506

Blimey i'm amazed they're still going. I've got an old Sony CLIE PEG-SJ30, but i've know idea where the charger or dock are. Somewhere i've also got a palm pilot and an o2 xda exec the first phone I had with gps

 

[Bobupndown]

We are doing a USA road trip later in the year. I'm not sure how true it is but I am told that the hire cars have disabled sat navs so that they can charge for a sat nav as an extra.
Hopefully we will find out, it will decide whether we buy a sat nav or sort out one of our phones with roaming or something!

I'd say Google maps and a windscreen mount for your phone would be all you'll need these days.

 

[Robotstar5]

Somewhere i've also got a palm pilot and an o2 xda exec the first phone I had with gps

I remember Brian Blessed presenting a Palm Pilot as a prize on a gameshow with the words "Palm Pilot, sounds like some sort of w**king machine"

 

[Domdom]

I have the aviation biased one, but it also does road navigation, somewhat badly. It’s handy to be able to see roads when flying if (when) I get lost but google maps on the iPhone is vastly superior and means I can have both side by side. But the Garmin, as a pure road nav device is about the worst in existence. I only bought it because it is one of the few portable devices which shows controlled airspace and it can be updated regularly and easily. Even when flying VFR it’s nice to have in preference to a paper map on my knee.

 

[DAPPH]

Yes I've got a Garmin, probably about 8 or 9 years old now, and it's always taking me down silly little country lanes when there is a nice main road. Mine is set to fastest as well. The only other setting I can find is avoid motorways, not avoid small roads. Maybe the newer ones have this? As now I have a caravan it's a worry.

Can't you set the size of the car and caravan being towed to that of an HGV3 to miss the minor roads & dirt tracks ?

 

[DAPPH]

I can't think there'd be many places that have their own postcode, it's only part of an address.

Out in the sticks a place that was classed as industrial often has an individual post code , PE134 BJ is where I used to live , a former railway gated crossing house next to the removed track bed .

 

[richie00boy]

Can't you set the size of the car and caravan being towed to that of an HGV3 to miss the minor roads & dirt tracks ?

No, as I said there is no setting I can find for size of vehicle. All I can find is avoid motorways. Have you got a new Garmin which has the setting? If so what is the model please?

 

[outofthefire]

Have you got a new Garmin which has the setting? If so what is the model please?

This is the one I just bought specifically for motorhomes and caravans, but they do wagon ones garmin camper 780 mt-d. I really don't understand why the mobile phone based ones can't add the setting for the size of vehicle.

 

[qwakers]

Tom-tom go and tom-tom nds can

 

[Gritineye]

If you've got a smartphone there's absolutely no need for a Satnav, just install the free Waze app. ..far far better than Google maps, with traffic, real time speed traps, road hazards (pot holes, broken down cars etc) all for free.

Thanks for the tip, never used Garmin, but I just had my first test drive using Waze on my phone, seems to work fine and has more options like vehicle size etc than my Tomtom

 

[DAPPH]

No, as I said there is no setting I can find for size of vehicle. All I can find is avoid motorways. Have you got a new Garmin which has the setting? If so what is the model please?

It's an ARTEX powered by Garmin . IIRC we got it from Halfords about four years ago just before Covid lock down .

It's possibly a car caravan & truck device I can't find the part number or model code .

You have to take it out of car mode to get the bigger vehicle instructions otherwise it ignores the bigger vehicle settings.

 

[Keithmac]

People buy Lorry Satnavs for cars towing caravans.

 

[8ob]

People buy Lorry Satnavs for cars towing caravans.

Makes sense, got one in the truck and you can preset all the parameters like weight/length/height. Also comes with a dashcam with additional aux rear/side socket and a big screen, less than £100.

Bob

 

[dobbslc]

What model is that Bob?

 

[Keithmac]

I could do with one when driving the Minibus, Garmin doesn't do a good job really.

 

[carbon]

I have a garmin one that doesn’t get used as it will try and send you along the narrowest roads it can find rather than the A road or dual carriageway that it’s next to, even when it’s set to quickest route.