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Hi all, I have been using a TomTom for about 7 years and the latest a 910 is about 4 yrs old. I downloaded height restrictions from TT Home and can activate warnings on any height limit of bridge inbuilt into the TT itself. This has worked fine for me, and I haven't felt the need to buy one of the truck type ones.
By the way before going to Italy earlier this year I used the same system to get two different lists of Sostas and then activated the proximity alarm to let us know one was near. Mainly used this to find parking in Italian towns rather than try to go into the centres!! Worked really well for us.
Regarding the OP, I had a Garmin something or other dating from 2005ish, later used in the MH which has a nice fat Luton. An external aerial was fitted in one of the skylights but the extending cable ate some of the signal so it wasn't bad but add trees or high buildings for instance and it would not update fast enough and you'd be lost.
I bought a new one about 3 years ago. I wanted a big screen so was looking at marine versions, but noticed that in their tech specs the receiver was not a "high sensitivity" one which all the car and bike ones were. I then bought this one, and you can see if you click the spec that even today it states high sensitivity recevier yes or no so some must still not have it. The increase in performance is amazing (same camper, no externals), and I don't think in those 3 years of full timing it has ever let us down as the old one did so often
I'm also thinking of getting a "Fizzbook Spin", sold as a kids first laptop from the likes of Argos, but a reasonable screen size, touchscreen, tablet layout once spun to provide a bigger screen in the cab in a semi tough package with handle, using a RAM mount from the dashboard. Then the two of us can see the screen for no/bigger arguments! (delete as applicable )
Mrplodd wrote:
Personally I can see no advantage in obtaining one of these HGV specific sat navs.
In the UK and France I totally agree, since you can easily buy paper maps with height, weight and widths on them. But I have yet to find one for Spain and Portugal, and I havn't headed east of France properly yet to find out one way or the other in that direction. We are 4m tall and 9.5tons, so it would be nice to know in advance that our route is OK. The information source may leave something to be desired, but somethings better than nothing so for that reason I think I would buy one.
Jason
______________________________________________________________ Small steps
I have started using the car panel ap that I think just came with my smart phone using android. I am just using the free version. It has an option to chose between car or trucking routing. Only used it in the car so far. It works best with always on internet, but will work offline as well. Anyone else tried it?
______________________________________________________________ Fallow our Camper and other adventures here:
www.johnandluisa.blogspot.com
We have just pensioned off out Tomtom 700 and have gone for the Tomtom 1005 and there is quite a lot of difference in its ability to find signals the new one will even work in the house whereas the old one would never pick up signals indoors.
I must say there are a few bugs in this new model and no doubt tomtom are working flat out to rectify um (we hope) but having just got back from touring France ,Switzerland and a little of Italy we were very pleased with it.
Gary
I expect this is slightly not what the topic is about but having moved from the new thin Garmin with a lead like an anchor cable to a TT Go Live I am very impressed with the traffic HD. Much better than Garmin but my praise stops there.
At the beginning of the year we went on two roads in France that were new so as far as TT was concerned we were travelling across fields and Emma was getting really irritated...." Turn around when possible" etc.
I have just bought the new map and still the roads are not on there. Also at least 5 of the 8 POI's I used from TT did not exist when I got there.
Also several fixed cameras that have been there for some years on the Millau Motorway to the South are still not on there even though the last year I pressed the button to register them or whatever.
I am thinking of going back to using Pocket GPS speedcams and POI's but I think only recently has the ability to do this come about with software updates. Bit galling having to pay in effect twice the same thing.
Sat Navs are not perfect and will let you down if common sense is not used.
My old TT died in Spain this summer and I replaced it with a much discounted 750 which is so much faster to locate and has so many extra features that I really enjoy using it. The computerised voice means I no longer have to look at the screen, for the spoken details are so specific I do not need to.
However, when I bought it (in Spain) 'Carmen', and another Spanish lady plus a Chinese (!!!) lady who spoke Italian were the only voices available. TomTom would not allow me to register the device in my name for I already had a TomTom (Aargh!) . After three days and a photocopy of the receipt emailed to them I was allowed put English speaking voices on. In the mean time my Spanish was improving
As for the Luton causing problems, I can use my TT inside the house. My previous van had a Luton and except on very rare occasions when my old TT took minutes to locate a satellite, I have never had any problems on that score.
Alan
I just want to thank all the contributors to this and all the other Snooper SatNav threads for helping me to decide to keep my TomTom Via Live 125
I've been just moments away from leaving the TT in the car (less than a year old) and buying the new Snooper S5000. But the graphics are clearly inferior to TT (judging by the website screenshots) the ability to tell it that you're in a MH doesn't appear to guarantee that it won't keep beeping when you go faster than a truck and could still take you down a narrow road to a very low bridge, just because Pierre at the department offices had too many Pinot Noirs and forgot to phone Navteq
Our TT did take us down a very narrow rural French road last August, but only because I missed the previous turning and, anyway, nothing came the other way
We covered several kms of Autoroute near Reims which TT didn't know about, but I took the view that we were travelling in the right direction according to the sun, we were not alone on the road and there was bound to be a helpful sign eventually
Besides, we use the computerised English voice, because it names the roads and streets etc. and sometimes have to pull over when she tries to pronounce Arques en Barrois or Maximilianstrasse
______________________________________________________________ John
GPS sensitivity has been considerably improved since the introduction of Sat Navs. It is true a few years ago to get a good fix you needed a good view of the sky. Even so you would often lose your position in urban areas and under trees. This is not so with the latest chip sets, Starfire 111 I think, and you should have no trouble maintaining position in a motorhome except when in a tunnel.
As for the difference between Truck versions and car versions and the ability to recognise narrow roads, I think it all depends on how the local mapping authorities catagorise roads. I suspect when it comes to width, Sat Navs feed off this information, e.g. in broad terms whether it is as major or minor road. All I know is it works on my "Navigator" as long as I have barred it from using the minor roads which I can do as per the attached. You tick what you are prepared to use.
Nevertheless it is not faultless and you don't leave common sense behind when on the road. It is also easy to check your route before you set out
peedee
______________________________________________________________ The best journeys are not always in straight lines
For an account of our journeys click >here< (Last updated 1st March 2012)
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France
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. After three days and a photocopy of the receipt emailed to them I was allowed put English speaking voices on. In the mean time my Spanish was improving 
