Sat Nav ? map book ? or just looking at the signs ? journies

tut! bad spelling was rushing ,,,

Don’t waste your money on a SatNav. Buy a cradle to stick on the dashboard for your mobile and use Google maps.

I also have to cope with driving on my own now I am without Paw and have done here (N Bucks) to Cheshire, Somerset, Birmingham (regularly) and Walthamstow in East London also regularly, including a maze of back streets once I come off the M11 and North Circular.
It is too much to cope with traffic, signs, being in the right lane, speed limits as well as finding your way.
Good luck!

thanks for suggestion (maw) I did have a go with mobile phone few weeks ago...just going round local places, but I have very little date on my phone(250mb) I am looking to change it but cnt do that for a month or so.
But yes the mobile did come into my thoughts, I suppose I could buy extra data for temp journeys.

Has to be cheaper and honestly ((apart from the tendency to take me the shortest route including tiny country lanes) ?it is perfectly adequate. I always check the route first on AA directions in the internet though as sometimes the obvious route is longer but easier. I too am happy with motorways - nice big signs to tell me where I am!

I always use my satnav and find it useful. It updates regularly and if there is a problem such as an accident or roadworks, it gives the option of being guided off the original route and around the problem. Does the Google maps do that?

Yes

I would go change your phone and go with with Google maps, but I always have a road map as back up, you can always pull over and check you are on the right road and have a calming coffee!

Start of on small trips and get your confidence back.

Happy driving

I have a satnav in my car but it needs updating and they want £150 to update it so I borrow OHs if I need to go somewhere I don't know. It has an integral camera also which is very handy just in case. My GD used Google maps on her phone and always moans she can't read the screen and I'd need to change my glasses to read the screen impossible when driving. I find I can glance at the screen on the satnav to check speeds, traffic, and plenty of lane changing warnings in good time. So I definately prefer it over my phone.

I rarely do more than glance at the screen when I am stationary, but the voice is reassuring and helps keep me company!

I love my Satan’s. It takes so much stress out of driving in unfamiliar places. I’ve had it for a long time but if I was starting now I would get a new phone and use Google maps. I like the company too!

Sat nav,! I hate auto correct.

I use a sat nav for unfamiliar places. It's the fine tuning when you get somewhere that I find it really helpful. Mind you, I haven't tried navigating by smart phone... maybe I need to give that a go.

hmm...didnt think of reading the phone maps! I do use reading glasses , so not sure if the phone would be large enough, but just having looking at the sat nav (by the way its £58) Binatone and good reviews. the screen is similar size to my phone so I will give it some serious thought. maybe I will try the phone out first on a proper journey..thanks for different ideas

I think Satans is quite a good name for the sort of SatNav that gets pantechnicons stuck in tiny winding village streets!

Satan'? I love it!

I have an in-built sat-nav (autocorrect wants to change that to sat-nag, also v appropriate!) in my car but Dh doesn't in his.

We have a Tom-Tom, partly because I only have the smallest iPhone and the screen would be too small to read comfortably. Also, we use the Tom-Tom in America where using a U.K. mobile would be prohibitively expensive.

When it comes to journey planning, I look on an atlas or on Google maps for the major roads and then follow the road signs. I then just use my sat-nav for the last bit near to my destination when I might be negotiating small, obscure roads.

I love the SatNav on our family car but I have my own little car for golf, shopping etc. I had a 'fascinating'; trip round the entire Leicestershire countryside last week whilst following my AA route that I had printed out before I started to journey to a golf club about 12 miles away!!! Get a SatNav.

I used Google maps while visiting London at the beginning of this week. We went to the preview evening of the RHS flower show at Hampton Court, and stayed in Hampton Wick. Granted, I only used the maps while on foot but they were really useful. I've never used them in the car, but my DD and DS do it all the time for long journeys.

There are lots of Sat Nav apps for your mobile that don't use data. We use "Here we go" and "Navmi". You download your maps at home when you can use wifi. We have a phone cradle and a car charger.

I use 'Tommy" on unfamiliar journeys but I always check the map book before setting off as I like to know a few miles in advance what to expect.
The cost of data on my phone puts me off Google maps whilst driving. Does it work out expensive Maw ?

I find using a sat nav very useful for long and unfamiliar journeys but I do have a hard copy map in the back of my car too. Sometimes I look at that before I start the journey to give myself some idea in advance.

It isn't so much that I need it for the main roads but, when you get to a town or city, it is very useful for finding residential addresses.

I must admit I was a bit nervous about using one at first but I soon got used to it.

I have never really seen the point of sat nav. I am used to driving long distances alone and I can read and memorise a route from a map and like to know the context of any journey I make. At least 90% of the journeys I make are to known destinations using known routes. If I go wrong on a route I can usually unravel myself without reference even to a map.

However, last week we had to go to Derby and then to York, we knew the route and I had the road atlas, but out of curiosity I also switched the Google Maps navigation system on my phone.

Essentially it followed the route we had plotted, but regularly suggested alternative off motorway routes when there was congestion ahead. We ignored these while in areas we were unfamiliar with, but used a suggested alternative route as we got near York because we had a pretty good idea where it went and it helped us avoid congestion and it worked.

I would certainly use the routing app on the phone again, should I need it, but using it has left me even more convinced that buying a sat nav is a waste of time and money.

I don't drive much now - old age plus living in a busy town with good public transport.
My preferred method was maps, but no doubt they're out of date too. I haven't driven here yet, if I dared to I would go by road signs. I think I can remember the road numbers.

When I am going somewhere unfamiliar I check it out on AARoutemaster then use aggie in the car. And I always have a local map and a big Road map in the car just in case.

My sense of direction is appalling but DH, both sons and DD2 are brilliant. Other 2 daughters are as bad as me!

M0nica Thu 05-Jul-18 16:20:00
I have never really seen the point of sat nav. I am used to driving long distances alone and I can read and memorise a route etc
Of if only we were all so perfect.
I too have been driving to and from Scotland from London on my own since my early twenties but let’s face it there are other parts of the country one may be driving to for the first time, country lanes, back streets, residential areas, one way systems in cities and pedestrianised areas which may not have been in place the last time you went anywhere. So let’s not diss those who might like to he reassurance of a voice to help find the way.
In the absence of Bikers DH and mine, Satnav or Google maps on the mobile are often welcome.