Satellite Navigation, Are They Worth It?

Having relocated to the UK from Australia, where the roads are considerably more quiet, flow freely and were familiar to us we decided to invest in a Sat Nav to help us get from Worthing to Bath. We quickly found that it may have been the worst decision we could have made. After basically having jumped off the plane a week before, we were still struggling to find our bearings on exactly how to get there. I was a big advocate of using a map. A hard copy massive road map which takes up the whole car unfolded but mistakes can only be put down to human error. Truly, how hard can following the A27 for the majority of a trip be? My other half thought it would be infinitely better, quicker and less stressful to use a navigation system, he was wrong and in being so, he also proved the sat nav has no trouble following the A27 but it does have some serious issues with east and west.

As we hopped in the car that morning to begin our road trip we quickly learned that even setting up the sat nav was going to prove a large problem because we had no idea how to use it. So after losing patience we decided to set off in the general direction while I continued to fiddle with it. After another 10 minutes the sat nav is working and from my corresponding map checking we also appear to be going in the right direction. Result! Then I made the huge mistake of feeling a little too comfortable and relaxed and I may have just closed my eyes for a while (obviously I wasn’t driving). When I woke up I saw we were heading towards Brighton. ‘Well that is strange’, I thought, ‘they have put that sign on the wrong side of the road’. Then Mr Driver mentions that he has seen that massive advertising balloon before, low and behold we go under another ‘Brighton this way sign’ and I decide to re-set the sat nav as something is inherently wrong here.

Five minutes later, technology is way too hard to use these days, the grating voice of the sat nav tells us to complete a complete 360 degree turn at the next roundabout. We have been heading the wrong way for about 10 minutes and as a result the sat nav doesn’t, as I think it should, get thrown out the window but now I am told I must also follow the road map and check up on my phone GPS to make sure it won’t happen again.

‘Where did it all go wrong’, I hear you say? At the new bridge that we went under that hadn’t been loaded onto the sat nav. The sat nav decided that perhaps it would be a better idea to turn us around completely after going under it instead of keeping us on route. It happened again the next time we went past the balloons and then under the bridge. Much to my protests the sat nav remained plugged in after I directed us forward and then forced it to recalculate.

We did make it to Bath and we loved it once we had both calmed down a little. Needless to say the stupid thing did send us to the wrong B&B too but we were used to it by then and it was a slightly obscure location.  We would highly recommend the trip to Bath, a stay in the surround hills, with all the little cottages, animals and amazing views and make sure you get to those amazing roman baths.

About the author: Alice works as an internet marketer for a company that deals with van leasing