A very worrying situtation!

[Starlight]

Hiya folks.

I bought a sat nav (Tom Tom XL) the other week. Had to make a long trip to Surrey the other day to do some business and I was all set, ready to go, sat nav ready away I drove off (8ish in the morning) Got there okay and spent some time in Surrey. When it was time to go, got my sat nav out the glove department and it was DEAD! No power, nothing. The VERY worrying thing was that I forgot to take my cigarette power supplier for it and it suddenly donned on me sh*t how the hell am I going to get home!!!!!!! About an hours drive away and obviously, I don't know where the hell to go!!!! I was panicking like mad! Went into a local electronics shop to see if they had a charger, no luck. They said the nearest Halfords is like a good half an hours drive away and they might not even sell the chargers on their own http://mobiledjalliance.org/style_emoticons/default/scarerun.gif The shop owner was so caring and phoned her husband for directions back to Oxfordshire. Very luckily, he was a cab driver!!!!! Told me the directions and was quite an easy route home thank goodness!!!!!!! Got home just over an hour and a half due to the very busy M25. Was my 1st time on the motorway too on my own, was really nervous but did manage it okay!! Ahhh so I got home okay and I was SO relieved!!!!! It was a HORRIBLE feeling at the time when I got my sat nav out!!!

Best wishes,

Neil.

[Spirits High]

Neil,

Sorry to hear your mishap but do you know the phrase about the 6 P's :confused:

Preparation and Planning prevent :Censored: poor performance :D

Get yourself a pocket sized map book and ALWAYS keep it in the glovebox ;)

Anyway Oxford to Surrey is hardly a drama........try doing Split to Sarejevo :p :D

[Shaun]

Whenever I'm gigging out of the area I print directions with google map, just in case the Sat Nav packs in. My sense of direction is terrible, so I don't take chances. :o

[visualdjmax]

Whenever I'm gigging out of the area I print directions with google map, just in case the Sat Nav packs in. My sense of direction is terrible, so I don't take chances. :o

Same as.

[Charlie Brown]

Yeah, I'm lucky I have Dad to drive me around. I have no sense of direction what so ever. Very very bad...sometimes I get lost on the way to the bedroom (slightly exagrated but you get the point) :D

[Starlight]

Neil,

Sorry to hear your mishap but do you know the phrase about the 6 P's :confused:

Preparation and Planning prevent :Censored: poor performance :D

Get yourself a pocket sized map book and ALWAYS keep it in the glovebox ;)

Anyway Oxford to Surrey is hardly a drama........try doing Split to Sarejevo :p :D

LOL! Good thinking but you know what it's like for new drivers lol! ;)

I thought it was a drama at the time sir :Laugh: lol!

Neil.


Whenever I'm gigging out of the area I print directions with google map, just in case the Sat Nav packs in. My sense of direction is terrible, so I don't take chances. :o

Wise thinking :) ;)


Yeah, I'm lucky I have Dad to drive me around. I have no sense of direction what so ever. Very very bad...sometimes I get lost on the way to the bedroom (slightly exagrated but you get the point) :D

:D :D You'll have to ask santa for a sat nav for when you start driving :D :D ;)

Best wishes,

Neil.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Whenever I'm gigging out of the area I print directions with google map, just in case the Sat Nav packs in. My sense of direction is terrible, so I don't take chances. :o

The very reason I got my sat nav was google maps gave me wrong directions twice to gigs and one was a wedding!

I take it you never had that proplem?

[wensleydale]

NOt being funny but surely the getting there is the difficult bit- getting home again is usually ok as long as you know where you live.

incidentally how far was it from surrey? surely you must have had an idea how to get back- Surrey is hardly in the back of beyond?

[rob1963]

Whenever I'm gigging out of the area I print directions with google map, just in case the Sat Nav packs in. My sense of direction is terrible, so I don't take chances. :o

Good idea.

I've started using my SatNav for discos in places I don't know, as it's so easy.

However, I the car charger lives in the van permanently, so there's no chance of me forgetting it.

Also, I'd never rely on the SatNav 100%, so I always have a Surrey A-Z in the van, and when I'm doing a gig outside my area, I'll print off some Google maps & directions as back up...just in case.

[JAMdisco]

However, I the car charger lives in the van permanently, so there's no chance of me forgetting it.

Same here, the sat nav is in the glovebox and the charger also lives in the van.

I do have a small pin stuck in the drivers sun blind as I have had it go off completely before. Simply stick a pin in the 'reset' hole and it springs into life.

It's saved me loads of time and has been worth its worth in gold. I've never had any of the 'horror stories' that so many people go on about happen to me yet. :D

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

incidentally how far was it from surrey? surely you must have had an idea how to get back- Surrey is hardly in the back of beyond?

My thoughts too! ;)

[Kernow]

...sometimes I get lost on the way to the bedroom :D

Not as big a disaster as getting lost on the way to the bathroom Charlie ? ;)

:D :D

[Excalibur]

Neil,

Sorry to hear your mishap but do you know the phrase about the 6 P's :confused:

Preparation and Planning prevent :Censored: poor performance :D

Get yourself a pocket sized map book and ALWAYS keep it in the glovebox ;)

Anyway Oxford to Surrey is hardly a drama........try doing Split to Sarejevo :p :D

Better still, the monstrous great type of Atlas I use. ;) :D :D :D


Hiya folks.

I bought a sat nav (Tom Tom XL) the other week. Had to make a long trip to Surrey the other day to do some business and I was all set, ready to go, sat nav ready away I drove off (8ish in the morning) Got there okay and spent some time in Surrey. When it was time to go, got my sat nav out the glove department and it was DEAD! No power, nothing. .

Battery life on them is atrocious. I never use mine without it plugged in. It's saved my life on many occasions.

[Starlight]

incidentally how far was it from surrey? surely you must have had an idea how to get back- Surrey is hardly in the back of beyond?

I worked myself up too much but in the end the journey was relatively straight forward thankfully. It took me about an hour and a half due to the M25 being very congested, the sat nav told me it takes 1h 15mins but obviously that's with a straight drive through.

Best wishes,

Neil.

[sleah]

I also do the print out back up plan, but then I use a laptop for sat nav which will give me a route plan, so it's not a disaster if the sat nav reciever goes down, I also print out the route:D

I've found I need to use the sat nav (well, MS Autoroute:p) due to Gooooogle being consistanly inaccurate.
I recently had a meeting at someone's house 3 miles away, as it was up a track somewhere I was not familiar with, I (foolishly) decided to use Gogle Maps/Gooogle Earth to pin point the exact house.
Goggggle beautifully took direct to the front door - of the house 100 yards away:mad::mad:

I'd forgotten my own rule - NEVER trust anything gogle tell me!!! Should have asked Autoroute too:bang:

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Before I got my Sat Nav I would print out directions from the AA Route Planner site. More often than not it would sort me out easily. Now I have Sat Nav (Tom Tom) and it sits in the glove box and is locked. The charger is always in the van too. In my 'favourites' on the Sat Nav I have 'home' so it doesn't matter where I am, I just click that and it takes me home...simples!

I know that's the obvious thing to do but I know people who don't do it like that.

[BeerFunk]

I honestly don't know what the panic is... you could easily have just bought an Atlas from a newsagents or something?? :confused:

When I used to do home deliveries for Asda, and I used to use Google maps on my mobile phone when I was stuck - it was absolutely invaluable.

Interesting that people are comparing Google (a free service) to expensive Sat Nav systems ;)

[andyw]

don't panic in these situations most garages can give you directions and they all sell maps


Yeah, I'm lucky I have Dad to drive me around. I have no sense of direction what so ever. Very very bad...sometimes I get lost on the way to the bedroom (slightly exagrated but you get the point) :D

my 2 children and there friends are all useless at directions as well, they are ok in the very local area but once outside then they haven't a clue, i put it down to handheld computor games,when i was young and went out with mum and dad we were always looking out the car window,todays youngsters are all looking down at a screen so they don't see where they are going ( god i think i am getting old someone come and put me out of my misery before i go and make myself a cup of cocoa:) )

[Shaun]

The very reason I got my sat nav was google maps gave me wrong directions twice to gigs and one was a wedding!

I take it you never had that proplem?

I've neve actually had to use the maps, so don't know if there's ever been an error with them.

[Jiggles]

Maps. Sat navs. Print offs... pifft :P If I need to get anywhere i just take a glance on Google maps and thats me!

[djsteve10]

I have a Sat Nav that lives in the glove box all of the time with the charger,

I will also check on the AA Route planner and get the route. I now have an Apple Iphone which has Maps built into it with route guideance so I would just use that if all went wrong. I always have a A - Z handy under the seat of the car just incase.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Maps. Sat navs. Print offs... pifft :P If I need to get anywhere i just take a glance on Google maps and thats me!

Do you drive then?

[Jiggles]

Yep :D :P

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Yep :D :P

On your own?

[Jiggles]

No not really. If i want to go anywhere then i have to navigate.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

No not really. If i want to go anywhere then i have to navigate.

HAHA! Caught out! :D

[Jiggles]

eh :confused: If i want to go anywhere then i have to know where I'm going as my dad is useless passenger navigator!