Adventures of Navman

MotherNatureVer2 · 22-03-2007, 09:41 AM

Yesterday I took 5 kids to Quirindi for sports trials. I loaded up the Cruiser with the Navman, 5 kids, plenty of drinks and food ....... We left at about 6.30 in the morning for a big adventure :P

I had already programed the navman to go in the direction I wanted and knew that all would be well ..... a 3 hour trip & we would be there .......

All went to plan apart from it wanting me to go in a direction I knew would get me there but I didnt want to go that way ......... Love the way it redirects when you have the hide to tell it no ......

Kids played a great game and 2 of them are selected to go on to the next round in Narrabri ..........

We ventured home again ...... I set the Navman to take me home ..... thats a great button that little house one ;)

I knew we were not going on the same roads when I went over a single lane bridge & then there was dirt roads ........ Kids all called out in unison ... 'We didnt get here on the dirt" ...... I knew we were heading West so I continued ......

Was a great little adventure through some of the prettiest country side I have seen in a long long time. All in all we went over about 100k's of dirt but we did get home & all in the same time that it took us to get there albeit a bit slower ;)

The moral of the story ........ Navman will get you there if you just follow the directions ...... you never know you may just have a pleasant trip of new adventures on the way.

EA2BA · 22-03-2007, 09:51 AM

Yup and it usually also has a quicker way to get home, that is in fact quicker even though you think it is slower, great things them Navman's.

kwonie · 22-03-2007, 10:31 AM

Yes.. The Navman is excellent!
All those features and functions are great.
Though sometimes it is alittle slow and it gets confused.
A nice little portable device.

Ah~! I got a question..
About the Live Traffic Updates.. where can I get it?..
On the website, it says available in Europe. says nothing about the other countries.

Help?...

Tote · 22-03-2007, 10:46 AM

All the aussie maps are supplied by sensis so most navigators are basically the same once you get outside the cities. I've got TomTom and it refuses to acknowledge the existence of a road from Molong to Dubbo via Yeoval, 10 Km outside Dubbo it still tries to send me over to the Newell Hwy
Regards,
Tote

MotherNatureVer2 · 22-03-2007, 10:59 AM

I have found similar things Tote ....... I love the way it doesnt reconise our home .... Were 2k's off road and it always tells us were home when were just off the tar ;)

kwonie ...... From memory I had the Navman connected to the computer & the disc in the CD rom .....then asked for the updates ..... it had a map of Australia and I just clicked on where I needed the maps ........

Gave me all of Australia for the 2006 updates ....... I was one of the lucky ones to get them for free as an offer when I got the Navman last year ;)

kwonie · 22-03-2007, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MotherNature

kwonie ...... From memory I had the Navman connected to the computer & the disc in the CD rom .....then asked for the updates ..... it had a map of Australia and I just clicked on where I needed the maps ........

Gave me all of Australia for the 2006 updates ....... I was one of the lucky ones to get them for free as an offer when I got the Navman last year ;)

Yeah, I also updated my maps from the cd but I wasn't able to find the update for the live traffic update.

What about you?.. When you about to enter heavy traffic, does the Navman re-direct you to another route?

If you have it, possible to send me the files? Probably be the same updates as I got mine just at the beginning of the year.

outback_ute · 22-03-2007, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MotherNature

I knew we were not going on the same roads when I went over a single lane bridge & then there was dirt roads ........ Kids all called out in unison ... 'We didnt get here on the dirt" ...... I knew we were heading West so I continued ......

They have a "avoid toll roads" feature don't they? Perhaps an "avoid dirt roads" might be helpful (eg if you were in the Sprint Lisa?)

dan.76 · 22-03-2007, 07:05 PM

my road angel always pick the tar road to travel on, will never pick a dirt one untill ive been driving on it for a little while

Walkinshaw · 22-03-2007, 07:36 PM

Ask Jac about Navman + car trailers + Bendigo

XRchic · 22-03-2007, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walkinshaw

Ask Jac about Navman + car trailers + Bendigo

Funny how I thought someone would bring that up... hahahaha. Fond memories.... Still, someone else fell asleep in their car on the side of the road when everyone took off too, and he is sitting next to me now.

Funny weekend all round really.

Love Navman...

Im sure Gary doesnt!

ten[A]cio[U]s · 22-03-2007, 08:57 PM

I bought a new navman today.

I gave it directions to a newly developed part of wagga and it found it fine and gave me a quicker way to get there then what i normally use.

Very clever gadgets.

Van D · 22-03-2007, 09:03 PM

Yep, told our GPS to take me somewhere in Tassie. I was planning to go North, straight up the highway from Hobart. Instead it took me through mountains and countryside on the way to Dove Lake/Cradle Mountain.

Beautiful scenery and got there no dramas.

Ridin-High · 22-03-2007, 09:18 PM

We got a top of the line Tomtom.... best thing ever... but it does get confused in the city somtimes

haycait · 22-03-2007, 09:20 PM

One of the greatest inventions of recent times in my mind!!

I have a Tom Tom and it connects through Bluetooth to my mobile and if I subscribe to their system thingy it will preiodically connect and check traffic conditions and even weather reports for the set destination. I haven't done this but know someone who has and they thought it was fab specially as they live in inner Sydney. I rarely go into any CBD so can't see the need to subscribe.

Before I got it I was thinking about it for a while and couldn't see how it could be sooooo good for the $$$ but was lucky enough that my boss got me one as I guess it is better than me getting lost and wasting time, unfortunately he has taken it back from me for the last two weeks as we have a new guy in the company and wanted him to have it. I am hoping to get a new one as we need another within the company as we have 3 staff and only 2 GPS's.

Now is when I have really noticed how bloody good it is as I have had to go back to using the UBD and maps and what a pain in the RS

Cheers
Haycait

smciner1 · 22-03-2007, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XRchic

Funny how I thought someone would bring that up... hahahaha. Fond memories.... Still, someone else fell asleep in their car on the side of the road when everyone took off too, and he is sitting next to me now.

Funny weekend all round really.

Love Navman...

Im sure Gary doesnt!

Bwhhahahahah (tm)!

Just need a button for No U-Turns with Tandem Trailers (tm)......

bdennis · 22-03-2007, 10:34 PM

Lisa, haha
Good old Sat Navs..
First of all.. Let me say I have a great sense of direction, so the Sat nav was more of a toy than anything...

On a trip to QLD from Vic 12 months ago, I loaned a Navman520.
Very good device..
On the way back to Vic I told it to take me home via Gundawindi from the gold coast. It took us North and then west towards Ipswitch.. I was expecting it to take us via Warwick. But it started to go North west to Toowoomba. After we were west of Ipswitch I decided I really wanted to go via Warwick.. So I just found a exit and turned left expecting the Navman to figure it out... After 10 min of "perform a U turn when possible" it decided to do a re route.. After a while it said turn right (down a dirt road) so I followed it expecting to see the Warwick road with in 10 min or so. Then the road started to get a bit less used... Then it said turn left, I did. Then the dirt road finished at a gate that lead into a house... Bugger. A dead end. So I back tracked (only a km or so back to the tar road) and followed my nose until it did another re route and took me to the high way..

The moral of the story.. only place 80% trust in the system.. It may lead you up the garden path / dead end dirt road...

schmidty · 22-03-2007, 11:45 PM

I've got an ICN 720 which has the biggest screen on a navman you can get. works so well and is so easy to see and follow.

One thing i've found very handy is when driving at night in the truck in the missle of no where, you can pretty well use it to drive a bit ahead of where you can see. By having a quick glance at the screen, you can see where and how sharp all of the twists and turns are, well ahead of how far you can see with your lights.

Anyone with a navman that uses it at night, if you havent worked it out yet, change the colour scheme at night to 'night hues' the background goes dark, and the route turns flouro green. By the background going dark, it doesnt flare in your eyes and helps with night vision.

Also remember that the maps are only as current as when the last update was done. There may be new/quicker ways, or even roads that dont exist anymore or have changed conditions.

Gotta watch out in the truck and not get complacent, because it takes no notice of road classifications, or low bridges, or roads with bridge weight limits.

Apart from that, well worth the $1100 bucks.

MotherNatureVer2 · 23-03-2007, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwonie

Yeah, I also updated my maps from the cd but I wasn't able to find the update for the live traffic update.

What about you?.. When you about to enter heavy traffic, does the Navman re-direct you to another route?

If you have it, possible to send me the files? Probably be the same updates as I got mine just at the beginning of the year.

Ohhh I never realised there was a live update thinggy that did that ......... Only time I have used it in the city was in Vic last year when we got it on our big adventure for the RAID there ....... So really I havent used it in traffic as such........ If I can find it I will let you know where ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by outback_ute

They have a "avoid toll roads" feature don't they? Perhaps an "avoid dirt roads" might be helpful (eg if you were in the Sprint Lisa?)

Hehehehehe John ........ I remember doing a certain scavenger hunt in a state Im not used to & it did infact try to send us through a road that even the Cruiser would have loved ...... we took the lonnnngggggg tar way that day ... wasnt that far from a certain proving ground heheheehe

:

Quote:

Originally Posted by XRchic

Funny how I thought someone would bring that up... hahahaha. Fond memories.... Still, someone else fell asleep in their car on the side of the road when everyone took off too, and he is sitting next to me now.

Funny weekend all round really.

Love Navman...

Im sure Gary doesnt!

HAhahahahahahaha Jac .... must admit I did think of you when I thought about telling this little tale ....... almost added that checking which side of a town you need to be on but thought otherwise :P

Quote:

Originally Posted by bdennis

Lisa, haha
Good old Sat Navs..
First of all.. Let me say I have a great sense of direction, so the Sat nav was more of a toy than anything...
*snip*

LOL Brendan ..... ours was a toy as well ....... My wonderful OH & my father seem to be having a gadget war ........ I think were one up with this toy ...... although Dad did teach Owen a thing or two about the new mobile phones they have ...... and Dad does have an old GPS thinggy ....... Our cars look light fighter jets they have soooooo many gadgets in them :Up_to_som

Quote:

Originally Posted by schmidty

*snip* Anyone with a navman that uses it at night, if you havent worked it out yet, change the colour scheme at night to 'night hues' the background goes dark, and the route turns flouro green. By the background going dark, it doesnt flare in your eyes and helps with night vision. *snip*

Thanks for that ......... I never realised .... maybe I can now teach Dad & Owen something about it

:

Van D · 23-03-2007, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schmidty

Anyone with a navman that uses it at night, if you havent worked it out yet, change the colour scheme at night to 'night hues' the background goes dark, and the route turns flouro green. By the background going dark, it doesnt flare in your eyes and helps with night vision.

Not sure on the brand of ours (i'll check) but it does it automatically when it's getting dark (it's timed for roughly sundown). Very handy at night as it's not as bright.

HLC · 23-03-2007, 08:21 PM

that sounds like a lot of fun!!!!!

schmidty · 23-03-2007, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by popinfresh

Not sure on the brand of ours (i'll check) but it does it automatically when it's getting dark (it's timed for roughly sundown). Very handy at night as it's not as bright.

Not sure if you mean it just dials the brightness back, but i'm talking about totally changing the colour scheme. Does yours change to completely diff colours, or just different shades?

fordel · 23-03-2007, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walkinshaw

Ask Jac about Navman + car trailers + Bendigo

Damn i got beaten to it, i was going to say the same thing ;)

Chris