truck sat nav

Chinese Sat Nav u-turns

Hi there
I think your u-turn problems are related to the type of vehicle profile you are using. If you are using a lorry profile there are certain roads and manoeuvres that are excluded.. probably u-turns are avoided as a last resort for an HGV.

Make yourself a new profile using small car but enter all your mh dimensions.
I have tried this and it works, as a test I used small car profile and gave it a height of 14ft and it avoided a 13ft low bridge. I went a few yards down the diverted road, reset the profile using a height of 10ft, reset the original route and was told to u-turn and sent under the bridge..RESULT.

Hopefully a different profile other than a truck will also cure your sat nav's reluctance to u-turn.
 
pwilmo said:
Hi there
I think your u-turn problems are related to the type of vehicle profile you are using. If you are using a lorry profile there are certain roads and manoeuvres that are excluded.. probably u-turns are avoided as a last resort for an HGV.

Make yourself a new profile using small car but enter all your mh dimensions.
I have tried this and it works, as a test I used small car profile and gave it a height of 14ft and it avoided a 13ft low bridge. I went a few yards down the diverted road, reset the profile using a height of 10ft, reset the original route and was told to u-turn and sent under the bridge..RESULT.

Hopefully a different profile other than a truck will also cure your sat nav's reluctance to u-turn.
Click to expand...
Now then, that sounds good. Thanks for passing that one on Pwilmo. :thumb:

I'll certainly give it a try, as soon as I can. :Smile:

Cheers,

Jock.
 
Gave mine its' first proper run today alongside the Garmin. Both satnavs offered the same route but I deliberately took wrong turns to compare and the truck satnav beat the Garmin every time recalculating the route.

I like the clear display, especially the way it zooms out when there aren't any turns or junctions coming up.

I can't get it to use any of the TTS voices , I select one on the set up but when I exit back to the map it has gone back to the non-TTS voice. Not a major problem.

On the whole for something that cost less than £70 a great piece of kit. :thumb:
 
steelysteph said:
I can't get it to use any of the TTS voices , I select one on the set up but when I exit back to the map it has gone back to the non-TTS voice. Not a major problem.
Click to expand...
Ours did that, until I switched to the SD card, after it was updated. Using the Navi Path button and then Navigation Path option, are you working from the Resident Flash, or the SDMMC?

steelysteph said:
On the whole for something that cost less than £70 a great piece of kit. :thumb:
Click to expand...
I totally agree, and it gets the big :thumb: from me. :BigGrin:

Cheers for now,

Jock.
 
steelysteph said:
I can't get it to use any of the TTS voices , I select one on the set up but when I exit back to the map it has gone back to the non-TTS voice. Not a major problem.

:thumb:
Click to expand...

The TTS voices on the delivered units does not work even though they appear to be available. It requires additional software and changes to the sys.txt file to make it work.

John

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JockandRita said:
Ours did that, until I switched to the SD card, after it was updated. Using the Navi Path button and then Navigation Path option, are you working from the Resident Flash, or the SDMMC?

Jock.
Click to expand...

Do you want to be my agent jock :Rofl1::Rofl1::Rofl1::Rofl1:
 
Well, I used my Truck Sat Nav for the first time yesterday. Navigated from Bridgend to Blaenavon.

Good job I knew my way else I'd never have got there! It was continually recalculating the route and asking me to turn around!

I haven't updated the maps yet but I had input the measurements of the motorhome.

I'm hoping that after I upgrade the maps, it'll perform a little better otherwise it will end up in the junk box! :Doh:
 
pwilmo said:
Hi there
I think your u-turn problems are related to the type of vehicle profile you are using. If you are using a lorry profile there are certain roads and manoeuvres that are excluded.. probably u-turns are avoided as a last resort for an HGV.

Make yourself a new profile using small car but enter all your mh dimensions.
I have tried this and it works, as a test I used small car profile and gave it a height of 14ft and it avoided a 13ft low bridge. I went a few yards down the diverted road, reset the profile using a height of 10ft, reset the original route and was told to u-turn and sent under the bridge..RESULT.

Hopefully a different profile other than a truck will also cure your sat nav's reluctance to u-turn.
Click to expand...
I've just been out and had another play around with route planning, on our unit in the MH.

Using a car profile this time (as suggested), but programming all the MH weights and dimensions, the route planner took me over that historic bridge near us, with it's 7.5T weight limit, whereas the truck, bus, or emergency vehicle profiles wouldn't previously.

Cheers,

Jock.
 
JockandRita said:
I've just been out and had another play around with route planning, on our unit in the MH.

Using a car profile this time (as suggested), but programming all the MH weights and dimensions, the route planner took me over that historic bridge near us, with it's 7.5T weight limit, whereas the truck, bus, or emergency vehicle profiles wouldn't previously.

Cheers,

Jock.
Click to expand...

How do you change from Truck to Car profile? My Truck profile seems to be non selectable.

John

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StitchUp said:
How do you change from Truck to Car profile? My Truck profile seems to be non selectable.

John
Click to expand...
Sorry John, but without sitting in front of the unit and going through it myself, I couldn't explain in great detail, but you have to go into settings and the route planning options to get to the defaults. press the "More" button at the bottom of the page, and then on "add vehicle".

That's the best I can do for now, as I am still getting to know the unit myself, due to it having so many options to choose from.

HTH,

Jock.

P.S. Did you dowlnoad the English manual that Trikeman made available in the Downloads section? Truck Sat Nav User Manual
 
I have had one of these for over 2 years now, the car version though. It has been a great piece of kit. and easy to use once you have played with it.
 
JockandRita said:
Sorry John, but without sitting in front of the unit and going through it myself, I couldn't explain in great detail, but you have to go into settings and the route planning options to get to the defaults. press the "More" button at the bottom of the page, and then on "add vehicle".

That's the best I can do for now, as I am still getting to know the unit myself, due to it having so many options to choose from.
Click to expand...
Found it thanks, deep in the bowels of menus :)

John
 
pwilmo said:
Hi there
I think your u-turn problems are related to the type of vehicle profile you are using. If you are using a lorry profile there are certain roads and manoeuvres that are excluded.. probably u-turns are avoided as a last resort for an HGV.

Make yourself a new profile using small car but enter all your mh dimensions.
I have tried this and it works, as a test I used small car profile and gave it a height of 14ft and it avoided a 13ft low bridge. I went a few yards down the diverted road, reset the profile using a height of 10ft, reset the original route and was told to u-turn and sent under the bridge..RESULT.

Hopefully a different profile other than a truck will also cure your sat nav's reluctance to u-turn.
Click to expand...

Hi,
an update:

I've turned changed the uturn=0 to uturn=1 in the sys file.

I've created a car profile with MH dimensions and also used a taxi profile.

Unfortunately, it still doesn't like doing u-turns and it takes me on routes that are far longer than necessary. I've kept the same destination in to compare journey options and the following happened today:

I programmed it to take me to Sainsbury's and I ignored several turnings. It gave me a new route telling me to turn back on myself at a roundabout 1 mile down the road - it did not give suggestions about using any of the many side roads that I passed that would have been a quick way of getting back onto the main road that I could have taken. When I got to the roundabout, it was telling me that the route was 3 miles but when I took my own route, ignoring the suggestion to go back on myself, it found a new route which was a mile shorter and faster.

I then changed the profile to taxi without changing the default heights, weights etc. and programmed it to get directions for another journey to Sainsbury's from home. I ignored the suggested roads (2.3 miles) and took the turning that previously had given me a recalculated 23 mile route (without options to u turn or to use the many country roads that would have been about 5 miles). As a taxi, it gave me an 8 mile route instead, taking me in a large circle and back on the road that I was about to set off from. Still no u-turns or suggestion of taking the side roads but 15 miles shorter.


I'm becoming disappointed with the unit and will give it one last try before returning it under the 14 day trial scheme that was advertised when I bought it. It is otherwise a good machine but I fear that I'm not always going to get the best route and the stress that it will cause me is not worth the savings. The other thing that I do not like about it is the short battery life - I'm lucky to get 45 mins - not long enough to use the device in pedestrian mode when we are exploring towns on our journeys. My 8 year old Garmin was giving 3 hrs of battery life before it died and was great to carry around while on foot.

Maybe I have a duff unit and I'll get another if you guys don't have the same problems that I have but if you do, I'll take a closer look at the alternatives.
 
I don't know what's happening here - I don't appear to be having any of the issues that some of our funster colleagues are having, mine's doing great.

Bridgend (my old stomping ground) to Blaenavon is a strange one - Blaengwynfi, now I could understand that - no satnav would want to go there for fear of it's own safety, but Blaenavon??????
:Laughing:

I would seriously have a good 're-check' of the initial set-up, input of the postcode and enter (check it's in) etc. Did your unit have satellite 'lock-on'. Have you downloaded the instructions we put on? Just thinking aloud, it could be an input misunderstanding or something......

Seems so 'out of character' for this unit.

Regards,

Trikeman. :Wink:

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Trikeman said:
I don't know what's happening here - I don't appear to be having any of the issues that some of our funster colleagues are having, mine's doing great.

Bridgend (my old stomping ground) to Blaenavon is a strange one - Blaengwynfi, now I could understand that - no satnav would want to go there for fear of it's own safety, but Blaenavon??????
:Laughing:

I would seriously have a good 're-check' of the initial set-up, input of the postcode and enter (check it's in) etc. Did your unit have satellite 'lock-on'. Have you downloaded the instructions we put on? Just thinking aloud, it could be an input misunderstanding or something......

Seems so 'out of character' for this unit.

Regards,

Trikeman. :Wink:
Click to expand...


The journeys that I was making when I first noticed the problems were an hour each - both issues arose towards the end of the journey so I would expect that the satellites were truly locked. I had typed the post code myself. I've used a Garmin for years and my phone more recently so the input is unlikely to be an issue; it took me straight to the pub that I had added in on Saturday but didn't give me a quick route back when I drove past it - it wanted to send me on a 20 mile circular route to get back to the pub 100m behind me.

The errors seen this morning and afternoon appeared after over 10 mins of use. The same kind of errors were seen after having the device running for a min or two.

I used Sainsbury's based on the POI that was stored in the "Places near here" and the map shows it located correctly.

I am running iGo9 and have installed the newest maps for the UK, France & Spain.

What were the instructions that were put on?
 
Updated the UK maps last night and used the device to get to work this morning = perfect.

I'll do some more testing over the weekend.
 
StitchUp said:
Updated the UK maps last night and used the device to get to work this morning = perfect.

I'll do some more testing over the weekend.
Click to expand...

Mine gets me to my destinations without problems. My difficulties arise when I ignore one or two of the instructions. It does not often give me a sensible alternative route. Try going in the opposite direction or overshooting your destination - does it give you a sensible new route such as turn around?
 
I purposely overshot my destination this morning and it took me to the next round-a-bout and had me double back. So I guess that was okay.

I just need to be mindful of possible shortcomings.

I'll give it 'til after the weekend before I decide to keep or send back.
 
I drove the same route twice today once with the satnav set as a car and once set with MH settings. I delibrately ignored the directions in both cases the reroutes it gave were logical (but different) in both cases.

When set as a car it rerouted through a housing estate it was essentially a u turn by 3 left turns then a right, with the motorhome settings it sent me to the next roundabout to u turn to get back to the original routing.

I ignored this and continued on the recalculation then gave me a new route because the route back to the original route was longer then a new route (logical and correct).

In both cases it didnot route over a road that I would have taken but I think that this is because there are priority restrictions on the road and my direction would mean constant give ways. I can understand why id did not use this route.

All in all I can accept what it did.

John
 
The aversion to U turns is not unique to this sat nav. The sat nav in my Landrover (think the same one is in some Jags and BMWs) will only get you to turn around if there's no alternative. Last week near Hungerford (unfamiliar territory for me) it took me on a pleasant 5 mile detour on flooded single track roads to return to the same place I'd gone wrong only facing the other way. I suppose if you don't know where you're going it will still get you there, if you do know the way you don't need the sat nav.

My TomTom loves U turns, but always favour A roads because it thinks they're faster than B roads, often not the case round here.
 
I borrowed a TomTom a few years ago and I can confirm the units obsession with U turns. I took a wrong roundabout exit on a dual carriageway and Mr TomTom insisted I do a U turn!
Took the RAC 3 hours to get my car off the Armco.......... :Rofl1::Rofl1::Rofl1::Rofl1:


Allan
 
Here in the UK, I tend to use the Sat Nav for the last 20 - 30 mins of the journey, ie, the minor or city routes, which I might not be familiar with.

Abroad however, I tend to rely upon it quite heavily, as I genuinely don't know my major routes. That's down to not doing enough European touring with the MH. :Wink::Wink::Wink:

Cheers,

Jock. :Smile:
 
Another good trip yesterday - Lancaster to Manchester Trafford Centre, a journey that I know well but decided to see what the SatNav would do.

It locked on to the satellites and calculated the route in good time (no slower than the Garmin) and suggested my usual route, during the journey the display and instructions were very clear and had no issues. A couple of miles from the destination we hit severe traffic on the M60, and couldn't think of a way out of it. A quick glance at the large & clear map display (no need to touch the screen) I realised that coming off at J13 would get me on Barton Rd and toward my goal, I did this and it quickly recalculated the route.

I had programmed the car park as my final destination but it was full and we got diverted elsewhere, satnav immediately recalculated again and suggested a u-turn, it kept up with the situation very well.

Unfortunately at this point the battey was flat - it appears that the car charger isn't working. I've contacted the seller and await their reply.

A great test and I'm very happy with it. :thumb::thumb:

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My charger exploded the first time I plugged in.
It is still charging tho and after investigating it is one of two capacitors that had self destructed.
 
22 pages on this thread and almost all in favour of these satnavs. They have been tested to the nth degree and almost all have given them the thumbs up. :thumb: Can't be bad eh?

Wyn
 
steelysteph said:
Unfortunately at this point the battey was flat - it appears that the car charger isn't working. I've contacted the seller and await their reply.
Click to expand...
:Sad:

Techno100 said:
My charger exploded the first time I plugged in.
Click to expand...
:Laughing:

I've not tried mine yet, as I've been using the TomTom 12v charger already in the MH, (same connection). I'd best give it a go, and just hope the blooming thing doesn't explode like yours Andy. :Eek!:

WynandJean said:
22 pages on this thread and almost all in favour of these satnavs. They have been tested to the nth degree and almost all have given them the thumbs up. Can't be bad eh?
Click to expand...
FreelanderUK (Chris) told me last summer, that his tanker driving mate (or brother maybe?) had been using one, and was extremely pleased with it. Like you say Wyn, can't be bad, eh? :thumb:

Cheers,

Jock.
 
JockandRita said:
FreelanderUK (Chris) told me last summer, that his tanker driving mate (or brother maybe?) had been using one, and was extremely pleased with it. Like you say Wyn, can't be bad, eh? :thumb:

Cheers,

Jock.
Click to expand...
yes it was my brother , just moved into Lincolnshire and started a new job driving a concrete delivery lorry , i got him one , i loaded the latest truck map and away he went , its never missed a beat and got him to all his drop offs with no problem , he has been using it for just under a year:Smile:
 
Tanker driver - concrete mixer driver. I was nearly there Chris. :Wink:

I really should be taking mine out in my little courier van, A.. to give it a good variation of journeys, and B..to give me more "hands on" practise with it. :Wink:

Cheers for now,

Jock.

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