Yay, technology!

[denny]

I bought a navigation system for my car this afternoon. A couple of things I noticed in the course of driving to an RX owners club meet-up this evening (and back):

1. It's really weird setting out on a long journey to a new destination with no idea whatsoever of the route you should be taking. I spent the whole hour on the way there getting that sinking 'oh crap, I'm lost' feeling in my stomach, then realising that actually it was okay not to know where the next junction was and what I had to do at it. Very odd.

2. You can pay so much attention to your driving if you're not having to think even slightly about navigating. I can't believe how much more time I had for contingency planning (an advanced driving/riding technique which involves working out lots of increasingly unlikely 'what if' reaction scenarios for the road and traffic situation you're approaching at any given time). I was doing something like four times as much forward planning and yet I was vastly more relaxed than I usually am when driving in London. A very nice feeling, really puts the pleasure back in driving.

Plus, y'know, general geeky-toy joy :)

Comments

[sebastian-lux.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean. I got a TomTom Go 300 GPS for my car back in May and it has made such a massive difference to my relaxation levels when driving. It has also made it easy to just jump in the car, tell it where you want to go and just drive without the arguements over directions etc.

Overall I reccomend GPS to all drivers. :-)

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

I've got the 500... I wanted the 700, but nobody in south London seems to have them in stock, and I wanted it before yesterday evening's trip and particularly before a couple of trips tomorrow, so I settled for what was on the shelf.

[sebastian-lux.livejournal.com]

My parents gave me mine for my birthday. I was actually looking at buying the 500 but they beat me to it. I actually prefer the 300 as it's a bit easier to carry round and having used both the 300 and 500 I can't see any loss of performance.

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

The 500 gives me a hands-free kit for my bluetooth phone, that's why I didn't consider the 300.

[sebastian-lux.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. I just don't use my phone, but personal preference I suppose. :-)

Have you looked at the downloads (traffic/weather) or the speed camera
warning system yet? I have used a 500 with the speed camera upgrade
and was very impressed with it.

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

The GATSO points of interest file is a definite must. Haven't done it yet, but it was part of my reason for getting the TomTom.

[sebastian-lux.livejournal.com]

The only drawback I would say is that it automatically detects a camera within X distance from the unit, but it doesn't care what road it's on. I have experience of an audible warning that a camera is clos but it turned out to be on an adjacent road! Thsi isn't really a problem if you can glance at the screen though.

[nullstr.livejournal.com]

Can you recommend any links (or waddya call 'em, books) for the contingency planning stuff? Or just bang out some tips/examples?

I've been getting a bit sloppy in my riding recently.

Cheers!

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

The advanced driving/riding book is 'Roadcraft' - the police drivers manual. I may have a copy somewhere, if I can find it then you can borrow it, but it might be quicker to raid a library (or buy your own) as my books are mostly still in boxes here.

[nullstr.livejournal.com]

Thanks - looks to be just what I need.