Garmin sat nav at Aldi

And also (an observation I make from personal experience) if the deal is a good one, your local store will probably be allocated maybe ten - of which the staff will buy half before they even get onto the shelves...

If there's anything in their Specialbuys that I want, I've learnt to buy online with free delivery - some are "In store only" but this one isn't.

The DAB/FM transmitter might be of interest at £34.99 too, though the final picture of it with all its spaghetti wires is a bit off-putting.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/bauhn-dab-%26-fm-transmitter/p/083022197522500

The Sat Nav model number LMT should mean lifetime maps and traffic but the spec gives lifetime traffic but no mention of lifetime map updates.

Not able to use vehicle dimensions though.

My 'input your size' sat nav will avoid bridges below my imputed height as well as only routing me on suitable roads. If the road hasn't been measured, and I insist on driving on such a road, it displays a symbol to tell me that it doesn't have the necessary info and 'it may be unsuitable' .

Paulmold wrote:My 'input your size' sat nav will avoid bridges below my imputed height as well as only routing me on suitable roads. If the road hasn't been measured, and I insist on driving on such a road,  it displays a symbol to tell me that it doesn't have the necessary info and 'it may be unsuitable' .

groundhog wrote:What are you using Paul.....satnav I mean!

It's a Garmin Dezl560. It's either a C&CC or CAMC one but can't remember which as I have both clubs campsites and CS/CL's on it. It's a few years old now, bought secondhand off eBay. It has traffic on it as well.

Paulmold wrote:My 'input your size' sat nav will avoid bridges below my imputed height as well as only routing me on suitable roads. If the road hasn't been measured, and I insist on driving on such a road,  it displays a symbol to tell me that it doesn't have the necessary info and 'it may be unsuitable' .

yes, 'low' bridges are one of things that are measured and therefore known to the mapping database and are acted upon by the navigation algorithms.
my old Tom tom doesnt have 'dimensions' inputting, but Low Bridges are known as part of an installed POI file...and can be seen on the map screen.
....but loads and loads of roads that are (in reality) 'narrow' are not classified as such and are fair game for the navigation software....
you can test your device (perhaps in the car.....) by setting it to 'fastest route' (oe, take any short cut going) and see where it takes you, despite having inputted your dimensions....
most of the roads across the Levels, where we live, are virtually single track, but don't carry 'width limit' signs.
..but, obviously, where they are classified, the software will ignore them...

Exactly the issue I've considered for a long time to be the crucial drawback of "dedicated" lorry or motorhome satnavs.

In a nutshell, the algorithms can act on (or react to) only whatever data is contained within the mapping. If the map doesn't know the road gets narrow, it doesn't matter if you tell the satnav you are driving a 40 tonner, it will still send you down a goat track occasionally.

My sat navs are set these days to avoid motorways, since retiring from driving 60k miles per year for 20 years, I'm in no hurry to get anywhere.

Gromit wrote:Exactly the issue I've considered for a long time to be the crucial drawback of "dedicated" lorry or motorhome satnavs.

In a nutshell, the algorithms can act on (or react to) only whatever data is contained within the mapping. If the map doesn't know the road gets narrow, it doesn't matter if you tell the satnav you are driving a 40 tonner, it will still send you down a goat track occasionally.

tomtom has some models which are 'dedicated' truck or caravan units....the difference between these and normal units with 'size inputting' is the Mapping used...the truck/camper maps are a diferent set and must have some additional 'coding' in orsed to identify roads which should be ignored from navigation...
hence, the maps are an additional £80 or so......these can be overlaid onto some compatible units.
imbenerally stick to 'fastest route' and this will normally include A roads and motorway....
im happy to bimble around France and Spain at a slow trundle but prefer not to take a chance on being sent down a lovely UK lane....

I also input no motorways, I hate them, ever since that motor home that had broken down was on the hard shoulder and a lorry ploughed into it, they were three ladies with a lot of dogs going to a dog show, some dogs were killed, their friend from Austria I think it was, had life changing injuries, the lorry driver had fallen asleep, also it was on the TV yesterday, that as there is so much traffic, they open up the hard shoulder at times as another lane, so if you break down you are advised to get to the emergency laybys, not always possible, so could be broken down in a motorway lane, my friends two daughters also got killed when a lorry went into them on breaking down, they were on the hard shoulder, the driver  had of all things a stick of wood pressed on the accelerator pedal,  so he could have a nap, came out in court. I much prefer scenic routes as see places I didn`t know existed, so a double bonus, may take me longer to get there, but I am retired so no rush.I just enjoy the journey, not hurtling down motor ways, will leave that to the commuters.

bolero boy wrote:tomtom has some models which are 'dedicated' truck or caravan units....the difference between these and normal units with 'size inputting' is the Mapping used...the truck/camper maps are a different set and must have some additional 'coding' in order to identify roads which should be ignored from navigation...
hence, the maps are an additional £80 or so......these can be overlaid onto some compatible units.

This is interesting.

Is it additional coding as such, or a set of hidden POIs? I don't know, but one method that was (is?) used to avoid low bridges was to employ a set of embedded POIs.

I'm a bit surprised Messrs Google haven't picked up on this one. Their camera cars don't miss very many roads, so if they had a width grid superimposed in their cameras they would have a continuous record of the road width. The grid need not show on the normal "Street View", but I'm sure it could be used by their electronic wizardry to identify any road which was, or became became too narrow somewhere along its length. These roads could then be "flagged" for large vehicle avoidance on the mapping software, and would exclude those silly short cuts which try to save a few seconds.

I doubt if satnavs can ever be completely idiot proof (whoops - I mean "driver" proof! ) but something like that would positively identify a good percentage of unsuitable roads.

Probably!

Some of the crowd sourced apps like Waze can be better at selecting suitable routes, as they use driver feedback to categorise roads, not just raw map data.

That's interesting.

There's a button on our TomTom App to report a speed camera, so it would presumably be just as easy to have one for reporting a narrow road?

The problem then would be "What counts as narrow?" and how do they differentiate between sensible reports, and those from "Nervous Nellies" in a big van for the first time, who need at least six feet on each side before they will go through a gap. (Or "Normans" of course - must be PC these days! )

There's a fortune to be made for someone who produces a demonstrably foolproof satnav!

hhere is the tomtom link to their camper mapsGromit wrote:

bolero boy wrote:tomtom has some models which are 'dedicated' truck or caravan units....the difference between these and normal units with 'size inputting' is the Mapping used...the truck/camper maps are a different set and must have some additional 'coding' in order to identify roads which should be ignored from navigation...
hence, the maps are an additional £80 or so......these can be overlaid onto some compatible units.

This is interesting.

Is it additional coding as such, or a set of hidden POIs? I don't know, but one method that was (is?) used to avoid low bridges was to employ a set of embedded POIs.

I'm a bit surprised Messrs Google haven't picked up on this one. Their camera cars don't miss very many roads, so if they had a width grid superimposed in their cameras they would have a continuous record of the road width. The grid need not show on the normal "Street View", but I'm sure it could be used by their electronic wizardry to identify any road which was, or became became too narrow somewhere along its length. These roads could then be "flagged" for large vehicle avoidance on the mapping software, and would exclude those silly short cuts which try to save a few seconds.

I doubt if satnavs can ever be completely idiot proof (whoops - I mean "driver" proof! ) but something like that would positively identify a good percentage of unsuitable roads.

Probably!

Dave, here is tomtom camper map link where you can check compatibility with various units...it give a bit more info but doesnt reveal its secret as to how its different...
as i mentioned earlier, even my two old Tomtom units have a POI file for Low Bridges but these are not referenced in the navigating as i cant enter height details, but thise that can (as Paul mentioned) can avoid low ones...
however, as to widths, this jury member is still out...
i think the camper map may have some sort of 'suitability/preference' attribute against each road, perhaps added by tomtom (or other base mapping sources) rather than anything to do with width, per se...
i know of one user on CT who has the Camper maps on his to tom and is very happy...he drives a corpulent Bailey...