simon stolly Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 Forgive me if you all know about this atlas (I didn't) As show season is in mid swing and often take us and our large and heavy vehicles far and wide. I thought I should tell you about these fine atlas's, a better more detailed (1.5 miles to 1") road map you could not want for. It includes on its maps; 4700 low bridges 1700 weak or narrow bridges Tunnels, overhead cables and overhanging buildings 24 hour petrol stations 230 truck stops speed cameras ( N/A for us lot really!) Loads of other stuff, such as port plans and ferry details. Hard backed, they are available from larger W.H. Smith stores for £20 (small beer, considering the trouble that it could save you!) Make sure that you get the latest 2007 version as some EBay sites will try and flog you a out of date one! Lastly unlike Sat Nav older gen friendly! :computerterror: Recommended Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted July 28, 2007 Share Posted July 28, 2007 Good idea, sat navs will tell you the wrong way to go only, not all the obstacles in your way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted July 28, 2007 Share Posted July 28, 2007 Theres a story doing the rounds of a foreign truck in Kent following Sat Nav and ending up stuck down a lane for 6 hours. There is a truckers Atlas for Europe as well. Do you know the Height ,weight, width and length of your vehicle? All PSV and commercials have to have the details, except weight at a place the driver can see them. Weight is always external. Worth knowing if only to book ferries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon stolly Posted July 28, 2007 Author Share Posted July 28, 2007 There is one Sat-nav that warns of low bridges, I have found, but the £600 price tag is too steep for me! I'll stick to my £20 atlas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted July 28, 2007 Share Posted July 28, 2007 Thngs like low bridges, weak bridges etc can usually be found as POI's for the various kinds of Sat-Nav up on the web. Fairly smple to download and install. The only catch being a Sat nav unit has a VERY finite limit to how many POI's can be installed.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted July 29, 2007 Share Posted July 29, 2007 Batterys don't go flat on a map. :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon stolly Posted July 29, 2007 Author Share Posted July 29, 2007 Thngs like low bridges, weak bridges etc can usually be found as POI's for the various kinds of Sat-Nav up on the web. Fairly smple to download and install. The only catch being a Sat nav unit has a VERY finite limit to how many POI's can be installed.......... Educate me Neil, whats a POI?????? :computerterror: :computerterror: :computerterror: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted July 29, 2007 Share Posted July 29, 2007 Point of Interest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted July 29, 2007 Share Posted July 29, 2007 What Mark said!!! :-D Being an owner of an MV with a fetish for fuel stations I went the cheapskate route and got an old Ipaq and GPS receiver from ebay then bought a cop of TomTom Go. This has a max of about 12 POI files most of which are taken up with speed camera's, supermarkets and dog friendly beaches (don't ask!!). You can get a POI for low bridges here (costs about a tenner with free updates thereafter): http://www.lowbridges.com/?gclid=COOA5tPWzI0CFRAFEgod6VT7Lg or there is a free one here: http://www.pocketgpsworld.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon stolly Posted July 29, 2007 Author Share Posted July 29, 2007 AHHHH! I see. :tup: I had a Nokia N73 (until I recently lost it, bu##er!). And I loaded Tom Tom on it, only problem was that it tended to stop talking to the sat receiver, usually when you needed it most! Anyone thinking of going this route, I can't recommend it, buy a dedicated sat Navy instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 Agreed!! Although I said to Phil as we struggled through the chaos of the Dartford tunnel tonight " this is where it loses it's connection to the GPS receiver and can't get it back." So what happens - soon as we emerged from the tunnel the satellite strength meter jumped back to full scale and the system carried on... Bl**dy computers!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 So.........you cannot find your way through the tunnel eh! Neil :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Hardyferret Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 Hardyferret uses WIFENAV, supported by anymaptohandorroutplaner software. He reports good results so far but it's volume control and on/off controls are a little suspect at times. :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 So.........you cannot find your way through the tunnel eh! Neil :roll: Well - it was tricky last night Mark :-o - 8 of the 12 toll booths were shut for reasons unknown, the L/H tunnel was also closed for reasons uknown so we had to veer over to the left to get through the tolls then fight over to the right to get into the tunnel.... Hardyferret uses WIFENAV, supported by anymaptohandorroutplaner software. He reports good results so far but it's volume control and on/off controls are a little suspect at times. :-D Heh - similar to me unless running solo - the WifeNav system checks the indicated next turn against her map book and if it's unsuitable tells me to ignore the SatNav and follow her directions until the SatNav has recomputed the route using the WifeNav's roads.... Confusing or what???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Hardyferret Posted August 1, 2007 Share Posted August 1, 2007 Makes perfect sense to me :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodge Deep Posted August 1, 2007 Share Posted August 1, 2007 Used a sat nav to get to W&P... seemed okay :dunno: I also have a "SAT-NAG" system & have encountered similar software glitches regarding volume control and mute funtions... Also the very useful "why do you always drive faster when we're lost" function or 'traffic calming' to give it its completely innapropriate name needs work also... :dunno: :whistle: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ives Posted August 1, 2007 Share Posted August 1, 2007 if you ever want a bit of fun type in beachy head :evil: and you wil be directed to turn left on to a car park then drive for a mile :whistle: :whistle: :whistle: as a coach driver i use the trucker atlas as shows bridge heights and narrow roads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon stolly Posted August 2, 2007 Author Share Posted August 2, 2007 The Sat-nag unit I had ( long defunct, as it was more trouble than it was worth, still more up to date models still catch my eye) had the glitch of constantly directing me to garden centres (even though we had no garden), supermarkets (on a Sunday!) and some God damn awful place called "Her relatives" which trust me is not a point of interest! Worst still it made a horrible whining noise every time it went to the yard or to a MV show. A more user friendly, low maintenance model is still being sought, but to date is elusive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodge Deep Posted August 2, 2007 Share Posted August 2, 2007 Do yourself a favour and stick to the 'Palm-Top Model' much less maintenance required and cheaper in the long run :whistle: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted August 2, 2007 Share Posted August 2, 2007 :rofl: :offtopic: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon stolly Posted August 3, 2007 Author Share Posted August 3, 2007 :rofl: Bit of a hand full when driving though, a hands free version would be needed to comply with the law :-D Moving swiftly on, I will be getting a Sat-nav soon can anyone recommend or warn or any model/type? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawson Posted August 3, 2007 Share Posted August 3, 2007 Hi all i am a long distance truck driver i have used the AA Truckers atlas since it first came out and can confirm it is a great buy..However times move on...I use a pda mio A201 with tomtom 6 loaded...i have used tomtom on a pda since version 3 and find it to be a great tool...I have all the poi,s for bridge Heigths with the voice warnings...plus speed cams with voice waring via a modified data chk file i rewrote and truckstops and big laybys for over night rest and many more...handy for those with big mv,s....should anyone want a copy of my poi, please pm me with your email and i will do my best send them.....i am away again monday for the week and out today but will be back evenings and will do my best to email them then to you...thanks Lawson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon stolly Posted August 3, 2007 Author Share Posted August 3, 2007 That sounds just the ticket! :tup: what sort of money and make pda would I need, I would only use it for Tom Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Cow Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 I have to agree with you Dave has tom tom on phone with receiver, im not impressed have a tomtom as a stand alone device much better, although it doesnt get much use, mostly i know where im going, but to find an address its good! but i've got one of Simons famous maps, its good but did you notice a lack of places like hop farm????don't trucks eva deliver to these places???? hmmmm, would be good refrence points i think! well thats my opinion any way! AHHHH! I see. :tup: I had a Nokia N73 (until I recently lost it, bu##er!). And I loaded Tom Tom on it, only problem was that it tended to stop talking to the sat receiver, usually when you needed it most! Anyone thinking of going this route, I can't recommend it, buy a dedicated sat Navy instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean101ryan Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 I use a Mitac Mio with built in reciever, been very good. The latest model, the 268 just won PC Pro best buy. You can buy it from various places with different software bundles. Tomtom software is about the nicest but as it uses TeleAtlas mapping it's no good to me in Ireland. No matter what system you buy, the mapping is supplied by either Navteq or TeleAtlas, only Navteq have mapped Ireland fully. When buying a unit check how old the mapping is, some dealers sell old units cheap and could be over 2 years out of date (updating can be expensive). Avoid CoPilot 6 software, used to be the best but the mapping is old and the new version is already 8 months late. The horror stories you read of people getting stuck in narrow lanes are usually down to users selecting shortest route instead of fastest and blindly following what they're told. For some good advice, the best speed camera database and links, look at http://www.pocketgps.co.uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.