45Brit

TBH if a Satnav system doesn’t perform st least as well as the Tomtom, which isn’t ideal by any means, I’m not really interested. Tomtom takes me straight to defining destinations by postcode, which is best way of identifying urban destinations. It provides a quick, simple way of entering my observed location, which is the easiest way of recording out-of-the-way destinations, which I regularly need to do. It has never yet got confused at a major junction, or in town, which is the main thing I use it for. It has never yet failed to identify a destination within the limits of available information (I use that term because I do sometimes get addresses which are a bit generic, such as construction sites defined by postcodes which aren’t properly correct) Amundsen appears to consistently fail at least one of the above. It doesn’t have the speed camera warnings, which I find useful. Updating the maps is a matter of plugging the unit into a laptop, two clicks and forgetting about it. Amundsen appears to me, to lack development and provided with insufficient processing power, probably because it is compromised by working the radio and every other doo-dad. I can only rate it, on the basis of experience to date, 6/10 Must Try Harder

Tried it again on a run from Peterborough to Wolverton, then on to the Southampton area. Now running on split screen. The “next manoeuvres” thing was accurate but too many moves on roundabouts meant I needed to look before approaching, because it would be scratching its head on the actual junction. Listing “next move” from the bottom up was counter-intuitive. Traffic updates ON, dynamic route finding OFF Amundsen became confused when I might have needed it most, at the A508/A45/M1 J15 roundabout, so score 1 for local knowledge. It failed to correctly identify the first destination, so 0 from 2. on to Southampton, where it became confused at the M40 J10 approach. This simply isn’t good enough for an 2 year old car. Now 0 from 3 against local knowledge, up to 0 from 4 when it once again failed to identify the destination. How DO you enter postcodes into this thing? It’s probably quite sufficient for navigating a dog sled but quite useless in a car...

I kept my old Tomtom. I mostly use it to give me a “quick check” at complex junctions, town addresses or minor roads off major ones, so it sounds as though the Tomtom will stay in the car for use “as needed” and keep the Amundsen for monitoring traffic. Ive usually found that diverting around traffic alerts is of very little value in UK, there aren’t usually any useful alternative routes and anyway the information just isn’t good enough to make a decision

... the M6/M5/M42 intersections, both directions, are a particular bogey of mine, quite awful places, very badly laid out and usually cursed with heavy, fast traffic making rapid lane changes because THEY are also in the wrong lane. The M6/M6 toll (M6 J3a) is another place where you need your wits about you. tried it again today, it tried to send me on a detour which made no sense at M6 J2 N bound, along the A46. That might have been a response to an out-of-date traffic report. I think I’ll turn that function off. The split-screen looks useful, shows you the next two or three moves (although there are too many manoeuvres at roundabouts in Particular)

Amundsen and Columbus, eh? Tres drole.... Amundsen actually “navigated” his way to the South Pole by a system which amounted to distance-cross-course, distance-over-ground and dead reckoning. On arrival in the vicinity, he then spent quite a long time criss-crossing the area, concluded that the geographical point lay somewhere within the defined area and set off North again. He never actually claimed to have “stood at the South Pole” at all. Whether thats better, or worse than to go down in history as having “discovered” a land mass that you never even saw, let alone set foot on or correctly identified, is a matter of opinion... The directions, so far, from the Amundsen system appear to be quite useless. I’d be better off with my old Tomtom, which I’ve never really taken to, much preferring its predecessor.

I’ll try updating the maps later, roadworks are still ongoing there. I kept the Tomtom so that’s plan B

Just been out for my first run in my new-to-me 2015 Scout. The Satnav seems to be completely useless, becoming completely lost on two occasions in the Coventry/Leamington area, quoting road numbers which sometimes appear completely unrelated to the numbers on the signs, and updating so slowly that it was entirely useless in urban conditions. Is this usual? I’ve still got my old Tomtom as a backup but it’s very disappointing