I have been fairly happy with my Satnav for almost three years. It is the first one I have had.

At odd times it has led me on circular and unnecessary detours but in the last few days it has gone crazy. Yesterday I had to drive for two hours when I was within five miles of home. I had it set for my Flagdest, which I re-entered when I realised that I was lost but it made no difference.

Do these devices suddenly malfunction like this?

Billhum

The short answer is no, it shouldn't suddenly malfunction. Saying that however, you mention it has previously taken you on 'circular and unnecessary detours' that shouldn't happen either, so I'd first of all go into the settings and see what you have it set up for, e.g. shortest route, fastest route etc. To check it's functioning correctly, set it to shortest route on some roads you know over, say, 10 miles and before letting the Columbus work it out, check the route on one of the online mapping sites e.g. www.google.co.uk/maps. That will give you a relevant comparison. If the Columbus is way off, I'd say it has a problem. If not, set it up again to your own chosen parameters.

Whilst the Columbus clearly threw a wobbler, did you not wonder where it was taking you after 5-10 mins? I mean, after 2 hours driving you could have been half way across the country...?!

Whilst the Columbus clearly threw a wobbler, did you not wonder where it was taking you after 5-10 mins? I mean, after 2 hours driving you could have been half way across the country...?!

I know it sounds odd but I got onto a motorway system and got completely lost. My address is in Birmingham, I finished up in Rugby.

Billhum

Third Superb with Columbus. Never once had any problem with route directions, with my first one I deliberately ignored the first given directions many times and within 2 - 3 seconds the route had been re-computed to the entered destination, this has been the same with my other two vehicles.

If your destination has been entered correctly you should have had no problems, the Columbus would have re -routed you in a few seconds. As previously stated on the forum check your Navigation settings, especially your home position, if you still get a problem you might have a faulty Columbus.

My latest Columbus had to be replaced because of a faulty screen, but the navigation instructions still worked perfectly.

I used the GPS settings from Googe Earth on a trip from Cornwall to the ferry kiosk at Ardrossan Ferry Terminal in Scotland, use of a navigation aid for this trip was of course not neccessary, it brought me to within a few ft. of the kiosk.

On the return trip despite detours for sight seeing my Columbus brought me right into my drive.

Another well known make supposed to be the bee's knees, with the same trip entered directed me to Wales to take a ferry to Ireland, drive up through Ireland and take a ferry to Scotland then to Ardrossan ferry to Arran.

Are you sure that flagdest was set to the correct location. Flagdest is dynamic and easily changed by mistake from the nav screen. Easiest is to store your destination as a permanent location and navigate to that.