It may be the fastest or shortest, but it is rarely the best

[busterg1955]

It may be the fastest or shortest, but it is rarely the best route

I am a new user to sat navs, and what a great device it has been. My only issue with it is in the routing. It may give me the fastest or shortest, but it is rarely the best route. Having now used it on two holidays in the UK I find I am constantly taking “tomtom short cuts” down narrow lanes or straight through the centre of large cities when there was a much better inner ring road. I find now that I always have to have a quick check of the route with my old paper map before starting off

I don't suppose this it a tomtom problem but an issue with the map data not being able to recognise narrow and twisty roads that have a 60 mph limit, but in the real world is more likely to be less then 20mph. Is there anything being done to address this problem? Like a total revamp of the UK road classification to be more sat nav user friendly?

[mikealder]

For a start do not use the Shortest Route option this is about the most useless waste of screen space they have on all sat nav devices. It produces stupid (often un drivable) routes, sending you down narrow lanes alleys etc.

Set to Fastest is about the best option for a route that offers the best compromise on road type based upon rated speed. If your TomTom is an x20 or x30 device then you can benefit from the IQ routes feature which provides routes based more on local knowledge provided by actual users as they travel around using the devices.
IQ Routes is the only system that offers me a route that is identical to the one I drive every day to work, this is set to be further enhanced with the ability to vary the route offered depending upon the time of day/ day of week.

Any nav unit will get you to the destination, it might go in quite the same directions as you would drive with local knowledge, BUT it will get you to the destination, which at the end of the day is why people purchase them - Mike

[uffe73]

If your goal is to travel from point A to point B the fastest route is generally the best option. On the other hand, if you're on holiday and would like to see smaller roads, then the best thing is usually to pick out a few nice places from your paper map and add them to your route as via points, but still use the fastest route between these points. If you have plenty of time and feel adventurous you can of course try the shortest route suggested by TomTom. It can be quite fun sometimes. I used it one weekend in England and saw some tiny villages that I would never have spotted using the fastest route. So, it's all up to you what kind of driving experience you are searching for.

[Trevor1234]

Hi busterg1955
When you have been using the Tomtom for some time you will see that the programme has features that you have yet to try. For instance, the Itinerary. You can hook the device to your computer, plan your route on the big screen using waypoints, and save your desired route as an Itinerary. The Tomtom will then take you along the route that you choose. That means it will not take you through city centres or down narrow lanes unless you planned it to do so.

And as someone has already pointed out you will always get to your destination and will never get lost.
_________________
Tomtom Go 720.
Navcore 9.510
Central and Western Europe v855.2884
GPS World Traffic cameras
Home 2.7
iPhone 3G

We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
Have you considered making a donation towards website running costs?.
Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!