Great Tom Tom Disasters

[+Foinavon]

I hope this isn't off topic as its not specifically about geocaching.

 

I went to see Lily Allen at the Apollo in Manchester on Saturday. I know where the Apollo is but I haven't had the TOM TOM long and I thought "just in case". I went on yell or google searched for the Apollo Manchester and plugged the post code into Tom Tom. When we set off my friend and I both commented on the bizarre route that TOM TOM was taking us on. Not familiar at all, we where on roads I had never seen before, but "Trust TOM TOM" I said it must know a clever way and we only had a few minutes to go. Suddenly "Sandra" said "You have reached your destination". WTF? We where in the middle of what looked like a rough housing estate. Certainly no sign of the Apollo anywhere, or so I thought. I suddenly noticed we where outside a pub, and yes the name of the pub was "The Apollo Inn". Now we where in a spot of bother as we didn't know where we were and also how to get to the "other" Apollo. We had a look on the tickets and it said Apollo "Stockport Road". I plugged it into Tom Tom but as its name suggests Stockport Road goes all the way to Stockport so when we where on it, still no sign of the Apollo. We eventually had to stop and ask for directions. I wonder if the people we asked noticed they where being asked for directions by somebody with a sat nav system?

 

To get it on topic a bit, the Tom Tom did several of what my little lad calls "Bing Bongs". i.e. alerted me to a nearby geocache. I had to explain to my friend what is was. My wife borrowed it the other day to drive to a works party. After several "Bing Bongs" her drunken workmates all wanted to stop the car and go and look for it until she explained that you also needed a handheld gps.

 

So I think the moral of the story is if you know where you are going. Don't ask Tom Tom!

 

Oh and Lily Allen was very good.

[+The Bolas Heathens]

Sounds exactly like the location of the Apollo from the last time I went there

 

We where in the middle of what looked like a rough housing estate. Certainly no sign of the Apollo anywhere

[+LollyBob]

Having had a Tom Tom go for 18 months we have certainly been put in some crazy situations that I have not been happy with.

 

Take the next left the voice says.....Lolly screams at Bob......OH NO U DONT!!!

 

Bob used to do a lot of off roading so nothing fazes him! I hate it!

[+Mr'D]

Worse situation I had with TT was on the A3 when it sent me in the wrong direction and, being a dual carriageway, had to travel 4 miles in the wrong direction until I could turn around. However I can't really blame TT as the road junction had recently been changed.

All in all I reckons it's the dogs knees

Jon

[+*mouse*]

I've had a couple of 'interesting' journeys with TomTom.

 

Once TT took me down a narrow little lane as a short cut. Problem was there was a ford to cross and after heavy rain there was no way my little car was going to make it across. So I'm happily reversing back up the lane when a tractor drives up behind me - the farmer was not to happy when I explained he had to reverse his trailer all the way back up the lane as well till we reached a point in the road wide enough for us to pass!

[+rogerncook]

The company where I work uses a PO Box, so our Post Code is non-geographic - actually it is registered to the local sub-post office. When you search for our post code on many satnav systems, it warns you that it is non-geographic, but we must get 4 or 5 phone calls a week from drivers who are sat outside the post office 1 1/2 miles away and can't work out why they can't find us!!

[+Pharisee]

Don't use TomTom but I do use a Garmin equivalent. Whilst rattling along a dual carriageway section of the A3 a while back 'Jennifer' told me to "Turn left in 0.4 miles". I eased off on the accelerator and indicated left when I got the "In 300 yards, turn left" message. Only then did I realise that she wanted me to turn left onto a fly-over about 150 feet above me. Reckon the bloke in the car behind me thought I was a right idiot.

[+TMM-Sarah]

I'm not the most confident driver, especially when it comes to driving backwards, and overtaking and parking and.....well I can get from home to work and back again!!

 

Anyhow, decided to head down from Taunton to Exeter to attempt a cache during the school holidays with the kids. Being outside of my "comfort" zone I decided that it would be a good day to use Tom Tom for the first time....I was nicely pottering down the motorway feeling rather pleased with myself as I had managed to tackle overtaking several lorries without any mishaps....when Tom rudely interuptted!!! "EXIT AHEAD" he bellowed at me. So, feeling slightly relieved that the motorway section of my journey had finished, I did as I was told and exited. Only to be met with Tom blurting out, TURN AROUND WHEN POSSIBLE!!!!! Ok...I was now on a dual carriage way with a central reservation...even I could figure out that wasn't going to happen.

 

Three miles down the road was the next exit which thankfully put me heading the "Right" way back towards the motorway. Despite another small mishap, of being told to turn left when there was no left turn,taking a slight detour into a service station, and a few dubious KEEP RIGHT commands I made it back onto the motorway!

 

Releif swept over me...we'd be arriving at the cache parking coords in no time..."EXIT AHEAD" bellowed Tom. So I did!!! Something looked familiar! I'd only gone and made the same mistake again!!

 

I could fell the rage build up inside me! I will get to this <insert appropriate expletive> cache if it bloody well kills me!! After the second detour my determination was so high I somehow managed to get it right and the remained of the journey was fine.

 

On my return home, I told Gareth (my extremely patient husband) what had happened. To which he replied, "when Tom says, "Exit ahead" he's just warning you that it is happening soon, it's not a command! He'll count you down to the actual turning."

 

Ooops! Lesson learnt!

 

BTW...the cache was excellent in my Top Ten and one of the kids fave's so far...so well worth all the bother!

 

Sarah

Edited March 14, 2007 by The Morgan Mob

[+HazelS]

I was out caching with Lolly, Bob and Pop up Pirate, and we were on our way to do one of PUP's caches - nicecupofteaandasitdown. Pup, as usual, with his leadboots on, had zoomed ahead, and we'd lost him, and as I had my tom tom on, I lead the way.

 

Lolly and Bob and I were pootling down this lovely little road, and I thought to myself how lovely it was, all nicely kept, more like a long sweeping, private driveway.

 

THEN... I realised - It WAS a driveway - I was sat int he middle of a Farmer's Farmyard, and there was the farmer milking cows!!!

 

He wandered over and said - got sat nav have we, and winked... obviously a common fault!!!

[+The Bolas Heathens]

I've just remembered this extract of our log from a cache that we did ages ago:

 

We went to the North end first as we were coming from that direction. Took me a while to figure out where the tunnel was and ended up getting the clue from the corner of the car park for the local scout troop.

 

On to the South end. TomTom took me down this country lane insisting it turned left at the end. When I got to the end I found myself in an Abattoir yard with the road the TomTom saw blocked off! Yuck, we're all veggies so this kind of place makes my skin crawl - I did a VERY quick u-turn and headed off back down the lane for a re-think.

 

After spotting a likely turning I soon found the location of the South end of the tunnel and had the details required.

 

With final co-ordinates in hand I soon had the final cache in my hands after a short search.

[+purple_pineapple]

sounds like you should all try a Garmin Sat Nav if you want some real fun!! Half the time I only plug Doris in so I can have someone to argue with!! Her moment of supreme joy was taking me through the Mersey Tunnel for no reason whatsoever, adding 30 minutes and several pounds to a quick drive to the Spaceport cache!

 

On the way to the shroppie even last year, she decided to cut the corner between two fast A roads by taking us down a gated track - and thats not the first time she has done that...

 

On the M4, going to my parents (yes, I DO know the way) she insists on taking me off the motorway at Heston Services, which is illegal...

 

She will frequently interupt a vital set of instructions with a warning of a speed camera in the other direction...

Oh, and she takes so long to recalculate a route that I will have driven past the first turn of the new route before she's announced it, and therefore she has to recalculate again!!

 

Finally, she frequently puts me in VERY inappropriate places when she tries to navigate to a cache, but that's understandable! Driving without Doris would be very boring indeed!!!

[+John Stead]

Pharisee's tale of being directed onto a flyover reminds me of the first time I realized that Tom is not infallible when he/she instructed me to turn left while on a flyover in Chester - but the road suggested was 20 feet below!

Then one got interesting instructions on the M6 toll road before the TT database was updated to include the road.

Does anyone know to whom one can report errors or changed roads to TomTom in the hope that they may be updated in a future edition?

[+Archer4]

Pharisee's tale of being directed onto a flyover reminds me of the first time I realized that Tom is not infallible when he/she instructed me to turn left while on a flyover in Chester - but the road suggested was 20 feet below!

Then one got interesting instructions on the M6 toll road before the TT database was updated to include the road.

Does anyone know to whom one can report errors or changed roads to TomTom in the hope that they may be updated in a future edition?

 

Does seem odd that they don't advertise for feedback. Obviously they'd need some sort of verification but could work on greater trust after mutliple good reports from a registered user. There must be plenty of competent users around to tell them that road X is one way now (like the one through the middle of our town has been for a few years) or that where road Y is supposed to be a right turn it's really just following to the right. Would at least target where they do their checking.

I used it a lot on familiar journeys just to get used to its little ways on roads I knew well. Helped to know before it mattered that it may advise you to keep right on motorways, that it may skip about like a spring lamb under spaghetti junction or that that unexpected right turn might just be a bend in the road etc etc

Would have been nice to feedback that where we used to live was actually **** Grove not **** Grave as well...

[+zuke_duke]

 

Does seem odd that they don't advertise for feedback. Obviously they'd need some sort of verification but could work on greater trust after mutliple good reports from a registered user. There must be plenty of competent users around to tell them that road X is one way now (like the one through the middle of our town has been for a few years) or that where road Y is supposed to be a right turn it's really just following to the right. Would at least target where they do their checking.

I used it a lot on familiar journeys just to get used to its little ways on roads I knew well. Helped to know before it mattered that it may advise you to keep right on motorways, that it may skip about like a spring lamb under spaghetti junction or that that unexpected right turn might just be a bend in the road etc etc

Would have been nice to feedback that where we used to live was actually **** Grove not **** Grave as well...

They do, if your unit has Tele Atlas mapping

[+Team Clova]

 

Does seem odd that they don't advertise for feedback. Obviously they'd need some sort of verification but could work on greater trust after mutliple good reports from a registered user. There must be plenty of competent users around to tell them that road X is one way now (like the one through the middle of our town has been for a few years) or that where road Y is supposed to be a right turn it's really just following to the right. Would at least target where they do their checking.

 

 

Tomtom feedback can be sent in HERE

(You need to be logged into your MyTomTom account)

[+John Stead]

Many thanks to both of you - now to compile that long list!!!

[+Mr'D]

Don't you think though the whole concept of navigation by satellite is pretty cool?

Just imagine if you had a TT in your hand in the 70's... or even the 80's

Despite getting it wrong now and again I think TT is a terrific tool for caching. It seems soooo long ago I used to have to stop on the roadside to look at a map (or gad forbid read a map whilst driving!)

 

I can forgive its few shortcomings.

 

Jon

[+kewfriend]

The interesting thing here is that car SatNavs all seem to have female names.

 

Mine is Susannah, named after a particularly loud mouthed and pushy mum at my daughter's school. Utterly appropriate as she sceams "DO A U TURN NOW".

 

I note Doris above. Does your SatNav have a feamle name .... err and why that partiuclar name??

[+walkergeoff and wife]

Don't you think though the whole concept of navigation by satellite is pretty cool?

Just imagine if you had a TT in your hand in the 70's... or even the 80's

Despite getting it wrong now and again I think TT is a terrific tool for caching. It seems soooo long ago I used to have to stop on the roadside to look at a map (or gad forbid read a map whilst driving!)

 

I can forgive its few shortcomings.

 

Jon

Couldn't agree more. What a safety benefit when driving on one's own, and what an argument stopper when travelling with someone!

 

The main errors my TTOne has made has been once not knowing a one-way system (cured when the new maps came out) and telling me I was breaking a 30mph speed limit when I was on a 70mph road running parallel to a 30mph road.

 

All other errors have either been my programming errors, or my taking no notice of Jane.

 

Classic error - heading for University College Hospital in London having told Jane that I wanted to avoid toll roads! She did her best to route me round the congestion charge zone!

[+cakemaker]

Tom Tom has transformed my life!

 

On holidays I always used to have my head buried in a map whilst navigating, now I can enjoy the views!

 

My job requires finding my ways through Birmingham and the Black Country, now I'm so much quicker and efficient - I just set it to shortest way and cut through all the back streets.

 

Over time I've got to know its foibles so rarely get taken to the wrong destination, although it did tell me I'd reached my destination for Umberslade Obelisk whilst still on the motorway!

[+Mr'D]

The interesting thing here is that car SatNavs all seem to have female names.

 

Mine is Susannah

Mine is ol'plain Jane.

 

Don't you just love answering her back!

 

Edited March 15, 2007 by Mr.Dewdrop

[+wizard1974uk]

I call mine god, because apparently I downloaded a voice that claims to be "The voice of god"

[+Pharisee]

As mentioned above, my 'silicon implanted tart' is Jennifer... on a good day. She's named after a girl I once worked with many years ago at a glue factory in Newark. I was kinda stuck on her As this is a family show, I'll not tell you what I call her when she leads me up the garden path... or more correctly, up the farm track masquerading as a road!!!

[+purple_pineapple]

no idea why we chose Doris - it just seemed to fit! I know Badger's SatNav is also called Jane, and I'm sure there's another Doris somewhere!

[+Paul G0TLG]

Mine is called "Diesel Doris" - only really had two bad experiences that I can remember, and they weren't really bad: Once she told me to turn right at a left-turn-only junction, and once she tried to take me down a private-residents-only road. As someone who routinely drives alone, I wouldn't be without her...

[+Stuey]

no idea why we chose Doris - it just seemed to fit! I know Badger's SatNav is also called Jane, and I'm sure there's another Doris somewhere!

 

Jane is called Jane because that's her name (in TomTom anyway)

[+kbootb]

I use a Navman product on my PDA... does similar odd things to TT so you are not alone. Some parts of the map must be 30 years out of date. It tries to direct my across the golf course where the road used to be when I was at school, but that was removed in about 1980.

 

She's called Hilary, after a headteacher with a no-nonsense imperious tone - 'perform a legal U turn' is said in such an authorative tone you just couldn't disobey.

[+drsolly]

Ours is called Sybil, for two reasons.