Recalculating... Recalculating...

For someone who works in the Technology industries I am not really much of an early adopter. This hasn't always been the case but I think my experience as a veritable Betamax man has put me off new technology until it has really bedded in. I think On Digital was the straw that broke that camel's back. Satellite Navigation is one such technology that I have kept away from. I can certainly see the benefits of the devices but I generally know where I am going and, on the few odd occasions that I am uncertain on where I am going, I have been happy to look it up on Google Maps or my favourite mapping site streetmap.co.uk. Overall, it seemed to be a very expensive alternative to a roadmap. However, there are occasions when a satnav would really make life easier and, as the devices have now become much cheaper, I decided to take the plunge.

There are a vast array of features and facilities available with GPS devices - some useful but many not. I decided that for a first satnav I wanted something relatively simple but which would cover all Western Europe - one of the times I could really do with it is when racing for a Dutch Ferry or navigating around the backwoods of Schleswig. I settled on the Garmin Nüvi 2240 which appears to do everything I wanted - with the exception that I couldn't get Brian Blessed doing the voice (he is only available with TomTom). The voice I used was the standard English of "Emily", a pleasant enough voice - sort of an English Kirsty Young (now that's a voice I'd really go for). The only problem with Emily is that some of her Scottish pronunciation is slightly off. I can live with that and it is preferable to the male voice, Daniel, who sounds like an insurance salesman. I did try the German voice, Steffi, although she would make more sense when actually driving in Germany.

As far as the instructions go, it's fairly plain sailing. I was a little worried that I would end up staring at the screen but the voice commands are simple and easy to follow, although when driving on familiar roads it can be a little annoying to be constantly told to stay on the M8 (or whatever). I first used this in anger to get to Lochwinnoch to pick up the new dog. It found the kennels perfectly. However, it appears to have come into it’s own in the last week with visits to Liverpool and Manchester. I set it up on the way down even though I know the way. In some respects it is a bit silly. After passing Hamilton Services, just south of Glasgow, it told me to drive straight on for 138 miles. However, on that day it came in to it's own as the motorway was blocked between junctions 28 to 26. I took a deliberate wrong turning off the junction and received a message of Recalculating... Recalculating... from Emily who told me re-join the M6. I ignored her and headed for the signed diversion. I then received a rather more irritated message of Recalculating... Recalculating... and was redirected to... well, I'm not quite sure but I ended up re-joining the M58 near Skelmersdale - back on my original route. I even noticed that it kept track of where I was when driving through the Mersey Tunnel (and, obviously, away from any satellite signals). Overall, I was very impressed.

The other locations around Manchester seemed to work very well. I normally miss the exit for Didsbury but it kept me on the correct lane and I arrived in a much less flustered state. I also liked some of the other functions; for example, it can bleep when exceeding the local speed limit which is far more useful than any supposed speed camera detector although it hasn't been updated for the newly finished M80 (it still thinks there is a 50 limit around Cumbernauld). It can't be followed blindly and it's no substitute for good local knowledge but as a driving aid I can see real value in it.

The next piece of reluctant technology I will have to tackle is my mobile phone which stopped working on the way back to Scotland. I am even considering giving up on that altogether but I have at least £10 on the pay-as-you-go so it seems a waste.