Street Pilot i2 a Hilarious muddle in Cornwall.

[Plado]

Somehow I think that the database used by Garmin needs a little updating where Cornwall is concerned. I just tested my new Garmin i2 in the car on a short holiday on the S Coast of Cornwall.

The muddle it got into has to be seen to be believed. Luckily we were testing it out and trying to see just how intelligent it was. No matter whether I set it to Fastest Route or Shortest Route, the result was the same, it tried to direct us across ploughed fields of mud where there was no road. When I refused to turn into a farm gateway to join the cattle grazing - the machine got very monotonous telling me it was Rickalculating!

We had hoped it would direct us by the main roads (I've set it to favour main routes and ignore unpaved roads) when we wanted to drive from the town of Lostwithiel back to Polruan (near Polperro) but as soon as we left Lostwithiel up the main hill that has a left turn in about two miles to the very destination, it told us to turn left down a muddy track that was only just wider than the car!

We followed just for interest to see where it would be heading. Down down down the lane went into the bowels of the earth until we thought we'd arrived at the Temple of Doom. We quite expected to be fetching up at a dead end with a whole team of local yokels holding pitch-forks and wearing tunics who would leer at us through the car windows and saying "Arrr ere be anutha Garmin victim Jed, direct im' to the field with all th'others. And we'd never see the light of day again!

It went round in a monstrous circle and did about 6+ miles of dark muddy lanes before it finally came to a T junction where it said Turn Right then Turn Right. Which we did and at last found we were back on the road which we would have been on had we gone our own way up the hill from Lostwithiel and turned left for Fowey and taken the Bodinnick Ferry over to our destination.
Still if we'd done that, we wouldn't have had such a laugh so thank you Garmin for giving us a complete comdey show. Now I wonder will the Directors of Garmin send me a complimentary cheque to help clean the cow poo off my car because it changed colour by the time we emerged?

Somehow I don't think it has quite the memory it would lead us to believe.
At one point while we were waiting for the Bodinnick Ferry, the i2 decided to go on a little walk - rather like a bored cat and it went away from the ferry ramp and did a little loop dance around the nearby hill behind us and about a mile of circuitous dancing and came back where it was and said "Board Ferry". The lady inside the machine was impatient waiting for the Ferry boat. Perhaps I should have played her some music?

Certainly we won't be using the i2 to find our way around Cornwall in future as our own devices and a good OS Map are by far better.
I thought I'd downloaded all the latest info but once in Lostwithiel when parked up and looking for a nearby Co Op (since we knew there is a large Co Op store in the town) it refused to tell us about the one 50 yards behind us and directed us to Plymouth or Bristol for one.

Somehow I think the database is limited. Would I have been better off buying the 300 series colour Garmin or is that using the same chip?

Maybe one day Garmins will tell us where the best pint of TangleFoot can be had, or a nice glass of Theakston's Best Bitter within 10 miles but until that day I think my i2 has to be taken as a mixed blessing. What can one expect for 70 quid from Amazon?
--
Plado

[Skippy]

[Plado]

Well thanks to both contributors for a very useful response.
What you say makes perfect sense. I didn't know what to expect.
I've never used a Sat Nav before so it's all brand new to me.

The encoding of country lanes as major roads is obviously a problem when you are using the Garmin to navigate your way out of a massive labyrinth of tiny country lanes that in the West Country are more numerous than almost anywhere in the world. Probably thousands of miles. That's the nature of the beast. Cornwall isn't far behind except it's not a big as Devon county.

I think the Garmin will come into its own far more when using it to find the way into a large city or better still out of it. Hopefully it won't lead you down a one-way street the wrong way or push you into the worst quarter of the city trying to dodge traffic congestion that you end up being stoned out of your car by rough-necks who want your wheels and your life but not necessarily in that order!

Anyhow thanks for your explanations. Yes it is good value for 70 quid. I have to agree. But just like a cellphone, if you rely on it 100% one day it will bite you and let you down miserably and tell you it's your own fault for not making emergency contingency plans to play your own game by ear.

Cheers to all
--
Plado

[RobBrady]

[aj2052]

Having lived in Cornwall for over 10 yrs, you must realise that narrow country lanes are the norm, didnt you notice the prolification of roadside hubcaps, these lanes are renowned for grass hiding granite.

[Plado]

Er Yes I've been visiting Cornwall for the last 54 years and I'm quite well aware of the narrow lanes that become narrower than the car. But that wasn't the point. There are plenty of main roads in Cornwall and the Garmin is supposed to be set to favour the main roads which it could do if it had been programmed properly to go the fastest route from Lostwithiel To Polruan.

Only an idiot would take you down 6 miles of muddy country lanes that are nothing to do with the route you asked for. So my verdict is that the progamming of the Garmin in the Devon and Cornish lanes is verging on the idiotic. You have to be one jump ahead of it, if you're not going to be conned into going down roads that end up in private farms or the local river!
Plado

[MaFt]

like the others have said, it boiuls down to the data that NAVTEQ have (suppliers of garmins maps)

it may be worth reporting the 'mud track' to them here: http://update.navteq.com/df_form.asp?language=en

at least it might change by v10... obviously it doesn't change how it will work right now, but it may help future versions!

i was lucky, when we went down to penzance we had friends who guided us around, i just had the i3 on to see if it agreed with their route - it did for most of the time, just a few differences that didn't seem too major.

MaFt

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!