Finding a nice route ...

[daktulos]

I'm after a little advice. I normally use Waze on my phone for navigation, which works perfectly for me to get places quickly. However, I have a day off to visit my mother this week, and if it's not raining I'd like to find an interesting route back - rather than 30 minutes round the M25, which is the alternative.

I tried the "Scenic" app, which has a "curvy" option for routeing. On the surface, it looks good, but when I look at the detail, most of the route is on rural single-track roads, which is a bit more "interesting" than I had in mind.

Does anyone have any recommendations for good routeing software with more switches than just the standard avoid motorways/curvy? Is it worth splashing out for a Garmin device?

Thanks!

[DJ123]

the issue as you have discovered above is that the algorithm for a scenic route is a national speed limit road which is a single track. The Garmin does have the good option of being able to 'tune' this mode, as you have 3 options for road size; motorway>single track, straight road>really curvy & flat > hilly. It works pretty well once you've fine tuned it to your preference.
Well worth it IMO as it means i no longer have to create a route in 'Tyre' and export. I can let the sat nav do the work now and tweak along the route as i see fit.

[daktulos]

So, I'm back from my visit. I tried coming back along the route Scenic had plotted ... and I'm now going to uninstall the app. I'm glad I didn't pay for it!

The route, as expected, tested my nerves. Some of the single-track road was the type where a car would hit their wing mirrors on hedges on both sides at the same time, with a thick line of gravel down the middle of the road, passing places distinctly off-road. But, it was definitely curvy! :-D

However, what made the app unusable was the directions. Where roads bend to the right and it wants you to turn off to go straight ahead, it says nothing. Then, it sometimes tells you to turn when you don't need to, it's just a bend in the road with no junction. It kept calling mini-roundabouts T-junctions, and didn't quite get those right. There was a definite need to keep one eye on the screen, which isn't right. On top of that, it calls out directions in feet not yards, and the voice is a bit abrupt. I pulled over and switched to Waze to get me home, which was some relief, particularly as it didn't take me back to the M25.

Anyhoo, if anyone is considering it, I wouldn't recommend Scenic. Onward!

[Red Herring]

I bought a cheap Fod Sport sat nav off Ebay a few years ago and have now used it extensively all over the UK and across Europe. It's been brilliant, in many ways better than the various Tom Tom and Garmin devices my mates have had.

I generally set it to avoid highways (motorways) and have a look at the route it suggests. I then simply drop various waypoints onto the map (the way it works makes this really simple) in order to either take me onto a particular road I had in mind, or simply to make the ride more interesting.

For under £100 you really can't go wrong.

[Adam Ef]

I liked Rever, apart from the americanism of the directions. I didn't get as far as paying for it after the free trail as I got a Garmin Zumo.


Even though I have the very sophisticated Garmin, I still find myself writing waypoint notes on a bit of paper with a chunky marker pen and using that stuck in the see-through pocket of my tank bag, old school style. The bit of paper never loses signal or freezes up and doesn't have an annoying voice telling me to make a u-turn.. make a u-turn... make a u-turn...!