sat nav

[fuggy]

has the sat nav system seen the end of the magnetic compass

[kwicky]

I don't know about that but when they bring in the new system and lose our reliance on the American system will it mean many of the current sat-navs will need replacing. I cannot imagine this will be free to access, someone will have to pay for it all.

[theprof]

I doubt it very much.

Hand-held devices do have their uses, but having borrowed one for a holiday last year, I still think the compass is better for orienteering. Vehicle sat nav systems are a different story.

Recent adverse publicity over incidents such as a coach load of passengers ending up in a field near the Forest of Dean is not doing vehicle systems any good at all. There have been many others reported in the newspapers.

The wife persuaded me to buy her a BMW recently which had one of these systems fitted. She went to visit some relatives in Wales and tried the system out allowing it to select an unfamiliar route. She was directed to drive along a barrierless single-track road half way up a mountain with a 200m drop into a disused quarry.

I was aghast when I thought of the damage that could have occurred to the car!

[TeeGee]

Compasses don't run out of battery power, nor do they need updating. Very useful if you can't get a signal too, like in a forest.

[Snowy Owl]

It may put an end to real map reading.

[theprof]

I doubt it Snowy Owl. Sat nav has been shown to be far from infallible. A compass doesn't need a new CD-ROM every couple of years.