So yesterday......

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greenwoo
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So yesterday......

Postby greenwoo » Mon Nov 28, 2022 10:42 pm

Yesterday I went on a local run of mixed cars. Its a newly set up group which was spawned from Pheads.

Covers Suffolk and surrounding. Hmm, the clue was in the name 'Cars n Coffee'.....not 'Cars and a flip off full English'.

Interesting to see how other 'clubs' do things. They use an App called Roadstr. Supposedly anyone with the app can see other public events. They use it for the route & route planning. On the day a QR code is presented to those with the app ( all of them) and that downloads the route there and then.

I played with the app the day before and frankly hated it. The route has to be made on a mobile device, so no zooming in and streetviewing a road. Due to the size of a device, its clearly tricky to plan a route unless one has an idea of it already.
I mentioned this when we stopped and they said - 'yeah its best if you know the route yu want to go on and just put a WPoint onto the map/app.

Its clearly early days for them, as there was a road closed and seemed half of them were still being redirected when we got to ......err, coffee.
Moi? well i'd managed to get a copy of the route the night before and chucked it onto the TomTom. No direct way of doing that apart from looking at the poxy little map on phone and trying to figure it out - luckily there were only about 10 WP's to pop in. Sod that if it was a longer run.

8 cars out of 100+ that have joined the 'club'.....''not bad, time of year/rain/winter'....i politely pointed out that they have aircon and roofs. Then proceeded ( in the rain) to unfrock the mx5 and do it 'al fresco'

Asked on their forum for suggestions for cafes, and guess what, most of the replies have been for places that do nice cake and coffee.
Guess i'll have to have a brekkie before joining the next run....given that we started at 09.30, should have time for that!

forgot to say; really nice guys and sensible driving! ( probs helped that it was bloody wet out there)

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Wingco
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Re: So yesterday......

Postby Wingco » Tue Nov 29, 2022 7:36 pm

Glad you have started getting out and about Mark, strange set up of the route using an app, you will have to introduce them to the Tom Tom ways. We will have to make a trip up there and we can show them how its done :D :D
Have fun
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Tony B
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Re: So yesterday......

Postby Tony B » Tue Nov 29, 2022 8:56 pm

Sounds like the concept of that App is good, if only you could plot on a proper computer and send it back to the App, I really like the idea of a QR code as it’s easy for those folks that find loading tomtoms difficult. I would also love a way of loading the route on my phone but I’ve never really found anything that isn’t just a start and finish point with no waypoints in between!

Interesting how other clubs interact, I’ve never really understood the car park tyre kickers but at least this lot seem to want to get out and drive, you’ll have to slowly educate them!!!

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Re: So yesterday......

Postby greenwoo » Wed Nov 30, 2022 9:19 am

@ Tony. as a concept the app has potential, but its been out a few years and i suspect is one of those things that 'almost' makes it.
Not being able to plot on a PC is a huge hindrance, for the type of route planning we are used to.

as for phone use 'on the road', i guess a question of what ones used to, i do use my phone for simple journeys here as saves getting the ttom out...but for driving, nope, prefer the TTom. As the screen size reduces the ability to know how severe an upcoming bend is, and that is even worse on that app - what looks like a straight road can be far from it!

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DJ.
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Re: So yesterday......

Postby DJ. » Wed Nov 30, 2022 12:23 pm

Glad you got out. Trouble is most people spend a fortune on their phone and don't want to spend more on a Tomtom.

Maybe the start could be at a cafe ;)

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Re: So yesterday......

Postby greenwoo » Thu Dec 01, 2022 1:00 am

Trouble is most people spend a fortune on their phone and don't want to spend more on a Tomtom.


Maybe Duncan, although a 2ndhand TT is peanuts. I suspect its more to do with 'following a route' rather than 'driving' the route.
Meaning, where i have my TT i use it to know what the roads are like ahead, rather than whether i'm on the right road.

Thats because its front and centre and easy to take a quick glance.

The other thing that made me smile, 2 of them tried to use walkie talkies, i asked if they meant radios, 'err no' - 'how did that go'? .....'err it didn't couldn't hear each other'.
I smiled (inwardly) as both cars have handsfree, so if not using radios, why not just call the other person?


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