Another One of Ian's Top Tips

Recently whilst trying to reverse the car via the reversing camera to hitch it up to the van to remove the winter wheels,I noticed how difficult it was to see the black hitch against the background which made getting the hitch over the tow ball unnecessarily difficult.

I found some flourescent stickers on E-Bay ( other outlets are available ) and stuck them on the nose of the hitch.

It is now much easier to see when reversing.

 Ian

*Important Sat Nav News*

For those of you who use a sat.nav then the date of April 6th is very important.

Every nineteen years sat navs evidently "roll back to zero" ( don't ask me for the details ) ,anyway the nineteen years is up on April 6th.

If you don't update your unit it will be inaccurate from this date.

As far as Tom Tom go this page allows you to check:-

 Tom Tom Checker

Doubtless other manufacturers have much the same.

To say we all rely greatly on sat.navs these days one way or another this has received little publicity,I only stumbled on it by accident.

I hope the aircraft industry is up to speed or your long weekend in Majorca may end up being spent in Dubrovnik.

Ian

Gas Stop

Recently whilst browsing round Go Outdoors I came across a Gas Stop device which automatically shuts off the gas should there be a leak.

Gas Stop

Had a read of the literature and the web site and it  seemed like a good idea so I purchased one from Prima Leisure.

Easy to install but with one small proviso,the securing nut is not the usual standard size of 30mm.

Gas Stop said it was 25mm but I measured 24.. but in the end I had a similar spanner ground down to fit.

It would have been much better if it was a standard 30mm fitting IMHO.

Anyway Dan Trudgian does a review of it on You Tube,at the end he mentions free spanners* but I couldn't find any evidence of them,perhaps you may have better luck.

You Tube - Gas Stop

You Tube - Gas Stop Small Leaks

Ian

* Contacted Gas Stop and the free spanners ended over a year ago.

Sat.Nav Update.

In my sat.nav. review I said that the unit seemed a bit reluctant to connect to wi-fi.

I have just discovered that if the unit is connected to the computer via USB it is either very reluctant to or it won't,connect to wi-fi. ( I can't quite decide ).

So if you want a decent quick connection to wi-fi disconnect it first.

If you reconnect it to USB after connecting to wi-fi it maintains the connection.

If I discover anything else,watch this space.

Ian

13-Pin Plug

Came across this useful little diagram which readers may find useful if having problems with the 13-pin plug on their vans:-

Ian                                                                                                                                                   

Tom Tom Camper Sat.Nav.

Anyone who reads my Twitter feed will know that my Tom Tom Camper and Caravan sat.nav took its bat and ball home just before Christmas causing me to have to shell out on a new model,the Tom Tom Camper.

I thought I would do a short review of the new model in comparison with the old so anyone buying it will have a rough idea what to expect.

Before I start I need to say that these are my own views and other people may think differently.

I am not going to go into every feature in every nook and cranny of the thing,but there is an on-line manual available on the Tom Tom site which if you see the length of it you will understand the above comment and is worth some study although if you fiddle about with the sat.nav. long enough you will get an idea of what you want it to do.

Right,first off is what do you get in the box,firstly the unit itself which has a six inch screen covered in a black safety film,a magnetic mount which can attach to the windscreen or side window ( more of this in a minute ) an adhesive disc for fitting to the dashboard,a USB cable and a brief instruction book .

 It also possesses free “lifetime” Europe Camper maps,traffic and speed cameras.

When it says “Lifetime” though,don’t be thinking you will be downloading maps etc.in your retirement home for the elderly,it means for as long as Tom Tom continue to support it which is presumably at their discretion.

As mentioned earlier the unit has a six inch screen which is quite a size when placed against the windscreen so sensible positioning is vital.I use the beanbag mount that I used with the previous model which I find a better option than attaching it to the screen but everyone to their own.

I shall now move on to the differences to the previous unit most of which I preferred.

Firstly on the old unit there was a light incorporated into the on/off switch which gave the state of battery charge,secondly you could run a preview of a chosen route which you can’t on the new model,thirdly the layout seemed more intuitive on the old model and you could place things on the home screen for easy access,for example whether you were in car mode or car with caravan mode which I can’t find on the new model even if it exists.

These are all missing from the Camper and I used to find them useful.

Moving onto the new unit,the on/off/sleep button is at the rear and when turned on gives a bright screen on which the brightness is adjustable.

To the bottom left is a Menu icon above which is an icon to enlarge or decrease the image size and change from 2D to 3D imaging,tapping the screen enlarges the image.

Touching the Menu icon brings up,not surprisingly, the Menu which incorporates My Places,locations that you save to the unit,My Routes for saved routes and so on through Record Route,Voice Control,Petrol Station,Parking and Settings.

Touching Settings brings up the “works” of the unit which incorporates My Vehicle where you can enter the dimensions of your caravan and caravan/car combination to avoid it taking you down some single track lane (it does work as going to storage the other day I accidentally had it set to “car with caravan” and it routed me down the M62 rather than the narrowish road I usually take ).

Destinations of your choice can be inputted and when these,or ad hoc destinations,are selected a side bar,adjustable in width,appears on the screen giving various information such as ETA,time,distance,location of petrol statons,speed cameras etc.

As opposed to the old unit,this one can download updates via wi-fi rather than using a computer but I have to say it is not brilliant at connecting to wi-fi,it does connect but can be a bit picky about it.

Now any of you who have used Tom Tom units before may have used Tom Tom My Drive Connect to download updates to the unit,on this one you can’t,hence the wi-fi.

BUT,you can still download updates via your computer if you have My Drive Connect running in the background,just plug the unit into the computer and it does the rest.

Of course no-one tells you this until you have driven yourself into a psychiatric unit trying to get Connect to work and have to go fishing about to find out why it won’t.

It tells you in the voluminous instruction manual but who reads that as a first off,it’s like War and Peace ( abridged version ).

 It can also connect and sync.to your smartphone with the Tom Tom My Drive app ( note NOT My Drive Connect ) and the same with your computer.

You can find routes on the app which will then be sent to your sat.nav.,works as well.

There is a Bluetooth function that allows hands free calling by connecting to your phone and I believe,though I haven’t tried it yet,that it reads out incoming texts.

The unit can be controlled by voice but in the short tries that I have had it doesn’t seem brilliant but perhaps I need to give it a bit of practice so it remains a project to work on.

That is about it really,I was a little disappointed that some of the features of the previous model seem to have been removed but it does seem a competent unit which should do the job I bought it for admirably.

It is of course a little pricey over a standard sat.nav. but it does contain far more map information so I suppose it has to be paid for.

The present full retail price is £379.99 but at the time of writing Halfords are offering it at 25% off which is where I got mine.

If anyone has any questions about it then get in touch,it is important that it is what you hoped for before shelling out what is a sizable sum.

As I come to use it more I will update the blog with things that I discover or find useful.

Ian

Alde & Fridge

To those who,like us,have laid their vans up for the winter,don't forget to turn the fridge and Alde on  for 15 mins. or so using gas.

This will ensure that any spiders nests or other detritus blocking the jets is burned off and doesn't give any problems come spring.

Did ours yesterday.

If you look back on the blog there are instructions ( thoughtfully provided by David Mantell ) on how to make a cover for the Alde flue therefore keeping the nasties out.

Ian