Compass! How come I never found that before?
 

Yes folks, today I discovered that my RNS-D has a compass in it. :o
After 13 years of driving D2 S8's with RNS-C and RNS-D, how come I never knew that!

Yes HP, its there - tho' i recommend sticking with the Satnav as rhumb line navigation is all very well at sea but not so good overland. +++

Its an RNS-D only feature, so don't kick yourself too hard ;)

OK, still taken me two years to stumble upon it. :ROFL:

There is compass in text based SatNav as well, it's under rear parcel shelf and is used to determine heading when there is poor or no GPS signal and distance is taken from ABS sensors. I had imagined all factory SatNavs would work in this manner.

HPSause is talking about a pretty graphical compass on the screen +++

The RNSC/D and later all use gyroscopes and ABS speed pulses to help when GPS signal is low.

The early Text based nav is the only one I'm aware of that has an actual electrical compass on the parcel shelf. From memory, it also has a relay that switches the compass off, when you turn on the heated rear screen so that it doesn't mis interpret the interference.... +++

That's a good description of it (which I didn't find for nearly a year..:) ). It's pretty to look at, but a bit of a gimmick really.

I was so surprised to see it that I thought it indicated a fault of some sort! :tuttut:

I often drive with the compass displayed, when I don't need the sat nav. Not for any real reason ... I just like how it looks. The colours match the dash lighting better than the sat nav display does.

I've used the compass display mode like that for years, though admittedly I found it by accident.

Usefully though, as well as an indication of general direction, it provides coordinates, should you ever need to give someone your precise location.

... which reminds me: Does anyone else use the coordinate input of their RNS-D to navigate, or am I the only coordinate geek?

Navigating by coordinates is far far more accurate that navigating by post code or address. Here's what I do:

1. Find the precise location on Google Maps/street (by postcode or whatever).
2. On the map view (not street view), right click the exact spot and select "What's here?".
3. A pop-up dialogue appears, displaying the address and coordinates underneath (eg: 54.528970, -1.359761).
4. Convert the coordinates into the format used by the RNS-D.

You can either do the maths and convert the coordinates manually or, a quicker way, use http://www.nearby.org.uk

Copy and paste the coordinates from Google Maps into the box at the top of the page, click 'Go' and scroll down for the result. Under 'Copyable' you want the fourth box down, in this example: 54:31:44.292N 1:21:35.140W

Round off the last 2 digits for the RNS-D: 54:31:44.3N 1:21:35.1W



Of course it's not a very practical way to navigate for unplanned routes/detours, but if you're able to plan a journey in advance it's a great way to ensure you're guided right to the door.

Blimey..;)