GPS will probably work better in Highlands and Islands than the city. Don't forget, GPS is satellite based and covers huge areas - it doesn't need any mobile network coverage to work.
That's mobiles. GPS just needs a clear view of the sky. If the receiver can "hear" four satellites, you're in . There's no directional aspect with GPS.
But the further north you go, the worse GPS coverage gets as they dont orbit over the poles. Good enough for an accurate run to Moscow. Plus with pure GPS every 12 hours it goes from good to mediocre to poor coverage and back again as the satellites follow each other in the same orbits. Using Beidou (China) Glonass (Russia) and Galileo (EU) means that does not happen any more. I think I would rather have the reliability of a speedo cable speed sensor, multistorey car parks come to mind where having power assist may be worthwhile..
Mind you, the second to last multistorey I visited. Failed to see the No Camper Van restriction. Annoying because the Range Rover next to me was bigger. At £35 plus parking was still cheaper than Heathrow Terminal 5 Short Stay..
So we now have the definitive answer from Neil on what happens when GPS is lost... '...If the GPS signal is lost, the unit will retain the same speed output signal until the GPS signal is restored, so if you go into a tunnel at 60mph, the assistance will remain low throughout the tunnel and it will recalibrate when the GPS signal is restored. If you are entering the car park, then you’ll already be in the highest stage of assist (unless you drive at 45mph into a carpark lol) and it will remain at this level until you drive out and over 30mph...'
Frankly that sounds a bit poopy. It would have been nice if he'd answered whether it's still possible to have the speedo cable version.
Applying that logic, that would be like going to VW and asking if they can swap out the electric motors and batteries and replace it with an air cooled engine I think that the approach is great. It would be very unusual to lose GPS signal when doing more than 30mph. Even if you did, you'd probably be in a tunnel and unlikely to need to do a three point turn.
I was thinking other way round, entering tunnel slowly then having to drive faster with too much assist. I prefer to have things ultimately under my control in the van rather than by a satellite connection. It's part of why I have an old van - to be in control of my destiny - no fancy electronics, I can fix everything myself.
For me I’ll simply not be parting with any money if I can’t get the speedo cable type or at least an answer about it. Praising the virtues of the gps isnt an answer to the question. I can’t even be bothered to repeat myself in asking the question again for the time being
The FAQ on the Lite steer Australian site claims Speedo cable or Speedo pulse transducers are available $2750 aud no mention of the gps version I've sent them a message to varify as I interested in one of these setups
I think he's always thinking about improving it and maybe the satellite thing was a change that may have seemed slick to him. As Ian suggests also, it's a deal breaker for me.
I wondered if the electronics side of it was different, being for a scooby ECU.. or are VSS’ all the same?
You could always fit an override switch to the power side of the system to disable it when ever you want.
