GPS preference questions

[kinzel]

Hi there, traveler ...

have you got the blues?

You say that roads you used ten years ago now go someplace else?
You say that roads you never heard of go where you want to go?
You say that roads that used to be friendly local scenic byways
with speed limits on the slow side of 40 now sport dazzling multi-span three-high bridge interconnections
with 8 lane roads that didn't exist in 1997, all moving at 78 miles an hour wall-to-wall?

is that what's troubling you, Bubby?

In other words, while we were never lost, we were discommoded several times by the rapid change in roads; we came across places where the road we needed to be on was now... continued on the other side of a superhighway, with no bridge to be found... and where the cross street now feeds a barrier littered road with one way signs and a mile-long Robin Hood's barn round-trip to go 40 feet.

So, talk to me of GPS, and of features. I note we have no bluetooth phone, so we prolly don't need that, eh? And who expects the map to sing? Not the most urgent feature for us, that ...

Thanks!

Comments

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

My husband bought me a Garmin Nuvi for Christmas; he said that the Amazon consensus was that it was a bit slow to load when it woke up, but it had by far the best user interface. I'm addicted to mine. When I tried the built-in GPS in the Toyota Prius and another car, I was struck by how hard they were to use, and how much I fumbled.

There are some tricky hidden things in the Nuvi (trying to figure out how to add a "by way of" point was not straightforward) but the basic task of "Get me there from here" I could use straight out of the box.

I have the most basic model -- it says "Turn left" but not "Turn left on Ash Street" -- and it's good enough for me.

[queenmaggie.livejournal.com]

I have the 700 level (not the newest with voice recognition) My first one was stolen out of my (admittedly unlocked) car in my driveway in our tiny gated community (it's Florida. Apparently all the non bug infested homes are in gated communities. sheesh)

We got this one because we're planning foreign travel, and it has modules for many of the cities we're about to visit, and also has walking directions as well as driving.

I agree both with its ease of use and somewhat confusing "add a stop" subroutine.

I do note that it has the directions and recommendations for several restaurants that are no longer there... and it doesn't have the newest ones. I'm told it is update-able, but I haven't managed to do it yet.

My husband also has the Tom Tom (because he decided the concept was great, but he wasn't going to take it from me in our new home when he had to go on multiple business trips) It's less intuitive, but it has some features that are cool... he says it seems more like it would appeal to an engineer or a programer: they think that way. It's kindof amusing to put both in the same car and play dueling GPS. Nuvi has taken me on strange detours on occasion when it detected backed up traffic on 95 in Miami. I got to tour Little Havana on the way to an audition!.... But it most often gets us where we're going faster while Tom Tom goes the shortest, but perhaps back street and slower due to lights, direction.

Using Nuvi, I have been able to go to addresses in cities I've never been to, find restaurants a bunch of friends all decided to meet up at, while there, and to get to auditions in downtown SoBe and Miami, without knowing the way. It's a comforting tool to have

[masgramondou.livejournal.com]

1) Find a way to try them out before you buy. The various UIs are different to use and some may suit you more than others,

2) Definitely do not buy one which you can't update the maps on. Doesn't matter how much you update them the capability to have updated maps is key because that also means that if, by some chance, you go to England (say) you can get the UK maps and still use the same GPS.

3) Related to 1. See how well it works IN YOUR CAR on a drive where you go under bridges and trees and things. I have found some GPS's seem to have better antennae than others and recover from unexpected tunnels quicker and so on.

On the whole cheap is not good when it comes to GPS as the products are still develpoing but the low end model of a reputable brand (e.g. Nuvi, Garmin, Tomtom) is probably all you need.

[reedrover]

Robin Hood's barn

Ah! Someone else who uses that phrase! I grew up saying "wrong way 'round Robin Hood's barn" and could never figure out its origin. Do you know where that phrase started?

according to one source and another ...

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/5/messages/1405.html

...and Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable says about the same thing...

Re: according to one source and another ...

[(Anonymous)]

That is fabulous! My sister is going to be vastly amused, too. Thank you!

[elektra.livejournal.com]

I've got a Garmin 330 (named "Stella"). We take her everywhere - whenever we rent a car. Easy to use. And I love the option for British English vs. American English . . . she scolds us in a proper British accent when we go off course.

[jack_calls_dances]

I have a Tom Tom One that I like a lot. Not a lot of extra bells and whistles, but an easy to use interface, and generally good routing. Note that some of the higher end TomToms now have the ability to route based on information returned from users on actual travel speeds on different routes. The One does have the ability to do minor updates on the maps for streets that no longer go through or name corrections -- individuals can send in corrections, which are then incorporated into the map when you connect it to your computer.

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

I have a Garmin. It works okay in town, but I live in the country, and it has a little trouble finding exactly where I am (it keeps telling me that my address is about 300 yards south of where it really is, no matter how I insist).

Also, it has a Very Odd Idea of the most direct route. It keeps wanting me to go about three miles out of my way to get anywhere.

Otoh, I really do enjoy talking to it as I drive. Particularly when I think I detect a note of desperation in the persistent "Recalculating route!"
message. (Okay, I'm just mean to mechanical objects.)

If your address is mis-located in Google, Yahoo, or MSN Maps, or in MapQuest, it will also be mis-located in the GPS.

[mardott.livejournal.com]

I have a Garmin, too. I love it, although I do agree about the sometimes circuitous routes it will take me on. As long as I'm not pressed for time, I figure I'm seeing parts of town I would never see, otherwise.

I take it with me when I travel and I wouldn't want to be without it. I'm in a completely strange city, but all I need is an address and I can find where I need to be. I use it for business all the time - I work at the client's house, so it's great for the first trip out.

She hates it when I don't do what I'm told. Her "recalculating" is nasal and sarscastic. So I get harmless "up yours" moments!

[whl.livejournal.com]

One issue is you want to make sure the maps that the GPS has will not just show the roads going where you remember them going.

I have a eTrex legend HCx, which I would not recommend for use in car navigation; no audio output, too small a screen, and in need of additional maps in many areas. Which is OK, as I got it for hiking and geocaching.

But once I updated the maps, it became usable for automotive navigation down here in Mississippi, where I am currently exiled.

And while I was familiar with a few errors in maps of my original stomping grounds around Chicagoland, here in Mississippi, the errors are more severe. I know at least three places there the GPS will have you driving through someones garage, on a road that either never existed, or hasn't existed since the streets here were paved.

So check the map data; Garmin has this page (http://www8.garmin.com/cgi-bin/mapgen/webmap.cgi?p=21299201&u=1&z=2&w=480&h=360&rz=0&k=1&sc=1), which will allow people to examine the maps for their area of interest before they buy. (Note that it needs Internet Explorer, or FireFox, or possibly something set to pretend to be them...) It can be a bit temperamental these days; it seems to me that it was better behaved last December, but who can understand the vagaries of web developers.

Another issue is how likely you are to obey voice commands from a device at the risk of your own life. Some survey in the UK is claiming 300,000 accidents caused by GPS navigation. Personally, I think quite a few of those would have happened even if the drivers had been using a map, fiddling with the radio, or in extreme cases, just driving.

[scaleslea.livejournal.com]

I have a Garmin Zumo, which I use to navigate in both my car and my motorcycle. My wife thought it was so useful she got a Garmin Nuvi. The route plotting algorithm has some oddities about it. Once you understand them, you can correct if you halfway know the area.

Things I have noted: it will route you on a faster road with traffic over a slower road with no traffic. It assumes that all traffic lights are green and there are no stop signs, speed bumps, or other delays. It knows NOTHING about parking lots. It will guide you down side streets because the database says that the side streets are a few feet shorter than the more direct main road.

You can buy an accessory antenna that will pick up traffic information from XM radio or from an FM network. The Traffic antenna is worth it to avoid delays, but is only useful for major roads. Secondary roads aren't monitored for traffic, so the GPS will route you into snarls it doesn't know are there.

A GPS give the pilot more useful information. It is not an autopilot. The pilot should know to never follow the GPS blindly, but to use the information to plot a safer, more effective course.

Doc

OnStar

[wjb3-reads.livejournal.com]

Actually, I do not like current GPS.

Dad has OnStar, so whenever I go somewhere without a local guide (aka friends), I rent an OnStar enabled car. You ask them for a route, and they download it in minutes. The biggest single advantage is they download the latest route including construction. I heard they were going to add the capacity to route around slow traffic.

True Story: The piano mover asked for directions. They showed up hours late and said "Lady, you do not live off Exit 5" Wife replied "I have lived off Exit 5 my entire life". After the truck left we discovered the government had changed it to Exit 54 at midnight. It took three weeks for them to post a teeny, tiny sign saying "Old Exit 5".
=

Re: OnStar

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

I can't often afford to rent any car, much less an Onstar equipped one, certainly cannot afford to buy one unless someone buys some movie rights... so we need to find a GPS solution or become prescient.

AAA TripTik

[wjb3-reads.livejournal.com]

so we need to find a GPS solution or become prescient.

My other Dad worked with computers before he retired. He prefers the paper AAA TripTik (Note 1), no battery required. He goes to his local AAA and tells them when and where he is going. Just before the trip, they mail it to him. If I remember correctly, it is like a spiral note book with maps instead of pages. On the map itself, they used a green highlighter to trace the route.

For unexpected surprises, like a 12 car pile up, he uses a 20 year old CB radio.

Note 1)
( http://www.aaamidatlantic.com/Travel/AutoTravel )
"Order a traditional TripTik® online to receive by mail"
=

Re: AAA TripTik

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

You know, I used to use them, too ... but then to avoid the places I like to avoid I ended up pre-planning the trips so there was a lot of duplicated effort. Also, a lot of my local/regional travel when I reach someplace is off-the-cuff. The side-trip this time that found me faced by a row of You-Shall-Not-Pass barriers making me go miles around ... I wouldn't have bothered to or even thought to put on trip-tik

Re: AAA TripTik vs GPS

[(Anonymous)]

and the Garmin and TomTom have options to highlight speed traps and traffic obstructions.

We like our Garmin (650) esp. with the Aus accent. When you ignore her directions she gets very annoyed. but it only has US maps.

The 770 ad says it will remember where your car is parked and help you find it, and includes Can/Eur/UK maps.

[(Anonymous)]

We have a Magellan (AAA model) - this is one that you can rent in a Hertz car to check out. The Hertz interface is clunky; the regular Magellan has a touch screen.

We love it - it offers fastest time or shortest distance options. The maps are updateable (did it at the beginning of the year). As others have said - if Mapquest doesn't know an address, neither will the Magellan. You can enter an intersection though.

Really like how it shows your next "maneuver" (right or left) and how many miles down the road. Plus I find it very helpful warning me before I have to make a turn in a city driving situation.

It has on occasion steered us wrong - usually when the address of a destination is not the street where one actually makes the turn...

You can zoom the size of the map which show your location depending on how much detail you need.