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.
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ninetydegrees
no subject
2008-07-23 02:33 (UTC)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.