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I've been using GPS for 10 years or so in marine and aviation applications, but have never really seen the need for automobile use.
My wife, however, had been hearing it's virtues praised by female aquaintences , and has asked for one for Mother's Day.

As a skeptical husband should, I borrowed a friend's Garmin nuvi 350 this weekend to allow Diane to test it out.
Forgetting that recovering from knee surgery meant she wouldn't really have a meaningful test period, I ended up being the evaluator.

My conclusion:
If you are good with maps and instructions, and have access to the maps, you are a bit smarter than the software and will do better on your own.
BUT, it's good enough that if you just blindly follow the commands, despite the mistakes, your total time will be shorter if you include the time taken to aquire and figure out the printed mapped routes.

In other words, if Diane and I both jumped into seperate cars in a strange city and received orders to a destination, by the time I obtained maps, planned routes, and followed my own plan, she would beat me even if I took a more direct route.
At under $200 now, and at $246 including Bluetooth, you can't go wrong.
With a Bluetooth GPS, your Bluetooth phone will not only become hands free, but the database in the GPS includes all the phone numbers of the hotels, restaurants, and other points of interest, and with one touch, will dial the place you are interested in contacting.
Pretty cool stuff for the price. $10/day for rental of a basic unit sounds steep by comparison.
Amazon had the cheapest prices on the web as far as I could tell.
Missed the concert and set list thread yesterday as a result, but hey, I'm current on GPS features and pricing!
Hope she still wants it after all that!

PHAW Webmistress wrote:

INeverGoAnywhere wrote:

PHAW Webmistress wrote:Where's the good brother????

Anyone want to turn right?

Tom Tom did better than Ty Ty and Nae Nae but not better than Russ Russ (however - Russ Russ is better at NO NO NO NO) (and Da Da just stayed quiet )

Was going to post....... Right-right-right..... is a left......

Damn Ty-Ty

He's such a slut

yep

Longboardn' ASEL&S wrote:I've been using GPS for 10 years or so in marine and aviation applications, but have never really seen the need for automobile use.
My wife, however, had been hearing it's virtues praised by female aquaintences , and has asked for one for Mother's Day.

As a skeptical husband should, I borrowed a friend's Garmin nuvi 350 this weekend to allow Diane to test it out.
Forgetting that recovering from knee surgery meant she wouldn't really have a meaningful test period, I ended up being the evaluator.

My conclusion:
If you are good with maps and instructions, and have access to the maps, you are a bit smarter than the software and will do better on your own.
BUT, it's good enough that if you just blindly follow the commands, despite the mistakes, your total time will be shorter if you include the time taken to aquire and figure out the printed mapped routes.

In other words, if Diane and I both jumped into seperate cars in a strange city and received orders to a destination, by the time I obtained maps, planned routes, and followed my own plan, she would beat me even if I took a more direct route.
At under $200 now, and at $246 including Bluetooth, you can't go wrong.
With a Bluetooth GPS, your Bluetooth phone will not only become hands free, but the database in the GPS includes all the phone numbers of the hotels, restaurants, and other points of interest, and with one touch, will dial the place you are interested in contacting.
Pretty cool stuff for the price. $10/day for rental of a basic unit sounds steep by comparison.
Amazon had the cheapest prices on the web as far as I could tell.
Missed the concert and set list thread yesterday as a result, but hey, I'm current on GPS features and pricing!
Hope she still wants it after all that!

Also great for a salesman. You can program all your addresses into the GPS and it will give you the most efficient method of visiting all the destinations. Also, if you should get off track (visiting an unforseen customer), the GPS will "re-calculate" from where you are and put you back on track.

I have Tom Tom and am very happy with it. I know my way around pretty well, but have used it to destinations where I dont know the way. My main use of it is with the point of interests. If I am on a long drive and need some coffe, i just search for a dunkin donuts and it directs me to the closest one without having to drive around and look for one or stop and ask for directions. Definetly one of the best investments I have ever made.

My dad went to the Daytona 500 this year by himself. He drove from Daytona to Cocoa Beach alone in the dark relying on the rental's GPS. When he got home, he vowed to buy his own.

Unless it's a real piece of junk, it should definitely adjust for missed turns. I'd suggest spending a little more on one that tells you "Turn left ahead on Main Street" instead of one that just says "Turn left ahead."

FunkHouse9 wrote:My dad went to the Daytona 500 this year...

FunkHouse9 wrote: I'd suggest spending a little more on one that tells you "Turn left ahead on Main Street" instead of one that just says "Turn left ahead."

Definatly the only way to go, since Garmin units (nuvi 260) available online for $205 w/free shipping have that ability (the "voice" can read the names), and competitors have models for $129 that will as well.

I think saving $50 or less for a Garmin 200 or other that doesn't is false economy.

aeroparrot wrote:

ragtopW wrote:

aeroparrot wrote:

ragtopW wrote:OK so last week proved to me that I can

A. Drive
B. Navigate.
C. Not both.

has anyone used one of those GPS units that the car companys offer?
(yes it's 10$ a day.. But)

I guess my big question is if you miss a turn or exit. Will it
correct/Reset and still get you to where you are going?

I know Vicky (Stlparrothead) got one down in Dallas. Took us a little while to figure out how to get the directions to the hotel, but once we figured it out, it was helpful.

the yahoo directions you printed out had me going the wrong way..

Just like my directional skills?

BTW, you know how I was saying about how I remembered the IKEA? If we went another few blocks in the same direction, we would have hit Preston.

heading back Sunday was an adventure. no sun, trying to find either Preston, or the NDT... finally found it, and ran... I think I paid all the tolls...

finally found DAL, but it was all dead-reckoning.

Thinking I should have had my Garmin with me. Handheld, but still useful. Definitely a good birthday present.

RinglingRingling wrote:

aeroparrot wrote:

ragtopW wrote:

aeroparrot wrote:

ragtopW wrote:OK so last week proved to me that I can

A. Drive
B. Navigate.
C. Not both.

has anyone used one of those GPS units that the car companys offer?
(yes it's 10$ a day.. But)

I guess my big question is if you miss a turn or exit. Will it
correct/Reset and still get you to where you are going?

I know Vicky (Stlparrothead) got one down in Dallas. Took us a little while to figure out how to get the directions to the hotel, but once we figured it out, it was helpful.

the yahoo directions you printed out had me going the wrong way..

Just like my directional skills?

BTW, you know how I was saying about how I remembered the IKEA? If we went another few blocks in the same direction, we would have hit Preston.

heading back Sunday was an adventure. no sun, trying to find either Preston, or the NDT... finally found it, and ran... I think I paid all the tolls...

finally found DAL, but it was all dead-reckoning.

Thinking I should have had my Garmin with me. Handheld, but still useful. Definitely a good birthday present.

Yep. If I ever buy another car, I may consider something like a Garmin.

Our son gave us a Garmin for Christmas and this weekend I took the youngest keet to Atlanta for a college visit. We took "Lucy" with us and used it in the rental car. My keet had to help because it didn't tell you the road name you were about to turn onto. That would have been helpful but........we did navigate through Atlanta with just a few mistakes but Lucy recalculated where we needed to go. I was very gald I had it.......my keet can't read a map but she's great in Calculus.....

I'm not an early adapter to technology, so I bought a Garmin and actually let it sit in the box for a month.

I am also great at navigating with maps, but I will always have GPS in my car going forward.

If you use mapquest or any other online maps, this is easier, quicker, and does correct itself if you miss a turn.

Easy to use, and plug and play install. I actually use mine without the sound (mount it in the lower right corner of my windshield.) It's actually great on giving you an estimated time of arrival and can even give you an accurate mph reading as you drive.

I'm in sales, and it's an asset for finding the next appointment. But, favorite application was this past fall. I was meeting family and friends at a mountain cabin in NC. It was after midnight, dark and extremely foggy. The GPS showed every winding turn on the switchback mountain roads and showed upcoming turns. Truthfully, it actually made my drive safer, because I knew when the sharp turns were coming.

I have the garmin Nuvi. For those that travel regularly to unfamiliar towns, the best feature is the ability to search for places by name. I am able to locate the closest Starbucks for my morning fix and for lunch and dinner I can search by type. If I am in a Thai mood, I search for Thai. It is also great for finding the closest gas station for returning the rental car. The only downside for me is my internal compass no longer works. I used to be able to go anywhere without a map and know the direction I was moving. Now I get lost without the GPS running.

I used to use Microsoft streets and trips on my laptop with a Microsoft GPS receiver plugged into my USB port. That worked very well also. It was a little bulky to have the laptop sitting on the passenger seat, but it was just as effective.

I believe they also have units that use celebrity voices now. There would be nothing better than having Mr. T telling you "You're gonna miss the turn if you keep up yo jibba jabba fool. Make a left up here."

Two weeks ago I spent 4 days rambling around D.C. and Virginia on a college visit blitz. I thought I was pretty clever with my Mapquest printouts. Mapquest failed to tell me that, depending on the time of day, some 2-way roads in D.C. become ONE WAY ! I kicked myself for passing on the GPS from Dollar. I'm starting to do research now for a GPS purchase by the end of the month.

I've been in Hertz cars with NeverLost and had problems. It doesn't always seem to direct you to the best route but it will get you to where you want to go eventually.

My Honda mini-van has one built although when we bought the car in 2007, the dvd that supplies the maps were already 1 year old. In some parts of the country (like in DC) 1 year makes a huge difference. Nonetheless, I think it's great.

We have friends with portable GPS (don't remember the brand) and they love them. One set of friends also has a Honda with the built in navigation and they say their portable is much better and the Honda one sucks.

All GPSes should have a feature that recalculates your route if you make a wrong turn.

If I'm going to some unknown place, I always like to google map it or look at a paper, old fashioned map to see where I'm going. I think the GPS is great if you are traveling and you want to find the nearest McDonalds or gas station or you want a time estimate to your destination.

I have a megallan maestro 3100, got it at Target on clearance for 74 dollars! It was 300 when it debuted in early 2007.

If your going on a long vacation by car, it would be alot more valuable to just buy your own! Plus you get to keep using it.

Gps units are coming down in price every day, check out the price on amazon before you buy but it is not necessary for most people to pay more than 120 for a unit that would serve the needs of most.

Just make sure you get a unit that has Canada and Us maps if you travel to the great north alot.

also the real blessing in disguise in gps units are the POI's (points of interest). You can be in some outta the way redneck town and if your hungry just hit the poi button and look up restaurants near you. It will even guide you to the place. I've discovered tons of places I would have never been to without "Jan Levanstan" my gps unit. There's no way I would have even thought to search on the internet for the town or any of the points of interest that were near it.

Something else to consider when researching GPS systems... As someone previously mentioned, be sure the model you get tells you well in advance the turn you'll need to make and the street name. For example: "Turn right on Main Street in .8 of a mile". The advanced warning is crucial in an unfamiliar area.
Also, the only downside of the GPS units is driving to an address that is new and therefore yet to be mapped. Then you're pretty much screwed... probably screwed by Mapquest as well. Every so often you can download/upload? new map information into your GPS, but again, if the area is new and not yet on the maps, you'll have to get directions the old fashioned way: Ask someone.

My friend had one of the portable magellen units (can't remember the model) and returned it. His feeling was that "voice navigation is not quite *there* yet). Given his career and former job I trust his opinion when it comes to technology and navigation, so when he said the TomTom was adequate for my needs, I believed him. The TomTom doesn't tell you the name of the street to turn on (as far as I remember), but it certainly gives you adequate warning and it shows the name of the street on the screen. It counts down the number of miles and then the number of yards on screen...then I think it goes to voice at 1 mile, half a mile, quarter mile and then "turn r/l here". If you're inputting a destination you can review the directions ahead of time either by text or by graphic, so you know where you're going. It does what I need it to do...too many bells and whistles would just be more distracting, and there's plenty of that amongst drivers already.

I'm driving to SE Arizona a week from Thursday so it will be interesting to really "road test" it, especially once we get away from the big cities (and off I-10).

FunkHouse9 wrote:I believe they also have units that use celebrity voices now. There would be nothing better than having Mr. T telling you "You're gonna miss the turn if you keep up yo jibba jabba fool. Make a left up here."

I have the Mr. T voice in my Tom Tom. He gets p*** when I dont go the way he wants me to.
"Turn around sucka before I jump out of this machine and get you!!!"

I am proud of all of you..

at work this morning someone claimed I should just
install "girlfriend 2.0 "