Anyone Have A GPS System They Love?

[kb0nes]

It is indeed a pity that Garmin is now subsidizing the map data with advertising. They are doing this to cover the "free" maps and declining revenues due to phone nav systems.

I have used at least three of the later model Nuvi's then my Garmin. I appreciate my old Nuvi 660 more and more with each experience of the new models. Still I find the latest Garmin units to be far more usable then the Android and iOS devices I have tried side by side.

I may have to pop onto eBay and pick up another one as a backup, they can be had for a song. Then the only issue is perhaps doing a little software hacking to insure my lifetime maps work on both units.

 

[nurdlinger]

Here's an update to my post of 1/21/2014

I posted earlier about the Garmin Nuvi 2597 LMT which had free lifetime map updates, but also had big blue blobs indicating various retail establishments which I could not get rid of. Well, yesterday that Garmin told me that it had become a year old and it was time to update the maps. I took it inside and connected to the computer. New maps and some program updates got installed. Today I decided to walk through all the configuration options to see whether anything new was present. Well, in the settings Map & Vehicle --> Map Layers there is a checkbox for "Places along the road". Uncheck that and the blue blobs vanish! Maybe some other thing I could be interested in goes away as well, but only use will discover it. I have no idea whether this setting was present in the older firmware. I probably never did such a complete examination of options the first time. In any case I think I will enjoy this unit a lot more now.

 

[fester]

Vintage GPS

Call me old school. My friend gave me a Garmin that never gets plugged in. I still rely on a road map and a strong sense of direction. That POS talking to me got on my nerves and caused a few missed turns before being forever banished to the glove box.

 

[launderess]

Am that well pleased! *Update*

Determined not to be tardy for another Thanksgiving in South New Jersey went out last weekend and purchased a Garmin 42LM from Best Buy. Was going to get the thing cheaper on fleaPay but was worried about arrival by Wednesday.

Long story short this thing rocks!

Charged it up and loaded several addresses on Wednesday and then we set out. Device totally got one where one wanted to go even pointing out where our destination was as our vehicle drove up (Aunt X's house is on the right, *LOL*)

Directions were clear and concise. Quick recalibrated when one deviated from the assigned routes (as when in Manhattan and took a different way to the Lincoln Tunnel from the UES), but the best was yet to come.

Coming home we went for petrol and got a bit lost finding the Garden State. No worry the Garmin patiently *understood* our mistakes (as when we missed a turn) and recalculated to get us onto the Turnpike and on into Manhattan. Again once in the City we deviated from the planned route but the device quickly recalculated.

Reading over the documentation for warranty am glad we purchased from Best Buy. Apparently Garmin voids the thing if one purchases at an auction or similar.

 

[sudsmaster]

Good to hear you got what you wanted and needed.

 

My Android phone came with Google Maps (and it's also available free from the Google Play Store) and it works pretty good as a GPS. Admittedly the screen is a bit small, similar to older GPS units, but I can read it OK. It also will know when I've decided to take a different route and will recalculate the route, time, etc. fairly quickly.

 

Where it's not strong is in giving the option of alternate routes in advance, and in giving one the ability to view congested roads/highways ahead. It's possible, but fiddly and something I try to do only when stopped at a red light. But for the price of a cell phone ($80) and monthly cell phone charges ($35, Virgin Mobile) it ain't bad. And of course I can use the phone to make calls and surf the web  as well.

 

I use the Maps function when coming home from work. It's not a long drive (about nine miles) but it's useful to know if there is unusual congestion ahead, since I generally take a freeway for part of the commute but could do it all on surface streets. I also use it when traveling to some destination I've never been to before. So far it hasn't led me astray.

 

 

 

[DADoES]

 
I do not (thus far) care for the Ford Sync navigation in my new Fusion.  The map was immediately outdated compared to my Garmin.  The Garmin has a better interface and graphics, but maybe I'm just accustomed to it.

I paid $99 for a lifetime maps update package on the Garmin (whose lifetime remains to be seen, although I've gotten 4 updates thus far).

I didn't find map updates anywhere on Ford's web sites.  Received an offer via e-mail, cost of $149 + taxes for (presumably) a one-time update, but free shipping on the little memory card.  Pass.

 

[launderess]

Well I remain that well pleased

Getting "lost" in deep South New Jersey on a cold winter night is not up our street so was happy and thankful of the Garmin's ability to get us home. Now if it could have warned us of the terrible traffic on Route 9 (aka Killer 9) would have been happy! *LOL*. However as the thing is known for horrible traffic even without a holiday it wasn't too large of a surprise. We probably could have doubled back, allowed the Garmin to recalculate and gotten straight to the GSP but the roads are narrow, it was dark, cold and so.... Oh and all that good food and bevvies didn't help either.

One good thing about driving on cold NYC/NJ nights is one can always crack the window a bit for a blast of cold air. That normally wakes you up!

 

[twintubdexter]

one step up from folding gas station maps...

Some years ago friends who constantly upgrade their luxury automobiles (blah!) gave me their Magellan GPS. There's a whole box of stuff including what looks to be a hand-held device too. This must be the model 1. You cannot update the maps so if it doesn't recognize the address you are out of luck. I've only found this to be a problem once. Since I don't drive long distances all that much it works just fine for me. I did drive to Santa Clarita, about 150 miles away, last weekend to pick up my new wall oven. That for me was a very long trip. My 2001 Lariat pickup was a gift from my late partner which he gave to me in November of 2000. It just turned 58K 4 days ago and it's pretty much the only thing I drive. "Madge" always gets us to our destination. I often wonder what my dad would say about today's GPS systems were he alive today. I'm still facinated with them.

 

[launderess]

Paper maps, printed out directions (Google), etc....

IMHO are all fine if one is perhaps driving in low traffic/rural areas. There one can pull over easily and or otherwise stop to sort oneself out. However on very busy highways such as the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway or some such having a more dedicated electronic device is certainly a godsend.

Case in point is New Jersey where most everyone or thing is off this or that route, exit, turn left at this route or exit.. and so forth. If you miss said exit unless very familiar with the area you either will have to seek assistance, travel far enough to find a way to double back, etc... One just doesn't have that kind of time. Not to mention don't like being lost in the woods as it were. I've seen Deliverance and host of other films to know nothing good comes from innocents getting lost in the wilderness. *LOL*

 

[tolivac]

Paper maps can be studied BEFORE your trip so you can plan it.The electronic maps in these other devices don't allow that.I have a built in GPS in my Highlander Hybrid car-have used it a few times.They are asking me for the $300 update-a DVD disc that goes into the machine.And also have to pay for installation.What it has is good enough for now.I can always use my I-Phone,but if I or you do you may have to pay roaming charges.So paper maps,GPS systems all have their advantages and disadvantages.To sort it out completely-you might have to use both.

 

[DADoES]

 
A route can be followed in advance on my Garmin.  Enter the destination, it'll calculate the route, then the map can be scrolled (and zoomed) to follow the details through.  Also can press a button to get a step-by-step, turn-by-turn detailing.

Garmin also has (free) BaseCamp software to plan and keep libraries of routes on a PC or Mac and transfer the data into the Garmin device.

I checked for updates a few min ago ... another map update is installing now, two supporting software updates, and a version update on BaseCamp.

http://www8.garmin.com/learningcenter/training/basecamp/

 

[cornutt]

Thanksgiving adventures with Garmin

We have a unit that we bought about six months ago, when we needed to make a trip to Tampa for medical reasons. We were supposed to meet relatives for Thanksgiving at a hotel in the Buckhead area of Atlanta the other day. I wasn't sure I remembered the area, so we got the Garmin out and programmed it with the hotel address, and started on our way.

We ran into this: The previous times we've used the Garmin, it's been mostly travel on the Interstates. Well, from Huntsville, AL, to Atlanta there is no good interstate route -- you have to know and take secondary roads if you want to get there in a reasonable amount of time, and everyone that lives in this area has a route they prefer. Anyway, the Garmin had great difficulty with finding an off-Interstate route. At the start of the trip, it kept wanting us to go back the way we came and go to I-65, which would have us taking a much longer route. We got it to agree with us on the route we were using by setting a waypoint in Gadsden, AL (a town along the route). It then worked OK until we got to Gadsden, at which point it once again tried to put us on a route (U.S. 278) that I know from previous experience is non-optimal.

So once again, instead of it figuring the route for us, I had to tell it what route to use. I set another waypoint in Anniston, AL, and it then agreed with the U.S. 431 route we were taking. It did OK until we got to the waypoint in Anniston, at which point itinexplicably tried to route us around the back of a shopping center. So we turned it off until we got onto Interstate 20 and headed east to Atlanta.

At this point we didn't have much faith in its routing choices, so when it told us to gett off of I-20 at the Fulton County Airport instead of continuing on to I-285, I was a bit skeptical. Nonetheless, I went with it. Lo and behold, it found us an off-Interstate route that was an easy and quick drive! And the sightseeing was better to boot. We were at the hotel about 20 minutes earlier than I figured, and didn't have to sit in any traffic jams. Our relatives told us that it took the about half an hour to get through the trffic jams on I-285 and I-75. So go figure. In Atlanta, it did a good job of finding a route. In small-town northeast Alabama, not so much.

 

[sudsmaster]

I'm also looking into using an Android app to turn my cell phone into a dash cam.

 

Apparently it works pretty good - the trick is to get a cell phone holder that minimizes vibration...

 

 

[sudsmaster]

Cell phone GPS revisted. Although it works well enough in town, when the cell signal is lost, so is the GPS like functionality. So I might just spring for a "real" GPS unit one of these days. Fry's has a Garmin ("factory refurb") for cheap, with lifetime map updates. But hey, I don't have a problem consulting a paper map in advance and using a little bit of common sense to find my way around. The stories of GPS units sending people off cliffs and into lakes are a bit worrisome, LOL.

 

 

[tolivac]

GPS sending people off cliffs or into lakes-think this may be due to the person trying to follow the GPS units voice directions and not paying attention to where they are really going.