Garmin etc

[jwolfer]

My friend just got a Garmin for Xmas.  It would be a waste of money for me ( and I suspect most of us on here wouldn't need one) Is there a reason for anyone of us to have one other than the novelty and being able to outsmart the routing.  I remember doing that with mapquest.  I have found that many nav systems will keep you on interstates at all costs... routing you on circuitous routes just to keep you on interstates

[english si]

It's quite nice to have the moving map, but I'd not bother much with navigation, unless going to an unfamilar city - then again, I have bad memories of rental car sat nav (and tech mad brother) in San Francisco - telling us to turn right at Market, whereas it was the right fork straight ahead we wanted. Sat Nav, being in the front, whereas me-with-map was in the back, and what would have been a fairly simple route to I-80/US101, it was rather complex (what with the one-way streets and stuff).

The speaking is annoying, especially for those, like us, who can use a map, remember routes and such like.

[Dr Frankenstein]

I don't have a GPS myself, but when I borrow one (because I like having that in unfamiliar places), the first thing I disable is the speaking. I rarely have nav enabled.

[Laura]

I actually have a Garmin, although it's a 60CSx handheld GPS that I use for hiking, mapping trails, and geocaching purposes I have been known to pull it out just to look at the maps and my surroundings, and I'm almost positive that there's a way on there to map out directions if I wanted (sans annoying person constantly yelling "recalculating!")

My brother has a auto navigating garmin GPS, and it's fun to use to see what route it tries to get us to take. While it's usually boring and just tells us to get on the nearest interstate (haha I'm convinced it's part on an on-going conspiracy to get people to use some otherwise pointless interstates), sometimes it'll give us some really wonky way to go, which we'll take for fun.

[Truvelo]

I've had mine a few years now. It not only gives you directions and moving maps but also gives you warning of speedtraps. The only problem is when I enter my post code it directs you to the next street instead of mine although ever other GPS on the market also seems to do this. The other thing is when you're driving along newly built roads - it has a fit and assumes you're driving through a field

[Alex]

My friend just got a Garmin for Xmas.  It would be a waste of money for me ( and I suspect most of us on here wouldn't need one) Is there a reason for anyone of us to have one other than the novelty and being able to outsmart the routing.  I remember doing that with mapquest.  I have found that many nav systems will keep you on interstates at all costs... routing you on circuitous routes just to keep you on interstates

I initially thought that, but the ETA aspect of a GPS is fairly useful, plus it is fun to beat the time, as it is conservative with its time estimates. It is also good to see old alignments (you can sometimes see the road veering off and coming back and saying to yourself "yup, old alignment").

[6a]

I looked at some and the things they do that aren't available on my phone (speaking, etc.) are things I don't want anyway.

[hbelkins]

I find mine handy for navigating to specific addresses, or to places in unfamiliar territory -- say, I'm on the road and want Arby's or Burger King, just have my Nuvi find the nearest one and off I go.

I agree that the routing isn't always the most logical, and I further agree that it's fun to try to beat the ETA and see how many minutes I can shave off of it.

[andytom]

I have found that many nav systems will keep you on interstates at all costs... routing you on circuitous routes just to keep you on interstates

They will do that if you have it set to fastest route rather than shortest route (as the freeways usually are outside of rush hour).

I find mine indispensible in my job getting into and out of neighborhoods and business parks.  I leave the voice on as that signals when turns are coming up and I can spend more time dealing with traffic and less time keeping track of where I am.

--Andy

[PAHighways]

Is there a reason for anyone of us to have one other than the novelty and being able to outsmart the routing.

I don't have a standalone GPS device but have Google and BlackBerry Maps on my phone.  I use Google Maps primarily for finding the route to an unfamiliar place and BlackBerry Maps for the same when I am out of Verizon's 3G territory.

[corco]

I would never use one for routing, but as AARoads mentioned it's neat to have a local map as you drive so you can see old alignments and things like that, and if I want to know if there's a McDonalds at the next exit or a gas station in the next town on Nebraska Highway 4 (hint: there's not), a GPS could be useful.

My parents recently got a car with GPS, and despite my best advice to always carry a map (something I told them constantly), they went on a trip without a map and got completely lost in southern Utah trying to use the GPS's routing. Some glitch told them to get off the freeway, drive a bunch of miles down some random road, and then told them to turn around and go back to the freeway, which didn't make any sense.

[Alps]

I've found use in GPS when forced onto a detour or when my trip routing on back roads unexpectedly fails at a random unmarked intersection.  Especially when I have a passenger... then I tell them "hurry up and find where we are!" and eventually we get unstuck.  It's a relief valve in that aspect, when you're completely off the mapped network.

[Dr Frankenstein]

According to my parents' GPS, I live in the middle of a field. (New street)

I'm the only person I know who still carries a map. Many of my friends look at me in a weird way for using a - OMG - paper map.

[74/171FAN]

My sister just got a Garmin for Christmas making me feel shameful.  I still keep a map with me but I have no reason to use it because I don't have a car at college to go anywhere.

[hbelkins]

According to my parents' GPS, I live in the middle of a field. (New street)

I'm the only person I know who still carries a map. Many of my friends look at me in a weird way for using a - OMG - paper map.

A paper map or atlas is still the best way to do trip planning, if you ask me -- or to use if you have a sudden change in travel plans.

[golden eagle]

I use the old paper maps/atlases. I once went on Mapquest to see how long it would take to drive from Jackson to Detroit. It had me going up to Chicago first, then cutting over to Detroit, rather than going through cities like Nashville, Louisville and Cincinnati.

[SP Cook]

GPS systems have one function relative to travel from city to city.  To get you lost.

Some of you know I live at a new exit.  Totally changed a major flow of traffic.  Open for over 18 months.  Signed properly.  Clearly. 

Amazing number of people in out-of-state cars and a dangerous number of 18-wheelers, hopelessly lost.  Following a GPS looking for a road that is no longer there.  Its frightening that a person is driving a big truck and is too stupid to follow the signs or read a map.

GPS has ONE purpose.  To find a local street or particular business in a town you are visiting. 

[realjd]

For long distance driving, route finding on those things is poor. It can be useful for ETA info though, and for determining what services are available at upcoming exits.

The only time I really rely on GPS is local nav in an unfamiliar city. It is a huge help for finding my hotel, customer site, restaurant address, or back to the rental car lot when I leave (since many are hard to find and off airport property).

Also, setting the GPS to "shortest route" instead of "fastest" can lead you to some cool places, provided you use your brain enough to not follow dirt roads up mountains and such.

[hbelkins]

Fun game to play with your GPS: plan your route to a distant destination ahead of time and then set your destination in your GPS. (For instance, my preferred route to points in the northeast involves driving to West Liberty, Ky., then north on KY 7 to hit I-64, yet my Garmin -- and most online/software mapping services -- usually routes me east on the Mountain Parkway and US 460 to US 23 north). See how long it takes for the GPS to finally come around to displaying the route you are actually taking and quit telling you to make a U-turn or take some local road back to its preferred routing.

[mightyace]

^^^^

Google maps on my Droid really has that stubborn feature of wanting to keep you on it's route.

What I  mainly use is the traffic feature which helps on the way to/from work.

And, yes, it's good for finding specific addresses.

[brownpelican]

I use my girlfriend's TomTom sometimes for unfamiliar places. Plus it does a good job of alerting me to red light cameras.

[agentsteel53]

GPS is great at showing old alignments.  For example, there is a stretch of old road here in southern California that is proudly labeled "US-60/70" despite it not having been called that since, oh about 1964.

[KEK Inc.]

My stepdad has a Garmin that starts flashing the speed at you if you're going even 1 over the speed limit.

[NE2]

GPS is great at showing old alignments.  For example, there is a stretch of old road here in southern California that is proudly labeled "US-60/70" despite it not having been called that since, oh about 1964.

More likely than not, this comes from the Census Bureau's TIGER data, itself a combination of data from the counties and information from USGS topos, state DOT county maps, and anything else they could get their hands on.

[huskeroadgeek]

I've only used a GPS one time on a trip-I've made several trips down to New Mexico with my dad to visit my grandfather(his dad). The last time I made the trip a few years ago, my dad had just bought a GPS unit as a Christmas present to himself so he wanted to take it along. I didn't use it for anything except the maps-it probably would have routed us down I-80, I-76 and I-25 anyway and I preferred the shorter route through Kansas and the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles.

In general, I don't like GPS units for two reasons-one, I trust my own judgment in routing better than a computer, and I just prefer paper maps when on the road. If I need a detailed map of an area I don't have a paper map for, I print off a map from one of the internet mapping services and take it with me. I think GPS units take away a lot of the fun of trips-whereas people used to have to pull out the atlas and plan a route when taking a long trip, thus forcing them to think about where they were going and maybe allowing them to find some other places to stop along the way, now all somebody has to do is plug in a starting point and an ending point in a GPS and go on their way. It's probably mostly a roadgeek thing, but there's always been something fun and exciting to me in using a map to find the best route between two distant points, especially two points that aren't easily connected by a couple of roads.