Do you use a GPS? huh, huh, well do you

[PineRidge]

I worked in the HVAC as well as the service station business since I was just a young man (now out of both and a lot older too).

Whenever we needed to get from point A to point B a good street map was indispensable and I remember buying many of them from Sohio, now BP.

Just recently however I broke down and invested in a good Garmin StreetPilot 7200 and this thing just about does it all.

Spent about an entire week loading in addresses of friends and family that live out-of-state. (2 maybe 3 people )

If you've never used a GPS you don't know what you're missing.

Now, with many units, it's not even necessary to look at the screen while navigating, just listen to the voice prompts and turn when it tells you to do so. (My wife says, "Mike even you can follow those instructions")

Wish I had one of these great little gadgets years ago as it sure would have made my daily job a LOT easier.

So how many you guys out there have been using a GPS for years in your car, boat, or plane and have you got any stories to tell?

Guess this means that I'm slowly coming up to speed in the electronic age.

 

[ragkar]

I got my Garmin about eight years ago. It doesn't have the street map capability. It's display is sorta like a ship at sea thing. I still use it when doing a bit of local exploring on my scooter. I just go out into the countryside and turn this way and that as may seem interesting. With the gps I can always find my way home without asking locals.
I can couple this unit to a map program on my laptop, in my car and not on the scooter, and get verbal and visual running map display. But I don't have too much need for that.

 

[Tororider]

My dad just won one of the garmin nuvi's. He loves it, likes the fact that you can look stuff up in its database. Has already lent it out to friends going on vacation.

Haven't gotten one myself yet but will in the future.

 

[PineRidge]

I got my Garmin about eight years ago. It doesn't have the street map capability. It's display is sorta like a ship at sea thing. I still use it when doing a bit of local exploring on my scooter. I just go out into the countryside and turn this way and that as may seem interesting. With the gps I can always find my way home without asking locals.
I can couple this unit to a map program on my laptop, in my car and not on the scooter, and get verbal and visual running map display. But I don't have too much need for that.

I can relate as men hate admitting that they're lost. The wife never seemed to mind that she was lost.

 

[n8wrl]

I have a StreetPilot I got last spring to replace an old eTrex that had streets but didn't understand that you had to DRIVE on them.

I'd have to give the unit a 9 out of 10 - and I don't think the lower score is Garmin's fault. Supposedly you can update the maps every year, so my new unit had the latest maps. There has been some road construction in our area several years ago - it's all done now, has been for some time. But the maps still show the roads in the old places and the unit gets really confused when I drive that way. It all works out 'cause I know where I'm going, but it's pretty annoying to know that paying for an annual map update still shows 10 year old road data.

All in all, a good purchase!

-Brian

 

[PineRidge]

Brian the unit I purchased was recommended by a fellow TBN member who uses his daily as he drives expedited delivery across the USA.

He recently activated a subscription that alerts him to any road construction & congestion. At that point if he elects the Garmin will detour him around the jam automatically.

He also has up to the minute weather in any area that he is traveling or headed to. Pretty slick!

 

[Oleozz]

I've been thinking about getting one of the new Garmin dog tracking units. It will even let you know when your dog has stopped and gone on point. I use radio tracking devices now and they can be influenced by lots of things that can make them unreliable at times. Cost for the Garmin unit is about $600.

 

[8561]

I have 2 Garmins. I have a Nuvi 350 in the car and I also have an Etrex Legend CX that has both City Navigator (all roads in the US) as well as US Topo loaded onto it. Topo is all the off road stuff and it is very, very well done. I use it on my snowmobile, and never feel lost with it. I also use the Legend on my Ducati street bike as it is small and waterproof. A GPS is one of those devices that once you own one, you'll never want to be without one again.

 

[txdon]

I have one and was surprised that it had found my address. I bought it in Dallas and put in my county road address and it said that I will arrive there 4 hours and 18 minutes. When we stopped it added time when we went fast it subtracted time but we arrived in 4 hours and 18 minutes. 10 feet before my gate on the back gravel road it said "you have arrived" How did it know where my gate was?

It talks and tells the name of the street to turn on and gives a 2 mile warning a .5 mile warning and a tone to turn now. It Also says which lane to be on the freeway, left or right, to exit to your road.

If you mess up it will recalculate you route and get you back on track the quickest way.

You can program each location to go the fastest time or shorter distance or with no tolls or with no freeways.

I also use the points of interest to find just about anything in the mid size towns in central Texas. We were going to College Station to see a movie and we were running late, we touched screened entertainment/movie and the phone number of the theater came up and we called to get the next movie time. It has 5 voice commands. I can ask it "where am I" and it answers me telling the road I am on and what the next cross street is. I love it.

It also has Bluetooth and serves as a hands-free speaker phone for my cell.

I have the Magellan Maestro 4050+traffic.

The new Samsung has neat features and free traffic but it was not available when I bought mine.

 

[n8wrl]

Brian the unit I purchased was recommended by a fellow TBN member who uses his daily as he drives expedited delivery across the USA.

He recently activated a subscription that alerts him to any road construction & congestion. At that point if he elects the Garmin will detour him around the jam automatically.

He also has up to the minute weather in any area that he is traveling or headed to. Pretty slick!

It is slick - mine does the traffic and weather thing too. What I'm having trouble with is new or moved roads. We actually have a major highway that was diverted to straighen it out. Interesections are now differnet and the Garmin's map shows the old way, pre-2000-ish.

But again, that's pretty minor and we do find it indespensible for our vacations. It steered us around some major traffic snafus on the way back from Myrtle Beach this past summer.

-Brian