GPS advice please....

[taxguykarl]

At Mrs. TGK's urging we bought a Garman for a springtime roadtrip from our Chicagoland digs to Galveston. It worked out quite nicely. One of the only flaws is that it needs to recalculate when you pull off the route to fill up--this is not that much of a problem as the latest destination is saved under 'Recently Found'.

[draggar]

Right after I sing TomTom's praises this happens to me...



I've never seen it before but I think it is telling me what to do after I turn onto the onramp.

[Pedersen]

I've always liked having my phone be my GPS, ever since I first did so with the Palm Treo 650. I had TomTom Navigator on there, and it worked well.

The things that I would look for?

First, get the biggest screen you can find. I'd go for a full windshield sized, if I thought I could see through it somehow. The bigger the screen, the more details can be displayed, which can make a huge difference during those times that you have to look at the screen for some reason.

Second, go for the text to speech. It sounds like it will be annoying, but it helps to take care of the biggest issue new GPS users have: Watching the GPS instead of the road. Everybody I know who gets a GPS navigation system watches the GPS entirely too much (myself included). With the text to speech, you can stop watching it, and just listen. The pronunciations won't be perfect, but they will be good enough that you will be able to focus on driving, instead of looking at that tiny little screen.

Third, re-routing: Having the GPS device able to easily re-route will help you avoid traffic snarls, and is quite a nice thing to do. Some of them will even tie in to an over the air service for traffic updates, though that is likely to add a charge of some sort.

Finally, updates. Make certain that the company in question does updates frequently and in a timely fashion. Ideally, they will also be free. Even better is if it can do over the air updates, so you don't have to plug it in to a computer to get them. Also check on the quality of the maps themselves. If the device never has good maps, it won't matter how many updates you get.

For me, my choice is any Android based phone. In particular, I use the T-Mobile G1. I get Google Maps on it, which can do turn by turn directions since early December. It does text to speech, so it reads signs and street names as appropriate. It also does speech to text, so I can speak my destination and it will find it. Since it's using Google to search, I can even be generic and it will find it (for instance, I can go with "Museums in New York City", and get a list). It doesn't have a lot of options for re-routing, though, so it falls down there. Still, I'm happy with the result.

As an added bonus, since my phone is my GPS, it never gets left in the car, so thieves won't be able to steal it while I'm gone. And yes, especially in hotel/motel parking lots, thieves are hitting up for the GPSes. They're small, easily sold, have a high resale value, and are usually difficult to recover (since they only record your location, but don't send it out normally).

[Evil Queen]

Pedersen, I thought you had an actual GPS device for Geocaching? What kind would you suggest for that?

[Pedersen]

Pedersen, I thought you had an actual GPS device for Geocaching? What kind would you suggest for that?

I do, actually. Different devices fill different needs better, ya know? For Geocaching, you want to make sure you can go for a long time with the device. That will let you hike some decent sized trails. So, going for a long time means a few key characteristics: Light, small, easy to use, battery efficient. Since you also have to worry about keeping yourself able to get back from where ever, this means using non-rechargeable batteries.

You don't want to be stuck somewhere that you're unsure of the correct direction to go, relying on a device that requires power, and you have none to give.

That's why I like the Garmin Foretrex series. I have the 101, though would have no problem suggesting the 301 or the 401 for hiking. You wear it on your wrist, like a wristwatch. It's small, light, and keeps both hands free at all times. Batteries will easily last you for a full day of hiking, and you can carry a spare pair of AAA's, since they are very light.

[Evil Queen]

I'll have to remember that. Thanks (I may be getting into it, depending on how much hiking I can get done in the next couple months while it warms up).

[lupo pazzesco]

I'll have to remember that. Thanks (I may be getting into it, depending on how much hiking I can get done in the next couple months while it warms up).

Plus, it may come in handy for showing all the different canyons to hide DataJager's body after you kick him off the mountain...

Just don't do it again unless I'm there...to capture it on film!

[1756GR2]

I've got the old TomTom One. It's served me very well for several years, is IMHO more intuitive than SIL's Garmin Nuvi 205. My biggest complaint is that the battery drains after about two hours of use. It's got a car charger, but my Sirius is plugged into my cigarette lighter and I'd have to switch devices. I did find a $10 multi-port car charger (even has USB) at WalMart that I'll use to charge it when I have to on a long trip, so I can have both plugged in till it's charged again.

I like that it will adjust the voice volume to the speed of the vehicle. (Old vehicle, makes more wind noise the faster it goes.) Having it automatically switch to less glary night colors when it gets dark out is good, too.

Now, if I could just find Vietnamese speech options for the SIL's device.

[the_std]

Also, consider what other alternative capabilities you want it to have. Bluetooth compatibility is awesome, because then you don't need a visor speakerphone or headset. This came in real handy this Christmas as a selling feature, as my province enacted a law stating that it was illegal to talk without a handsfree device starting 01/01/10. The Garmin 1390T is quite affordable, has Bluetooth capability, a decent-sized screen, and it also has 3D view/lane assist, which basically lets you know which lanes you should be in on the highway so that you have plenty of notice for exits and such. It also has standard features like text to speech and the T in the name stands for "traffic", so if you're in one of Garmin's covered areas, you can get live traffic updates to help avoid jams and rush hour problems. This doesn't work so well in my country, as there are only two cities this feature covers, but I hear it's pretty wide-spread in the States.

... Gee, can you tell I sell these at work? Bleh.

[McGoddess09]

Garmin is pretty good. Tom Tom...those things are hilarious.

For FBLA, we were trying to get to the hotel. At first, the driver took the way they wanted and didn't listen to the Tom Tom. When we got to our hotel parking lot, hte Tom Tom said "Please turn around."

My teacher, the driver said "No you turn around. Go to hell Tom Tom."

Those things get revenge.

[boringscreenname]

We used to have an older model Garmin, that we purchased used off Craigslist. It worked fine until it was stolen. One issue it had, was constantly losing satellite reception in some areas of town, and during inclement weather.

So my husband decided to buy a Tom Tom, and it's worked great for us. I like that the volume of the voice changes with your speed, the night colors and you can program in your own points of interest. So far it has served us well.

[Jester]

I thank you all for your input on this, and I relayed the general consensus to Nurse Betty. She went out and purchased a Garmin Nuvi 1300, which she is enjoying very much. Initially she named it "Maggie," until she started to play with it and found out that that particular voice (female American English) was called "Jill." Sadly, Maggie/Jill has been killed off and replaced with "David," which is the British English male voice. She enjoys having "James Bond" tell her where to go.