Let's talk about vehicle GPS devices

nodle

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I would like to discuss vehicle GPS units. We have a Garmin (I forget the model number) but i think it's a 5" widescreen model. When I bought it thankfully it came with lifetime maps. We used it over the weekend and I was thinking it was such a great investment, I mean I don't know how people use to travel with paper maps, or even made it though a city. I started looking at updated models last night and there are some new features such as lifetime traffic updates now, bluetooth connectivity, voice control etc. It seems like Garmin is still the leader, but there is also TomTom as well. It seems like people in Europe use TomTom more over there than a Garmin. But trying to find info on GPS is almost impossible, there are really no good fourms or Youtube videos either. It seems like most people just use their phones these days. But I also thought that used your data, and if you were on a long trip wouldn't it use up all your data? Or am I mistaken in this thought? I wanted to see if any other users use a vehicle GPS while traveling also, and if so what brand of GPS do you use?
 
By looking it up quickly, GPS data usage is quite low. Google maps for instance, uses 5mb per hour when navigating. So it would take about 200 hours of driving to use 1 GB.

I just use my phone, and it sure comes in handy, but I feel we are losing our ability to learn to navigate with our own instincts and skills. I never liked big city driving and such, and never was great at long distance navigation when driving without good directions. Always seemed easy to miss a sign, but that is part of the adventure. Like Clark Griswold would say, "getting there is half the fun".

 
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Thanks for the information on the data usage, that would explain why they seem to be going away. Plus most of the modern cars have GPS built in dash these days. I remember growing up and before we would take a trip my Dad would have the travel map out of the state we were going to travel through with a yellow highlighter and getting things laid out. Then my Mom would have to be the co-pilot reading it to him.

It seems like the two big models out there now are the Garmin Drivesmart 61 and the TomTom Go 620

 
Just put Waze on your phone and call it a day
 
Just put Waze on your phone and call it a day
I will look into it, is that what you use? I see TomTom make an app as well. Garmin's app looks kinda crappy.

 
I will look into it, is that what you use? I see TomTom make an app as well. Garmin's app looks kinda crappy.
I hadn't heard of Waze either so I installed today too. Says made by Ndboarder. Weird coincidence.

 
Haven't heard of Waze? what the heck rock have you people been under?
 
Haven't heard of Waze? what the heck rock have you people been under?
Learn something every day.

 
I looked up Waze @ndboarder , it looks like a simplified GPS. It is neat how you can report police/traffic/etc. for other users. It's like a collective cloud GPS. I think in a city environment this would come in handy. Around here they would have to have a reporting feature for deer/elk/horses in the road.
 
What brand? It's called a smartphone so why spend extra? Works just fine so no need for wasting money on extra shizzle to put on the dash of a car.
 
Works just fine so no need for wasting money on extra shizzle to put on the dash of a car.
A true GPS has a wider screen than a smart phone and has more features (some what).

 
@ndboarder I downloaded Waze and am going to give it a try it actually looks good, thanks for the suggestion.
 
So I tried out Waze driving home today, I don't like super far away but wanted to see what it was like. I must have had it on mute or something because I did not hear any voice prompts. But one thing I didn't get is it was way wrong not only on the route home, but also on roads it was wanting me to take. The roads didn't even make sense. It was wanting me to cut across fields :LOL: I don't know I will give it a try again though.

On another note, I download Tom Toms app and tried that coming back to work. That one worked great. I will play more with them.

 
Might depend on region I guess. I mean most folks in country areas don't need a GPS to get around their area. Waze is the choice among most folks I know because of being up to day, the crowd sourced reports of traffic/cops/accidents/etc and it's ability to give good alternate routes on the fly.

Traditional GPS units have always been pretty crummy at knowing the truly fastest route in some larger areas I've been to. You have to know to ignore some directions and eventually it will figure out the right way if you know the right way. Otherwise it's like a crooked taxi driver taking you on a round a bout way of getting somewhere making you put more miles on your vehicle and taking longer.

Then I tried Waze and in my experience it has been more accurate and in general smarter than any of the other apps I've tried (even though Google owns this along with their own maps). I once ignored it thinking it was just dumb, but regretted it when hitting some stand still traffic that eventually got moving again just before reaching where the alternate route would've taken us - could've cut about 30 minutes off a trip home from St. Paul

 
So I tried out Waze driving home today, I don't like super far away but wanted to see what it was like. I must have had it on mute or something because I did not hear any voice prompts. But one thing I didn't get is it was way wrong not only on the route home, but also on roads it was wanting me to take. The roads didn't even make sense. It was wanting me to cut across fields :LOL: I don't know I will give it a try again though.On another note, I download Tom Toms app and tried that coming back to work. That one worked great. I will play more with them.
Google Maps is what I mainly use. Haven't had an issue.

 
I was thinking about upgrading to the new iPhone XS anyways, but I wonder if I should just go XS Max, that way I could have a larger screen for the GPS. I am just torn between a stand alone unit or an app.

one-XS-Max_X-2G_resolutions-screen-size-comparison.png

 
So I tried Waze again this morning, and man I don't know what is wrong with it, but it doesn't know the roads in this area, I mean the directions are laughable going across people'd yards :LOL: But the TomTom app works great, ran with it to work again.
 
Ok so Waze has my street named after another street, which would explain my problem, they do have a wrong address submit button which I did. But it explains it.
 
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