GPS Recomendations??....

[ZONER 95]

My wife needs a GPS badly!!....she has the worst sense of direction of anybody I know...I'm always jokingly telling her she couldn't find her way out of a paper bag......

She's driving down to Virginia next month so I figured its a good time to buy her one......looking for suggestions on which are the best or easiest to use......I personally still prefer to look at maps (yeah....I'm old school), but she can't figure maps out either, its all greek to her....Maps must be a guy thing I guess......So anyway....suggestions appreciated?....thanks guys...:cheers:

[DaveK]

I've tried TomTom, Magellan and Garmin and always found the Garmin products easiest to use in terms of setting routes and finding things. I currently use a Garmin Nuvi 855 which has a built in MP3 player so I have my "tunes" and "nav" in one box.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=33922

p.s. the reason I first got a GPS was because of my wife's hopeless map reading and direction skills! lol

[ZONER 95]

Thanks Dave, I did some online research and was leaning towards a Garmin.....ease of use is very important to her!....Kevin

[John Boothby]

I used to think: "Why would anyone need a gps in a car?" Roads are generally clearly marked with distance and direction. You cannot easily deviate from a road. However, a couple of years ago I rented a Toyota Sienna from Hertz to drive to a wedding in Chico, Ca. The Sienna had an after market gps (marked Hertz). I used it and it worked great! Just enter in destination and whammo, a voice told you when, where and direction to turn and gave distance to the destination!. Very kool! I guess most of you guys are used to these things. Having grown up with 4 tracks and 8 tracks, this was kool to me.

I also read a study that women navigate different then men. Men use direction and distance (go west, 5 miles then turn north) where women use landmarks (go down to the 7-11 and turn left).

[GOLDCYLON]

My wife needs a GPS badly!!....she has the worst sense of direction of anybody I know...I'm always jokingly telling her she couldn't find her way out of a paper bag......

She's driving down to Virginia next month so I figured its a good time to buy her one......looking for suggestions on which are the best or easiest to use......I personally still prefer to look at maps (yeah....I'm old school), but she can't figure maps out either, its all greek to her....Maps must be a guy thing I guess......So anyway....suggestions appreciated?....thanks guys...:cheers:

So is mine I bought her an in dash unit but she cant figure out how to use the unit. I gave up trying

I would suggest a portable Tom Tom as its the most friendly user interface I am familer with. Simply enter the street address and the state and most of it is figured out by default. I use one of these for work and I have to admit its easier than my pioneer unit. GC

[ZONER 95]

[QUOTE=I also read a study that women navigate different then men. Men use direction and distance (go west, 5 miles then turn north) where women use landmarks (go down to the 7-11 and turn left).[/QUOTE]

Ain't that the truth!....when ever I mention .." Go North on 95 then take 117 West".....she gets upset with me, cause it doesn't mean anything to her......:cheers:

[scottfab]

I have a Garmin. As good as it is and easy to use I have dumped it. (well giving it to my son) in favor of my Android built in GPS. It comes with two actually. One costs to use the other is free. I use the free one. It's fine. It's voice navigation is buggy but I don't use that part so......

The idea is to have one less thing in the car to hook up etc. The phone is with me all the time so I never have to worry about moving it from one car to the other like the Garmin.

[DaveK]

Hey John

I used to think pretty much the same, then we had "The Incident".

It was actually on the trip down to look at what is now my ZR-1 in fact. We drove down towards the border with the US and pulled off the main highway (401) for the night.

The following morning we came out of the hotel, got to the first intersection and my wife said "turn right". I have a very good sense of direction and knew 100% this was wrong, but she insisted and wouldn't back down. She had the maps so I ended up going along with it.

Three hours later we finally un-lost ourselves and crossed the border. :censored: I was so annoyed I said that as soon as we got back I was going to order a GPS!

I like them because they're good for finding your way around unfamiliar towns and so on. They open up a lot of options that before I probably wouldn't have tried because of worries about getting lost. The fact that I can have all my music in this one is "pure gravy" :)

[John Boothby]

While we are on the subject, how do you read a map? I was taught, back in the 50's, to read a map with the North arrow "UP". However, since then I have run into folks that read maps by orientating them to the direction they are looking, or traveling. When I was flying (in the 60's and 70's) I read maps with N up. I had a copilot once that orientated maps to the direction we were moving. He was always rattling the map around to read stuff then back to direction. Drove me nuts! Maybe it is just me, but he eventually got fired for landing off runway during crosswind landing (not related to map reading). I understand orientating a map to see landmarks, but I also understand reading a map the same way to reduce confusion. Maybe both ways based on situation?

So, how do you read maps?

[DaveK]

So, how do you read maps?

Interesting question, I use both depending on the circumstances I guess. Move it around to match landmarks etc. but "north up" for figuring out directions and so on.

Of course with the GPS it's always "direction up" which seems to work well for on the street navigation

[XfireZ51]

I have a Garmin. As good as it is and easy to use I have dumped it. (well giving it to my son) in favor of my Android built in GPS. It comes with two actually. One costs to use the other is free. I use the free one. It's fine. It's voice navigation is buggy but I don't use that part so......

The idea is to have one less thing in the car to hook up etc. The phone is with me all the time so I never have to worry about moving it from one car to the other like the Garmin.

I use my iPhone4. The user interface and tracking just is much more intuitive. Many times I think I know where I am going and then run into a snag. The iPhone works well for me in an ad-hoc situation. What I like to do is pre-load the address hours or even days ahead and then pull it out when I need to. BTW, I have a Pioneer Avic D2 installed, which I like having in the Z.

[scottfab]

I use my iPhone4. The user interface and tracking just is much more intuitive. Many times I think I know where I am going and then run into a snag. The iPhone works well for me in an ad-hoc situation. What I like to do is pre-load the address hours or even days ahead and then pull it out when I need to. BTW, I have a Pioneer Avic D2 installed, which I like having in the Z.


I imagine the Iphone is much like this Galaxy S II skyrocket but the Galaxy has a much bigger screen. The BIG screen is important for those of us with eyesight that isn't what is use to be.:(
Bottom line it's like a Popeil's Pocket Fisherman
it's a web browser, GPS, text by talking, more apps than I'll ever use and oh yah, a phone. The days of separate GPS boxes is numbered just like the pagers of old .

[Jagdpanzer]

Over the years I've done a lot of marine navigation working with nautical charts where north was always up so naturally I use the same approach when working with road maps or the nav systems found in cars these days. Even though my wife and kids accuse me of being "old school" I can look at a chart or map and have no problem finding where I'm at and plot a course to where I'm going which is a lot more than they can say.

[XfireZ51]

I imagine the Iphone is much like this Galaxy S II skyrocket but the Galaxy has a much bigger screen. The BIG screen is important for those of us with eyesight that isn't what is use to be.:(
Bottom line it's like a Popeil's Pocket Fisherman
it's a web browser, GPS, text by talking, more apps than I'll ever use and oh yah, a phone. The days of separate GPS boxes is numbered just like the pagers of old .

Not sure how much bigger the Samsung screen is but of course there's always the option of enlarging images at a fingertip. As I have read recently, the day of the smartphone/automobile integration is already here. We'll be seeing the mobile platforms take over display/command duties in a vehicle. Apple recently announced "docks" for their iPad in a number of manufacturers vehicles.

As an aside, I just read that the NYTimes has discontinued support for Blackberry apps.

[scottfab]

................ We'll be seeing the mobile platforms take over display/command duties in a vehicle. Apple recently announced "docks" for their iPad in a number of manufacturers vehicles.
............

Cool, I hope someone comes out with the idea to make a standard docking interface for all phones someday. Not likely.... THAT would make too much sense.

[ZONER 95]

My wife can have the GPS....but I'll always be a map guy....worked in the Land Surveying trade for 12 years ....always loved looking at maps as a kid and wondering about other places, guess its what you grow up with.....

I just see the kids today relying on their tech gadgets so much telling them what to do, and where to go, to the point where if the batteries ever die far from home they are all :censored: screwed!!....

[XfireZ51]

My wife can have the GPS....but I'll always be a map guy....worked in the Land Surveying trade for 12 years ....always loved looking at maps as a kid and wondering about other places, guess its what you grow up with.....

I just see the kids today relying on their tech gadgets so much telling them what to do, and where to go, to the point where if the batteries ever die far from home they are all :censored: screwed!!....

I suppose somebody said that about electricity when Edison started wiring the country. Progress marches ON!

[DaveK]

Funny thing is... my wife loves maps, she can spend hours poring over them etc. but she can't navigate worth a damn! :mrgreen:

[scottfab]

Funny thing is... my wife loves maps, she can spend hours poring over them etc. but she can't navigate worth a damn! :mrgreen:

Under the category "if you don't use it you lose it" I use to study a map before a trip such that I'd memorized key way points and roads along the way. Then I could navigate the trip without looking back a the map. Well now with GPS I don't even plug in the address till I'm on the road and don't keep maps in the car anymore. My plan should the GPS go out or be stolen would be to ask a fellow traveler to briefly use their GPS.
That which is lost on all this is a sense of place that is a sense for where I am relative to a mental map. That mental map is gone.
The feeling is the same as when I started using canned formulas in PC programs vs doing the math on paper. That dates me :cry:

[FU]

I have been relying on Garmin to get me home safely for years both in foul and good weather.

[ZONER 95]

Ordered a Garmin today with lifetime map updates.......now we'll see if she makes it to Virginia ok......or ends up in Manitoba..;)

[Hammer]

Ordered a Garmin today with lifetime map updates.......now we'll see if she makes it to Virginia ok......or ends up in Manitoba..;)

There are so many different models. What model exactly did you buy and why? I'll be looking soon too.

[ZONER 95]

Went with the nuvi 3450 LM (Lifetime Map) updates.....based on reviews online and price , sounds easy to use and offers quite a few different ways to view the maps which I like.....as with most electronics I probably won't use half the stuff it can do. Priced around and Amazon had the best price at almost $100 off list.....heres a link...

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=97515

[Hammer]

Thanks for the reply.