I was invovled in a discussion about using GPS and it got me courious as to how many people use it.

My questions are:
1. do you have a GPS device?
2. is it permenetly mounted in the vehicle or mobile (can be moved)?
3. Do you use it on a regular basis?

This subject came up right after Christmas as someone I know got the latest and greatest GPS as a gift. It replaced one that was only a few years old. They used the new one on a trip and he said that it was extremely annoying (it talked),was a major distraction and dangerous while driving as you had to keep pushing things.

My wife and I travel a lot and have always used Mapquest, etc and typically also map out hotel rooms and food along the same route. Until this methods fails us I am not going GPS though I am very tempted. Mapquest did have the mileage screwed up one time listing the state at 17 miles and it was actually 177 miles.

We do! For Christmas I bought my wife the Garmin unit (about $350) that gives verbal directions, and I used it on a weekend trip we took with the kiddies last month--a place I had never been before. I could have found it by getting directions (I've been a licenced driver for 32 years and have that part figured out) but I let the chatty Cathy box do it on this trip and it was wonderful!
It will be a huge step forward for my wife who came from the "turn left at Burger King, go to Good Shepard Lutheran, turn right, keep to the left after Kmart............" school. I now have her trained as to north and south, est and west (not difficult in Metro Detroit, the "mile roads" all run due east/west and the others run north/south, then we have the diagonal "spoke" streets superimposed on top)
But she still needs help. She is going into outside sales at work, and will be on the road more, so this gift hit hot. It begs the eternal question "How do it know?"

Got one last Christmas (06). It is awesome. Took a driving vacation, no schedule etc, when we got close to destination, pulled in parking lot and called all nearby hotels/motels for best rate. Yes it talks- but once ya get on a long stretch just mute it. It is not perfect, but it is great, I don't have it mounted permanent so I can use it on any one of the cars. Came in real useful when looking for land, realtor could not believe we found our way around so quickly. I like it, its like anything else new and electronic, ya just gotta get use to it.

We hope to get one for our motor home. Do you need a different one for larger cars & trucks?
We like the one that goes in several old cars, motor home, log truck and his dump truck. Any ideas?
Deby

I work part time as a driver for dealers,moving cars from city to city and I have used several for about 1 1/2 years now. They are excellent. I program in the address then turn it on when I get close and it directs me, Saves a lot of time and Aggavation. I purchased a vacuum mount and place it low on the L side of the windshield, Fits all vehicles. If you don't like the voice you can turn it down, although it is helpful not to have to look at it, especially in city traffic. It also has a Home feature which will direct you out of a city and back on the freeway, than you can turn it off when you recognize the route home. I use it less and less as I have become familiar with most of the cities I go to but still it is great in L.A. It will work in all vehicles by the way.

Does wife-in-the-passenger's-seat count?

I just spent this weekend chaperoning my daughter's church confirmation trip to several historic churches in Philadelphia. I was one of 9 adults plus 21 kids in three vans, and the only one who knew the area having lived there for a about a year in the 1980s as well as living about 50 miles away for 3 years. The youth pastor (lead van) used his GPS religiously (deliberate word choice) to travel around the city and it's environs as far as Valley Forge to the north and Ridley to the south.

He insisted that he had the GPS set to shortest travel time, not shortest distance. However for every trip it took the shortest possible line between 2 points, avoiding almost all limited access highways in doing so. At one point it took a tiny 2 lane road (no shoulder!) for over 10 miles that paralleled I-476. It took more than 45 minutes to drive less than 15 miles on a Sunday night! Since I knew the area very well, I could've cut our travel times by at least one third. Frankly anyone with experience reading a map and planning a trip accordingly could've done the same thing.

The youth pastor is 24 years old. I think his paper maps were thrown away with all his dad's old 78s and 8-tracks. When I showed him the better routes available on the paper map I brought he looked at it like it was printed in cuneiform. There was no dissuading him, and we continued following silly routes through back roads all weekend. I never found out what brand GPS it was. I wasn't impressed enough to care.

GPS units are great, as is Mapquest etc. They are not, however, substitutes for thought.

I think the only issue you may have with multiple older cars is if the car has a 6 volt system. They will run on their own battery power for a while but its best ya keep em charged.

Tell em to check his settings, cause he screwed up. Been there done that, was my bad. Used the good old Atlas to get back on track then figured out what I did wrong. Shortest distance setting sucks!!!!

Supposedly he checked the settings twice while we were in Philly. Some of the other adults (all over 45) hypothesized that it was compensating for heavy traffic, but the 13 mile 45 minute drive was at 7 PM on a Sunday night through suburban Montogomery and Chester Counties.

BTW, I should've mentioned that the 10 mile 2 lane drive included about 10 stop signs and at least 3 major traffic lights. We even had to wait for a commuter train at a crossing! (Probably the only Sunday night train to West Chester!--insert rolleyes graemlin here--)

Checking and changing are two different things, me thinks he missed the change part. My case went from a two lane doing 55 mph to a frickin old paved brick road 25mph with about 5 stop signs, etc. Wasn't rocket sceince to figure out I goofed. I am sure I cut a lot of mileage out of the trip, I just was not interested in making a one day drive into 3.

I have played with GPS units off and on for years.

First one required a laptop and was about as useful as the one Dave@Moon described. Used it on a couple of trips and put it on the shelf. It also was terribly slow connecting to satellites.

My second one ran on my PDA with a small bluetooth GPS unit you tossed on the dash. I have used that one for 2 years and was pleased with it's mapping and directions (most of the time) but it crashed at the worst times and didn't always reconnect very fast if you turned it off.

My new one (TomTom 1-XL), I have only had it for about a month so it has not been heavily tested yet but it looks like it will be a big improvement. Very sensitive, it connect to satellites if you sit by a window in the house. It is fast enough restarting that we will not feel the need to leave it on all the time. Battery is suppose to be good for 2 hours and can be plugged into the accessory DC plug (no cigar lighters anymore).

A couple of of things I learned along the way:

I picked a female voice since I'm use to the wife telling me where to go, I occasionally have to decide which female to listen to.

The GPS is handy to give you an estimate of how much longer it will take to get there. Also good for finding restaurants, campgrounds, gas stations, motels, etc. Using Point of Interest files, manyh units allow you to add your own files.

We always have paper maps along and have a rough idea where we are going, just nice to be reminded when to turn and a quick glance will verify road names you are driving by without looking for a sign.

Several time while traveling with no time table we set the GPS to the shortest or no highway setting and just follow the directions. You see some interesting country and it has always got us there eventually. Don't try this pulling a trailer or with a big camper.

Besides crashing at the wrong time the reason I replaced my old unit was maps can get old pretty fast and the company no longer supported my old PDA. Last Summer I listened to my wife, instead of the GPS going to Macungie PA and got off at the wrong exit and ended up in a new construction area. The GPS kept trying to help by telling me to turn on roads that didn't exist anymore. I found the solution by taking a turn into an older part of Allentown and then let it figure out how to get me to the Park in Macungie. Worked like a charm and came in on some city streets on the backside of the park.

I bought mounts for each car I plan to use the GPS in so I can leave the mounts and move the GPS.

I do find it useful when I'm forced to go into Rochester (big city for me) to places I haven't been. It helps find where I need to go and when I'm done I just hit the take me home button. But normally we don't take it along locally.

I use one. I move it from car to car. I don't take the six volt cars far enough to need it.

Hey David what's GPS??

I've never seen one......

You mean like this? Check out this "Pluggers" cartoon for 1/15/08.

http://www.pluggers.com/pluggers/daily.j...p;dir=/pluggers

We have two of them, both Garmins. One hooks up to our lap-top computer and we use that one in the RV, or he can just take the Garmin with him when he is hunting.

Then for Christmas Bill got a Garmin Nuvi 260. It has the text to talk feature. It is great because it says the name of the road you are to turn onto rather than just turn right in (however many) feet. We have been using it on Sunday drives to test it out and make sure it works correctly. We did figure out that if you overshoot your destination (and you can do that when you are out in the middle of nowhere) it will run you in circles. If you do that you need to stop and reprogram a new destination or back to the one you missed. Trust me, in W. Va. there is a lot of "out in the middle of nowhere".

So Dave, what did you or others in the group do to deserve to be sent to GPS Hell by the pastor???

A GPS can be a very valuable tool IF one Configures and uses it Properly. I have a Garmin GPS that I have been using for a couple of years now.
I purchased it to use on trips to car shows and for business. The model I have gives verbal directions which, for me is essential when I am towing my car trailer. (ie no distractions looking at the GPS screen)

Last summer I used the GPS for my trip to the Grand National at Kalamazoo. The GPS took me from my front door to the gates of the show without missing a beat.
It then took me from the show field to the hotel. I then used it to find a restaurant, food store then back to the motel.
It did make one mistake in downtown Kalamazoo when it directed me to turn onto a street that had been turned into a pedistrian only shopping area. So far since I have owned my GPS that is the only time it has made a mistake. Compare that to the couple of dozen times that I have found Mapquest directions to be INCORRECT I would say the GPS is the clear winner.

Yes, I still travel with paper maps from AAA. They serve as a backup and a cross check for the GPS. My GPS is more of a commercial model (ie more expernsive) which is used by many Coca Cola delivery drivers on their routes. One of the key things that many people do not do with the GPS units is keep it updated.
GPS makers are constantly updating their software and maps for their units. With some GPS units doing those updates can be a PITB which is probably the reason why people do not keep their units updated.

I guess having too much faith is an occupational hazard for the clergy!

ShopRat, What did you think started my converation at work.....

(I check the Pluggers site everyday)

Jim, I'm sure your wife has told you where to go many times.

Ex98th, I don't have a clue either

My wife and I are both Real Estate Agents. We use our Garmin Nuvi 350 all the time. It used to be very hard using mapquest if we were showing 5 or 6 house out in the country to map out a route from house to house using Mapquest. Much easier now with the gps. It is handy when traveling to find restuarants off the interstates and it takes you right back to your route. You can also ignore it's turns and take a different way if you prefer. It will re-calculate and adjust. I think it is a great device.

Yup, that's about what I had in mind. Thanks for finding the great cartoon!

i have 2 Garmins Street Pilot 2610 s. they are about 5 years old. still work well but its a 100 bucks per year per unit for map updates.

How NOT to use a GPS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1Kp8hIrCA8

A GPS prevents my wife from telling me to hang a right at the next blue road on the map.

Back in 2005 Novaman, my dad and I went to Rick Hoover's for a little party during Hershey week. When it came time to leave, it was dark, we had no clue how to get back, so I fired up my laptop computer and found my way out. I have Microsoft Streets & Maps programmed into my laptop, so when I plug in the GPS tracker into my USB port, I have the same capability. Mine will even allow me to create a GPS trail. David saw that when we drove all the way around the Goodyear store by Applebees and it showed on the screen where we drove around the building.

This year my mom shamed me into taking a Tom-Tom for Christmas so now I have two. I've got mine telling me where to turn in her 1-900 voice .