Anyone buy a GPS lately?

[tabbycat31]

Last year when I was on the road, I borrowed my parents' Garmin GPS. I liked the thing a lot (and even bought an extra charging cord for it so I could use my dual USB charger). I think it was from around 2009. I since had to give it back to my parents, and I don't like my phone's GPS much at all (it will work as a last resort)

I could be relocating out of state for work in the next 2 weeks (if my interview tomorrow goes well), so I want to have a GPS of my own before I hit the road. Not having one is not an option as I don't do well navigating off the highways.

This is the model I'm looking at. I'd like to stick to Garmin so I can use that dual charger cord that I bought for my parents'. Anyone here have it? Love it? Hate it?

http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-4-3-Inch-Portable-Navigator-Lifetime/dp/B0057ODG6Y/ref=cm_rdp_product

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Got a Garmin nuvi in March, took it to Europe, excellent! Works fine in US as well.

Very nice product.

[alarimer]

2. I second the Garmin Nuvi

I like mine a lot, even though it is discontinued model. I bought the lifetime map updates for it to keep it up to date.

I don't use it much anymore, since Google Maps navigation has improved so much and I now have a phone that has a data connection almost anywhere. The one drawback is that, if you are in a vehicle without bluetooth, you can't really hear the navigation instructions. So in those situations (in a work vehicle, for instance) I do use my Garmin.

Generally, though I am coming to the conclusion that I want one device to do all this. I've ditched my Ipod in favor of the Spotify app on my phone, for example.

But, yes, you can't go wrong with Garmin.

[tabbycat31]

3. I'm of the opposite school of thought

With the exception of the camera, I don't want to use my phone for THAT much. I've used the GPS app on it before, but in rural areas, it relies on cell towers which can be non existent. I also refuse to use a Bluetooth (I hate those headsets, years ago I worked in a call center and I could tell exactly who was on them and who was not based on the call quality). My vehicle is older than Bluetooth (1999-- it still has a tape deck, which I play my ipod through) so I wouldn't even know how to integrate everything).

I still use my ipod too for music even though so many people have told me to move it over to my phone. For a long trip, I want my phone to be available as a phone should a call or text come in (especially work related).

I also don't want to burn through data on my phone either. I'd rather have devices that do this for me and save my data for something important.

[alarimer]

6. The bluetooth in my car actually routes calls through the stereo.

No headset involved. Thankfully.

But, yes, the downside of using a phone is not much GPS coverage in rural areas. With my old phone, that was definitely an issue as I had NO coverage off the highway, anywhere.

[tabbycat31]

10. that was the district I was in last year

This area that I'm talking about now, it's in a city but I'm not sure about the surrounding areas. My phone also overheats when I have the GPS on for too long.

[Generic Brad]

4. I use Google Maps on my iPhone

I suppose it would not work if I were in a place missing Verizon coverage, but it seems to do fine for my purposes.

[tabbycat31]

5. I have it as an option on my phone

But I'd rather not burn though data. Plus my phone overheats when the GPS is used for a long time (and taking a call throws it off).

[HarveyDarkey]

7. I can read maps (a lost art evidently)

and/or follow directions. I've never considered it.

[tabbycat31]

15. Reading a map was a requirement for me to take my driving test

(I'm an urban planner's daughter, this requirement was from my dad not the state). However, I get terribly lost as soon as I am off a major highway. I need it for around town driving (especially in a new city).

[we can do it]

8. Don't need one, can read maps and think for myself.

and I'd like to keep it that way.

Study: GPS Units Cause Memory and Spatial Problems
http://www.dailytech.com/Study+GPS+Units+Cause+Memory+and+Spatial+Problems+/article20169.htm

[tabbycat31]

9. I can read a map too

I could not take my driving test until proving I could read a map (my dad's rules, not the state's. Comes with being an urban planner's daughter).

I can navigate the highways fine. (In 2001, I took a trip to this state for a concert and was able to get there without using mapquest. Most of my friends thought I was crazy.) However, there's a good chance I'm moving to a city I've never been to before (and a state I have only been to once). It's the local roads once I'm off the highway where I have problems. As a political staffer, I need to be able to go to a neighborhood to canvass without spending half my time getting there and back. Not getting one is not an option as I pretty much need it for work.

[we can do it]

22. That probably sounded mean (unintentionally)

GPS can be more trouble than they are worth- roads are closed, they send you the long way around (small screen sucks). I know both a UPS driver and a bus driver who threw them in the trash after getting bad directions and having to then figure out where they were with out a map.


Also people with gps panic are dangerous - making abrupt turns without looking

[In_The_Wind]

11. My GPS is a Tom-Tom

[HarveyDarkey]

12. Tom Tom is only good if Yoda is your guide

[In_The_Wind]

20. That's exactly the way it sounds to someone wearing hearing aids.

On my way back from Montana all I heard was music.
I tend to use it for visual assistance only. It's a silent general guideline when I'm escorting to tell a trucker how many miles to the exit.

[jakeXT]

13. Why are coordinates only GPS so expensive ? And who does treasure hunts ?

http://www.geocaching.com/reviews/gps_garmin_gpsmap-60csx

[Chan790]

14. You think that's expensive.

The ones for bicycle navigation start at like $700. I used to kill one of them a year when I was a bike courier.

[jakeXT]

16. Apparently ou can use it on your bike, and it has a basemap

gps only devices are even cheaper, like this one
http://www.geocaching.com/reviews/gps_garmin_etrex-h

[Ron Obvious]

18. Hey that's mine!

The 60cxs, I've been using it for years on the bike, on foot and in the car. Works great is damn near indestructible. You can get track logs off of it to look at on your computer too.

[handmade34]

17. good choice

I love maps and resisted a GPS... but working for years on the road (mapping for gov't studies) changed my mind. Love the Garmin Nuvi, I own the larger screen model (have also used Tom Tom; don't like it)... I also use a Garmin for Geocaching

[Locut0s]

19. You say you dislike the GPS on your phone...

Have you thought of getting a new phone? The GPS on most modern phones is fairly good. I used my Google Nexus 4 when we went to Hawaii recently and it worked very well.

[tabbycat31]

21. I'm not due for a new phone until November

My other issue is that I've been in areas where cell service is pretty much non-existent and the phone's GPS is unreliable.

[Locut0s]

23. A dedicated GPS probably is still better but you don't need cell service...

The GPS in phones is the same type of GPS that's in the Garmin etc, it uses GPS satellites so you can use the GPS in your phone anywhere on the planet. What's different is that the phone will use cell towers and wifi to refine the GPS signal to get a better location IF you are in range of cell or wifi signals.