I am interested in GPS recommendations. There have been several times recently I wished I had my computer in the car to look up directions. I'm thinking it might be time to invest in a GPS device.
I got me a little Tom Tom and I like it. I call her Mary Beth and, just like a regular woman, she tells me what to do and when to do it... I like her cause she eats very little and is easily turned o... nevermind. Seriously, I don't have any experience with other models but I feel that it is a good investment... whatever you get. I like being able to plan a route, then if there is traffic or something in the way it will recalculate another route. Mighty fancy!
We have a garmin that we like a lot, but we find ourselves using the gps on our phones more often than the standalone gps. Most newer phones have gps and the one that came preloaded on mine is better than my garmin. It has voice command options so i can just say the address or business I am trying to get to. I love it! If you don't have a phone with those capabilities, the garmin is good. My MIL has a tom-tom and it is about the same as the garmin. They both have downloadable updates, different guide voice options, night time display, etc. I would go for whichever one is on sale, which is what we did.
Phone works great as a GPS...............unless you are using it as a phone at the time, LOL. I missed a major turn last weekend because someone called me at an in-opportune time and I HAD to answer it. Think I will crank up the dash mounted one next time. :jester:
i'm with LovinLife, we have a Garmin, which is really cool but i find myself using my phone more because the updates are automatic and it looks for bad traffic for me to avoid
We have 2 Garmins and they work well for us. The smaller version that we have is a little harder to upgrade. Both of mine are older models though.
I've yet to get a GPS, but I'm thinking about just upgrading my phone rather than spending the dough for the GPS unit. I will say someone told me that the benefit of going with a TomTom is free updates where the others charge. Correct?
Side note, the phone also has free updates. Android users on Verizon, be aware that Verizon has their own GPS program (that you are not able to remove from your phone without rooting it), I haven't heard anything positive about it and it has fees for use. The Free Google Maps program is great!
I think garmin has a deal that if you register your device within 90 days, you get free map updates. Not sure of any other details though. Hugh is correct that the phone gps updates for free automatically.
I have the Garmin also. I bought the lifetime updates for $119 so 4 times a year I can update the maps.
We have a Garmin Nuvi and love her. We call her Floozie, no matter where we seem to go, I think she has a " 'hood mode". She always wants to take us through the 'hood! We did have one issue with Floozie where she got Lorengitis (sp? she couldn't talk) and we had to send her back. I had sent in her registration paperwork after we purchased her, and there were no issues at all in returning her and they sent me out another one. I have also set-up several TomToms, for my sister and my moms friend. Personally, I think the Tom Tom is more user-friendly out of the box.
We have a Magellan Roadmate that's never let us down. Probably under $100. I think ours has a 'hood mode' too. lol Then again..it's not like we ever go anywhere...:neutral:
We were using the GPS on Dangerboy's Blackberry phone to go to this place in the mountains. We were in the middle of no where winding up this mountain, taking extreme curves, looking for vaguely marked signs but doing pretty well with the GPS directions. Then his phone started flashing "trying to find service". I was glad it only did that briefly cuz I didn't want to have to knock on the door of any of these mountain folk to ask for directions. It was so backwoods Im sure I would have been greeted with a shotgun! DB's wife
Dumb question, but does that mean that the GPS display stops functioning on a mobile phone when you lose cell service? I would think that the phone would remain trackable by satellite regardless of whether or not you had phone service if it were operating truly like a GPS unit.
For anyone who advocates using strictly a cell phone for GPS has never had this happen to them. And unless they have one of the new cell phones that has a seperate GPS chip built in then they are relying on cell signal for their GPS positioning.
Only if you have a newer phone that actually has a gps chip built in does it function like a regular automotive type gps unit.
Exactly what I was trying to say earlier. To me, there is still a place for a separate GPS unit. It really left me in a pickle and I won't be making that mistake again.
You must have been on Globe road just outside of Blowing Rock! We took that trip without a GPS...one minute we were at Blowing Rock Park, the next I was scared half to death winding down those roads with Deliverance people every few miles. The only time I have been more afraid is when we took the canoe trip on the Neuse with Casey from Howell Woods. JoCo has some scary folks too! And, no we still don't have a GPS, so thanks for the recommendations...
