I do not have a navigation system in my car. I use my phone.
I make sure to download maps before venturing into places without good cell reception.
Yep. We do use Waze, tho.
But not Sat-Nav, which came out in 1990, Edsel’ was discontinued in 1960.
I have a fairly modern Hyundai, which does not have one built in.
I have a modern Nissan. It comes with navigation but I find it very inferior to Waze. I use Waze through Apple CarPlay to navigate.
I could have gotten a navigation system on my 2019 Mazda, but I would have had to pay extra for it and chose not to. I’m content using my phone the rare times I want real time navigation. But like @puzzlegal noted, my phone also gives me the option of “up is forward” versus “up is north”.
I can only conclude that people who prefer “up is north” are aliens whose brains work very differently from mine.
One of my friends says he prefers “up is north” and has his phone set that way. A couple of months ago we were traveling in a rented car and since he was driving, I connected my phone to the car via Android Auto. After a couple of hours of driving with “up is forward” he said, “you know, this is actually pretty convenient”. Uh, yeah? It is more convenient to not have to do mental rotations to figure out which way to turn at the upcoming intersection.
Our 2017 Forester has in-dash navigation, which we quite like, but the maps are going more and more out of date (e.g. it doesn’t reflect the changed exit numbers in MA)…and the update is really expensive. So, sometimes we use the in-dash, sometimes the phone, depending on how complex the trip is.
You can get (much) cheaper SD cards in ebay. I’ve been tempted - most of the reviews are very positive - but I really like Waze via Apple Carplay.*
mmm
*Assuming I’m in an area with a cell signal
I find “up is forward” to be VERY confusing. I can do it, but only if I don’t try to superimpose it onto my understanding of real geography.
Generally if I’m using my phone for turn-by-turn navigation, I’m in an area that I’m unfamiliar with, so I have no understanding of local geography.
But regardless of that, if you were getting verbal directions from a passenger, you would actually find it easier if they said “turn west at the next stoplight” rather than “turn right”? My mind boggles at that.
We have three cars:
- 2007 Mazda CX-7 has a navigation system, but it relies on a set of maps which are stored on a bank of four CD-ROMs, which live in a cassette under the driver’s seat. Those maps are now nearly 20 years out of date, and when I looked into getting an updated set of CDs, maybe ten years ago, it was something like $300; by that point, we had maps on our smartphones, and it wasn’t worth the upgrade. Plus, it can’t show traffic, or recommend routing based on current conditions (accidents, construction, etc.). If we need to use a navigation app while we drive that car, we just use our phones.
- 2012 Ford Mustang. It did not originally have a navigation system, as when I bought it new, I opted for the better stereo, rather than a nav display. That radio died last year, and I replaced it with a touchscreen system, which includes Apple Carplay, so I use my phone’s navigation app through the screen.
- 2015 Chevrolet Corvette. Has an onboard nav system, but I don’t believe that it can access current traffic conditions. When I’m driving it, I link my phone to the car, and run my navigation app, which will pipe the audio directions through the sound system, even though it doesn’t put the map on the touchscreen.
I find that, when I’m driving more than a short distance, I nearly always use the navigation app now, even if I’m on a route I know well, so I can be aware of traffic issues or road closures, and get re-routed if needed.
Same.
Up until … 3 weeks ago, my car-based navigation was by phone, via an aftermarket cell phone mount. It drew power from the aux with an adaptor for USB, and had wireless charging for the phone. So it gave me good if kludge-y car navigation for the old 2007. The new car has Toyota Nav (which is decent) but I almost always use Waze via Android Auto. A lot more information there.
With my Wife’s RAV4 you can actually get turn by turn directions in the Instrument cluster but it isn’t consistent, it seems to work with the Android Auto and Google Maps, the internal Toyota Nav, and on iOS via Apple maps, but not with Waze.
A measly 1% rate of return on my billion dollar estate earns it $10,000,000 every year, and for 2.5% of that, I have a chance to visit the future? Of course I do it, what do I have to lose - death?
Almost any Billy Joel lyric makes me cringe because I really can’t stand his voice or his songs or his lyrics.
I like that line in Piano Man.
I chose ‘other’ because being an aged alcoholic wasting their life in a bar is just too depressing to contemplate.
“There’s an old man sitting next to me, making love to his tonic and gin.”
The most disturbing part is that he is sitting next to me.
That song would depress a hyena.
- I know how to read a map. I don’t use GPS of any type.
- I don’t talk on the phone in public. If forced by circumstance to do so, I remove myself to a semiprivate location.
- People who talk on the phone in public should have said phone inserted by force.