# Educate me on GPS units **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 24, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873 "2010-07-24T20:23:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![sharding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90db22/32.png) [@sharding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sharding)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/41 "2010-07-30T16:35:42Z")
Ok, I’m (obviosly) anti-smartphone-as-GPS, but for the record there are lots of mounts you can get to attach a smartphone to your window or dash just like you would a dedicated GPS unit. That should be a non-issue. In my experience, you really need to use one of those to get acceptable GPS reception anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/42 "2010-07-30T16:38:20Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > > Get a smartphone. My Android phone with Google Maps is a million times better than any GPS hardware/software combo I’ve seen, and more intuitive. It’s just not as customizable (only one robotic woman voice, etc.) > > So I should pay $300 plus an exhorbitant monthly contract charge for something that I’ll have to hold in my hand while driving? No thanks; I like my teeth right where they are. Well, you can hold it in your hand if you really want. Or, you could think about it for a second and leave it on the dashboard. Or anywhere, really. You don’t actually have to _look_ at a GPS unit very often if the voice directions are accurate. ETA: You can get plenty of smartphones for less than $200, and you don’t have to pay anyone to update your maps. ---
**Author:** ![sharding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90db22/32.png) [@sharding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sharding)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/43 "2010-07-30T17:05:16Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You don’t actually have to _look_ at a GPS unit very often if the voice directions are accurate. I think this depends on the person. I’m very visual, and I find it extremely hard to follow a GPS simply by voice command. My brain just doesn’t work well that way. About ten years ago, one of my friends bought a car with voice-only GPS. I was able to get around with it, but it was hard. These days, I’m regularly glancing at the screen to see exactly where it means it wants me to turn (especially where there are lots of weird intersections, offramps with multiple lanes going to different places, etc.). I don’t think this can be blamed on the GPS not having accurate voice directions – I’ve had this experience with every GPS I’ve tried (including the smartphone ones, and including ones that speak the street/freeway name). But yes, I know a lot of people who can follow the voice directions without really looking. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/44 "2010-07-30T17:09:22Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > [@Chefguy](#): > > > > > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > > > > Get a smartphone. My Android phone with Google Maps is a million times better than any GPS hardware/software combo I’ve seen, and more intuitive. It’s just not as customizable (only one robotic woman voice, etc.) > > > > So I should pay $300 plus an exhorbitant monthly contract charge for something that I’ll have to hold in my hand while driving? No thanks; I like my teeth right where they are. > > Well, you can hold it in your hand if you really want. Or, you could think about it for a second and leave it on the dashboard. Or anywhere, really. You don’t actually have to _look_ at a GPS unit very often if the voice directions are accurate. > > ETA: You can get plenty of smartphones for less than $200, and you don’t have to pay anyone to update your maps. As I mentioned somewhere up above, I have almost zero use for a cellphone. Being retired eliminates the need for almost all the features that a smartphone would offer. It’s just not worth the contract fees to me to make the 2-3 calls a month that I make on the cheapo that I now have, which only runs me $20/mo. I can buy a stand-alone unit that includes lifetime map updates for a one-time cost. It’s a better fit. Sorry for the earlier snark. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/45 "2010-07-30T17:11:21Z")
Fair enough, then. I didn’t know people stopped browsing the web and playing games and listening to music and stuff when they retired. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/46 "2010-07-30T17:50:51Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Fair enough, then. I didn’t know people stopped browsing the web and playing games and listening to music and stuff when they retired. 😉 When you are retired you can do all that shit at home on a screen you can see and with keys that don’t need to be pressed with a needle 🙂 Plus the beer and crapper are just a stones throw away. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/47 "2010-07-30T22:54:20Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > > Fair enough, then. I didn’t know people stopped browsing the web and playing games and listening to music and stuff when they retired. 😉 > > When you are retired you can do all that shit at home on a screen you can see and with keys that don’t need to be pressed with a needle 🙂 Plus the beer and crapper are just a stones throw away. With the smart phone and a minifridge, you can surf the internet NEXT to the beer while you’re ON the crapper!😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/48 "2010-07-30T23:38:01Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > > Fair enough, then. I didn’t know people stopped browsing the web and playing games and listening to music and stuff when they retired. 😉 > > When you are retired you can do all that shit at home on a screen you can see and with keys that don’t need to be pressed with a needle 🙂 Plus the beer and crapper are just a stones throw away. Thread winner. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/49 "2010-07-31T00:05:17Z")
> [@sevenwood](#): > > There’s another big advantage to those Android phones that for some reason we’ve all forgotten to mention. When you wander off of the suggested route, instead of that “recalculating” comment said with that slight sigh and you’re-a-constant-disappointment-to-me tone of voice the Android unit simply and silently displays a polite “Rerouting” message. I hate that damn “recalculating”! I told my husband the other day that the Garmin lady is really a bitch because of that. I’m returning it and getting a TomTom, and I’ll be very glad never to hear that you’re-a-constant-disappointment-to-me tone ever again. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/50 "2010-07-31T00:39:11Z")
> [@sharding](#): > > IMHO, paying for map updates at least every couple of years is worth it. Yes, it’s expensive (maybe a ripoff), but it’s annoying to have your GPS not know about new streets, changes, closed businesses, etc. > > Forgot to mention, for my Garmin I just paid for the “lifetime” map updates. I forget the exact cost, but I recall that it cost less than two normal updates, so it seemed like a good deal. Worth looking into. It’s even more annoying when you have the Garmin lifetime updates package and your Garmin GPS _ **still** _ doesn’t know about closed businesses and changes. I uploaded the newest map package about 3 months ago. Last month I was decided to hit all the Toys R Us stores on the way home from a camping trip at Doheny State Beach (which my Garmin nuvi couldn’t find because Doheny was misspelled “Dohenny” in its database). It missed a store that I could see from the freeway but was relatively new (open about 2 years), sent me to 2 stores that had been closed for over 4 years, and was about 3 blocks off from a fourth store (I could see the store on my right, but Garmin Bitch (yes, that’s her name) kept insisting I turn left and chirped out that “recalculating” crap every 30 seconds after I turned right.) I have found the Garmin to be excellent at finding routes when you give it a specific street address, but it sucks ass when it comes to using the Points of Interest database. [ul] [li]many out of date entries[/li][li]Misspellings that render the database search useless[/li][li]It’s sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow[/li][li]No really, it’s slooooooooooooooooooooooow[/li][li]Too sloooow to use while driving[/li][/ul] A typical database search takes over 2 minutes for anything more than a mile or two away from the current location. Even using the “Near…” some other city function is pretty slow. It’s a nice toy, but I’m not getting rid of my Thomas Guide or AAA paper maps anytime soon. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/51 "2010-07-31T05:19:20Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > It’s even more annoying when you have the Garmin lifetime updates package and your Garmin GPS _ **still** _ doesn’t know about closed businesses and changes. I uploaded the newest map package about 3 months ago. Last month I was decided to hit all the Toys R Us stores on the way home from a camping trip at Doheny State Beach (which my Garmin nuvi couldn’t find because Doheny was misspelled “Dohenny” in its database). It missed a store that I could see from the freeway but was relatively new (open about 2 years), sent me to 2 stores that had been closed for over 4 years, and was about 3 blocks off from a fourth store (I could see the store on my right, but Garmin Bitch (yes, that’s her name) kept insisting I turn left and chirped out that “recalculating” crap every 30 seconds after I turned right.) > > I have found the Garmin to be excellent at finding routes when you give it a specific street address, but it sucks ass when it comes to using the Points of Interest database. > [ul] > [li]many out of date entries[/li][li]Misspellings that render the database search useless[/li][li]It’s sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow[/li][li]No really, it’s slooooooooooooooooooooooow[/li][li]Too sloooow to use while driving[/li][/ul] > A typical database search takes over 2 minutes for anything more than a mile or two away from the current location. Even using the “Near…” some other city function is pretty slow. > > It’s a nice toy, but I’m not getting rid of my Thomas Guide or AAA paper maps anytime soon. I don’t think the points of interest get updated. My Magellan GPS that I tried out and returned had the exact same POI as the Garmins, including restaurants that closed 15+ years ago, and a neighbor’s house listed as a restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![festiva76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e8cbc/32.png) [@festiva76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/festiva76)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/52 "2010-08-01T13:32:25Z")
I tried out a TomTom, but was dissapointed. I wanted to see how it would tell me to get home from work out of curiosity, and it sent me thru downtown, even though I had it set for quickest time. Then when I got close to my house, close enuf to see it on the left, it told me to turn right, go down a back street, come back out to the highway, turn left, and my house was on the right. Next day, I ignored that, stopped in front of my house, and it was saying go straight, turn right, take the back street, and come back. Next day, I traded it for a Garmin. Problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/53 "2010-08-01T13:57:30Z")
> [@sharding](#): > > …it’s not horrible, and the other benefits of having it built in FAR outweigh the downsides. I’d personally never opt for a standalone GPS if I had any choice. Though, IMHO, the stand alone, especially if it’s incorporated in your smart phone, is always with you. I’ve found that to be really handy. Say if you are in your hotel room in a unfamiliar town. It’s nice to be able to do a little recon on say what restaruant to go to, or find other services without having to sit in your car. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/54 "2010-08-01T15:05:08Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > > [@sharding](#): > > > > IMHO, paying for map updates at least every couple of years is worth it. Yes, it’s expensive (maybe a ripoff), but it’s annoying to have your GPS not know about new streets, changes, closed businesses, etc. > > > > Forgot to mention, for my Garmin I just paid for the “lifetime” map updates. I forget the exact cost, but I recall that it cost less than two normal updates, so it seemed like a good deal. Worth looking into. > > It’s even more annoying when you have the Garmin lifetime updates package and your Garmin GPS _ **still** _ doesn’t know about closed businesses and changes. I uploaded the newest map package about 3 months ago. Last month I was decided to hit all the Toys R Us stores on the way home from a camping trip at Doheny State Beach (which my Garmin nuvi couldn’t find because Doheny was misspelled “Dohenny” in its database). It missed a store that I could see from the freeway but was relatively new (open about 2 years), sent me to 2 stores that had been closed for over 4 years, and was about 3 blocks off from a fourth store (I could see the store on my right, but Garmin Bitch (yes, that’s her name) kept insisting I turn left and chirped out that “recalculating” crap every 30 seconds after I turned right.) > > I have found the Garmin to be excellent at finding routes when you give it a specific street address, but it sucks ass when it comes to using the Points of Interest database. > [ul] > [li]many out of date entries[/li][li]Misspellings that render the database search useless[/li][li]It’s sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow[/li][li]No really, it’s slooooooooooooooooooooooow[/li][li]Too sloooow to use while driving[/li][/ul] > A typical database search takes over 2 minutes for anything more than a mile or two away from the current location. Even using the “Near…” some other city function is pretty slow. > > It’s a nice toy, but I’m not getting rid of my Thomas Guide or AAA paper maps anytime soon. Hum…. I just fired up my BB Storm with Garmin software and did a search on a business that just moved about a year ago. It’s 15 miles from my location. It found it in a few seconds. Even prompted me with the name as I typed it in. I did this sitting in my house with sketchy cell phone service (data comes over the cell network) The GPS receiver works quite well inside too. I bought the Garmin software for my BlackBerry Storm and it does not ever need new data loaded in. The data is loaded as you activate it. Takes less than a minute (maybe 10 seconds). It’s very cool. You can check flight information for any airport, almost too much stuff to list. Looking at Garmins website. It looks like it is no longer available for Verizon phones. Verizon wants you to use VZW I’m sure. 18 months ago, I paid $100 for the Garmin service and software. No monthly fees. Lifetime for the specific phone. Looks like I got a deal. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/55 "2010-08-01T20:15:16Z")
You can check flight information for any airport using the internet. For free. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/56 "2010-08-01T22:04:55Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > > [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > > > Our Garmin charges off our computer with a mini-USB cable. Or off the car. Or off the mini-USB-compatible wall charger I got for my digital Walkman. And it only turns itself off if you have it plugged into the car and turn the car off. > > > > **Chefguy** , a lot of times you can get a lot of extra features for next to no extra money if you shop the sales at Amazon. Our unit retails for something like $250, but we got it for $120, which was only $20 more than the cheapest model in Garmin’s Nuvi line. > > Which model do you have? We have the 285. It came with the unit, the computer charger, the car charger, and a suction cup mount that comes right on and off the window. Oh, and His Nibs says we actually paid $140 for it–it was the model I was originally looking at that was $120. The 255, which should be more than ample for your needs, is currently on Amazon for $110 new and $90 factory refurbished. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Fair enough, then. I didn’t know people stopped browsing the web and playing games and listening to music and stuff when they retired. 😉 No, they just want to do those things cost-efficiently, which is why they opt for standalone devices that are one-time expenses instead of one device that costs as much as the standalones added up and only works if you have an ongoing service fee. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/57 "2010-08-01T22:11:19Z")
Well, yes, but I had assumed that **Guy du Chef** already had a mobile phone (and/or that said phone cost more than $20/mo. Where the hell do you get mobile phone service for $20 a month?) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/58 "2010-08-02T01:12:00Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Well, yes, but I had assumed that **Guy du Chef** already had a mobile phone (and/or that said phone cost more than $20/mo. Where the hell do you get mobile phone service for $20 a month?) You tell AT&T that you don’t want their service anymore. They come down in price very quickly. Of course, we have limited minutes per month and texting is extra, but we almost never use the phone, and never use the texting ability. It’s really only for emergencies. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/59 "2010-08-02T02:11:13Z")
Some of the refurbs don’t come with current maps, and may or may not allow you to download & install new ones. If you get a refurb, make sure it does, or will allow you to return it if not. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873/60 "2010-08-02T12:58:35Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You can check flight information for any airport using the internet. For free. Sure. If you have a laptop and and internet connection. Don’t want or like GPS? Can’t afford it? Don’t buy it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-on-gps-units/547873.md?page=4)