I had a GPS III+…It was nice, but it was more for airplane use (distance as the crow flies) than automobile use (Turn Left Dummy!)…So I thought I’d be smart and get a bluetooth GPS receiver and software for the Laptop. It has ALL the streets (which the III+ didn’t), did the routing, has the bigger screen, is faster, yadda yadda.
Only it SUCKS! The little handheld unit was a) handheld and b) just a GPS, meaning you didn’t have to worry about mounting, connecting with bluetooth, having a screen go to sleep, dealing with a trackpad and keyboard. You just turned it on and it said ‘you’re here. You’re X miles from there’. Alas, I wish I hadn’t ebayed my little portable GPS.
So, I think I’d like a unit that has ALL of the US streets, handles routing, and that’s about it…
And they all seem to be a LOT more than $500, which I really don’t feel like spending! Why are these things so expensive? the hardware isn’t particularly unusual (my bluetooth transceiver was $100 with charger, battery, and cables) The Data doesn’t change THAT much, and I think the III+ I had had a low power 386 processor in it, so brute power isn’t necessary!
I have no idea why they’re so expensive. I used one for the first time yesterday, and it was extremely unhelpful. I never would have found the goal (a friend and her dad’s geocache) without the friend and the dog who both knew the way along. If they’d sent me out with just the GPS, I might have found it in a couple of weeks.
It’s expensive because you’re asking for a lot, namely “All of the US streets.” That’s hundreds of MB of memory, and only the high-end models are equipped with it. A Bluetooth GPS receiver isn’t comparable because it doesn’t have any memory, display, interface (buttons) or a processor capable of running all those - and it’s those features that are expensive, not the actual antenna and receiver circuit.
If you want a newer version of the GPS-III+, that’d be the GPS-V. It has a “base map” of the entire US and 19MB of memory to store local street-level maps. It sells for about $240. Or for about $340 you can get the GPSMAP 60C which has a color screen and 56 MB of memory.
I probably should be all behind the GPS thing, but this was my experience also. I took a buddy off-roading and he brought along his unit. Wow. It told us where we had been. :rolleyes: Had we put in our “destination” it would have been worthless. In all the times I have been off-road, you realize that sometimes “you can’t get there from here, boy”.
I’m guessing an Indian scout would throw it in the ditch.
What exactly did you expect form the unit? The GPS display is only as useful as the data you input into the unit (or is built in). You’ve got to plan the route and input it into the unit before the trip, or else just use the unit for data-logging and for getting back to your car.
Exactly. GPS’s are extremely, extremely useful tools for telling you exactly where you are and where other things are provided you input information carefully, but what are you expecting, a little genie to pop out and say, “hey, let me show you the best way to walk around some huge boulders so that you can get to some piece of Tupperware that your dad just buried!”
I wasn’t expecting anything. My buddy dragged it along.
He picked a peak he wanted to get to the top of. I drove him there. The existing roads only lead one way. Hell, I knew where the peak was before we left.
I guess the problem I have with GPS is that (from what I know about it) is that it will tell you “Turn RIGHT and go 300 yards!”. Well, “RIGHT” is a 400 foot cliff and you really need to tromp 3 miles around the ridge to get to that spot 300 yards away. Its worse if you are limited to vehicles. Especially Jeeps. You need to make sure the towtruck can get in to extract you when you break down.
Like I say, I really should be behind the GPS thing completely, but I just can’t seem to grasp its revelancy. Unless I was lost, had a GPS and someway to contact help. Which is unlikely where I go. Thats why beer is better that GPS.
Have I ever mentioned I own a Jeep, and walk alot? Not by choice.
I wouldn’t expect a gps to give you routing info in the great outdoors. It pretty much serves three purposes to three audiences:
Hiker - Where am I, where have I gone?
Drive - How to I get ot E. 17th street from here?
Pilot - the nearest F.B.O. is 17 miles SSE of here, I’ll arrive at the next leg of my flightplan in 22 minutes, I’m travelling at 205 knots. (IIRC, the III+ I had would have calculated remaining fuel.)
While I can understand the map gathering stuff costs money, I haven’t seen any mention of keeping a unit up to date after purchase, negating that aspect…I think you guys are right tho’, a large chunk of the cost is the licensing of the data.
Back when the aviation loran’s came out, I was amazed and I could get the 10 nearest airports in the flick of an eye, all kinds of neat info, and then they came up with GPS and then they took the ‘jitter’ out and … Wheeeeeeeee
The down side is that now almost nobody can read a map and heaven forbid they have to navigate by Sectional or a Quad map without any electronic gizmo…
*::: grumbling & cranky old pilot… ::: *
