Folding is another thing altogether
Posted on 03/25/2015 10:18:15 PM PDT by EinNYC
I have a Garmin GPS in my car, about 3 years old. I think it's the 1490MT. It has led me to wrong places. It has not told me to turn until it's too late. It gives me a great deal of trouble trying to find a business. It will list a bunch of the stores of a chain except the one I want, for example. I recently updated it on my computer, so that's not the problem. I am just totally fed up with this thing and want to first smash it with a hammer and then scatter the resulting pieces all over the highway.
Are there better models of Garmin out there, or TomTom (with which I have NO experience)?
Last October we had a death in family and I drove my sister and mom to Seattle for services and using the Garmin on the way and back. It performed pretty well, except when you needed to find a restaurant in the pitch dark when in Redding. We came to lovingly call it the “Garmin Bitch”... okay mods a bitch is also a dog... It was so annoying if you did not follow it’s every command. It was a very quick trip and very stressful. My sister in law had passed from ALS. I had my 82 y.o. momma along for this grueling drive. She did very well and she came to really love it when we cursed the “Garmin” beotch.
Learn how to read a map...
I have an outdated Garmin map and I get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Makes life more interesting to take an occasional wrong turn. I especially enjoy going over bridges that weren’t there when the map was made. I already know where to turn anyway by watching the signs. The Garmin is there mostly to estimate when I will arrive.
I have a Garmin 2595, my second Garmin. There are several areas near a local airbase that the Garmins both go haywire. They will send you down the most obscure dead-end road and tell you that you have arrived at your destination. But other than that, I have been satisfied. My Android phone GPS doesn’t seem to have this problem.
Huh. Did you update the maps? I have a Garmin and love it with no probles.
Retired truckdriver hear ... It sounds like you need to upDATE your unit
.
THEN I got GPS ... now I'm spoiled.
Check your settings ... if you have checked "no toll road" f'rinstance, you will be directed off of an interstate toll you ALWAYS use ... recalculating at every exit
hmmmm ... what kind of in-home salesperson ARE you ?
Folding is another thing altogether
Funny you should post this today because I had not used my Garmin for a couple of years until today. I was driving by myself to Myrtle Beach from Jacksonville, NC, and did not want to be trying to look at my phone. Even though there is now a bypass around North Myrtle Beach that I had never seen before, it did great getting me to Ocean Boulevard, but had NO idea where the exact location of my hotel was. I had to call my friend who was already at the conference to get me to the exact hotel. If any Freepers have ever been there,you know that there is one hotel after another on that road! After double checking the address I had entered, I realized that I should have put South Ocean Boulevard. Had I done so, it probably would have gotten me there just fine!
I have a Magellan 5045 (I think) with lifetime maps. It is several years old now but still works very well. That said, my Samsung S5 smartphone is better. For a stand-alone unit, I’d go with a Magellan. Try ‘The GPS Store’ in North Carolina online. Call them; they will discuss your needs with you and their prices are reasonable.
You should know where you’re going to begin with. I drove for 40+ years and never had one and always got to where I needed to be.
I use GPS now for a couple of things.. estimated time to destination, mileage estimates and occasionally to find a restaurant or gas station but I still know where the general area I’m going to and that’s where I drive.
Technology is nice to have but not required.
my Android phone and a $19.99 bracket that attaches to the dashboard. Waze app works wonderful for verbal directions.
Just wait until the "self-driving" ones come along.
“I do not have a smart phone. So, I wanted to have a standalone GPS in my car”
So get one. You wanted suggestions, that’s a suggestion, and a good one, it will solve your problem better than any other.
In the middle ages there was this book call Rand McNally Road Atlas. It had a map of every road in every state. If you weren’t sure how to get somewhere you could look in this book and find your way. When the GPS came out most of us would use it as a back up to the Atlas. I still use the Atlas. Very rarely use the GPS and when I do it is only after I know I am close to the destination. I have a Magellan and as far as those things go it works pretty good. I turn off the voice though.
I have a friend that is so dependent on his GPS if it tells him to make a left off a cliff he is doing it.
I use Google maps to cross check my Tom Tom. I leave the GPS on but I don’t hit Navigate, but click it for the directions route. The GPS ping will follow you on the directions display.
My experience with GPS is if you don’t have good or frequent updates you can have problems and sometimes the updates are just poor. I only use my GPS to navigate once I’m sure I’m not going to get thrown off. There’s no reason to buy a new one when you can cross check it like this.
Back to Google maps: I don’t hit Navigate in an attempt to save data, not sure how much I’m actually saving or if I’m saving any at all— I’m not really sure since I’m on a prepaid “unlimited” data plan and I’m just trying to prevent future excess throttling by Straight Talk.
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