GPS Recommendations? - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Chad300tdt · #16 02-12-2009, 10:25 PM

Thanks for all the tips everyone. I've got some good info to work with.

I do preplan a trip with the map and high light my route. I even write up a crib sheet with exits and road names of turns. It's not that bad when someone is my navigator.

I'm just hoping to make trips more of a drive and forget it thing. I don't get any enjoyment out of laboring over the maps before hand. My father in law, on the other hand, lives for that sort of thing. Any trip we've gone on with him requires an evening of route discussion and map consultation.

WVOtoGO · #17 02-12-2009, 10:34 PM

Good luck with the hunt, Chad.

I will say that anything we have in our aircraft that is made by the same folks you can buy from for a car, is Garmin. We have never had an issue with them.
I’m just not into any more distractions while driving. I live in hi-tech cockpits and just don’t want to see it in my car too. I’m more like your FIL. I love maps. “Route discussion and map consultation” is part of our daily life. I guess we're used to it.

Let us know what you get and how you like it.

Cheers -

el presidente · #18 02-13-2009, 07:37 AM

I purchased a Garmin 750 at Sam's Club back in September. Mine seems to be about 99% accurate. I got thrown off course with some road construction in South Central Iowa once...

I use mine mostly to find appointments when I'm on business in another state. The added features like where to find a restaurant, fuel, etc. are valuable - especially if you're only staying in one town for a night, then moving on. It's also very useful at night when straining to see a street sign....just look at the mileage countdown on the screen and no more wondering "are we there yet" or "have I passed my turn".

I like the handy (hard-sided) travel case I bought for it....GET the octopus-looking base for it. It lets you easily flop it on the dash if you change cars or need to hide it from view. These devices are huge targets for theives.

SwampYankee · #19 02-13-2009, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WVOtoGO

yes, it certainly can be.

Look over the trip before you start.

Use a hi-liter for the exits if need be.
Learn how to read the mile markers on both the map and the road.
They jive with the exit numbers too, so it's not too hard.

A little "pre planning" goes a long way.

I had the same feeling towards GPS's until we bought my wife's Odyssey w/factory NAV and I've been spoiled. They CAN take a lot of grief and aggravation out of driving. OTOH they sometimes pick some strange routes. But having grown up on boats with a father who was a former Coastie I learned that you always chart your course first, determine your compass readings and distance between buoys so you can time it if needed. Radar, LORAN and GPS's are all well and good as long as they A) work and B) you input the correct information. We've watched many a boat head where they really didn't want to go thanks to some transposed lat/long digits. If they had plotted their course on a chart first something may have alerted them to double check their settings. I always do my roadtrips on a map or AAA TripTik first but use the Nav to give me the turn-by-turn, eliminating most tension between the Mrs. and I.

They're probably antique by now, but we picked up 3 Garmin Street Pilot C340's for our delivery trucks and they paid for themselves in fuel savings and routing within the first couple months. They are real simple to use, our CDL truckdriver is French Canadian (not any reflection on our fine neighbor's to the North, I just mention it since there are sometimes language issues) with little formal education and he loves them. The newer one's with traffic alerts and automatic re-routing would be great.

SwampYankee · #20 02-13-2009, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by el presidente

....GET the octopus-looking base for it. It lets you easily flop it on the dash if you change cars or need to hide it from view. These devices are huge targets for theives.

Definitely get the portable dash base, regardless of which one you pick. The windshield mount is just asking for further investigation by thieves. This is the base we have, flexible rubber with weighted "feet" that really grip well. Even with copious amounts of dust.

Plus you can swivel the unit in any direction on the base.

Mistress · #21 02-13-2009, 09:51 AM

Nothing beats a magnifying glass and a paper map but if you must then TomTom has few that are under 200.00 with a fairly large screen. I have a great one on my Sprint Instinct phone....

KarTek · #22 02-13-2009, 11:01 AM

I'm a huge navigation geek. I was always a good map reader and trip planner. I make several "layers" of map prints - zooming in progressively on the areas that I will need to navigate through. Now, with the advent of "Streetview" I even print shots of the front of houses and buildings that I have to travel to. Plan your trips like your flying a plane and you can't pull over and ask directions...

All that works great but I have to say that when I got my first moving map GPS, it added a whole new dinension to travel in unfamiliar territory. I still plan on paper and bring the backup maps and notes but the GPS literally takes a HUGE load off of your mind when you encounter unexpected detours or when you have to navigate through neighborhoods.

My experience: The first GPS I bought was a simple Garmin with a "breadcrumb" display to help with open water navigation. I still have it and it works fine as a hiking or boating unit. The second one was the one I have in the truck. It's a Pioneer unit, built-in with a DVD as the map source. It's pretty cool, granted, with the screen that slides out when it's powered up but I have to say that it's a huge pain to upgrade because they don't make new DVD's for it any more. So, now I have a $1200 unit with aging maps but still plays DVD movies fine...

The best I have now is a HP iPaq palm computer with integrated Tom Tom GPS. It works great and you can move it from car to car. Plus, it's not hard to get updates.

So, to sum it up: Get a portable unit with the biggest screen you can afford. You don't want to be peering at a dinky screen while driving. The voice saying the street name is OK but at least the unit should display the name of the next street on the screen even if it doesn't say it. Also, look into how hard a particular device is to update and what's the cost if any.

LUVMBDiesels · #23 02-13-2009, 11:11 AM

I never liked them until I moved to the DC area. Now I cannot live without it!

If you travel to a new area you will find it invaluable. Even back in my hometown, it has found short cuts that I never knew existed

It can get lost though so make sure that you have the latest maps installed. in Charles Town, they put in 911 and changed some street names and a lot of house numbers. until I got the new map my GPS kept sending me to the wrong street!

el presidente · #24 02-13-2009, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarTek

So, to sum it up: Get a portable unit with the biggest screen you can afford. You don't want to be peering at a dinky screen while driving. The voice saying the street name is OK but at least the unit should display the name of the next street on the screen even if it doesn't say it. Also, look into how hard a particular device is to update and what's the cost if any.

I have the voice set to Australian female.

Chad300tdt · #25 02-13-2009, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by el presidente

I have the voice set to Australian female.

Cool

Dee8go · #26 02-13-2009, 11:50 AM

The good thing about having a phone with GPS is that you can get a lot of other useful info like nearest restaurants, traffic conditions, cheapest gas, etc. without having to subscribe to something else. I have to plug mine into the charger, though. It drains the battery pretty fast because it's constantly active while you're using it.

My phone has saved my butt several times lately.

MTI · #27 02-13-2009, 12:10 PM

Last month, purchased a Sony NV-U94T for $199 directly from Sony.

4.8" touchscreen LCD is one of the largest. The screens automatically goes into dual view mode at intersections and has lane guidance at interchanges and offramps.

Bluetooth phone link; text to voice; POIs have popular brand logos; built in gyro gives approximation of location when you lose sight of the sats; system learns your likes and dislikes of suggest routes.

Dee8go · #28 02-13-2009, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mistress

Nothing beats a magnifying glass and a paper map but if you must then TomTom has few that are under 200.00 with a fairly large screen. I have a great one on my Sprint Instinct phone....

You're a curmudgeon with some high tech gadgetry. You're a complex woman, Mistress. Sprint Instinct in one hand and a map and magnifying glass in the other, driving a twenty'something year old Mercedes . . . .

WVOtoGO · #29 02-13-2009, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dee8go

You're a curmudgeon with some high tech gadgetry. You're a complex woman, Mistress. Sprint Instinct in one hand and a map and magnifying glass in the other, driving a twenty'something year old Mercedes . . . .

Now that's worth seeing a picture of !!

iwrock · #30 02-13-2009, 12:48 PM

Wait, looking at a map, working on a phone, and driving, all at the same time??