Do people still use non phone GPS machines?

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: pandus13
And yes, ... I had to drive some miles because I could not cut across many lines in heavy traffic....


Switching lanes in heavy traffic is as easy as parallel parking. Seems that lots of people don't really know how to do it though. The totally clueless just turn on their directional and just wait for someone to let them in which doesn't work in heavy traffic. You just have a pick a gap in advance, don't signal til you're almost on top of it, signal and move your nose in and it's yours. I do it all the time. The key is to match speeds and not be afraid to use the gas pedal, brake and turning to look. The craziest is when the car in the other lane wants to merge into the same gap which is why it's important to actually look in heavy traffic and not count on your mirrors.

Wolf, Thank you for the tips.

Please look at my location....

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: pandus13
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: pandus13
And yes, ... I had to drive some miles because I could not cut across many lines in heavy traffic....


Switching lanes in heavy traffic is as easy as parallel parking. Seems that lots of people don't really know how to do it though. The totally clueless just turn on their directional and just wait for someone to let them in which doesn't work in heavy traffic. You just have a pick a gap in advance, don't signal til you're almost on top of it, signal and move your nose in and it's yours. I do it all the time. The key is to match speeds and not be afraid to use the gas pedal, brake and turning to look. The craziest is when the car in the other lane wants to merge into the same gap which is why it's important to actually look in heavy traffic and not count on your mirrors.

Wolf, Thank you for the tips.

Please look at my location....


Not sure what you mean by that. I think Boston is ranked 10th in traffic and Chicago is 6th. I don't feel it's hard to move from one side of the highway to the other though. There's always one or two people who are slow and will leave a gap, especially with everyone texting and on their phones all the time. Certain roads have their own logic, sometimes the right is faster than the left and sometimes the left is faster.

 

[mightymousetech]

Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
Using a phone GPS in a pinch is one thing, but for a pre-planned long trip I use a dedicated GPS since I already have it and don't want to waste my data. Actually I'm mostly using the GPS to tell me when I'm going to arrive at my destination and I'm just following the signs.


You can download the maps ahead of time and not use data. Do this all the time when driving in foreign countries.

 

[kschachn]

I have both but I can't remember the last time I took my standalone unit with me. One thing I especially like about the phone GPS is how it offers to re-route you in case of heavy traffic and it can find a faster route. I drive through the metro Chicago area quite frequently and it will often pop up with a proposed faster route.

 

[vavavroom]

Away from cell phone service, the GPS in phones is usually pretty poor. An outdoor GPS unit is faster, more functional, easier to read, more reliable and much more durable compared to a phone. For navigation I use dedicated GPS, for tooling around town, the phone is fine.

 

[Kamele0N]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
Two of my units are about 10 years old. I tried to update the maps, but the new maps are more data and the old units just don't have the capacity for upgrading.


In case of garmin units...

Update your FW...that way you it will be able to support bigger SD cards...and also it will read additional "gmapsup1" map on SD unit (paralel to the gmapsupp wich is standard)...

Nowadays when maps grow bigger...they come splitted on North&South part---> thats why you need the latest FW that your unit can read both gmapsupp & gmapsup1 images

 

[Astro14]

Originally Posted By: pandus13
Originally Posted By: Astro14
...

My wife's Garmin uses no data, works off the grid (where cellphones do a lousy job, downloaded data or not), is more precise than a phone, offers lane assist (for exits) and has a larger, brighter, screen. It does navigation far better than a phone. It has traffic data, too.

...

Astro14,

do you remember the Garmin model?
also, what lane assist feature means?

Thank you


I believe that the Garmin model (which was bought a few years ago) was a Garmin Nuvi 2699LMTHD GPS System. Not sure if that's still in production, but it's a nice bright big screen and very easy to use.

The lane assist is a pop-up picture of an upcoming intersection/highway interchange that shows you which lane to be in for the upcoming turn. My new Tundra GPS does the same thing. Very useful.

For the record, I've downloaded maps and used them on my iPhone 7 to navigate in other countries. Works fine. Not as nice as the dedicated GPS, but useful.

Cheers,
Astro

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted By: madRiver
US military would have spent around $200k . Russia a Garmin and broccoli rubber band.


Reminds me of the NASA story about the pen designed for space flight. They quickly found out conventional ball points would not work. They needed a pen that would write in the weightlessness of space. So in typical NASA fashion they spent thousands of taxpayer dollars getting one designed and produced for them. The Russians had the same problem with their Cosmonauts...... So they just used a pencil.

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: billt460
Reminds me of the NASA story about the pen designed for space flight. They quickly found out conventional ball points would not work. They needed a pen that would write in the weightlessness of space. So in typical NASA fashion they spent thousands of taxpayer dollars getting one designed and produced for them. The Russians had the same problem with their Cosmonauts...... So they just used a pencil.

Another repetition of this fake story. Both the Soviet Union and NASA used pencils at first but the the graphite flakes were a hazard. The Soviets then used grease pencils for a while but those were messy and smudged. The solution came from the Fisher Pen Company, and they spent their own money developing a pressurized pen using no taxpayer dollars. Both the Soviets and NASA ended up using the pens for spaceflight.

 

[billt460]

I stand corrected. You are right.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-nasa-spen/

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

We don't have either and not missing squat.