How often do you use your GPS? (vehicle, 2011, alarm)

[jambo101]

Got a GPS last year and although they are great if you are looking for an address in an unknown city, or looking for a particular point of interest along the way on a trip i find i hardly ever use the thing as for most of the year i'm in familiar surroundings and on my infrequent trips from Montreal to Florida i certainly dont need it to tell me to stay on I-95.
Basically its a bit of help once in a while,i'd certainly not pay $1000 for a pre installed unit when a bottom of the line $100 Garmin unit will give you all the info you need for those few times you'll actually use it..

[Swampmonster]

Originally Posted by SunnyKayak

I use my GPS daily but not for the map feature but for the mph (speed) feature.
I never drove a car that was over 10 years old that odometer was not off.

I would agree with you on opting out on $1000 built in one, when hand held ones run around $100 bucks.

I have a Mio, I like how it tells me when I reach my destination it will be on my left or right.

Same here SK...I use mine (a cheap wallyworld TomTom) for my speedo..everything I drive is lifted with larger tires and the speedo is never right.

$150 max will buy a very nice GPS and $50 max will buy an even better used one.

[dbbd]

I'm toying with the idea of getting one. I borrowed my dad's once and found the voice announced directions to be rather irritating. I shut the voice off until I was in an area I wasn't totally familiar with.

I can see how they'd come in handy if you're in a strange city and want to find a nearby restaraunt or something. I also imagine the traffic updates are interesting and could maybe help you find an alternate route instead of sitting in traffic.

But, a grand for an in dash I don't think I'd spend.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Originally Posted by Felix C

I drove throughout the southeastern USA on business for years,(55000 miles per year) and never used one. Learned to plan my route in advance and memorized anything of interest during the ride. Also, enabled me to focus on noting the business trends in the region rather than focusing/anticipating what the GPS would announce.

On the other hand, all of the other field reps for the company used them. So I was the odd man out of 21 staff. Of course, they are still field reps and I am now VP of Sales.

I normally don't take such curmudgeonly views towards new tech, and GPS certainly has its uses, but some people are just totally beholden to whatever the little machine tells them that they turn off their brains.

In Baltimore, there are lots of neighborhoods that are less than pleasant to drive through (as you may have learned by watching the wire, etc). When directing friends to my house, GPS always seems to lead them right through them, despite being slower and decidedly less scenic.

Even if I tell my friends directions, they don't listen and just follow the GPS! As if it knows more than me about my own city!

[Felix C]

I chalk it up to being young and having a very fast brain and ego to go with it.

I used my cell phone heavily for business to the amount of 4400 minutes monthly. It was a basic unit without camera but entirely dependable. I was offered a Blackberry as an upgrade but decided the extra features were a step backwards to me as I preferred writing notes in longhand and then transcribing them into my weekly reports to my then VP where they were shared
out at the weekly Execs meeting. I was told later my reports were the most informative. I just did what was natural as I maintained a work log since my Service days.

I see the utility of tech but not when it interfers with using ones thinking processes. (The Internet has proved to be a blessing and a curse)

[ragnarkar]

I use it all the time.. my "GPS" is the Waze smartphone app.

I use it even if I know where I'll be going with my eyes closed.. the app collects my traffic data so others will be helped when they're traveling the same routes.

[thriftylefty]

Originally Posted by vmaxnc

Then you always have the cheapest product, without whatever features and performance benefits a more upscale product offers.

I don't see the logic in this.


OP-what, if any, other features does the indash GPS bring with it? DVD? Anything else you might want? I wouldn't spend $1000 either. I use a laptop with a GPS program on it when I'm working, and if I didn't have that I'd go for a portable GPS.

You have to consider the primary reason to own a product. That is where 90% of your value is. I can't get a wireless signal every where in the US. I have probably been in every mountain hollow in the US looking for an address. I like my GPS to be the newest cheapest stand alone device.

[jambo101]

I find them really handy on a trip for finding various restaurants,as an example its getting to be supper time and you've been driving all day and you feel like a big slab of BBQ'd ribs,,No problem=
Go to Points of interest=
Press Restaurants=
Press American=
Press BBQ..=
Georgia Pig 10 miles sounds good=
Press GO and you'll be eating them ribs real soon..
Also works great for my other Achilles heel Chinese food

[Retriever]

Is $1k a lot of money?
Sure, but what you are ignoring is the other technology that is most likely bundled with the factory-installed system.

If the optional system on your car is anything like the one on my Subaru, it combines a rear-vision camera and display, touchscreen controls for the audio system, controls for the Bluetooth device, a "personal assistant", and the GPS into one integrated unit with an "elegant" interface.

If I am listening to a CD or radio and using the GPS while driving, it automatically mutes the audio system every time that it gives me a voice prompt for directions. If I receive a phone call, it mutes both the audio system and the GPS voice prompts temporarily. In other words, I don't need to adjust the volume of the audio system, or the Bluetooth, or the GPS, depending on varying situations, thus allowing me to pay closer attention to my driving and to keep my hands on the steering wheel.

Having a very large display screen for the rear-view camera is a great safety feature, and the way that the wide-angle lens for the camera is oriented, it actually allows me to see the rear bumper (as well as anything on the ground below the bumper), in addition to what is in back of the vehicle.

If I am parked, I can actually watch a DVD on the same screen--although I have not been tempted to do this.

Additionally, having a system permanently installed in the car will help to avert broken windows, as the system is essentially theft-proof. I know folks who remove their portable GPS from the car when it is parked, but since they left the suction-cup mount attached to the windshield, they still wound up with a broken window because a thief apparently thought that the GPS was still somewhere in the car.

So--while the factory-installed system is expensive, it almost surely has other features bundled with it. All of these bundled features constitute what I consider to be luxuries, and luxury does not always come cheaply.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Originally Posted by jambo101

I find them really handy on a trip for finding various restaurants,as an example its getting to be supper time and you've been driving all day and you feel like a big slab of BBQ'd ribs,,No problem=
Go to Points of interest=
Press Restaurants=
Press American=
Press BBQ..=
Georgia Pig 10 miles sounds good=
Press GO and you'll be eating them ribs real soon..
Also works great for my other Achilles heel Chinese food

Quite convenient, I agree. But when hanging out with my fellow 20 and 30 something friends I grow tired of the need to check yelp reviews for every single place we might eat. Once a friend nixed our scheduled meetup at a chinese place that I had eaten at dozens of times before because of a yelp review. It's like, hello, I'm one of your best friends, why not take my word for it?