Oh boy, a new toy

[SeaCat]

Well the Cat has a new toy. A nice new GPS Receiver that I can move from the car to the bike and back again. Already I can see there are things I like about it and things I dont like. It will take some getting used to.

Things I like are the re-route option so if you miss a turn it recomputes what you have to do to get back on track. The maps are either 2D or 3D. It's color and has a battery life of 8 hours on one charge. (It only takes 3 hours to charge it.)

One thing I'm not fond of is how you put in destinations. You have to either type in the address or the nearest intersection and it doesn't always allow you to type these in. (On my fathers old one you can find the map of the area you are going through then scroll through the map and highlight where you want to go. A usefull tool.) We shall see how it routes me on rides and if I can override that.

Cat

 

[glynndah]

Oh, I want one of those. I get lost so easily. (And I refuse to ask for directions.)

 

[Liar]

Wherever you're at, there you are. It's so zen.

 

[glynndah]

Wherever you're at, there you are. It's so zen.

Oh, I always seem to be a couple of miles from there.

 

[Liar]

Oh, I always seem to be a couple of miles from there.

Yer a witch. It's probably astral projection residue or some other jazz like that.

 

[glynndah]

Yer a witch. It's probably astral projection residue or some other jazz like that.

It would be a lot more convenient if I could get my car in on the act. I know where I want to be, just not how to get there. Occasionally, where I am at any given moment bewilders me, too.

 

[SeaCat]

LOLOL

A good GPS is handy.

I always know exactly where I am even though I am sometimes a bit hazy as to where that is in relationship to the rest of the world. On the other hand a GPS can tell me where I am and maybe give me a good clue or three as to how to get to where I want to be. (If I know where that happens to be.)

Cat

 

[sutherngent985]

I got a GPS (Garmin) a couple of months ago when I moved across country. On 1 leg it took me off the beaten path and I enjoyed that, even though it might have taken me an hour or 2 longer getting where I was going.

One thing Im not that crazy about is that it tends to take you out of the way to get you on the same side of the road as your destination. I dont mind making a left turn. I would rather do that than go several blocks (or miles) out of my way.

 

[glynndah]

I got a GPS (Garmin) a couple of months ago when I moved across country. On 1 leg it took me off the beaten path and I enjoyed that, even though it might have taken me an hour or 2 longer getting where I was going.

One thing Im not that crazy about is that it tends to take you out of the way to get you on the same side of the road as your destination. I dont mind making a left turn. I would rather do that than go several blocks (or miles) out of my way.

I know nothing about these little gadgets except what I see on the commercials, but perhaps the "no left turns" policy is the default setting and you can change it somehow.

 

[SeaCat]

I got a GPS (Garmin) a couple of months ago when I moved across country. On 1 leg it took me off the beaten path and I enjoyed that, even though it might have taken me an hour or 2 longer getting where I was going.

One thing Im not that crazy about is that it tends to take you out of the way to get you on the same side of the road as your destination. I dont mind making a left turn. I would rather do that than go several blocks (or miles) out of my way.

LOLOL

I just entered the address to my parents place up north of us then told the little machine to get me there without using Highways. It got me there all right but it used the most convoluted way you could think of. (Which added 20 miles to the trip.) Then again it's view of what a highway is and mine is a bit different.

Cat

 

[Weird Harold]

Wherever you're at, there you are. It's so zen.

Corollary: If you don't care where you are, you ain't lost.

 

[Weird Harold]

LOLOL

I just entered the address to my parents place up north of us then told the little machine to get me there without using Highways. It got me there all right but it used the most convoluted way you could think of. (Which added 20 miles to the trip.) Then again it's view of what a highway is and mine is a bit different.

Cat

That's one problem with trip routing programs -- they don't actually know what the roads are like, so they have to rely on official designations and will route you down a US Highway in preference to a County Road even if the county road is a six lane freeway and the US Highway is lane-and-a-half gravel.

They're getting better, especially where they can gather data from real-time traffic reports, but the further you get away from chronic commuter gridlock, the less data they have on road configuration and conditions.

Also, on your address entry problem from the first post, have you found the browse function yet? My daughter got a Garmin for Christmas and it took some exploring of the different icons to find the browse function and how to tell it to forget one-time destinations. Twenty minutes of practicing severely cluttered the memorized addresses list with destinations she never intended to drive to.

Personally, I prefer a physical map so I can plan my own routing according to my personal preferences. I use Rand McNally's Tripmaker Deluxe for planning long trips to destinations I've never visited or visited seldom (like my sister's last two houses in the Seattle area; she's moved two or three times since I ws last that far north and I had to use Tripmaker to get directions to the last address I did visit.)

But I go places I don't know how to get to so seldom -- once or twice a year -- that a GPS appeals only to my technophilia which my budget constrains have pretty effectively squashed.

 

[SeaCat]

That's one problem with trip routing programs -- they don't actually know what the roads are like, so they have to rely on official designations and will route you down a US Highway in preference to a County Road even if the county road is a six lane freeway and the US Highway is lane-and-a-half gravel.

They're getting better, especially where they can gather data from real-time traffic reports, but the further you get away from chronic commuter gridlock, the less data they have on road configuration and conditions.

Also, on your address entry problem from the first post, have you found the browse function yet? My daughter got a Garmin for Christmas and it took some exploring of the different icons to find the browse function and how to tell it to forget one-time destinations. Twenty minutes of practicing severely cluttered the memorized addresses list with destinations she never intended to drive to.

Personally, I prefer a physical map so I can plan my own routing according to my personal preferences. I use Rand McNally's Tripmaker Deluxe for planning long trips to destinations I've never visited or visited seldom (like my sister's last two houses in the Seattle area; she's moved two or three times since I ws last that far north and I had to use Tripmaker to get directions to the last address I did visit.)

But I go places I don't know how to get to so seldom -- once or twice a year -- that a GPS appeals only to my technophilia which my budget constrains have pretty effectively squashed.

I too prefer a hard copy map. Yet there are times when they are not practical. (ie. when I'm on the bike.)

Playing with this machine I have figured out that there is a way to play with the maps and put in way points or targets. This means I can set up a trip through a local town which is more than confusing so the GPS guides me through it on my own route. (ie. moving from US1 to Alt A1A in Stuart Florida.)

Cat