One gadget I have absolutely no desire to own...

[Gabes_mommy]

OK, you've all convinced me that I need to give mine a try. Finding the closest gas station is definitely a helpful feature.

 

[OK!]

Does everyone name their GPS? lol.

I always just call mine "Angry GPS Lady" because she sounds SO bent out of shape when she has to recalculate my route. I picture her muttering little electronic obscenities under her breath at me while she's recalculating.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I am with the OP on this one.

I already know my way around Los Angeles so I don't need one.

If anyone seriously needs one to get to the store, I feel so sorry for you!


We managed to also drive all around Hawaii (the big island) without one and did just fine, thank you.

We had one in a rental car. We got great joy in getting the system to tell us how to drive to another island.

For some reason we are entertained when we freak out the system when it doesn't like our detours.

We don't have one b/c it is needed.

But then again, that's how some people feel about cell phones and cable television.

We usually use it only on trips and to areas we are unfamiliar with.

 

[glitterkittyy]

I always just call mine "Angry GPS Lady" because she sounds SO bent out of shape when she has to recalculate my route. I picture her muttering little electronic obscenities under her breath at me while she's recalculating.

LOL I'm usually the angry one in my relationship with Mandy. She repeats herself too much. Merge left, merge left, merge left....I finally yell at her "Okay, shut up, Mandy! I'm merging, stupid!" I'm a verbally abusive GPS owner, I guess. lol

 

[JerseyJanice]

OP here.

Two of my coworkers have GPS that is of no apparent use to them. While I’m sure the problem is with the people in these cases and not their GPSs, their experiences don’t make me want one. For one thing, it’s all I can do to figure new software or a new cell phone; I don’t want to mess with learning how to use a GPS.

My director will leave the office saying that she’s going to a meeting. She’ll ask me or her secretary what the address is. We give her the address and try to tell her what the directions are if they’ve been given by the meeting host. No, she doesn’t need directions because she’s putting the address into her GPS. A half hour later, she’s calling the office to ask for the directions. Believe me, this happens a lot.

My other coworker was following her GPS in Newark, which can be a wonderful city, but is also probably also one of the scariest places in the U.S.A. What happened? The GPS told her to drive the wrong way down a one street. She was so intent on following the map thing, she didn’t realize what she was doing until she almost had a head-on collision.

I find directions for where I’m going ahead of time, memorize what I can, (exit #, left, right, right), and I do just fine. I am glad to read that so many of you enjoy yours and get use out of them.

 

[merryweather20]

However, the problem isn't the mapping system itself, but the lack of realization that every mapping system isn't fool proof. I've occasionally had problems with directions from every type of mapping system. I've found that hard copy maps I get can be out of date, I've found that sometimes Mapquest maps are only "general approximating" to actual locations (particularly rural ones), and a few times my GPS has taken me to a business that is no longer there, or it doesn't have the name of a particular place I'm looking for (for some reason, I'm 0 for 2 in trying to find IKEAs with my Garmin). When using my GPS, I prefer to start with an address when looking for a route to an important destination instead of a name.

If you prefer using your highway maps, that's great. I still keep mine in the car as I do sometimes like the 30,000 foot view of where I am. But if you've figured out how to use your highway map to locate all of the Hallmark stores between Point A and your home because your wife wants a Christmas item that they've put on clearance while you're out of town for the weekend, then I'd love to hear it!

I actually do this all the time. Probably the best time I had as a kid was stopping at all the McDonalds on a 6 hour road trip to ask if they had the Kermit the Frog Happy Meal Toy. Its so much easier now, because you can go to whatever web-site and get a whole list of the stores and right under is a link to a map. You can also go old school and just ask the person at the first store if there are any other Hallmark stores around.

My highway map also shows all urban down-town areas and all malls. For a Hallmark I know all malls are going to have one, and all urban areas of a certain size.

P.S. you are a good guy to stop at all those Hallmark stores for your wife

 

[N.Bailey]

OP here.

Two of my coworkers have GPS that is of no apparent use to them. While I’m sure the problem is with the people in these cases and not their GPSs, their experiences don’t make me want one. For one thing, it’s all I can do to figure new software or a new cell phone; I don’t want to mess with learning how to use a GPS.

My director will leave the office saying that she’s going to a meeting. She’ll ask me or her secretary what the address is. We give her the address and try to tell her what the directions are if they’ve been given by the meeting host. No, she doesn’t need directions because she’s putting the address into her GPS. A half hour later, she’s calling the office to ask for the directions. Believe me, this happens a lot.

My other coworker was following her GPS in Newark, which can be a wonderful city, but is also probably also one of the scariest places in the U.S.A. What happened? The GPS told her to drive the wrong way down a one street. She was so intent on following the map thing, she didn’t realize what she was doing until she almost had a head-on collision.

I find directions for where I’m going ahead of time, memorize what I can, (exit #, left, right, right), and I do just fine. I am glad to read that so many of you enjoy yours and get use out of them.

Sometimes it's just a matter of updating the maps or changing preferences.

We don't normally run it for local trips, but if we're returning from a trip, we keep it on till we get home. Our Garmin Nuvi has tried to send us down 1 way streets a time or 2 in our hometown. Our WHOLE town is basically 1 way streets (being facetious, but there are a lot). It's imperative that one pay attention to the directions given and not simply do what it says regardless of the circumstance.

For anyone who watches, The Office, remember the scene where Michael follows the GPS and drives his car into a body of water?

 

[OK!]

I totally forgot about that functionality of it, too--being able to find locations of a specific retailer or establishment that's closest to where you are at a given time. That came in SO handy when a friend and I drove to Kansas City for a concert and my car broke down about 50 miles from the venue. Long story short, we ended up getting to the concert OK because the delightful boys from the mechanic AAA sent offered to drive us, but we still had to get a rental car the next day to get back to St. Louis for a concert that night. Friends that we met at the show had let us stay in their hotel room in KC and then, the next morning, used their GPS to drive us all over the place trying to find an open car rental agency (and on a Sunday morning in KC, that ain't easy!)

 

[OK!]

Sometimes it's just a matter of updating the maps or changing preferences.

We don't normally run it for local trips, but if we're returning from a trip, we keep it on till we get home. Our Garmin Nuvi has tried to send us down 1 way streets a time or 2 in our hometown. Our WHOLE town is basically 1 way streets (being facetious, but there are a lot). It's imperative that one pay attention to the directions given and not simply do what it says regardless of the circumstance.

For anyone who watches, The Office, remember the scene where Michael follows the GPS and drives his car into a body of water?

That's one of my favorite scenes everl. "THE MACHINE KNOWS!!"

 

[ead79]

Considering I was evidently born without a sense of direction, my Garmin is wonderful! I really can't find my way around at all other than to and from the places I go frequently (you know, like the mall, Disney World, etc. ). The final straw that broke the camel's back was when we bought our first house on the opposite side of the city from where we lived before. Then I couldn't even find my way to my own home, so DH got me a Garmin for my birthday, LOL!

 

[bumbershoot]

I've only dealt with a GPS in my brother/SIL's car. And it's hilarious. Why? Because they live in an area constantly being built up, and a new toll road was just put in a year ago. Brother hasn't updated the software, so the GPS has absolute fits as he goes on the toll road. The map shows that you're off-roading, the voice is just funny, you can pretend that the voice is getting annoyed. I saw it happen, no voice, first, and every 5 seconds the screen showed "recalculating". When I drove it I turned on the voice and just cracked up.

They never wanted a GPS until they experienced a friend's...the friend had some voice program that sounded sort of disciplinarian-ish...sort of tense and a bit naughty when you turned wrong...I never heard it but that's how they described it.


I haven't needed one yet; maps folded down to the smallest square they can be, simple directions from it written out in a list, those work for me, even when alone.

 

[JVL1018]

I don't need a GPS, nor maps except once in a great while.
I am not traveling to new places all the time.
I've lived in this area for all my life, I know it like the back of my hand. If I am going somewhere new, I mapquest it before leaving the house.

If there is a rare occasion where I need GPS, I use the maps app on my iPhone, works just as well.

 

[traviesojmt]

Our first GPS was named Minnie (by out then DD4). When my DH dropped and broke it, I had a new one within days. His name is Mickey, btw. As a military family who moves and travels continually, my GPS is a lifesaver. It gives me complete comfort to go out and explore our new area without worrying about getting loss. I can always just press the HOME button and Mickey (British accent LOL) always takes me home. It is also great for our numerous cross-country trips. When you are close to the middle of nowhere, I love being about the see what restaurants or gas stations are on our route. We use to to discover places we might not have found otherwise. Sorry, OP, but they will have to pry by GPS from my cold dead hands. LOL

 

[Squirlz]

We enjoy frequent road trips and the GPS is a Godsend! Jump in the car with nothing but an address and it gets you right there. Search for hotels and restaurants as you drive...it just frees you up so much. Also my speedometer is about 3% off so I get accurate MPH on the unit.

 

[Spoodleink]

I'm still a map person; the clerk at my AAA office knows me by name. I can normally find a location on a real map (even after taking the time to pull over) faster than the GPS can. It helps that I'm spacially gifted -- once I look at the map and trace the route with my eyes, my mind pretty much has it locked in. However ...

I bought a GPS for my DH who has directional issues, and I've got to say that I love it for the directory functions, and the live traffic reports. THOSE alone are worth the cost.

As to smartphones with built-in GPS functionality driving these units off the market -- no, not anytime soon. Two reasons: 1) the cost of data plans. Contract phones are now losing market share to prepaids, and it will probably keep going that way, now that so many more people have discovered that it isn't necessary to pay for phone time that you don't intend to use, and 2) the much more practical reason that if you are using the phone to talk, you can't simultaneously have it functioning as a GPS unit. I don't know about you, but if I'm trying to get somewhere and I can't find it, I'm going to be calling the people who are expecting me in order to let them know I'm on my way, and to ask a question about the physical appearance of the building. (Because neither your GPS nor a map can tell you that your kids' dentist's office is a grey brick building with a black awning that is behind the Phillips station that your GPS is actually pointing you to.)

That's using the assumption people are buying the data plan for the GPS. I pay $99.99 for our cell phone plan that includes data plans for a G1 and a My touch. I pay for the data plan for email and internet the GPS is a bonus. That is what will hurt the stand alone devices. People won’t buy a stand alone because their phone is already fulfilling that need. My phone can also get my location from a satellite or cell towers making it more reliable. I can run apps simultaneously so I can talk on the phone and keep Google maps open. I have street view on my phone so I can see what the area I am trying to get to looks like and the phone has traffic feedback on it. Also with the G1 I have clicked on links to Google maps directions on store and restaurant websites and the phone automatically gives you directions from your current location and standalone unit is not going to do that.

 

[Deb in IA]

I have no need of a GPS.

My DH, on the other hand, is a different story. He is infamous for getting lost.

He gets lost in his own hometown.

Once, when coming from Minneapolis to Iowa, he ended up in Wisconsin.

And many years later, even WITH his GPS, he ended up in Columbia MO instead of Columbia IL when taking the kids to summer choir camp, and he had been to that same camp for several years in a row!

 

[tasha99]

I have no need of a GPS because I live in a medium sized town that I know very well. My brother who is a property appraiser in Southern California uses his daily since he's always driving out to new locations in a huge, congested area.

 

[C.Ann]

Me either! I can't tell you how many people I know who have gotten lost using their GPS..

I use maps all the time.. Map out the route I want to take ahead of time and off I go..

 

[DancingBear]

I have a pretty good sense of direction and spatial relationships, plus I'm obsessed with checking things out on GoogleEarth. Also I like to just explore as I drive around from place to place--"Hmmm, I wonder if this road goes through"--worst thing that happens is I'll have to turn around. So, generally I wouldn't use a GPS. BUT, (1) borrowing my Dad's GPS was a godsend when we were house-hunting, (2) I need to get one for my wife, so that I don't have to e-mail her directions every time she's going somewhere (even places she's been to several times before), (3) traffic is an issue in these parts, it would be nice to have an alternative to listening for "Traffic on the 8s", and (3) I love electronic toys, so it certainly wouldn't bother me to receive one for Christmas!

 

[arminnie]

I've had two bad experiences. I bought a VERY expensive (hundreds and hundreds of $) Magellan about 4 years ago. Worthless. The power cord malfunctioned and had to be replaced a couple of times plus it would "lose" it's position all the time and had to be reset. And I couldn't reset it if I didn't know the street address of where I was - which you don't on an interstate.

Then I bought a really cheap one from woot.com. I guess I got what I paid for - but the directions are SO lame. I will be on a major street that is THIRTY years old, and it will keep telling me to go some other weird route.

And don't even get me started with how crazy it tries to route me in New Orleans with all of it's twisted streets. It will invariable send me downtown to start my trip when I am going the total opposite direction.

Plus I've rented them a few times with Hertz. Invariably when I really do know where I am (like in my old neighboodhood in CA) it will totally give me wrong directions. I just don't trust it. These are not new streets. I can be right in front of the entrance to a hotel (the only entrance) and it will tell me to turn left and go 1/4 mile.

I will say that the iphone has saved me many a time when I didn't quite know where I was or which direction to go.

I think I would really like one that I can trust, and I'm sure they are out there, but I'm just reluctant to buy a third one.

And I don't think that it is me not knowing how to use it. I wrote operating systems for computers and helped develop some of the first online terminals. I am pretty tech savvy.