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Old 03-31-2011, 07:37 PM   #21
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On my second Garmin, and actually gave my old one to a son who lost his. Other than an occasional street being too new to be listed and being told to use a slightly different address to find the people have had no real problems. Once needed to find 65356 S. Something. The entry said bad entry S. Something only goes to 35000. I assumed correctly the numbers would increase in one direction from there. : )

One thing to think about, some people say especially when traveling you should always have "Home address" as an intersection near your home. That way Mr. Larceny can not call his former cell mate in you city to tell him you are traveling now.
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Old 03-31-2011, 07:42 PM   #22
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We have a Magellan Maestro 3250 which was a gift from no. 1 son in 2007. We have not updated it and we have used it all over the USA and Canada. Of course, the garbage in garbage out rule applies and we have discovered a couple of glitches in the software, which I think in my personal opinion is due mainly to goverment agencies not properly updating the database. The 3250 can display elevation which I enjoy watching when in mountains.

We recently rented a Hertz car that was equipped with Never Lost (Hertz's GPS). If you specify Never Lost, you have to pay for it, but if the car is equipped with it you can use it whether you pay for it or not. Never Lost works well, but does not display elevation as far as I have been able to discover.
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Old 03-31-2011, 08:41 PM   #23
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I have a tom tom .It was a present from my SO . I guess that says something about me . I use it anytime I am going somewhere that I am not sure of . It does the job but gets slightly pissed when I want to travel the back way .
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Old 03-31-2011, 08:59 PM   #24
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I have had a portable Garmin GPS for a few years. It's waterproof and good for hiking, fishing. It even floats.

When RV'ing, I ran Microsoft Street & Trips on a netbook PC. The GPS is a little puck connected to a USB port.

Much larger, nicer, with more details than a little portable GPS screen. But then, the RV has a large and deep dashboard to put the netbook on.
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Old 04-07-2011, 06:16 AM   #25
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If you're still looking here's a pretty good price on a Garmin Nuvi.
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Old 04-07-2011, 07:33 AM   #26
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Thanks Nodak. Great price indeed. My luck woth refurbished equipment however has not been great. I have narrowed my purchase to the Garmin Nuvi 1350LMT or the 1450LMT. Both have free lifetime maps and are under $200 with a little shopping around.
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Old 04-07-2011, 07:44 AM   #27
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I have a Garmin but in the US i make the most use of the Google Map feature on my cell phone with navigation. The interface is coupled to the internet so a search fo a hotel or resteraunt in the phones browser can be come a click of find direction to... I even use it in walking around cities, its great to pinpoint a rail station or destination a few blocks away and decide not to take a cab and walk instead. When i travel abroad i do get a local map card fro my garmin. In China it was horrible (not all streets in library) in europe/uk... you are soooo confident in driving anywhere without blunder.
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Old 04-07-2011, 09:58 AM   #28
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I bought a Nuvi 1490LMT (lifetime maps & traffic) back in November for $199.99 and it has been the best GPS (out of many) I ever owned.
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Old 04-07-2011, 10:00 AM   #29
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One little tip:
It's illegal in a few states to use the suction cup mount on the windshield. I like the dashboard beanbag mount better anyway.
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Old 04-07-2011, 11:26 AM   #30
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I've had a Nuvi forever. The voice known as "Jill" is my favorite. One of my great amusements is to piss her off by doing something that forces her to recalculate the route -- as she is thinking about it, she says "Recalculating.." with just a hint of irritation. It's great.

And you guys thought I'd be bored in retirement....


BTW - I love the Nuvi.
I use "Jill" too, but call her Mrs. Garmin.

Sometimes Mrs. Garmin has no sense and will want to take me a way that is so not the best. I wish she would tell me to take the tollway around Austin. I do anyway but she wants me to march right through town, motorhome and all. She also sometimes wants to abandon the faster freeway system and take me along a route that I am sure is shorter but not faster, even though I chose faster in my options. I've learned to plan my routes to at least generally force her in the right direction.

She is especially great for navigating unfamiliar city freeway systems. Or finding addresses in unfamiliar towns. Though the route there may not be the best route I always seem to get where I want to go.
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Old 04-07-2011, 11:35 AM   #31
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I use "Jill" too, but call her Mrs. Garmin.

Sometimes Mrs. Garmin has no sense and will want to take me a way that is so not the best. I wish she would tell me to take the tollway around Austin. I do anyway but she wants me to march right through town, motorhome and all. She also sometimes wants to abandon the faster freeway system and take me along a route that I am sure is shorter but not faster, even though I chose faster in my options. I've learned to plan my routes to at least generally force her in the right direction.

She is especially great for navigating unfamiliar city freeway systems. Or finding addresses in unfamiliar towns. Though the route there may not be the best route I always seem to get where I want to go.
A tip: you can enter a new location somewhere near where you want to force her to take you (say an interstate exit). Do this shortly after you are en route. When you save the new location (as a 'favorite' for example) the Nuvi will ask if you want to set it as a brand new route or as a waypoint in your current route. Choose the latter and Jill will reconstruct your route to where you want it.
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Old 04-07-2011, 02:15 PM   #32
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..., but you do get some popup ads to help pay for the free traffic.
What!? I have used Garmins for over a decade and have never heard of pop-up ads. Are you receiving signals other than the US gov GPSs? I don't think the US gov is selling bandwith to advertisers.
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Old 04-07-2011, 02:45 PM   #33
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What!? I have used Garmins for over a decade and have never heard of pop-up ads. Are you receiving signals other than the US gov GPSs? I don't think the US gov is selling bandwith to advertisers.
The reference is to the online traffic reporting.

These Garmin units have an extra radio receiver built into them that receives a special FM radio signal alerting you to traffic congestion ahead on your route.

That's what the popup ads are paying for. They're very unobtrusive and I hardly even notice them.

The traffic signals are only in major metro areas, I think.
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Old 04-07-2011, 02:54 PM   #34
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A tip: you can enter a new location somewhere near where you want to force her to take you (say an interstate exit). Do this shortly after you are en route. When you save the new location (as a 'favorite' for example) the Nuvi will ask if you want to set it as a brand new route or as a waypoint in your current route. Choose the latter and Jill will reconstruct your route to where you want it.

But... But... But... why can they not program this into the system


I mean... the other day while on vacation we were going from one place to another... we were on a minor 'highway'.... lets call it 66 for fun... we come into a SMALL town and they want us to turn right... I tell my wife who is driving at the time "ignore her"... we go up a mile or two and the highway turns to the right... the GPS route would have put us maybe one mile up right there on the same highway we were on...


It seems that if you cut through this neighborhood you might shave a few seconds off the time... I have seen it happen a good number of times that do not make any sense...


One time they wanted us to drive minor highways in Florida instead of the main interstate highway that runs down the middle... we got caught in a number of small towns etc. until I ignored 'her' advice and just drove to the interstate...

But, there are no options to say 'use major highways as much as you can' or 'don't take a side route if you are going to come back to this highway in the next 10 or so minutes... heck, at all'....
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Old 04-07-2011, 04:22 PM   #35
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But, there are no options to say 'use major highways as much as you can' or 'don't take a side route if you are going to come back to this highway in the next 10 or so minutes... heck, at all'....
There should be a preferences tab on your system that will allow you to set the route to the fastest route. That should keep you on the interstates.

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Old 04-07-2011, 04:36 PM   #36
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Normally, you should be given multiple choices in the prefs like Fastest, Shortest, or Scenic. Just be aware that fastest and shortest may be very different, so think about it. Personally, I prefer fastest.

The newest Garmins (pricey!) claim a little AI feature that lets them gradually "learn" your preferred routes and modes of travel. Looking forward to reviews from those who will be purchasing them.
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Old 04-07-2011, 06:03 PM   #37
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There should be a preferences tab on your system that will allow you to set the route to the fastest route. That should keep you on the interstates.

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A friend has a car with factory GPS and it has options for fastest, shortest, avoid interstates, and avoid turnpikes. I'm assuming that turnpike refers to a toll road.
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Old 04-07-2011, 06:25 PM   #38
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two reasons:

1. Keeps peace in the family (my navigator gets lost easily)
2. Safety. It tells you where to go, so you can concentrate on traffic instead of trying to figure out where you are.

We bought a refurbished Garmin with case, beanbag mount, and power cord for about $120 on Amazon I'm sure if you sign up with them, they will email the sales. We're quite happy with it.
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Old 04-07-2011, 07:32 PM   #39
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I have a Garmin and really like it. Works very well.

That said....

Last weekend, DH and I were going to look at a model home of a builder we were interested in and we dutifully followed the route (this was in the next county over). It took on what was not the most logical way to get to a certain area and then on a long, winding road tells us to turn right on this street. However, there was no street! We drive on and eventually it tells us to turn left (if you go off the course it will send you another way usually) and we do all this and after going 10 miles out of the way it...sends us back to the non-existent road.

I finally pulled out my iPad, put the address in there and the map finds our destination and gives us a nice logical route to get there (totally different from what the Garmin was recommending). We followed the iPad and got there easily.

Not sure why the Garmin was so off...we have the most recent maps.
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Old 04-07-2011, 07:42 PM   #40
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I love my GPS, but I never leave home on a multi-state trip without my hard copy Rand McNally Atlas from Walmart. You can get free state maps at the welcome centers on the interstate, but the Rand McNally is more convenient, except for the exteme back roads.

Using the GPS I feel like I don't really know where I'm going or where I've been. I do like the GPS for detailed addresses for motels, restaurants, elevation, and other points of interest.
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