Comments on: Tech Upgrades: GPS Quest http://www.technomadia.com/2009/06/tech-upgrades-gps-quest/ Sun, 01 Aug 2010 02:53:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Cherie Ve Ard http://www.technomadia.com/2009/06/tech-upgrades-gps-quest/comment-page-1/#comment-1630 Cherie Ve Ard Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:57:15 +0000 http://www.technomadia.com/?p=881#comment-1630 I'm glad to hear someone else considering the netbook route! That's something I thought of us a great compromise for our needs.. and would also allow the passenger to blog, twitter and reply to e-mails more easily while we're in motion. We already have a fantastic mount that we used when I had to be 'on-call' during the work day too. We've pretty much found that all GPS's and maps have their problems. Streets and Trips for sure took us on some interesting adventures (once, it routed us down a dirt road that had a boulder barricade.. we did end up seeing a black bear wander by us however.. so I don't complain about it too much ;) ). But that certainly wasn't an isolated incident. We're currently experimenting with an older Garmin that my father was kind enough to gift us with. We don't normally use a GPS for actual routing (until we get closer to our destination), as we enjoy spontaneously changing our routes and exploring cute little towns and such. And it is giving us the things we wanted, which is a map for the driver to easily refer to. We previously used our iPhones for most of our navigating (still do, actually).. and we've found the accuracy of Google's Maps falls off significantly in cities outside the Bay Area. Thanks for sharing your experience with us! - Cherie I’m glad to hear someone else considering the netbook route! That’s something I thought of us a great compromise for our needs.. and would also allow the passenger to blog, twitter and reply to e-mails more easily while we’re in motion. We already have a fantastic mount that we used when I had to be ‘on-call’ during the work day too.

We’ve pretty much found that all GPS’s and maps have their problems. Streets and Trips for sure took us on some interesting adventures (once, it routed us down a dirt road that had a boulder barricade.. we did end up seeing a black bear wander by us however.. so I don’t complain about it too much ;) ). But that certainly wasn’t an isolated incident.

We’re currently experimenting with an older Garmin that my father was kind enough to gift us with. We don’t normally use a GPS for actual routing (until we get closer to our destination), as we enjoy spontaneously changing our routes and exploring cute little towns and such. And it is giving us the things we wanted, which is a map for the driver to easily refer to.

We previously used our iPhones for most of our navigating (still do, actually).. and we’ve found the accuracy of Google’s Maps falls off significantly in cities outside the Bay Area.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
– Cherie

]]> By: Jonathan http://www.technomadia.com/2009/06/tech-upgrades-gps-quest/comment-page-1/#comment-1626 Jonathan Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:21:07 +0000 http://www.technomadia.com/?p=881#comment-1626 I own a TomTom One and I've been very frustrated by the quality of the maps. I used my "free map upgrade" voucher late last year so the map is relatively current, less than a year old. Door-to-door routing is pretty much hit or miss once you get out of major cities, major highways are not updated (for example, a new bypass on I-40 has been completed for 2-3 years or more - but the TomTom maps have not been updated to reflect this as of late last year), and important addresses such as ferry docks have been wrong. On my most recent trip the GPS directed me onto a narrow back street that ultimately led to a boat ramp over a mile away from the actual ferry. I'm hesitant to buy an update to the maps as I've yet to find a way to preview the new maps and they cost 1/2 as much as a new unit. I'm currently considering a Garmin unit as a replacement. An alternative I've also considered is a 9" netbook with a USB or bluetooth GPS running Microsoft Streets & Trips or Delorme Trip Planner. 9" netbooks with SSD drives are available with XP for $200 or less. MountGuys sells an inexpensive netbook mount that attaches to the passenger seat mounting bolt and looks like it would fold out of the way when not in use for around $20. Basically for around $300 I could have a netbook based navigation system that would double as an mp3 player and internet browser (when I'm stopped). I currently own a 10" netbook (Asus 1000HE) and I've been impressed with it so far. The lack of a touch-screen (although touch screen models are coming to market later this year) is the big drawback, it would make it more difficult to quickly change a route, but that's the sort of thing you really shouldn't do while driving anyway! You can find a review of the mount here: http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=41836 This is becoming a long post - basically my experience with my TomTom has been that it's accurate in major cities - on a recent trip to St. Louis it directed me exactly to the door of the house I was looking for - and awful everywhere else. When I visited my parents (who live in a relatively rural area) it was nearly a mile off, if I hadn't been familiar with the area I would have been lost. .-= Jonathan´s last blog ..<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CemeterySpace/~3/v7rvCZNFNjA/when-even-bad-can-do-some-good.html" rel="nofollow">When even the bad can do some good...</a> =-. I own a TomTom One and I’ve been very frustrated by the quality of the maps. I used my “free map upgrade” voucher late last year so the map is relatively current, less than a year old. Door-to-door routing is pretty much hit or miss once you get out of major cities, major highways are not updated (for example, a new bypass on I-40 has been completed for 2-3 years or more – but the TomTom maps have not been updated to reflect this as of late last year), and important addresses such as ferry docks have been wrong. On my most recent trip the GPS directed me onto a narrow back street that ultimately led to a boat ramp over a mile away from the actual ferry. I’m hesitant to buy an update to the maps as I’ve yet to find a way to preview the new maps and they cost 1/2 as much as a new unit. I’m currently considering a Garmin unit as a replacement.

An alternative I’ve also considered is a 9″ netbook with a USB or bluetooth GPS running Microsoft Streets & Trips or Delorme Trip Planner. 9″ netbooks with SSD drives are available with XP for $200 or less. MountGuys sells an inexpensive netbook mount that attaches to the passenger seat mounting bolt and looks like it would fold out of the way when not in use for around $20. Basically for around $300 I could have a netbook based navigation system that would double as an mp3 player and internet browser (when I’m stopped). I currently own a 10″ netbook (Asus 1000HE) and I’ve been impressed with it so far. The lack of a touch-screen (although touch screen models are coming to market later this year) is the big drawback, it would make it more difficult to quickly change a route, but that’s the sort of thing you really shouldn’t do while driving anyway! You can find a review of the mount here: http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=41836

This is becoming a long post – basically my experience with my TomTom has been that it’s accurate in major cities – on a recent trip to St. Louis it directed me exactly to the door of the house I was looking for – and awful everywhere else. When I visited my parents (who live in a relatively rural area) it was nearly a mile off, if I hadn’t been familiar with the area I would have been lost.
Jonathan´s last blog ..When even the bad can do some good… My ComLuv Profile

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