<p>Just my preference, but I have the voice turned off. It annoys me when I’m listening to my music. If I need to hear a specific direction, there’s a button on my touch screen that I can touch, and it will give me the next voice direction.</p>
<p>Fender, Thank you! My DH just called to tell me that I was right about changing the voices on the Garmin. I let him know just how amazing CC is! He put on a male voice with a British accent. He says that it sounds pretty good.</p>
<p>Okay I need to ask some simple stupid questions. I have been on boats that used GPS. We rented a car once that had it and we used when we visited colleges but I don’t really have a clue as to how they work.
I assume you get software for the area that you are traveling. But I know on the boat it is not real time and it is basically like having a paperless chart. It is not like the radar that shows obstacles in the path. Do GPS for cars work in real time. Meaning does it update me for road closures and accidents. Also can I program it to take a specific route to a location.
For example
This past week I had to drive to rural San Diego. The 405 in West LA had lane closures due to a bad accident. I used regular old fashioned maps to find an alternative but after listening to the radio that road also had huge traffic delays. I then had to find a 3rd alternative route. I couldn’t figure out how to get mapquest on my computer to give me directions using this 3rd highway. Also the road I needed to take in San Diego was also closed. Does the GPS tell me any of this.</p>
<p>mom60, not a stupid question at all, and believe me, I ask many of them! My DH’s new Garmin has that feature, but there is an additional fee for these road updates. I don’t know how much it is bc he just got the Gamin and he is getting 3 months free. He loves it, and for the amount of driving he does, I am sure that he will pay to continue it.</p>
<p>I could be wrong but I don’t think the traffic updates are real time visible on the screen (although that is probably not far behind). I believe the subscription is more like traffic radio but I’ve never had it so…like I said - I could be wrong. I also think it’s limited in scope (major cities only).</p>
<p>
LOL because… same here. DH insists on using it even going to locations he could navigate in his sleep. He has the Garmin that is part of his PDA with Palm software.</p>
<p>One comment and one question. </p>
<p>Comment: Sometimes our Garmin sends one via s-t-r-a-n-g-e convoluted routes (such as off major highways when going from Maine to Balto., even when he did <em>not</em> check the “avoid highway” option). Go figure. We just ignore it. But it is a life-saver in unfamiliar territory.</p>
<p>Question: has anyone considered/used Telenav on your mobile phone? I’ve been considering it. Involves a monthly fee instead of an upfront purchase ($10/mo) but I was thinking it would always be up to date and I wouldn’t need another gizmo. Experience? Pros? Cons?</p>
<p>jmmom, I’ve thought of it but since it is dependent on cell coverage it’s not that much help to me on my motorcycle “explores”. That’s a killer for me.</p>
<p>jmmom, the gps that came with son’s car kept doing that with routes–we ended up in some strange neighborhoods and countryside. We finally figured out that there was a setting for “most direct route” which was how his was set. When he changed it to “quickest”, he got sensible routing.</p>
<p>We love our Garmin. We bought a new one and gave the old one to D in college who got really lost last year in a friend’s car. The phone mode, depending on the GPS, has my phone book in it when we set it up. then you can voice dial or touch screen it. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was call waiting but I just ignored the other phone.
The Garmin has gotten us through trips to both coasts for fun, business trips for my hubby and three college trips to areas I had never been to (and they were successful) Yes, sometimes it’s taken me a more “scenic” route than I really want but sometimes it’s nice and it makes me slow down and smell the roses…
The never lost in the Hertz cars drives me batty compared to the Garmin</p>
<p>northeastmom, I’m glad he figured out how to change it. I didn’t really care for the original voice either.</p>
<p>We just took a small day trip yesterday. We took my Magellan and my H said that he really likes the graphics better on the Magellan than the Garmin. We have had 2 Magellans and both have had problems with the pins (part you plug in to keep the battery charged). My current Magellan is beginning to have the same problems. Each time it has happened has been when it was a couple of months past the warrenty. This means an expensive repair that is just not worth it. It is for this reason that when my Magellan completely dies (won’t be too long), we will buy a Garmin.</p>
<p>Newest Consmers Report ranked:
- Garmin nuvi 660
- garmin nuvi 350
- magellan crossover gps
- tom tom 1
- mag roadmate2000 (best buy)
- garmin streetpilot c330 (BB)</p>
<p>just in case anyone interested</p>
<p>I am really torn between buying one for D’s car or going the cell phone route. I don’t like the fact that the cell phone one relies on being able to get a signal and if she is really lost in the boonies somewhere - like near where her grandparents live, it wouldn’t do much good, but I like the fact that she will have it with her when her friends get lost.</p>
<p>My d. usually grabs her Nuvi and takes it along when riding with someone else (if they are going to a new place). She even has used it when walking in strange cities. She also uses it alot for shopping and restaurants in a new town.</p>
<p>I have no experience with the cell phone ones–so can’t help with the comparison there.</p>
<p>We have the Garmin 660 and love it! We used it when we drove to Canada and also when driving around several cities in the US, both large and small. We’ve used it to find hotels, restaurants and gas stations, and occasionally use it when we’re walking in a new city. I was recently in Houston and would have broken down in tears without it. I just can’t seem to manage reading a printed google or mapquest map while I’m driving and having to turn every other block. My favorite feature is the instructions to exit left or right from interstates and highways.</p>
<p>I also didn’t know about the British voice, and will definitely try that. For some reason the one we’re using has been given a very feminine German name. </p>
<p>For those with a Garmin, you’ll appreciate that I once begged her to “recalculate” when I took a wrong turn in horrendous traffic (my mistake, not hers).</p>
<p>over30, ours got mad at us once, i swear.</p>
<p>we were driving and for the first few miles we had to drive off of our destination for some reason. it recalculated and it then said “do u-turn at next blah blah”, we didn’t do it. it recalculated again and was like “do u turn at next blah blah blah”, we didn’t do it. it recalculated again and was like “do u turn at blah blah blah blah”. we didn’t do it. it then recalculated and was like “do u turn when possible” and it gave up on us.</p>
<p>I had to laugh, i was thinking it’s sick and tired of trying to re-direct us and thinking they don’t know what they are doing.</p>
<p>I’m on the road again in a foreign land, missed a turn and ended up in the middle of nowhere. And I mean there was no road on the map - my car was just sitting in a big black void with her saying “recalculating” over and over! It was really kind of spooky. I just kept making turns until I showed back up on a road.</p>
<p>Yeah, I know what you mean. There is a new road somewhere between my house and my work which just opened not too long ago, and when you take it to work it shows you driving through nowhere on the GPS saying recalculating over and over.</p>
<p>Just saw that Costco.com has the Garmin Nuvi 650 for $299 + $8 shipping. That looks like a pretty good price. Hmm!</p>
<p>I love my Nuvi 650! Sometimes I rely on it too much, though, and I’ll end up not knowing where I am, just blindly following it’s directions. (Note that I still call it an “it”.)</p>
<p>I did get really tired of Jill’s voice (they have names) constantly telling me she was “recalculating” in a really pi$$ed-off tone, so I downloaded a new voice (Jack) and all is good. It did somehow get set to Australian (Karen), but we managed to change it back after a while.</p>
<p>The great thing about this one is that it comes preloaded with the North America maps–no CDs, no uploading, nothing. Just turn it on out of the box and it goes to work. It also has business listings–restaurants, hotels, gas, banks, shopping, etc. The problem is, once it gives you a list of nearby Italian restaurants, you expect to be able to click somewhere and pull up a men. It won’t do that, but it does give you the phone number.</p>
<p>$299 is a great price. I paid about $600 a few years ago. Amazon has it for $386.</p>
<p>I’m thinking I would like to have an installed GPS in my next car, but I do like being able to carry this one with me when I rent a car.</p>