<p>Would you rather use the portable GPS or your Smartphone for navigation? Any pros and cons?</p>
<p>If I’m by myself, I would prefer my Magellan…it has a larger screen and it talks to me. If someone ELSE in the car has a smartphone and is acting as navigator…then they can use the smartphone and tell me where to go.</p>
<p>Personally, I think the screen on a smart phone is WAY to small to view while you are driving.</p>
<p>I prefer using my GPS versus my iPhone for navigation because I can mount it on the windhshield which allows for easier use and she (okay I call her Carmen … she’s a Garmin 
) talks to me so I don’t really have to take my eyes off the road to know exactly where I need to go.</p>
<p>If you mean for the car - definitely a GPS with a bigger screen. The screen on a smart phone is too small to be using while driving so the only value is if there’s a navigator in the passenger seat or it’s on voice command only. I also noticed the iPhone had more difficulty tracking the satellites than a dash mounted portable Garmin.</p>
<p>I’ve used my iPhone GPS for walking/running/biking - tracking the route - and it works pretty well except it sucks the battery down quickly.</p>
<p>Depends on the circumstances. Our cars have GPS in them, that talk to the driver. My kids use their smart phones when they are in unfamiliar territory, walking in a city, for example. Last month my husband downloaded a European map to our TomTom, and took that with him to Europe.</p>
<p>I REALLY prefer my Droid with the Google maps for GPS. My screen isn’t that much smaller and it zooms in for turns, etc. making it better than my GPS. I have never gotten weird directions calling for you to take an off ramp, drive a block, to a U-turn and go back to the road you were on to start. Maps upgrade automatically every few weeks as well as restaurants, gas stations, etc. I can look up a business or whatever and navigate right off their website. I have a docking station that has the same window mount capability as my GPS (or I can use my beanbag mount if I want too). It can talk to me too but I don’t use that setting. It has lane assist too. It is just heads and tails better than a regular GPS system.</p>
<p>Iphones don’t have the same GPS functionality as an Android based phone.</p>
<p>I, too, prefer my Android based smart phone to my Garmin. I love the Google maps features and it always seems to get me where I need to go. The voiced directions are pretty clear and I don’t really need to see the map although seeing it is helpful.</p>
<p>I have never used an actual GPS, but my Samsung Galaxy S has an app that talks to me as I drive along, just like a GPS does, so I don’t have to look at it at all (I also didn’t have to pay for the app).</p>
<p>I have a droid. My ex had a TomTom. We always used my phone over the stupid GPS. The smartphone is much easier to navigate IMO.</p>
<p>Oh, mine also has a talking feature. I don’t use it though. It gets on my nerves.</p>
<p>I LOVE the talking feature on my phone. Love, love, love. Now I can get anywhere with no problem.</p>
<p>I got my Samsung Galaxy S2 two weeks ago. I knew that it had a better GPS than my old Smart phone, but I’d never tried it until a coupld of days ago.</p>
<p>In the past, I’ve either used the Magellan or Tom Tom GPS on the dash.</p>
<p>Anyway…since the Galaxy S2 has a large screen and it does “talk” to you, it’s just as good as my “regular” windshield GPS. If I mounted my phone in someway, it would really be the same.</p>
<p>(this phone is amazing. I just kind of lucked out. My son has the Galaxy and loved it. So, when I went in, I was told that this was the “new one” and got it. I had seen the comparisons to the iPhone 4 and they both are excellent phones.)</p>
<p>I use my smartphone even though I have a gps too. I have a universal mount for the windshield so it is on the window just like the old gps. The difference is that there is a car panel mode. I can just hit the microphone icon and speak my destination instead of having to type it in manually. If there is a phone call or text It is a hands free device mounted on the windshield and completely voice activated, it even converts voice to text if I get a message. Since my phone is android it uses Google Maps which seem to be pretty good. </p>
<p>I have to say though, that any GPS will get you there, but when you actually know where you are going, and you see where they are trying to send you it is sometimes scarey how out of the way the routes are sometimes.</p>
<p>Does anyone remember their parents getting TripTiks from AAA? I remember driving down to FL one year, from NJ, and my mother contacting AAA so they could plot out our map a week or so in advance. That was our Bible on that trip. 1954 or so.</p>
<p>Personally, I like GPS and have never tried using the phones (tho do get 30mg free data/month). The GPS gives free live traffic, that can be helpful in congested cities like LA & major road trips.</p>
<p>You can also pre-program the places you plan to visit so that it’s easier to find them when you’re trying to get from one point/address to another.</p>
<p>parentofpeople-the speak to text feature is my favorite. I forgot about that one.</p>
<p>VeryHappy-parents?? I remember getting them back when. :D</p>
<p>HIMom–I get the live traffic, alternate route suggestions, can pre-program in addresses, set the map to multiple destinations, etc. too. It’s just like using Google maps on your computer. </p>
<p>OH and another FANTASTIC feature, when you get to your destination, it shows the Google street view of your destination so you can see what the building looks like you are supposed to be going to. I travel all over the area for my job and this is SO handy.</p>
<p>SteveMA, what application do you use on your phone to get the directions AND have a street view? That sounds like something worth exploring because that is one of my biggest current problems with GPS–no idea of what the street view should look like.</p>
<p>Himom–it is just the Maps app that comes with the phone and it uses Google Maps. I have a Motorola Droid X but I think all the android phones have this map app. It was “free” after you bought the phone :D.</p>
<p>OK–good to know. We don’t have “smart” phones, tho the phone I have does have web capability. Maybe when we upgrade that will be something we will get too.</p>
<p>the maps on the gps need to be updated and they are not cheap.</p>
<p>Also with my phone (droid) I have a gps on me all the time. Once I used it to make sure the cab I was using was taking me on the right direction as he took a totally different route</p>
<p>We used both once at the same time–garmin won out big time for accuracy over the smartphone.
Need to buy a gps with free lifetime updates.</p>