GPS recommendations

[Bobbie54]

Originally Posted by padlin

Can I push a button and get a phone to tell me how far it is to the next rest area? probably my favorite feature on the Garmin. Wish the hardware was built to last longer though, the last 2 only lasted 2 years each, this one is having problems booting along with a battery that won't hold a charge. I'll be looking for a new one before winter.

Which Garmin is that? I can't on mine (which is pretty old.) But Saturday I left a new location, going a different route home, and didn't have phone map service so I was glad to have the Garmin with preloaded maps. I'll likely replace mine even though the phone can do the same thing most of the time.

[Farther]

Originally Posted by viator36

With .5 GB of data (500 MB) at 5 MB an hour driving usage rate you will get 100 driving hours if you use the .5 GB for GPS only. Assume you drive 7 hours a day 1.5 days of driving will use only 52.5 MB of data (1.5 x 7 x 5). Did I miss something?

Thanks for pointing that out. I missed a decimal point but in any case, my current plan would not be adequate to do a month navigating.

[padlin]

Originally Posted by Bobbie54

Which Garmin is that? I can't on mine (which is pretty old.) But Saturday I left a new location, going a different route home, and didn't have phone map service so I was glad to have the Garmin with preloaded maps. I'll likely replace mine even though the phone can do the same thing most of the time.

pretty basic unit, 2689LMT.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by viator36

Wouldn't a USB battery pack help you out in that situation?

No, because the charging connection from the battery pack to the tablet would be a USB cable, so I would have the same problem I have now. The power is just not getting into the tablet fast enough to keep its battery charged.

I don't know what the chokepoint is-- it's either the USB cable or the tablet itself. In another thread it was determined that some USB cables won't carry the full 2.4 amps that is the USB standard for charging tablets. I bought the small USB ammeter that was recommended but I haven't tested my cables with it yet.

I installed a low voltage power distribution panel called a RigRunner in the truck. They are normally used for ham radio. It is connected directly to the truck's battery and is "live" all the time. In addition to 12V connections, the RigRunner has two 5V USB sockets rated for 4A between them. I figured if I connected one USB cable to the panel I'd get the full four amps to use, but this seems to have no effect on the tablet. So it's something else. Guess I need to test my USB cables until I find one that will carry at least 2.4 amps to the tablet.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

The only problem I have is that CoPilot drains my tablet's battery faster than its USB connection will charge it. The result is that after a long day of towing the tablet will shut down when I am in a strange location after dark; it's perfect timing. I've learned not to turn the thing on during a long drive until I really need it.

make sure your cigar plug USB adapter has 2.1 amps available (10 watts at 5V). older ones were only 0.5 amps (2.5 watts at 5V). if the tablet is USB C (oval connector that can plug in either way), then get a cigar adapter with a captive USB C charging cable, those have the best specs.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Farther

Thanks for pointing that out. I missed a decimal point but in any case, my current plan would not be adequate to do a month navigating.

do your route planning when you have wifi, go to 'offline maps', and save the whole area(s) you're traveling through and around, then it will use virtually NO data when on the highway, you can even turn mobile data off entirely (although then you won't get traffic reports).

[bdornbush]

Originally Posted by padlin

Can I push a button and get a phone to tell me how far it is to the next rest area? probably my favorite feature on the Garmin.

It's not quite "push a button" but I use the iExit app on my Android phone to tell me how far it is to the next rest stop or exit and also what gas is available there and for what price, and what food is available, along with other information along the way.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by padlin

Can I push a button and get a phone to tell me how far it is to the next rest area? .

"Hey, Google!" (wait for ding). 'Find Rest Areas on route' (thinking thinking, rest stops pop up on map, tap on one, add as stop....)

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

make sure your cigar plug USB adapter has 2.1 amps available (10 watts at 5V). older ones were only 0.5 amps (2.5 watts at 5V). if the tablet is USB C (oval connector that can plug in either way), then get a cigar adapter with a captive USB C charging cable, those have the best specs.

The adapter has the 2.1 amp USB socket. But I've tried other adapters with the same result, and have now moved to a power distribution box that should give me 4A on its USB sockets. On a recent trip from home -> Sarasota -> Okeechobee -> Orlando -> home I got the same behavior from the tablet running CoPilot as before. So something else is the problem.

My Samsung tablet is five years old, so I guess it's getting long in the tooth. I may buy myself a refurbished iPad for Christmas and use it with CoPilot. I've had my first-ever iPhone for a month now and like it pretty well; might as well go all-Apple.

[fudge_brownie]

My experience with the iPads is somewhat similar. I have now had five of them and find they “age out rapidly”. It seems that after about four years of age it is not possible to update them to the latest IOS and the become stuck. My suggestion is to avoid a refurbished model as they become outdated so fast.

[civi]

Originally Posted by padlin

How much data does using GPS on a phone use? I don't have unlimited data.

You can download your route and use it offline, only thing no road conditions, such as accidents. That is what i do, works good. My GPS is out of date and it won't accept updates, but i still carry it for general use.

[Donna D.]

My house is starting to look like a flippin' computer museum! I still have a desktop running Windows 2000 Pro! I use it occasionally, because there's software on it that I know how to use and it does what I want. I HATE subscription software. A dollar here, 50 dollars there and it all adds up at the end of the month. BAH. I do understand why businesses want the most current... I remember those days when I was working, but I'm no longer interested. Just give me access to do what I want, screw software that sundowns

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

screw software that sundowns

Absolutely. Avoid subscriptions when at all possible; that stuff adds up. If my old Adobe apps ever stop running, then it's goodbye Adobe. I'll find other photo software or just find another hobby.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by fudge_brownie

My experience with the iPads is somewhat similar. I have now had five of them and find they “age out rapidly”. It seems that after about four years of age it is not possible to update them to the latest IOS and the become stuck. My suggestion is to avoid a refurbished model as they become outdated so fast.

Hmm. Thanks for the advice. I don't know much about iOS devices, so I'd better learn before buying any more of them. One advantage I have is that I don't really do anything important with my devices, so I can let them get pretty obsolete before they become useless to me.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

One advantage I have is that I don't really do anything important with my devices, so I can let them get pretty obsolete before they become useless to me.

I get that, but you may find that apps that you have, and don't need updated, will stop working if they can't update... and they can't update if iOS is not sufficiently up-to-date, and you can't update iOS past a certain point for each vintage of iPhone or iPad or whatever. There are valid reasons for this related to security, and more important reasons related to intention obsolescence to drive replacement purchases. And it's not just Apple.

[John in Santa Cruz]

I'm on the Android side of things... I'd bought a really cheap android tablet before I even had a smartphone... now I have a google pixel, and I'm on my 3rd tablet. I bought the Pixel because it was pure Android, no Samsung/LG/etc crapware force-loaded. Its gotten the latest version of Android, and is still getting updates, although I'm expecting it to be EOL before much longer. Its got an awesome camera. it runs all sorts of android apps really well, even things that are resource intensive like my preferred astronomy chart program, Sky Safari Pro. I've only had it get so hosed that I had to reset/reboot it a very few times in the past 3 years, and I often leave a dozen apps running for days/weeks.

I primarily use it as

1. camera
2. gps/nav via google maps
3. kindle ebook reader
4. astronomy: star & moon chart, ephemeris, etc
5. remote websites and gmail

I almost never make or take phone calls.

[John in Santa Cruz]

my current android tablet is a 8" huawei mediapro something from a year or two ago... I picked it because it had a nice high resolution screen, a fairly powerful CPU, and adequate RAM memory for my astronomy software, its flash is just adequate (32GB or something).

I chose this tablet mostly because of the screen and ram spec. the cheap samsungs had low res screens and insufficnet cpu+ram, and the more expensive samsungs are just too much money. and samsung loads their tablets and phones down with their own junkware, which is often awful, you can't uninstall it, and its constantly getting stupid updates.


On my tablet, I mostly run SkySafari Pro at my star parties, and Kindle reader the rest of the time. I also use it for Wifi Analyer, showing photos when they are cached, or I have wifi, and very occasionally playing a video (it actualyl has pretty decent sound for something so small, 'harmon kardon' supposedly
)

[GeorgiaBill]

My vote is the Garmin GPS, plus Google Maps if I don't spell the destination correctly.


I see TomTom preferences listed above. For me, it's just the one I'm familiar with. I have 8 Garmins registered, going back to the Garmin V, and still have a Garmin III that wasn't registered. I swapped motorcycles in 2015 with a rider in North Carolina. He had a very good TomTom on his bike that was much nicer than my Garmin but I couldn't acclimate to it so just gave it back.


Both my children prefer Google and just won't use my Garmin devices. Brenda sometimes pulls up Google on her phone and we compare routes.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

I get that, but you may find that apps that you have, and don't need updated, will stop working if they can't update...

I haven't had this problem yet with Android devices; I don't have enough experience with Apple devices other than the laptop to know. It's hard to believe Apple would stop vendors from updating apps on their devices, or at the very least force them to stop updating the data (i.e. maps). That's a good way to lose vendors for your platform imho.

My laptop is a 2014-era MacBook Pro, bought refurbished in 2015. I have to run OS X 10.10 to run my Adobe apps. Last year I partitioned the device so that one partition runs 10.10 and the other is kept updated with the latest MacOS, XTools, etc. So far this works. I don't want a new Apple laptop because they have problems, so I'm going to keep this one going as long as I can.

Granted, Apple has tighter control over its iOS devices than its laptops, but now it also has the feds breathing down its neck over antitrust issues, so maybe its iOS products will start having a longer shelf life.

[Viajante]

I was stuck in traffic on the interstate near Ft Worth. As I inched up to a long off ramp that no one was taking the Google maps voice told me to exit to save 25 minutes so I did. The phone directed me to take the off ramp, cross over the intersecting road, and take the equally long and empty on ramp to rejoin the interstate a half mile or more from where I left it. Could Garmin do that?