GPS recommendations

[Farther]

Originally Posted by Jon & Adrienne

We use the Google Maps app on our iPhones...We have phone mounts in our vehicles and charge our phones while driving.

That is the route I am going (no pun intended). Today I should see my Swappa iPhone upgrade, come in the mail, which I will use with a RAM X mount on a dash stick-on ball mount. The mount looks kind of Rube Goldberg and won't win any beauty prizes but definitely works well. Function over form.

Thanks to all for their suggestions!

[Eggscape]

Originally Posted by Ronn

For F150 owners with Sync 4 (2016 and newer I believe) the app "Android Auto" (iphone has a similar app and other vehicle manufactures likely offer as well), you run your Google Maps right through the large screen and the audio system in the vehicle. Works great, of course a technical learning curve. I have it on my personal drive but my 2015 F150 only has Sync 3. I looked into upgrading it to Sync 4 but $$$.

What Ronn said and more.

I am not sure if some people realize the significance of what Ronn mentioned. I am sure there are people driving around in their Ford F-150 using Google Maps on their phones not knowing they can see it on the very large truck display for free using Sync 4 and Android Auto.

When we ordered our new truck the nav system was way over priced in my opinion for the amount we were going to use it. Also many times we want to program it via the co pilot/passenger while we are in motion...something you can’t do with the factory nav. So I automatically installed the old Tom Tom gps. We used the truck a few months before I really understood what the new Sync 4 system could do.

Having google maps on the large truck touch screen is great. We do not use data but download the maps off line. You use the truck touch screen to do all your inputs just like you would on a gps or phone only the buttons are much larger!

I use an old cellphone for the for Google Maps and the free Android Auto app so I do not have to remove it every time I exit the vehicle. My everyday cellphone also has the same apps as a backup when walking or biking in a strange city.

Android Auto also supports a few other apps other than just Google Maps...like free audio books by LibriVox. Sometimes it is great to sit back on a trip and listen to an old Sherlock Homes book being read to you.

Unfortunately my large photo would not show the screen so I had to also take a close up...And for inquiry minds, no visible holes were drilled to mount the radios. When I sell the vehicle no one will ever know they were there. It is a non destructive but secure installation.

[Roger C H]

We used to have a Magellan which we liked a lot, but it died in Hollywood. Too many intersecting streets, I guess.
We used a T-Mobile subscription phone for phone service. $100 per year at WalMart. While it may seem like a lot that is only $8 per month.
We now have a Garmin bought because it offered unlimited updates. It seems to work okay.

The only time I really need GPS is in unfamiliar towns. I can drive to any big city in the country with just using the Interstate, it is IN the towns where I don't know where something is. I also use old technology, maps!

[LarryB.]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I'm on my second TomTom. I am again advised that my device has run out of memory for new maps and I can get a new discounted device. I have no plans to replace it.

I also had that same problem with my (old) TomTom Go 60. I solved it by buying a 32GB micro SD card for about $5. After inserting the card, I was able to download the current maps from the TomTom web site.

Being a retired I.T. guy, I’m far from being a Luddite but I’m nowhere as proficient with my (old) smartphone than my children and grandchildren. My cell phone service is with TracFone which runs me just under $20 for three month’s of limited service. So to stay within the limits, I use the TomTom for planned travel and GoogleMaps for unplanned pop-up needs.

Comparing TomTom to GoogleMaps is like comparing my mom’s ‘49 (standard transmission) Pontiac with my daughter-in-law’s Chevy Traverse. But, it gets me there and I don’t burn any of my TracFone’s minutes or GB data.

[Dkeen673]

For what it is worth as this late point in the discussion. Like many, we employ our navigation devices in combination.

We use our older Garmin 3490 (five years old). It lives on the windshield almost directly in front of the driver. Updates are frequent and free. It is a safe and reliable navigation option because we can talk to it, and give it instructions verbally - no need to reach up and touch it. Directions are also spoken in a loud voice (our favorite is the female Aussie voice due to the clarity of her enunciation). It has traffic assist in large cities, and has gotten us around traffic accidents and bottlenecks. And... as others have pointed out, it is available when cell phone service is not reliable or available.

We supplement our Garmin with our iPhones, my wife being our primary cellphone puncher. Our preferred navigation app is Waze, but we need to plug it to keep our iPhone charged while we navigate. We also have T-Mobile service because of the unlimited data (including in Canada and Mexico).

The app iExit is very useful on the interstate system, as it identifies all services and attractions at exits on your route. Also rest stops. The camping app Allstays is also a terrific resource, and allows you to home in on the selected campground via one of three navigation apps - Waze, Apple Maps or Google Maps. Waze is our go-to navigator whenever possible as it is crowd sourced.

We find that we need to be routinely alert for bad instructions with our Garmin (Las Vegas!), as well as with our cellphone navigation apps, but so far have not had any really bad experiences.

I did not realize until reading the above posts that every modern cellphone has access to GPS satellites. That being the case, I will assure that - like our Garmin - our cellphones are reasonably close to the windshield.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by padlin

Can't get google maps on the phone to do much by voice. It seems to hear the "hey google" but that's it. It was telling me to turn on the microphone when I first started playing with it.

Now I know how the ladies at work felt every time we replaced their software.

my wife can't get the voice stuff working either, her voice is too soft and light, or something, in fact, its often hard to understand her on the phone.

it works great for me on my Pixel, tho... I have to raise my voice a bit, and to speak clearly and distinctly, not running words together, or it can do some funny things.

[h2owmn]

Like Kstock and DKeen I use Waze. It's my only navigator.

It will reroute you at a moment's notice; you can put in a secondary stop (like a place for gas or lunch) and it will still take you to your original destination after the stop.

It announces (if you wish) disabled cars, obstacles in the road, potholes, police etc.

It tells you how many miles to your destination and the time (elapsed) it will take to get there minute by minute and the time you will arrive.

You can tell it you want to go on another day and time and it'll tell you how long that would usually take--very handy for cities and commuter traffic. It once saved me about an hour by rerouting me over the grapevine on a side road to L.A. while I was pulling the trailer in a sudden traffic stoppage.

I used it last year for a 12,000 mile cross continent trip.

It didn't know about a one way street near my house...when I reported it, they fixed it and sent a thanks.

And it's free. Download on your phone from Google Play or the App Store.

It's a little counterintuitive at first but I think it took only a couple days to understand the system.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by Roger C H

We used to have a Magellan which we liked a lot, but it died in Hollywood.

It got clogged up with tinsel.

[RickHarley]

My friend once advice me eyeride gps tracking system for vehicle. But I dodnt know is it compatible with rv?!

[LarryB.]

Being an ex-IT guy, I suspect that Waze and other similar routing apps implement two-way communication between the app on your phone and it’s web based database. How else would it know about that “traffic knot” ahead of you on the road?

My suspicion is that it collects your GPS location real time and communicates it back to its servers. The servers, in turn track your progress and the timestamps on your GPS locations. Then it compares that data with the speed limit on the road to “advise you” of traffic situations and provide you with potential alternate routes.

My daughter uses Waze and, one afternoon, close to rush hour, when the interstate was “sluggish”, it routed us thru sections of town that I never knew existed to get us to our destination quicker.

So, since my cell phone provider is a “pay by the minute” and “pay by the GB” for service, I use my OLD TomTom Go 60 when I’m traveling and reserve my cell phone’s Google Maps for unplanned pop-up needs.

I don’t know about “EyeRide”. Looking at the web site for the app, it appears to be Waze and Google Maps on steroids for fleet management for businesses and corporations.

[John in Santa Cruz]

google has been integrating Waze funcitonality into their regular Google Maps and Navigate. At this point, the two are fairly interchangable, I can flag speed traps and traffic slowdowns from regular Google Maps now, it does the same routing, etc.

I do note their traffic routing is something ridiculous. I was coming home, northbound highway one, at 5ish the other day, and it wanted me to take an exit about 10 miles from mine and take surface streets. I wasn't in the mood and just stayed on the freeway, it wanted me to take every single exit the rest of the way home, yet when I got home, it was 20 minutes earlier than their original estimate with all the detours, and there was only one point where I'd slowed to a brief crawl but not stopped, the rest of the time was 45-65. the surface streets would have been 25-35MPH speed limits, heavy traffic, red lights every block.

[dfandrews]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

...
I do note their traffic routing is something ridiculous... .

We have noted that same thing, recently. I think my words to it last weekend were: "Google, HOw stupid can you possibly be!"
It didn't answer.

[Farther]

Originally Posted by Farther

That is the route I am going (no pun intended). Today I should see my Swappa iPhone upgrade, come in the mail, which I will use with a RAM X mount on a dash stick-on ball mount. The mount looks kind of Rube Goldberg and won't win any beauty prizes but definitely works well. Function over form.

Another short update. So far I am very happy with my Swappa iPhone and using Siri maps for local and Google/Waze for longer routes.

Thanks to all for the suggestions, especially Swappa that saved me big bucks on the iPhone.

[padlin]

My Garmin can be pretty bad too when rerouting around a problem.

[gbaglo]

I live right next to a highway. To get to the highway, I drive a quarter block and turn right. Google Maps tells me to go straight for a block and a half, turn left, turn right, turn right, turn right, and then drive past my house to get to the highway. It's been offering those instructions for five years.