GPS recommendations

[John in Santa Cruz]

for those having trouble figuring it out... this applies to the google Maps app on phones/tablets, not the web version...

click the three lines in the upper left corner to get the menu, select "Offline Maps". click 'select your own map', pan/zoom til the map box shows the whole greater area you wish to save, then tap on 'download'. do this when you have high speed net, like a good wifi connection... if you're doing a big trip, you'll likely want to save multiple areas as there's a limit of around 200 miles for each saved block.. also on the list of saved areas, I suggest tapping the 3 dots on the right, 'rename', and giving the area a useful name.

these saved maps are used automatically if they are available. they will expire in a couple months, unless you refresh them (there's an option on the 'gear' icon on Offline Maps to automtically update them, but I prefer to do it manually when I have high speed net access).

[GeorgiaBill]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

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

I'll try that next time. Looks much easier and more helpful than my Garmin where I have to 1.search 2. type re 3. select rest areas

but the display presents rest areas ahead, behind, left, and right of my route. To get them on my route would be great. Google wins again.

[GeorgiaBill]

I think all the television stations in Denver carried this:
https://kdvr.com/2019/06/26/nearly-1...n-empty-field/


Garmin has done this to me many times, but I use it so much more. I've only had one flaky route from Google.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaBill

I'll try that next time. Looks much easier and more helpful than my Garmin where I have to 1.search 2. type re 3. select rest areas

but the display presents rest areas ahead, behind, left, and right of my route. To get them on my route would be great. Google wins again.

Hi: GeorgiaBill... The best is when you realize you're towing your own "Rest area". As long as you can get off the travelled portion of the road you have facilities. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[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.

[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 $$$.

[Ronn]

Originally Posted by Farther

With my current data plan that would mean about 1.5 days of travel before I was out of data. So to me that would be a lot and as in life it is all relative.

I have 2 GB on my phone, use google maps constantly and do not run out of data. I don't do a lot of other data things on my phone.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Ronn

I have 2 GB on my phone, use google maps constantly and do not run out of data. I don't do a lot of other data things on my phone.

We have 10G on our phones, 20 total shared and when travelling often do come near our limit, but do other data stuff as well mapping, like this page, other forums, Facebook, Instagram, games, internet browsing, videos, and so on........

[GeorgiaBill]

Originally Posted by escape artist

Hi: GeorgiaBill... The best is when you realize you're towing your own "Rest area". As long as you can get off the travelled portion of the road you have facilities. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

Agreed. I told my son last year that I found it liberating to travel with my own rest area.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

I have an upcoming trip to Orlando this weekend. I'll try charging the tablet while using CoPilot on the trip and see if the Belkin cable can keep up.

It did! I kept CoPilot on all day while driving down to Orlando, and my tablet's battery stayed at 100%. Wish I had figured this out years ago. So the Samsung tablet + CoPilot combo makes a good GPS that doesn't require a cell or Internet connection. Don't need no stinkin' iPad. Good. And thanks again to Ed.

[onetim]

Several options as far as I can tell:
1. A dedicated GPS with a map subscription. Cell coverage isn’t needed, turn by turn directions, points of interest, etc. Expensive.
2. Cell phone with a navigation app. Several map apps available, maps can be downloaded for off line use, but cell coverage needed for most features.
3. A tablet with a built in GPS and cell/data plan. Same as cell phone but the screen size of a tablet makes map reading a pleasure compared to a phone or even a dedicated GPS.
4. A tablet with built in GPS but without a cell/data plan. Downloaded maps and GPS will work without a cell/data plan. Great for map reading but miss the features of cell coverage.
5 Any tablet without built in GPS can be paired with an external Bluetooth GPS such as Garmin’s GLO2. Relatively inexpensive setup for mapping.

[Farther]

For me, (the OP) my self-imposed options are limited to a new Garmin GPS unit or upgrading my iPhone. I don't want to get into using a tablet or pad at this time. To that end, I have upped my data from .5GB to 6GB for an additional $5/month to a total of $35/month. But, then I found out my phone memory was not adequate to download the CoPilot app I was interested in using. Since my "phone plan" is prepaid, I am not eligible for the interest-free financing on a new phone. But I can play with what I have for now with a phone upgrade in the near future.

[padlin]

since I retired and had to pay for my own phones I've been buying a couple revs back off swappa. being careful in whom I buy from, I've had good luck, so far. 4 phones over the last 5 years between Deb and I.

[Farther]

Originally Posted by padlin

...I've been buying a couple of revs back off swappa...

Thanks for the lead. I just purchased a new phone.

[Mike Lewis]

CNN's take on the Denver Google Maps story:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/26/us/go...rnd/index.html

[Vermilye]

While I didn't end up in mud, my Garmin sent me down a number of miles of sand road when I punched in Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. I eventually found the more popular part of the refuge, but had to backtrack to the main road.

The back side of Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge:

[padlin]

sometimes is the screw ups that make the adventure.

[marant]

As one who is frugal and often marches to a different drummer I offer the following. It works quite well for us:

We have pay as you go from Tracfone. I never have dropped calls and have a Moto G6 smartphone that allows me to do anything any other smartphone will do. Tracfone buys excess capacity from the major carriers (Vodophone, Verizon, Sprint, etc.) and when I make a call I am using one of their towers. When I am using it there is no indication it is not Sprint, Verizon, ATT or some other major carrier.

You can go to Walmart (or online) and buy your own phone. My Moto G6 presently costs $119. They seem to have nearly any type of phone you may want. If you want to use your own out of contract phone you may be able to do that also by simply buying a sim card from tracfone. As long as it is unlocked you can use pretty much any phone you want, either cdma or gsm. The type of phone determines which towers you will use.

You then purchase the amount of airtime and data you want. The best deal is to pay about $100 to 125 for an annual plan. When you do this you (now) get 1500 talk minutes, 1500 texts, and 1.5 gigs of data. You also have a year to use them. They often have sales that give more time for less cost. If you run out of time or data you can just purchase more any time, from a small amount to a lot. With the annual plan any unused minutes, texts or data roll over to the next year. (If you buy less than a year at a time they do not roll over) Right now my phone shows I have 4072 talk minutes, 12741 texts and 1.79 gigs of data due to roll overs of unused time. I never consider minutes, mbs, or texts. I just do whatever I want, including extensive gps usage. All the programs I want (WAZE, Here, etc) are available at the Android play store.

We have been very pleased with the service for a number of years, and at an average cost of $10/month it is hard to beat.

[bass3180]

We use the free Here Now maps/gps app on our android phones. Download whatever world wide maps you need and use offline. No cell phone signal or wi-fi needed which is handy in remote areas. Great for international travel as well. We would still be driving our rented car around Monaco without this app.

[Jon & Adrienne]

I haven’t read all the responses, but just to share what we like. We use the Google Maps app on our iPhones. We download offline maps for our region or if we are traveling in an area where the cell signal will be spotty. Google Maps is accurate, aware of traffic, tells you which lane to use, gives you alternative routes to save time, and has a feature to search for things along your route (eg rest stop). We have phone mounts in our vehicles and charge our phones while driving.