GPS recommendations

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaBill

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.

I know what you mean. I had to learn certain tricks to fool my Garmin into giving me the information I really wanted. When I tried a Magellan GPS that meant learning a whole new set of tricks.

But the end of the Magellan was when I discovered that I couldn't turn off the microphone in its built-in dashcam. When reviewing the dashcam I had to listen to myself singing, cussing, etc. Nope. The Magellan went into a drawer.

[GeorgiaBill]

Originally Posted by 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?

Absolutely, without a doubt. A few years ago I picked up my daughter at the airport south of Atlanta and headed home north of Atlanta. My newest unit (not very new) is a 2597 LMT and at a traffic jam instructed me to take the next exit, which I did. It had me cross the intersection at the base of the exit and take the entrance ramp where I gained a few minutes of travel time.


More recently, Brenda and I departed Atlanta on May 30 to pick up our Escape in Lander Wyoming. We were worried about crossing the Missouri but both Garmin and Google had us exit I29 north of Kansas City and take a long detour to join I80.


Garmin traffic usually alerts to suggested detours for closures, accidents, construction up to 50 miles away and lists the distance to the impediment and the delay factor. We ignore for an estimated 5 minute delay and consider a detour for longer.



EXCEPT, sometimes the impediment is not there. Last year I was in Tennessee on I24 heading east toward Chattanooga and was repeatedly instructed to exit because the interstate was closed. I just kept driving and the interstate was not closed.

[Bobbie54]

My problem with the Garmin traffic is that it tells me there is a 30 minute delay- 200 miles ahead! Completely useless that way. Then I have to hit the screen and see where the delay is and find out whether I can ignore it or not.

[MyronL]

Don't know/remember which Garmin this is, except I did buy it at Costco several years ago. It came with suction cups for the dash. I hate suction cups. Think they suck. So I poured some resin into a cup, added this wood/aluminum bent stock to it and screwed Gerty down. Works fine. True, sometimes she steers me wrong but mostly serves good enough. (Could absolutely never have found my way with out her at night back to the campground in San Diego that trip.)

[Mike Lewis]

I don't like sticking things to the windshield, either. When I had my Garmin I bought a small, round, weighted mount that you could attach the Garmin's suction cup to. It had a friction surface on the bottom and it would stay in place on the dash pretty well. When I wasn't using it the Garmin and mount were small enough to fit inside my center console. The mount was made by Scosche, and I bought it for $20 at Walmart.

[Farther]

My iPhone SE doesn't talk to me when using maps. I'll have to figure that out.

I also, need to figure out how to download maps to the phone. When you download maps on your phone does it give you turn by turn instructions or is it like using a paper map? How do I find out if my iPhone SE has GPS capabilities?

Even with running errands around town with a cloudless sky and no tree the Garmin will lose satellite connection repeatedly. I have a hard time thinking that updating the maps and these fail to function are coincidental. More like planned obsolescence. Makes me question my own judgment for even considering another Garmin. Very frustrating.

[padlin]

I've never had my Garvin lose signal. Sometimes it takes a while to get it, but never lost it.


Well, it might have lost in. a tunnel or 2.

[dfandrews]

Originally Posted by MyronL

.......... I poured some resin into a cup, added this wood/aluminum bent stock to it and screwed Gerty down. ...........

Ah, another "Myron Mod" that I thank you for. Such obvious but innovative stuff you come up with. I'm headed to the garage now! Thanks

[John in Santa Cruz]

for my cellphone in the truck, I screwed a RAM-mount ball to the dash, and put a short RAM arm on it, and their X-mount for cellphones, works great. holds the phone securely even when bouncing over washboard and rutted dirt roads....

[escape artist]

Hi: All... My Generally Pleasant Spouse used to be a Glavin. I know she's an out dated model but when she raises her finger and points I know I need to be in another lane. She also tells me what "Maggie Magellan" says, but I can fool her too. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

I know what you mean. I had to learn certain tricks to fool my Garmin into giving me the information I really wanted. When I tried a Magellan GPS that meant learning a whole new set of tricks.

This is a real issue. When I bought my first automotive GPS unit (had a handheld before that), one reason that I picked Garmin was that my parents and sister had them, so I could help my parents with theirs, and borrow either of them when visiting, with having to transition between styles.

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

But the end of the Magellan was when I discovered that I couldn't turn off the microphone in its built-in dashcam. When reviewing the dashcam I had to listen to myself singing, cussing, etc. Nope. The Magellan went into a drawer.

Wouldn't a dab of glue in the microphone hole fix that?

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Farther

...
I also, need to figure out how to download maps to the phone. When you download maps on your phone does it give you turn by turn instructions or is it like using a paper map? How do I find out if my iPhone SE has GPS capabilities?

With Google maps on Android, the phone will store maps for an area, and works the same way whether the map is stored or downloaded as needed. Details will vary by phone and mapping app, but typically an iOS app will be comparable to an Android app.

An iPhone has GPS. An iPhone SE is approximately an iPhone 6 in an iPhone 5 case, and has both GPS and GLONASS (the Russian equivalent to GPS), giving it a better chance of being able to receive from enough satellites of the same system to determine a location.

Originally Posted by Farther

...Even with running errands around town with a cloudless sky and no tree the Garmin will lose satellite connection repeatedly. I have a hard time thinking that updating the maps and these fail to function are coincidental. More like planned obsolescence. Makes me question my own judgment for even considering another Garmin. Very frustrating.

Clouds don't matter to GPS, and map updates don't matter to satellite signal reception or location determination (the device calculates a location, essentially in latitude and longitude, and the map is just used to display the location in context and to provide navigation assistance). It may just be struggling because of the update problem, and so not doing anything else properly.

Planned obsolescence is not specifically a Garmin problem. My Magellan with "lifetime maps" will no longer update the maps - their server refuses to provide the update even though there is storage space for it - and their support person says that as far as they are concerned "lifetime" means three years.

[bdornbush]

Originally Posted by Farther

Even with running errands around town with a cloudless sky and no tree the Garmin will lose satellite connection repeatedly. I have a hard time thinking that updating the maps and these fail to function are coincidental. More like planned obsolescence. Makes me question my own judgment for even considering another Garmin. Very frustrating.

GPS reception can be influenced by a number of things include solar storms.
https://news.psu.edu/story/141339/20...-gps-reception

I have noticed that sometimes my phone or my Garmin has a difficult time maintaining GPS connection while other times, they are fine. Remember that this is radio and things can influence your ability to communicate. Of course, your device may be having technical problems. I have also observed that older devices don't have as good of GPS as newer devices. I have a radio that released a new version of the hardware because they needed to improve their GPS.

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by Farther

My iPhone SE doesn't talk to me when using maps. I'll have to figure that out.

I also, need to figure out how to download maps to the phone. When you download maps on your phone does it give you turn by turn instructions or is it like using a paper map? How do I find out if my iPhone SE has GPS capabilities?

Even with running errands around town with a cloudless sky and no tree the Garmin will lose satellite connection repeatedly. I have a hard time thinking that updating the maps and these fail to function are coincidental. More like planned obsolescence. Makes me question my own judgment for even considering another Garmin. Very frustrating.

As Brian noted, your iPhone SE does have built in GPS. I’m typing this on mine, which I’ve used to navigate on multiple continents.

To summarize and recap your options for navigating with your phone, they boil down to two things: internet (cellular data) based, eg Apple or Google Maps. Or a navigation app that has its own built-in maps.

The significant difference here is that the latter works anywhere that you have a clear sky view (GPS reception), but the former requires connection to a cellular network. This matters if you plan to go to parts less traveled. If so, you want a stand-alone setup. This functionally turns your phone into a stand-alone GPS, like a Garmin Nuvi or such.

There have been a number of apps over the years that offered built in maps for offline navigation. My absolute favorite was Tom Tom’s app. Until they went to a subscription model. I’ve never “upgraded” to that version so still have the old one that still works fine.

NAVIGON made a similar app, but it was horrible, and thankfully no longer available.

There have probably been others as well, but the only one I know of that you can buy currently is CoPilot, which I bought because it advertised being able to import waypoints. I have yet to get this to work though, so don’t use the app much as it’s just so so. But it *will* work out in the middle of nowhere. As long as you have GPS reception.

[John in Santa Cruz]

btw, I've discovered that portable GPS's do NOT like to be down low inside the cab, like on the center console, they get much better GPS accuracy and update rates if they are mounted up above the dashboard and under the windshield

[bdornbush]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

btw, I've discovered that portable GPS's do NOT like to be down low inside the cab, like on the center console, they get much better GPS accuracy and update rates if they are mounted up above the dashboard and under the windshield

A GPS is a radio receiver and its antenna needs a clear view of the sky. A GPS receiver will not work in a house unless it is near a window. Similarly, the GPS in a car or RV needs to be near a window so it can "see" the sky.

[Farther]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

btw, I've discovered that portable GPS's do NOT like to be down low inside the cab, like on the center console, they get much better GPS accuracy and update rates if they are mounted up above the dashboard and under the windshield

Mine is on the dash in a RAM X mount similar to yours only with the stick-on ball mount. Well, the GPS was on the dash, since yesterday afternoon it is now at Goodwill. And, I upgraded my cell prepaid plan from .5Gb to 6Gb for an additional $5/month. I did find out that I can't download CoPilot maps because my iPhone SE does not have the storage space.

[Mike Lewis]

I use CoPilot on my Samsung tablet in a RAM floor mount in my truck. This works pretty well-- it keeps the top of the dash clear and I have a large, easy-to-see map screen. That is, until the tablet's battery runs out.

I haven't figured out how to import waypoints, either. I'll give another shot before I give up altogether.

[Mike Lewis]

I finally got around to measuring the power flow from USB chargers in my truck to my Samsung tablet while running CoPilot. First I started up CoPilot and let it drain the tablet's battery for a while. Then I gathered up USB cables to try out, both with a cigarette lighter plug-in charger rated at 2.1 amps and with my RigRunner rated at 4A for USB. I measured the charging output using a cheap USB ammeter, getting the idea from Ed (Eggscape).

First of all, no combination approached 2.1 charging amps; the outputs ranged from 0.23A to 1.4A. The RigRunner was no better than the plug-in USB charger in that regard, but its main purpose is to power a ham radio anyway. The best cable was a Belkin cable, which settled at around 1.3 - 1.4 amps. None of the others were above one amp.

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.

[Fox hunt]

google maps never had an issue down load maps too