I have a GPS

[mutepointe]

I'm driving my 2004 Chevy Cavalier into the dirt. I still have a long way to go but I am going to take this car to the grave and beyond. I can't believe it just passed inspection. The windows were electric and they don't go up or down anymore. The only gauges that work are the odometer, the trip o' meter, and the rpm gauge. The cruise control experienced a recent resurrection. I don't drive a lot and I don't speed so the spedomoter wasn't such an issue until I went on the road trip (to the in-laws wedding). If I set the trip o'meter every time I got gas, I knew I had over 300 miles before a fill-up.

I got a GPS that shows how fast I'm going. What a relief. A GPS cost less than $100. Getting the gauges fixed would have cost $100's more and I wouldn't have a navigator to boot. The surprise of the GPS is that there are names to local roads that I have never heard before, albeit, that GPS lady can't pronounce nothing correctly. I'm also finding out that my preferred route is not her preferred route. She needs to get with the program.

[Pammy]

I've stopped using ours but what made me laugh was how it went quiet when I didn't do what it told me. I could just imagine it's little brain ticking away and saying to it's self.... "Mmm now which way to go?".

[I.D.10-t]

I wonder if my maps and compass are going the way of the astrolabe. I still do not feel comfortable using GPS devices as a primary method of navigation, but I must admit that with some of the new phones it has been nice to get detailed maps and directions without having to purchase detailed maps for a city that I'll pass through once.

[maki]

Long ago I worked a tuna boat in the mid Pacific.
When we were far out of sight of the island and wanted to return to port the
Capt. would turn on a cheap AM/FM radio and see in which direction it had the best
reception. He would give us a compass heading and off we went.
Never failed.

[mutepointe]

I cannot explain to my wife why the preset radio stations don't work so well when we're on a road trip. So I don't. They worked fine when we left.

[Doug_Tipple]

Yes, there are a lot of things that I don't try to explain to my wife, as well, even if she wanted to know, which she usually doesn't. I have to admit that I am map oriented and have never had a GPS device in my hands. Will it tell me how fast I am walking on my daily walks? In geophysics class years ago I remember measuring the difference in gravity between the floors of our science building. I was pretty impressed at the time. I suppose that I could get use to GPS also.

[Denny]

Will it tell me how fast I am walking on my daily walks?

yes, but it will not be very accurate.
Total distance and time will be good though.

[ketida]

I have a GPS with which I was happy, given that I'm a semi-techy type. I like to have and experiment with new stuff, within my limited budget. But last year my less than two yr old GPS started announcing it had outdated maps, the cost of which would be more than my original expense. Since then, I've had a not-nice relationship, vocally, with my GPS. I think I might have scared some people, both in and out of my car, with my responses. Is there a self-help group for this? I mean, I really don't want to continue to verbally abuse my GPS, but, I just can't seem to stop because sometimes, she's just wrong!!

[ketida]

Oh, and don't even get me started about that "recalculating" crap.

[Dale]

I have owned GPS devices for some time and I really do find them very useful. On 2 occasions, however, it instructed me to go the wrong way down a one-way street. Also, in spite of myself, I can't quite stop myself from thinking it's annoyed with me when I disregard it's directions. So, sometimes I deliberately annoy it.

On my iPhone, on the other hand, is a very interesting piece of technology called Waze. It works like any of the standard TomTom or Garmin GPS devices, including turn-by-turn navigation. But the twist to it is that it's "social." In a high traffic situation, for example, it collects motion data from people who are using it--and there are growing numbers of us--and so you got real time traffic information that really is in real time. Also, users can report various hazards via the program which can then be seen by other users. The downside is that using it that way essentially amounts to something close to texting-while-driving, which is not good. Apparently, Waze is a component of the upcoming iOS 6.0.

[I.D.10-t]

Also, users can report various hazards via the program which can then be seen by other users. The downside is that using it that way essentially amounts to something close to texting-while-driving, which is not good. Apparently, Waze is a component of the upcoming iOS 6.0.

Well, if one of those cars has a passenger, perhaps they can take the snap shot.

[mutepointe]

I've never seen what is being talked about but my first inclination is to use it for evil and make all kinds of announcements like, "OMG, major accident, this road will be tied up for hours." so that people get out of my way. I am like that.