Free GPS Guidance
Posts Tagged ‘automotive gps units’
We live out in the country. I love the quiet, our view and the space between our home and our neighbors. Now, don’t get me wrong – I really appreciate our neighbors ‘cause we have the best neighbors anyone could ask for, but I’ve lived where you can hear your neighbors just as well as your own family even when they are in their own homes. Can’t say I enjoyed that. I prefer life out in the country. Well, that being said, it is sometimes difficult for people to follow the directions we give to them so that they can easily find our house.
A friend of mine just called, and we decided it would be fun to get together at my house. I was mentally preparing myself for the usual “are you familiar with…” conversation and extensive directions when my friend spoke up and asked “what’s your address? I have one of those thingies in my car!” I love it! Gotta admit that I really love my own “thingie” in my car! Automotive GPS units are such a convenience. Of course, my Garmin nuvi has me spoiled. Sounds like my friend feels the same way about her automotive GPS “thingie” and has learned to rely on it the same as I have mine. I love to explore new places, but I sure love being able to find my way home again no matter where I wander and now that it is summertime I plan to do plenty of that! Have a happy 4th of July, and enjoy your own wandering this summer…
I was talking with my brother-in-law today about his automotive GPS and that we had noticed an article on the news recently about how often automotive GPS units are getting stolen these days. When you are parking your car, especially in the larger cities, it is all too common for someone to do a “smash and grab”, and your GPS unit is gone. He says they are even looking to see if there is a mark on your windshield where the suction cup has been removed, so some folks will break into your car just in case you stuffed your GPS under the seat or in the glove compartment or something. That suction cup mark is a dead giveaway that there probably has been or may still be a GPS present in your car. That led to a discussion about different options in GPS mounts and the possible problems with each.
Again, the suction cup mount will more than likely leave a telltale mark on your windshield. Also, the GPS car cup holder mounts or vent mounts would either be visible and also a tipoff of the presence of an automotive GPS and might actually cause damage if you were trying to take it off and on whenever you park your car. Not good at all.
In my opinion, a great option would be a bean bag mount, or even better, in my opinion, is the Nav-Pack which is a new, innovative mounting device for most GPS units that doubles as a carrying case when not in use. It contours to the top of your dashboard and works on most uneven or textured surfaces. With a high tech, anti-skid material that keeps the device from sliding, the Nav-Pack provides a stable mounting base for your portable GPS or other electronic devices. With the added benefit of becoming a padded carrying case for your automotive GPS when not in use, I think that is the best way to go in today’s sad society where some people don’t think twice before stealing something, possibly even for a lark. Well, be smart and protect your car and GPS by making a simple change to the way you use your automotive GPS. I think you will be glad you did.
The following travel safety tips will save you a lot of trouble when you travel locally or abroad, alone or with friends.
You need to consider security measures to protect you, your stuff and your travel plans and to provide a safe trip for you and your fellow travelers. The following travel safety tips can save you a lot of trouble.
1. Make sure your passport and a visa are up-to-date before you try to travel abroad.
2. Do not forget to carry information for emergency calls. This can be very useful in times of crisis.
3. If you travel abroad, learn about the culture in which you plan to visit. This saves a lot of confusion and can ensure a safe holiday. Learn some key phrases of the local language, such as “Help” in case you are separated from your tour guide or friends. If you are traveling alone, you may want to hire a guide who speaks at least two languages, yours and the native language.
4. Walking in a group is safer than going alone, especially in sparsely populated areas. Also a group will add to your enjoyment. Thieves and robbers usually target those who travel alone.
5. Always use covered luggage tags and try to prevent your address on luggage tags from opening. You can use both the address of your destination and of course your home in case of lost luggage.
6. Keep your ears open to your inner voice and trust your intuition. Women, single parents and parents of small children are easy prey for crime against tourists. Be vigilant at all times when on your own.
7. Bring along your own automotive GPS device. Several of the automotive GPS units can also be carried easily in your pocket. Not only if you drive yourself, even if you are using taxis in an unfamiliar location your own GPS navigation will help assure that the taxi driver doesn’t try to take advantage of you and take creative “shortcuts” in order to charge you extra. Bringing your automotive GPS systems will also help you navigate on foot while in a new city while you get your bearings and make sure you are able to get back to your hotel at the end of the day.
Again, it is fun to travel to new places, but be sure to use common sense and be safe while doing so.
Well, how funny is that? Last year when I was thinking of updating the personalization of my Garmin nuvi and stopped by the Garmin Garage feature, thinking I might change the icon on my automotive GPS systems to my surprise and delight, they were offering a special Halloween Boo Bundle with “scary” characters and even a ghoulish voice to use on your Garmin automotive GPS units to delight your passengers and break up your commute. Our grandsons got a real kick out of watching and listening to this update on our next outing.
Well, this year they have a new character who will gladly ride along with you and give you directions and funny/scary narrative, Dr. Nightmare. To quote the Garmin blog; “Love the voice. Ours has the habit of saying creepy things at the most opportune moments when looking for a house to buy. When we arrived, if the house was no good, he would say ‘Welcome to this dreadful destination.’ A friend was in the back of our car, and as she leaned over to look in the rearview mirror to check her hair, he said ‘Is that a goblin in the rearview mirror?’ She then replied ‘No its me.’ But the most uncanny of them all was just the other day, we were driving slowly through a small town when the vehicle in front of us stopped at the pedestrian crossing. As he did so a cat by the side of the road crossed in front of this vehicle. As we drove off Dr. Nightmare said “Did a cat just cross your path?”! Weird or what?!” We can hardly wait to go pick the boys up and go for a nice country drive.
After talking to someone recently I got to thinking of an unusual and very rare situation that had never occurred to me before. Because we have raised guide pups in the past through Guiding Eyes for the Blind, six to be exact, I have a special place in my heart for those wonderful noble creatures and the people they love and take care of. Now here is the situation. Imagine someone who suddenly finds themselves in a new environment with their guide dog and no other friend with them to read a map or street signs. How would they find their way around this unfamiliar city with the most independence and in the shortest amount of time?
Well, I had to stop and think of the different versions of automotive GPS units, several of which are small enough to be handy to carry in your pocket, and some of which are voice activated and give directions by speaking also. Magic! Their loyal dog will keep them straight on the sidewalk, guiding them around any obstacles and watching for traffic at crossroads like always, and the automotive GPS navigation will give them the directions they need which they will ask their dog to execute for them. I imagine they would do well to just contact their favorite GPS store for some help in choosing an appropriate GPS device. Now that will really give them independence and freedom. Any other thoughts on that?
Ahhh, the good old days. Reminiscing with an old friend recently about the good times we had when we were young, traveling around the US by car and all the adventures we had back then. Good times, exciting times, living in poverty or nearly so some of the time, but still enjoying life to the max. One of the memories was the challenge of folding the maps. You practically needed a college course to manage to fold a map and actually get it back anywhere near as compact and tidy as it was when you bought it. Then there were the times when you felt like you would be carsick if you were the copilot and trying to read the map, help with the road signs and not block the view of the driver while you were trying to hold the map so that you could actually read it, sometimes even having to pull over and lay that map out on the trunk of the car so that you could pour over it together, trying to figure out the best way to take to get where we were going. Of course, some folks never did master how to read a map. One of those friends and I actually traveled from Virginia to New York one time during which I fell asleep. Rather than wake me or stop for directions, and knowing he did not know how to read the map, he drove for over an hour in the wrong direction while I was asleep! Well, wasn’t that exciting!
Wow, how things have changed. Now there are even automotive GPS units that will talk you through your trip and even plan out the best way to go, even down to helping you avoid the bad traffic, road work or accidents along the way and recalculating for you if you take a wrong turn. Now that is really slick. With lots of features to choose from, budget to fancy options, and much smaller than most of those old maps we used to use, why would I even consider pulling out one of those old maps any more. Perhaps you lose some of the sense of adventure and self reliance we learned so early? Or, maybe not so much…
Oh my, we get lots of calls requesting me to make a choice for folks so that they don’t have to decide which GPS unit to buy. Looks good on paper, but how can I know which features might be really useful or totally useless to each individual person. I could just decide which GPS unit I might prefer, but how would that information help a total stranger whose needs and budget may be totally different from mine? I feel like I really disappoint people when I try to point this out, but we are all individuals, which is why there are so many different versions of, for instance, handheld or automotive GPS units out there.
Most of the manufacturers, especially Garmin, have really great interactive websites already where you can choose to compare several units to each other so that at a glance you can sort them out by which features you really want, which ones would only be nice perks and which ones are definitely yes or no features for you. Do you want it to be small and thin with a great battery life so you can carry it with you to find your way back to your car? Do you want lifetime traffic? Bluetooth? You get the idea. Anyway, once you have it narrowed down to possibly one or two favorites, it becomes simple to go back to Google or your favorite GPS store and see which one they have to offer, which types of accessories you will need and for what price they are offered. I just think it totally simplifies your shopping experience. I like simple. After all, I would rather be spending time exploring with my GPS unit than sitting in front of a computer trying to figure out all the pros and cons or entrusting my decision to someone who doesn’t even know me. Well, good luck in your search for the best GPS units for your needs and budget, and I hope this helps.
Time for another product comparison; I am looking at two more automotive GPS units – the Garmin nuvi 255 versus the nuvi 775T. Both are excellent automotive GPS systems. The nuvi 255 is built more for the budget conscious traveler; whereas the nuvi 775T has more options to offer and increased functional capacity. Here are the functions that are basically the same in both:
They both have color displays to make it easy to read the screen. Both have rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, the battery lasting approximately 4 hours on the nuvi 255 and 3 hours on the nuvi 775T. Each has a high-sensitivity GPS receiver. Neither of them is waterproof, so I wouldn’t recommend using them as a motorcycle GPS unit; however, waterproof is not really an issue in automotive GPS. Both come with preloaded street maps and the ability to add more maps if you are interested, but the nuvi 775T includes transatlantic maps which can be nice when you travel to Europe. Both of these versions of the Garmin nuvi come with internal solid state built-in memory and are designed to hold 1,000 Waypoints/favorites/locations; the nuvi 755T also built to remember up to 10 routes. Each includes a basemap and accepts data cards which are not included, but it would be handy to have for additional memory. Neither of these Garmin nuvi versions includes voice-activated navigation, so you are not able to operate the device with spoken commands; sorry about that one as that is a nice feature, but is yet another perk to look for in other automotive GPS systems in future reviews.
Both include choice of route setup for either faster time, shorter distance, or off road and route avoidance to help you avoid highways, tolls etc., also handy features to have in automotive GPS units. Both of these versions of Garmin nuvi also are FM traffic compatible (with receiver and lifetime traffic included with the nuvi 755T) and are MSN® Direct compatible and have a speed limit indicator which displays speed limit for most major roads in the U.S. and Europe. Both also have the functionality of the Where Am I? feature to help you find the closest hospitals, police & gas stations, nearest address & intersection and ecoRoute™ which calculates a more fuel-efficient route and the ability to add custom POIs (points of interest), all great features to have in unfamiliar territory. Personalize either Garmin nuvi version by adding Garmin Garage™ vehicles and voices, a free service at Garmin where you can download car-shaped icons and custom voices to your device. Photo navigation in order to navigate to geotagged photos, World travel clock, currency & unit converter, calculator and picture viewer are also nice features available in both.
Now for more differences between the two: The Garmin nuvi 755T has a few more features which the nuvi 255 does not. The nuvi 755T has higher display resolution and a 4.3-inch diagonal screen compared to the 3.5-inch screen of the nuvi 255. Nuvi 755T also includes 3-D building view which displays buildings in 3-D, the ability to auto sort multiple destinations which provides the most direct route, and Bluetooth® wireless technology so you can connect to your phone for hands-free calling. Garmin Locate™ marks your position when the GPS receiver is removed from the windshield mount – this can be really handy to help you remember where you parked your vehicle. The included MP3 player, Audio book player and FM transmitter with headphone jack/audio line-out will entertain you on your travels.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that both of these Garmin nuvi automotive GPS systems come with Garmin Lock™ anti-theft feature and touchscreen convenience. Well, I hope that helps to sort out the differences and advantages of each of these Garmin nuvi versions for you. Happy traveling!
Okay, here I am, staring at the New Year just around the corner (actually only hours away right now!) and realizing that I got so caught up in baking cookies and all the fun of Christmas, I was forgetting to blog. Had some great ideas, too! Well, today I did a product comparison for a customer, so I thought I would share it with all who may be interested.
Let’s look at the Magellan Maestro 4700 versus Magellan Roadmate 1470 automotive GPS. Both are pretty nice little automotive GPS units with quite a few similarities, but a few differences. First, both have AAA Tour Book/Assistance, Live Traffic Service, SayWhere Speaks Street Names, Points of Interest (although the 4700 accepts many more POIs than the 1470), both have 4.7-inch Touch Screen, rechargeable battery with approximately 3-hour life off the charger, and Pre-Loaded Maps of US, Canada and Puerto Rico. Both of these automotive GPS systems have Memory available for map storage, the Maestro 4700 being Secure Digital (SD) card compatible and the Roadmate 1470 is Micro SD card compatible. Now for the bigger differences; the Maestro 4700 has Bluetooth Handsfree Calling and Voice Command, but the Roadmate 1470 does not. Now, the Magellan Maestro 4700 has a little bit bigger price than the Magellan Roadmate 1470, so you need to decide if the extra bells and whistles are worth the difference in money to you on your GPS receiver. Lots of folks will feel that they are, then you just have to decide how they fit your budget. That would be a completely personal thing in my book. I hope this has been helpful to you and am looking forward to seeing you next year. Happy New Year to all!
Makin’ a list, checkin’ it twice… Well, here I am in my nice comfy chair, snack at my side, looking at those automotive GPS systems that are on their pre-Black Friday sale. Hmmm. Gotta figure out which one of those Garmin nuvi automotive GPS units I like best. There are so many things to like about each one! First, size – the nuvi 550 is the smallest and will fit in my pocket easily once I hit the sidewalks, the nuvi 1260T and nuvi 1450 are still pretty small but are much thinner, with the 1450 having the largest screen of all which will be easier to see while driving in hectic traffic. The nuvi 550 and 1260T both will have good pictures, but the 1450 has the most pixels, again easier to see in heavy traffic. Okay, color touchscreens on all three, that’s great.
While all are lightweight, the 1260T is nearly half the weight of the other two at about 4 ounces – I’m likin’ that in my pocket again if I head out on foot or bike ‘cause it won’t be bulky. Okay, good… All three have rechargeable batteries; with battery life between 3 and 8 hours on each, the 550 beats the other two out again, but I will just keep them charging while I am in the car. No problems there. All three come with preloaded maps and have the ability to load more – nice. All three use voice prompts and speak streets by name, I like that a lot, but none of these have voice activated navigation; well, I don’t really need that one, and it keeps the price reasonable.
All three will do detour calculations to get me back on track, but only the 550 and the 1450 will figure out the most direct route for me; although, all three models will help me avoid highways or toll roads – savin’ me money; and the 1260T and 1450 both include ecoroute to save gas. I like that. Oh, the 1260T is the one with Bluetooth, a handy feature to have; and that one comes with Lifetime Traffic included, oooh, nice. They all have world clock and a picture viewer, anti-theft (Great Idea) and are easily personalized with Garmin Garage. Ahhh, the nuvi 550, is waterproof and great for motorcycles, boats and geocaching! Well, I think I know which one I want for Christmas, oooops! I am shopping for everyone else!