I'm going to be able to spend the money to get one in about a month, but for the life of me I can't really explain to myself why I would want one. What are the reasons (other than geocaching) that people would want a GPS? I searched the forums here and found lots of comparisons, but not much on why I would want one in the first place. I'm asking because if I don't see ways I would use one, I won't spend the money. But since I'm ignorant as to what they're used for, maybe one or more of you will tell me what I'm missing. Thanks.
Directions, Knowing where you are every single second, finding service, finding emergency locations, trip planning, having a map of the entire US on your dash board. Makes paper maps look archaic. Has phones numbers for lots of things you may need. The list goes on and on and on.
We like it as we can take any road that looks interesting and don't have to worry about getting lost.
I use mine a lot, and I don't do geocashing. In the car at home or in the motorhome the GPS takes all of the guesswork out of finding an address, be it a new friend's home, a restaurant we haven't been to before, or an RV park. When in an unfamiliar location we use it to find stores, restaurants, etc. It has a built-in database containing tens of thousands of such addresses, and we can add more for special interest things using the custom POI (Point Of Interest) feature. There are online databases with a million or more POIs that are free downloads.
I never thought I would use the voice feature (spoken driving directions) but have found it highly useful because it means I can keep my eyes on the road while navigating.
Never being lost again when in a new place. Having 11 million points of interests at your finger tips even if you are not connected to the internet. Campgrounds, stores, gas stations, restaurants, parks, police stations and more. $200 for a freestanding unit. $60 to add one to your laptop. If you never go anywhere new and never need to look up an address and never wonder how far it is to somewhere and never want to tell someone else three different ways to get to somewhere, then I guess you won't need one.
We just completed a trip. GPS guided us to each destination with out even looking at a map. We had no idea where the destinations were so trusted our Magellan and were at each quickly. Using the POI feature we were able to go to points of interest quickly again with out pouring ove maps. I've used it to find unknown streets here in Boulder. It is well worth the money for us. Good luck.
93 Ford F350 Turbo Diesel, DRW, Crew Cab. PullRite Hitch. 35' King of the Road 5er, 192 Watts Solar, 2800 Watt Yamaha Generator, 1750 Watt Inverter, 2 Trogan T105 Batteries, Me, my wife and 2 maltize furkids.
We use a GPS and mapping software on a laptop. I LOVE it. I can't imagine traveling without it anymore. I still look at a map, but nothing matches the comfort feeing of glancing at the screen and knowing that you're 'on route'. And, where it REALLY shines is when you do happen to get lost. Like when they turned all RVs away from the Baltimore tunnel. We had to exit, and found ourselves downtown, on the wrong side of the tracks. Because of the GPS, even tho we were lost, we knew exactly where we were! And, we were able to navigate thru residential streets and make it to the bridge, without having to stop and ask for directions.
Chris Guld
"Blessed are the Flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape!"
Full time in our 37' Gulfstream Endura Super C
See our weblog/travelog, at GeeksOnTour.Blogspot.com RV.net Blogger
Because it's a wife saver! When we are navigating through a strange city with lots of traffic it saves a lot of wrong turns, a lot of stops to look at the map besides all the other things that "Mable" does for us. Not to speak of being able to strike off on some byway without the local maps in hand. It is our own concierge right here with us always.
About three weeks ago we were returning from Las Vegas in our auto. As we were entering Colorado on I-70 the air conditioner went off in the car and the "Check Engine Soon" light came on.
At the time we were just entering Grand Junction. As we were exiting the Interstate I reached over and punched in "Auto Service" on our Garmin 330. Then I punched in the make of the car.
It gave me a dealer for that make, I punched that dealer and it routed me right to the dealer. That was almost worth the price of the unit right there.
Not to mention the restaurants, stores, campgrounds, points of interest, etc that it has routed us to.
We move it back and forth between the car and the TV and simply wouldn't be without it.
Driver & Mechanic: Tom
Navigator and Accountant: Wanda
2002 GMC 2500 HD 4 X 4 8.1 Liter Vortec/Allison
2000 SunnyBrook Mobile Scout
Retirement: Second childhood..... without supervision.
davepcpowernet wrote: Because it's a wife saver! When we are navigating through a strange city with lots of traffic it saves a lot of wrong turns, a lot of stops to look at the map besides all the other things that "Mable" does for us. Not to speak of being able to strike off on some byway without the local maps in hand. It is our own concierge right here with us always.
Mable! Amazing, that's the same name we gave ours!
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