Why are GPS units so much trouble.

Robin1953 wrote:
I do find it interesting that many consult paper maps thinking they are superior to a GPS map. If you buy a new Road Atlas every year than you might have updated maps...maybe not. In a previous life I worked for the DOT here in WV and they bought new road maps only when the supply was down to about a 12 month supply. You had to have lead time for gathering the data and getting them printed. Well one of our governors bought about a million maps right before he left office as a parting gift to the opposite party governor coming in office. His picture was on the maps. That was about a 10 year supply. So if you happened to get one of those free maps that data could be as high as 10 years old. I suspect even getting my Garmin maps updated quarterly still does not guarantee up to the minute map data. I suspect even the Road Atlas data could be a couple of years old as well since it requires a substantial lead time to gather the data and get them printed and distributed for sale. Just some food for thought.

"geeky" folks who think a map is like their computer tend to "think" everything must have updates.

Folks just don't seem to get it.. Road building IS very slow and new "roads" now days takes 20 or more years before they even get 10 miles built.. Heck they cannot even get existing roads "repaired" in a timely manner.

We only replace our paper atlas when the PAGES wear out or about 10-15 years. Comparing the new map to the old map for the routes we tend to use we have never seen any differences between maps.

Now of course with GPS what you "might" get with updates is additional SMALLER secondary roads and perhaps DIRT roads. This additional info often is what leads folks into bad situations. For this reason folks NEED to use their built in GPS between the ears and CONSULT paper maps before driving 20 miles to a dead end on a dirt road on a cliff with no place to turn around..

Got a LM50. Darn thing will give one way there and another way home at times. Confusing. Worse thing is it won't remember preferred routes. Like it mostly to see how far I have to go to the destination and on off ramps, saved my butt a few times on that.

I do find it interesting that many consult paper maps thinking they are superior to a GPS map. If you buy a new Road Atlas every year than you might have updated maps...maybe not. In a previous life I worked for the DOT here in WV and they bought new road maps only when the supply was down to about a 12 month supply. You had to have lead time for gathering the data and getting them printed. Well one of our governors bought about a million maps right before he left office as a parting gift to the opposite party governor coming in office. His picture was on the maps. That was about a 10 year supply. So if you happened to get one of those free maps that data could be as high as 10 years old. I suspect even getting my Garmin maps updated quarterly still does not guarantee up to the minute map data. I suspect even the Road Atlas data could be a couple of years old as well since it requires a substantial lead time to gather the data and get them printed and distributed for sale. Just some food for thought.

n7bsn wrote:
Had both of those happen. We were once heading out to the Oregon coast, on a not-so-major road. I had checked the "turn-by-turn" to ensure it was not doing something, dumb. There was a "way-side" on the road that looked great for a stop, as I swung in the GPS did the "recomputing" thing. Didn't pay attention as I figured it would do that as I got off the road.

We then started out and a couple miles later it told me to take a left. I knew there was a left coming up, but I thought it was miles away.
We turned and quickly realized that it had decided to now send us to our destination via some (mostly paved) Forest Service roads...
Took some driving to find a spot were we could turn around and go back.

When I pull off like that I turn my GPS off and then when I get back on track I turn it back on. Like you I found out what happens when it starts "recomputing".

All GPS units have their quirks. They don't know that when creating a route, one road has a thousand traffic lights but picks that over the staight and direct route because the traffic light route calculated as a continuous drive is two minutes or a half a mile shorted. As others have said, always pre-check the route. If it is not going as you want it to go, add waypoints to force it the way you want it to go. I do a lot of tweeking and have been OK - but never follow blindly. I had the Rand MCNally RV GPS for one day - it was sending me on a road with a 7'10" clearance when set to avoid all roads with clearances below 12 feet and that made the decision to send it back to the store.

I missed a turn for a destination that was programmed into my Garmin; it then directed me to "drive 19 miles and make a u-turn". Haven't used it since.....

The biggest problem with GPS is BLIND Faith. Now I now way more than I care to type about what an go wrong with GPS. and I'm afraid much of it does.. and This does not even consider sabatoge.

But when i lay out a route.. The first thing I do is look it over.. sometimes I need to modify it (By adding way points) to Drag it onto a better route.

A couple times I trusted it .. and regretted it. But with a bit of careful "Tweeking" I get some very nice routes out of 'em.

As mentioned above, be sure to set your "Avoid" options. I allow U-Turn and Ferries (Janet loves Ferries!) but I avoid HOV lanes and Dirt Roads.
Doing this helps a lot but I frequently get completely different routings going and coming. I scratch my head and follow "whatever" route if I am in my van but I ignore anything I don't like if I am in my RV. I use the GPS to keep me informed when driving an RV but I never use a GPS to plan a route to follow blindly. I will sometimes put an origin and destination so see what it thinks but I often just giggle and think "I am not doing that!".

I'll have to admit that I don't even carry paper maps anymore, and don't miss them in the least. But anyone who blindly follows the recommendations of their GPS is headed for trouble eventually.

Always verify your route. If the GPS says turn on Smith street, look for a street sign that says Smith street and turn there. Turn off your voice command on the GPS. Drivers have turned on to one way streets, railroad tracks, and incomplete roads that go nowhere. Always compare the route to a paper map. I use Microsoft streets and trips for the initial planning, and then compare the directions to my GPS unit. Learn to read highway signs, milemarkers, and exit signs.