Built in vs. Stand-alone GPS?
We are currently shopping for a new tow vehicle. Trying to decide whether or not we want to shell out $750 for a built in GPS. As much as I like having the built-in system and not having another scr...
Forum Discussion
ScottG wrote:valhalla360 wrote:
$750 built in vs $20 mount for cell phone running a mapping app...hmm
And yes the cell phone will work fine if you are going into areas without cell coverage. The major mapping apps allow you to download the maps to the phone ahead of time.
Sorry but it will not work. Having the maps downloaded into the phone is no more usefull than having a map in your back pocket. Without cell service or GPS, the phone has no more idea of where it is than you do with that map.
Maybe if your phone is 20yrs old. All modern phones have a built in GPS that doesn't require a cell signal to locate the phone.
Having a cell signal can help the phone find it's location a bit quicker on startup. When you first start a GPS up, it can take a few minutes before it has enough signals to figure out exactly where it is. By checking which towers it can connect to, it knows it's within X miles of those towers, so it can narrow down the location more quickly...but in actual use, it doesn't make much difference as once the location is found, it can keep it without any significant delay.
If someone really wants a stand alone GPS unit, get a small tablet (about the size of most built in dash units), Maybe $75-100 plus a mounting arm and you simply connect to your phones hotspot (plus download the map if you are worried about lost signals).
