GPS Why not a smart phone?

" if you only go places on major routes, you don't need a GPS"

If by GPS you mean any form of navigating, I couldn't disagree more.

When cruising down the highway and an exit approaches, my GPS goes to split screen and shows an image of the exit, including signage, lane indicators, and sometimes even shrubbery. In an unfamiliar area, I often find this invaluable.

I like my garman. Can tell me where and when next turn is, can tell me miles to go or arrival time. Sets on my dash is easier to see speed on it than look at my speedomenter. Tells me what the speed limit is, gives me lane guidance in most metro areas. Can set it for altitude etc. I just like it better and will continue to use it for as long as I am driving.

wa8yxm wrote:
Stand alone GPS uses on-board map data so it works no matter if you are in range of a cell tower or not.

Phone.. will download local map data and store in RAM but if you exit the app for any reason you may not be able to get it back if there is no tower in range.. ...

X2

Just like many cell tower reliant electronics such as Onstar. Crash and burn and be pinned in your car and if no cell tower you are out of luck! I don't want to have to rely on cell tower available for directions.

GPS here. I also think it has more useful functions. Bigger screen, better graphics to see at a glance of road, lanes and turn offs etc. Alerts me of CG's in the area, eta, detects speed limits, set your own speed limit alarm, etc. Permanently sits on dash and I don't have to take it down to answer or make a phone call. :W

toedtoes wrote:

I have an adaptive learning feature also. After I've driven a route a couple of times, I've learned. So I don't need a GPS to tell me how to travel my frequent local trips. :)

I agree. Until the time that there is a massive traffic tie up, for example, and the app provides an alternate route. Sometimes through areas totally unknown to me.

I would suggest that a GPS is not onlya device to tell you which way to turn the wheel... it can keep you apprised of changing hazards, traffic, alternate routes, road closures, etc, etc.

aguablanco wrote:

GWolfe wrote:
I wonder how using your phone for GPS would work in areas/states where there are no texting laws? I have both and use both, I prefer the GPS for the screen size and ease of use. I use my phone in my work truck and it is a pain to try and take a quick glance at the screen to see where the next turn is.

Well, GPS's are not illegal anywhere that I know of and if all I am using is the GPS feature how does that violate the no text laws? There was a test case or two in CA and the judges ruled there was no violation.
RichH

Texting and driving are illegal here, if a police officer sees you looking at your phone while driving you are going to get pulled over. Once you explain to them that you were using the GPS you may not get a ticket but there is still the inconvenience of getting pulled over.

Thats what I was trying to get at in my first post, sorry I didn't explain myself better.

Just a momentary sidetrack: I read a lot about Waze. Is this an app that requires people to input data alerting other drivers of road/traffic conditions? Does this seem like a really bad idea? I like the idea of real time information, but I'm don't like the idea that people are inputting data while driving down the road.

Nobody likes people texting and driving, and a lot don't like phoning while driving, but everyone seems to think Waze is a great thing. What exactly am I missing here? Or am I interpreting incorrectly how the app works?

aguablanco wrote:


Well, GPS's are not illegal anywhere that I know of and if all I am using is the GPS feature how does that violate the no text laws? There was a test case or two in CA and the judges ruled there was no violation.
RichH

"no text" law? In MD the ban extends to hand held telephone calls.

There is potentially a distraction issue when using any of these Nav Devices while moving. In some of them, certain interactions are disabled while enroute or if the vehicle is moving. On some there are settings wherein the user can prevent certain changes while moving. And finally, on some there appears to be no restrictions.

I prefer waze to my built in Nav or my portable Garmin Nuvi. However, waze really wants you to interact with the app while driving using the touch screen. Was the stopped vehicle still there? Was the traffic still backed up? Is the police car still there? and it wants you to report new instances of such things as the above or pot-holes, accidents, etc. I have found that I don't participate interactively as it is too distracting. That said, I don't know what the law actually has to say about interacting wth an app on a phone. How about listening to music in the car via the phone and skipping the song?

So it seems that Droid phones/tablets are gaining popularity for navigation assistance. I have a phone plan that includes ~6GB of data and I use it for internet and GPS and share the data with my wife and we have never gone over our limit. And she is on it a lot!++ YMMV. I really like my Droid and would never consider going back to a stand alone unit. With GPS, internet, phone and other programs I have everything I need. I do, not so much when towing, have a radar detector and use it as much for traffic alerts as anything radar detection. Since we don't do much boondocking I find that my phone GPS is more than adequate for navigation and very rarely don't have a signal. From my perspective I have no trouble switching between programs while using the GPS, making/taking calls is almost seamless. While not passing judgement on anyone's choices, I have seen no reason to go back to stand alone GPS and forgo all of the features of my phone. I do appreciate all of the different points of view and hope everyone arrives safely at their destination no matter how they navigate there.
RichH

I get asked about this sort of thing a lot. Maybe because I have often worn a name tag that says "Navigator".

Simple answer, if you only go places on major routes, you don't need a GPS. If you have a smartphone with GPS* it can often do the GPS job.
*Many smartphones do not have a real GPS and count on the network for location.

Now, the rest of the story.
You can make many smartphone navigators store the mapping information, but most will not store the whole country and if you are not aware, you can venture off-map and not know it until it is too late. (BTDT) Google maps are self-updating, but that still does not make then correct. They all have issues that way. Both Wayz and Google may know about construction or traffic issues.

A standalone GPS will not do other things when the phone line rings to sell you a timeshare or an alarm system. They will not run out of map unless you are outside the USA and did not get/buy the extensions. Some GPS may tell you about construction or traffic if it is provided by a local service.

Both of the above are miserable for planning. A big screen is great for planning. That gets up to Google Maps and the other online. They all have a real drawback unless you carry internet service with you. They are good for planning, but somewhat tough to carry. So, we are at the resident navigators. With S&T gone, that leaves Street Atlas and CoPilot and maybe some others. Both of these are good, but SA is much less expensive than CP. I don't need many of the features that CP has and I have not run it in a while.

What do we do?
I do all the planning on SA, then I load the plan for the next day to the standalone (now a Garmin 2595), and during the drive, we watch the traffic with the Droid and monitor things with the laptop on an inverter.

Want to read more about using a laptop for navigation? Laptop GPS World is the place to go. He can tell you everything you need to ask.

Matt

SaltiDawg wrote:
It has an adaptive learning feature - for frequently traveled routes it learns from the roads you actually take to follow those roads in future trips. Not much use on a single long trip, big value when taking frequent local trips.

I have an adaptive learning feature also. After i've driven a route a couple of times, I've learned. So I don't need a GPS to tell me how to travel my frequent local trips. :)