Best, most accurate GPS

[vtchris]

I have loved my Garmin Nuvi for 14 years, but he is getting senile. Lots of "whoopsies", sending me on weird round-a-bout ways, "shortest distance" actually being longer, the "avoidance" feature sometimes own't work, dead battery. So I went to Walmart and bought a new one. Luckily it had a return policy. I hated the visuals (way to much info on display), but the worst thing was when I asked "fuel on my route" it told me the next gas station was 150 miles down the road. What??!! I have a small gas tank and use this feature all the town. When I asked my old Garmin it told me there were 4 stations within 150 miles along my route. Can someone please tell me of a GPS that they recommend? Consumer Report is not reviewing them anymore. And Amazon is only selling them through third party vendors.

[Bill_Satellite]

Don't concern yourself with that post. It's simply wrong.

[trail-explorer]

GordonThree wrote:
US constellation isn't super accurate over North America for obvious reasons.

Those reasons aren't obvious - so inquiring minds want to know, what are the reasons (that aren't so obvious)?

[rr2254545]

coolmom42 wrote:
What you need to do is go to the Garmin site support section, and scroll down to map and software updates. You will need a male standard USB/male micro USB cable to connect your Nuvi to a PC. Download the software, plug in the Nuvi. The software will recognize the Nuvi and walk you through the update process. Expect it to take something like 2 hours to download and update the maps.

Updated software and maps should solve a lot of problems.

Take me about 5 minutes with my Comcast connection

[valhalla360]

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:

GordonThree wrote:
Most accurate is probably a cell phone for an Asian market. It'll have a GPS chip that will receive from the non-US constellations. The Russians, Chinese and the EU all have their own GPS birds now. Typically the US market phones only receive US and Russian constellations.

US constellation isn't super accurate over North America for obvious reasons.

WHAT? Are you off your meds? The US GPS is SUPER accurate. My Google Maps app actually shows me in the correct RV space here in Houston. Your post is nonsense.

Cell phone provided Google maps get their feed and your location via triangulation through the provider cell sites.

GPS are direct from earth roaming satellites, thus, Global Positioning Satellites.

No, that hasn't been the case for years.

Every cell phone you buy has a GPS built in and Google Maps will happily use the satilite system (you can't turn it off and Google Maps has to have permissions). It can refine the accuracy using cell towers but really, unless you are doing survey work, the accuracy is plenty good enough and will work fine even away from cell towers. The only downside is starting a route outside of cell service but you can download map areas and really getting outside cell coverage is getting increasingly rare.

You can also download offline mapping applications (many for free) that need no cell coverage once loaded.

We have an old Nuvi but when it dies, we will switch to the cell phone. Mostly still using it because it has lots of personal destinations already programmed and too lazy to transfer them.

Live traffic conditions and incident notifications on Google maps is great. Usually if looking for a gas station or restaurant, have the wife pull it up on her phone.

[Rover_Bill]

MDKMDK wrote:
Garmin nuvi 2589.
Voice command, LMT, "up ahead" feature tells you fuel/bathroom/food along your route, super easy to update with Garmin Express. Uses 4 Square for 6 million POIs. Has upgrade options like fuel economy routing, and backup cameras.
What's not to like?
Sadly, it's been mothballed, but you can still find them on Amazon for around $229. Got mine on sale from Best Buy 2 years back for $179.

Garmin RV-660LMT has the same features plus separate car or RV routing functions and a POI of Camps & RV Parks.

[Community Alumni]

Bill.Satellite wrote:

GordonThree wrote:
Most accurate is probably a cell phone for an Asian market. It'll have a GPS chip that will receive from the non-US constellations. The Russians, Chinese and the EU all have their own GPS birds now. Typically the US market phones only receive US and Russian constellations.

US constellation isn't super accurate over North America for obvious reasons.

WHAT? Are you off your meds? The US GPS is SUPER accurate. My Google Maps app actually shows me in the correct RV space here in Houston. Your post is nonsense.

LOL! Even my $225 Android phone using a $9 GPS app is spot-on accurate.

[mike-s]

"Best, most accurate?" There are many units which will get within 1/2 inch, but you'll pay $ thousands.

OTOH, any modern cell phone will get you within sight distance, and answer all your complaints which were completely unrelated to accuracy.

What do you want, "accurate", or the convenience of finding the next gas station without paying attention to the roadside signs?

[coolmom42]

What you need to do is go to the Garmin site support section, and scroll down to map and software updates. You will need a male standard USB/male micro USB cable to connect your Nuvi to a PC. Download the software, plug in the Nuvi. The software will recognize the Nuvi and walk you through the update process. Expect it to take something like 2 hours to download and update the maps.

Updated software and maps should solve a lot of problems.

[time2roll]

+1 for google maps. Most accurate for traffic due to sharing of real time info.

[MDKMDK]

Read my post.

[vtchris]

And I need it via satellite as I travel in places with no cell service

[vtchris]

I need to know where along my route is the next gas station and the next. Like a 200 mile route. I have a small gas tank. Google Maps and Gas Buddy are fine for right where I am but that’s not my issue.

[MDKMDK]

Garmin nuvi 2589.
Voice command, LMT, "up ahead" feature tells you fuel/bathroom/food along your route, super easy to update with Garmin Express. Uses 4 Square for 6 million POIs. Has upgrade options like fuel economy routing, and backup cameras.
What's not to like?
Sadly, it's been mothballed, but you can still find them on Amazon for around $229. Got mine on sale from Best Buy 2 years back for $179.

[Yosemite_Sam1]

Bill.Satellite wrote:

GordonThree wrote:
Most accurate is probably a cell phone for an Asian market. It'll have a GPS chip that will receive from the non-US constellations. The Russians, Chinese and the EU all have their own GPS birds now. Typically the US market phones only receive US and Russian constellations.

US constellation isn't super accurate over North America for obvious reasons.

WHAT? Are you off your meds? The US GPS is SUPER accurate. My Google Maps app actually shows me in the correct RV space here in Houston. Your post is nonsense.

Cell phone provided Google maps get their feed and your location via triangulation through the provider cell sites.

GPS are direct from earth roaming satellites, thus, Global Positioning Satellites.