Mapping and GPS Recommendations Needed

Gdetrailer wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:


You will be hard pressed to find a tablet for sale that doesn't include GPS.

All mapping systems need to be plugged in unless you are driving only very short distances.

How is it risky? Your worst case is to pull over and ask for directions...but really, you can always pull out your phone and check on google maps.

Tablets are cheap, if you are worried about using it for something else taking the map off line...just leave one in the car as a dedicated GPS system.

Even zoomed in, a scan of a paper map will never be as accurate or as up to date as an online mapping system. I've yet to see a paper map that indicates the lane I'm best choosing when entering a complicated interchange.

Cheap tablets=junk. Pretty much ANYTHING under $180 in a Tablet is garbage, been there, done that.

Not EVERY tablet has GPS radios built in, period.

HAVE run into that, DW and DD have burned through many more tablets than I have with real PCs and a few of their tablets most certainly did not have GPS radios.

Tablets go out of date, run out of manufacturer support pretty quickly. Android OS is nothing more than one huge "experiment" and is pretty bug laden. Tablet processors are weak "ARM" processors and Android has considerable amount of limitations.

Then you go to all of these "App" developers, you toss the dice and take your chances with these Apps, they are often very buggy, have very limited QA.. Some work, some do not, some bring a lot of "ads" and other unwanted junk.

And you are going to bet your life on GPS on a Tablet?

Our several attempts with CoPilot on several different Tablets, we could not get it to recognize our rural area properly, seems our home moves and where a grocery store is, a farmers field, a church, a defunct railroad tunnel that has been closed for 30 yrs and all locations 2 miles or more away from our home.. Sometimes driving along on roads CoPilot would show us as driving a mile off the road..

No consistency to what it detected as our starting point or if it could locate us properly.

And you want to bet your life on GPS on a Tablet?

CoPilot would also lose it's mind when going in a tunnel, often taking minutes to reacquire sat signals on the other end..

A scan of a paper map HOLDs it's "accuracy" and is always there even when you have no cell signal or Wifi.

Roads do not randomly change, appear, disappear over night so even a paper map from 10 yrs ago is still valid. Takes considerable amount of yrs of planning or building by DOT to change or add roads so paper maps tend to be a valid tool for many yrs.

GPS maps must be continually updated since they started out with extremely old base maps (they didn't build the maps from scratch, they BOUGHT OLD MAPS, converted them into an electronic form)and over time they add in additional details as the map makers play catch up.

There are also plenty of vast areas where GPS map info is non existent or totally incorrect which sends folks driving into farmers fields, into ponds, lakes or even old farmers roads into the middle of no where..

Not unusual for GPS to toss you onto very small roads with bridges or obstructions too low for a RV.. Have a bridge not far from my home that truckers using GPS seem to be attracted to, has been damaged multiple times.. I take one look at the size of the road and shake my head, no way I would take anything bigger than a automobile on that road..

As far as figuring out lane choices, that IS what the ROAD SIGNS ARE FOR! The DOT of every state has the responsibility to ensure the road signs are placed in an orderly fashion which will give you enough time at the POSTED SPEED LIMITS to notice, read and take proper action. I can't help if you or anyone else are not able to determine what lane to be in, I have not had that issue and have always gotten to my destination in fine fashion.

GPS is not an excuse to toss paper maps and ignore road signs, it is nothing more than a extra tool in your trip to use alongside other methods.

We PLAN our routes ahead of time, we use our paper maps and now days plenty of good online methods along with our paper maps.

MAPQUEST gives you blow by blow directions and a map to follow.. Put in beginning point and destination and it will give you detailed directions to follow. You can then PRINT the directions and map.

You can also snip the directions and map and save it as a JPG and put on your tablet or phone.

Don't like Mapquest?

Then try GOOGLEMAPS

If I was ever going to consider GPS, it WOULD be a "dedicated" standalone GPS and not a Tablet with buggy OS and buggy software with buggy maps. You get what you pay for and there IS a reason standalone GPS units are more expensive.

Your opinions are yours, of course, and I will respect them but I must disagree. There is nothing life threatening about using a tablet. You say you prefer paper. So you seem to imply that looking at a paper map while driving is somehow safer than have a tablet give you voice instructions and as well as visual and no one have to take their hands off the wheel or off the road.
A 10 year old paper map is NOT just as good as a current map and a 10 year old GPS in also not as good as a current GPS. Since roads DO open and close due to construction from time to time neither a stand alone GPS or paper map can keep up with this but a tablet or phone with Google Maps CAN keep up with these changes. These systems can be updated in a matter of days compared to a GPS which can often be more than a year behind or that 10 year old paper map which is updated......NEVER.
We have traveled over 300,000 miles in the 20 years of full timing and I can tell you that while you might want to believe that the road signs will give you all the information you need, I can confirm that they sometimes do not! Picking the correct exit lane (or is there only 1 exit lane) can be the most frustrating when getting it wrong means getting your 50,000# beast over when ever driver in the other lane just wants to be in front of you.
The other thing your paper maps and stand alone GPS will never handle is warning you that there is an HUGE slowdown or stopped traffic ahead. There are so many advantages to tablet based GPS systems, especially Google Maps and WAZE, over paper maps and stand alone GPS that there is truly no comparison.
I always plan my route ahead of time and I use paper from time to time but mostly Google Maps on Windows computer. That combination allows me to move the route anywhere I like to see which route makes the best sense for mileage, time, construction, etc. All the calculations are done for you and you can ensure you are going to go the exact path you want as well as the one that makes the most sense.
As mentioned above, I also use Google Earth, mostly when traveling out West, so look at the elevation profile of a couple of different routes to see if I can avoid (or enjoy the trip over) some of the higher passes.
It's all about choices but the very best, current, information is available electronically.