Using Cell Phone As Your GPS

[d1h]

Do a lot of you use your cell phone as a GPS? I know that using the GPS on your phone runs your battery down faster so generally you need to have it plugged into power at all times. Just wondering if this is hard on your cell phone battery since your battery is constantly charging and screen is lit up at all times. Second question for those of you that have iPhones. Do you prefer Apple maps or google maps.

[drsteve]

We used Google as our GPS to navigate Lake Cumberland KY on a week-long houseboat trip last summer. Worked flawlessly.

[carmichael]

With co-pilot do you need to be on a data plan or are all maps preloaded? Can it be used on a chromebook while offline?

[bighatnohorse]

Cell phone GPS works - and it works internationally using Google.
I drove from Panama City, Panama to Boquete using Google with a local SIM card installed.
(Boquete is in the mountain jungles) It worked flawlessly.

I prefer the larger screen size of my Garmin, though.
And we use the Google GPS cell phone as a backup feature when there are traffic jams so as to get real-time routing.
I've seen Uber drivers use their cell phones as GPS and they leave the phone plugged in all the time.

[wiskeyVI]

That could be. I tried it once on a 10" windows laptop and it was fantastic...

[lryrob9301]

wiskeyVI wrote:

lryrob9301 wrote:
I no longer use a GPS but use the Co-Pilot app on my android tablet that has a GPS sensor built in. With Co-Pilot you can configure your vehicle size and it will keep you out of trouble.

I thought CoPilot went away some time ago?

Nope, mine just did a minor update yesterday. I believe your thinking of Rand McNally.

[wiskeyVI]

lryrob9301 wrote:
I no longer use a GPS but use the Co-Pilot app on my android tablet that has a GPS sensor built in. With Co-Pilot you can configure your vehicle size and it will keep you out of trouble.

I thought CoPilot went away some time ago?

[zigzagrv]

lryrob9301 wrote:
I no longer use a GPS but use the Co-Pilot app on my android tablet that has a GPS sensor built in. With Co-Pilot you can configure your vehicle size and it will keep you out of trouble.

THIS ^^^

[parker_rowe]

Actually, the GPS (in my iPhone at least) continues to work fine even if you don't have cell service or data.

I've just started using Waze, but Google Maps can download the route so it can continue to guide you even after cell service drops. If you try to re-route in a no service area though, good luck!

I've never owned a standalone GPS, although our Caravan does have a built in one. It is nice other than being slightly out of date and a PITA to update the maps.

[lryrob9301]

I no longer use a GPS but use the Co-Pilot app on my android tablet that has a GPS sensor built in. With Co-Pilot you can configure your vehicle size and it will keep you out of trouble.

[Lantley]

Mickeyfan0805 wrote:

drsteve wrote:

Last summer DW and I were camping in a state park on Lake Michigan, and we decided to go explore the adjacent National Forest. We went looking for a NPS campground, and the Google Lady had us leave the paved road and go down a dirt road... that got narrower and narrower... then became a two track... then became a sandy ORV trail. I was lucky to find a place to turn around.

Had we stayed on the paved road the campground was only a couple miles away...

This is why, anymore, I actually pre-review maps and plan routes for any travels outside of my areas of familiarity. We were once routed onto the side-streets of Boston, spending 30 minutes going from street light to street light, in order to cut a few miles off the highway route. I know most systems can be configured to try to avoid this stuff, but I don't trust it when I'm towing. I pre-determine any route I'm taking long distance and then use the GPS/phone nave systems locally from destination to destination.

Ultimately this is why I prefer the Built in GPS when towing. In general its routing is not quite as aggressive as using my Apps.
Again no GPS is foolproof, but the Garmin keeps me on the larger main roads and is less likely to short cut me through a neighborhood or down a dirt road.

[2oldman]

Mickeyfan0805 wrote:
d, I wouldn't ever start an argument with 'easy to find on Google.' There's a lot that's easy to find on Google, and most of it is profoundly false!

Hmmm.. maybe I should google "google is mostly wrong".

[AsheGuy]

GordonThree wrote:
Easy to find on Google. Micro-cycling is one side affect, and other is driving "whiskers" deeper into the electrode structures, making them less likely to dissolve in future recharge cycles.

LI batteries are continually evolving as are the electronics that manage them. So it is good to check the date of articles that attempt to describe how to manage your LI battery. Here are a couple of recent articles that seem to discount your claim:

How to prolong lithium based batteries

How to Calibrate a “Smart” Battery

Smart LI batteries and smart devices do not require the same discharging cycles that older batteries do.

[GordonThree]

I'm not looking to argue either, but also not do another's leg work. Just saying there's plenty of scholarly articles available on the subject.

[Mickeyfan0805]

GordonThree wrote:

Easy to find on Google.

I'm not going to get into the argument, as it is a place I've only ever 'heard' that certain things were true and untrue. That said, I wouldn't ever start an argument with 'easy to find on Google.' There's a lot that's easy to find on Google, and most of it is profoundly false!

[Mickeyfan0805]

drsteve wrote:

Last summer DW and I were camping in a state park on Lake Michigan, and we decided to go explore the adjacent National Forest. We went looking for a NPS campground, and the Google Lady had us leave the paved road and go down a dirt road... that got narrower and narrower... then became a two track... then became a sandy ORV trail. I was lucky to find a place to turn around.

Had we stayed on the paved road the campground was only a couple miles away...

This is why, anymore, I actually pre-review maps and plan routes for any travels outside of my areas of familiarity. We were once routed onto the side-streets of Boston, spending 30 minutes going from street light to street light, in order to cut a few miles off the highway route. I know most systems can be configured to try to avoid this stuff, but I don't trust it when I'm towing. I pre-determine any route I'm taking long distance and then use the GPS/phone nave systems locally from destination to destination.