Life Time Maps March 14, 2010, 12:27:47 am Yahoo Message Number: 111021If you read the fine print in the Garmin "Life Time Maps" you will find that "Life Time" ends when Garmin changes the current supplier of the map data or when you have to replace the GPS. My experience has been a life of about 3 years for the GPS - maybe because the GPS gets vibrated to death on the bad California highays like I-5 in Southern California. I visit a Caravaner in a moblie home Senior development frequently. If I input the street address, "Elvira" gets me to the guard shack directly and then I am on my own to get to my friends place. So I when I got to my friends place I "marked" the location and saved it as a "favorite". So now when I go there, "Elvira" directs me to "Right" at the end of the freeway off ramp when I need to turn "Left". I turn Left and then "Elvira" tells me to turn Right into the WalMart parking lot. I ignore her and finally as I get to the guard shack "Elvira" returns to the real world and can navigate correctly to my friend's place. Here is what is going on. The "park" has several gated "escape" routes for emergency evacuations that are normally locked. The poor preteenager in India that is digitizing the maps from aerial photographs has no knowledge of what is actually on the ground so the routing logic routes me through the locked escape routes. I have the same problem if I try the "shortest" route in my hilly neighborhood as it will try to send me up stairways and through alleys that were closed off decades ago. I thought the routings were strange with my Street Pilot, but they seem even stranger with my new Nuvi. I still look at my paper maps rather than blindly trust "technology".Terry Tanner 2001 27RB in Los Angeles
Re: Life Time Maps Reply #1 – March 14, 2010, 12:04:06 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111025On Mar 14, 2010, at 12:27 AM, Terry wrote:QuoteI thought the routings were strange with my Street Pilot, but they seem even stranger with my new Nuvi. I still look at my paper maps rather than blindly trust "technology". I have had some of the same experiences with our new Nuvi. The much older Quest was more reliable.[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: Life Time Maps Reply #2 – March 14, 2010, 12:08:33 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111026"Terry" wrote: I still look at my paper maps rather than blindly trust "technology". --- I couldn't/wouldn't do without my paper maps; from state and regional road maps and atlases to specialized area maps and national forest maps to Benchmark "Road and Recreation" atlases, they're planning and on-road reference essentials for me. I'm sure not a Luddite; I do appreciate useful gadgets like the ScanGauge, and I acknowledge the occasional "edge" of a GPS over a paper map. However, if I had a GPS in the LD, I can easily see myself heading into a ditch or a tree fiddling with the thing, cussing and hollering at route errors that the screwy software comes up with, and finally ripping the thing off the dashboard and pitching it out the window when I had reached my tolerance limit of listening to some disembodied but scolding voice yapping, "recalculating, recalculating". Nah....I think I'll just order a new road atlas! As ever, YMMV; bigtime! :-)Joan
Garmin NUVI Reply #3 – March 14, 2010, 03:43:54 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111032Does the Garmin Nuvi function well in the Lazy Daze cab without an antenna? PattiSwitch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: Garmin NUVI Reply #4 – March 14, 2010, 04:06:17 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111033Ours does. Usually in any of the vehicles, I put it up in the window until it finds it's place. Doesn't matter if we are in the LD or not, it still does well.Denise in CA
Re: Life Time Maps Reply #5 – March 14, 2010, 04:33:48 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111034We use a combination of GPS which we love and sometimes a paper map and before we start out for the day, we look at google maps and either print out directions or put the directions and stops in the GPS. Maps are only as new as when they were printed and each map of an area takes up space we don't have. GPS is only as updated as the last time we did so. But we love the voice directions that even say the street names of our turns before we get there. Google maps and other such, seem to be more UTD than the other options. And we can pull up any area we want to on the laptop and view it and measure miles and re-adjust our trip and measure time even more so than the GPS. Only problem is, I can't go on line as we go down some roads or it's too hard on my laptop. These options each have their good points so I use them all. Soon, I'll have google maps on my android. :-) Of course we are a driver and a co pilot and those folks driving alone have to deal with things a bit differently. And yes, sometimes that 'Recalculating' or 'Take the next legal U turn.' can get on your nerves. And often it's worse because we didn't catch or ignored a direction and decided to do it our way and got off track. Eventually we would depend on the GPS to get us back on our path. But one of our first trips using the GPS, we went across a big bridge above San Francisco that really freaked the GPS. I guess it didn't know that the new bridge had moved a half mile over from where the old one was and spent some time frantically telling us to make the next turn left to get on the correct road. The GPS map showed us out in the middle of the bay with the bridge way to the left of us. Once we got on land, the highway was also moved. It took a while for that GPS to settle down. :-)Denise in CA
Re: Garmin NUVI Reply #6 – March 14, 2010, 04:49:52 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111035"Does the Garmin Nuvi function well in the Lazy Daze cab without an antenna?" Yes, all recent Nüvis (from the last three years or so) do just fine in the cab without an external antenna.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Life Time Maps Reply #7 – March 14, 2010, 04:52:23 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111036Quote "But one of our first trips using the GPS, we went across a big bridge above San Francisco that really freaked the GPS. I guess it didn't know that the new bridge had moved a half mile over..."Denise in CA LOL Denise My GPS had a hissy fit there too but now the New Benicia Bridge is firmly supported. I wonder what's going to happen when they open the New Oakland Bay Bridge in a year of two???Steve S. Lazy Bones & Jiggs
Re: Life Time Maps Reply #8 – March 14, 2010, 04:52:44 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111037"yes, sometimes that 'Recalculating' or 'Take the next legal U turn' can get on your nerves." Several people have said to me that they'd much rather hear that in a calm, neutral tone from a GPS than have a spouse yelling "You missed the turn, stupid!" ;-) I've heard GPSs described as "marriage savers" more than once.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Life Time Maps Reply #9 – March 14, 2010, 05:39:45 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111038Oh yes, I much rather have dh telling me to 'Turn that stupid thing off it doesn't know anything.' than anything else that could have happened before GPS. LOL Definitely a marriage saver! LOL Denise in Paso Robles
Re: Life Time Maps- Nuvi 1490T review Reply #10 – March 15, 2010, 03:31:17 am Yahoo Message Number: 111041"ripping the thing off the dashboard and pitching it out the window when I had reached my tolerance limit of listening to some disembodied but scolding voice yapping, "recalculating, recalculating".JoanLOL, oh yes, been there. The cure is so simple, use the 'mute' feature. I'm a GPS user who has learned to take any command with a grain of salt. Our Street Pilot has tried to take us on shortcuts though Manhattan, down cow trails and even down a one-way street. 99.9% of the time, its right on. As Terry said, the accuracy is all up to some kid in India. I always keep a local map next to the driver's seat and check often when in new areas. The combination of the GPS and paper can be a powerful combination. Four month ago, I bought a Nuvi 1490T to replace the ailing SP 2720. https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=36082 It has a bright 5" screen and several features that I have learn to appreciate. The Lane Assist feature indicates the lanes you should be in when coming to an intersection, valuable information when on strange freeway. Another benefit for driving in congested areas is the lifetime FM Traffic Alert. It indicates slowing traffic ahead and will detour you around a big crash. The service is provided only in major metropolitan areas. After several trips around Southern California and the Bay Area I can report that both features work. The Lane Assist is my favorite, no last minute surprises. If your cell phone has BlueTooth, the GPS can be used for hand-free calls. For use outside your LD or toad, the Nuvi has the internal battery I always wished the SP had. The Nuvi is small enough to fit in a big shirt pocket Major cities have optional City Navigator downloads available aimed at using public transit. So far the Nuvi 1490T has worked as advertised. Its big touch screen is easy to use and is a lot faster than the SP. It does not use an external antenna nor does it have an antenna jack. It works fine on the dash of the LD where the Street Pilot needs an antenna. The SP has the ability to 'mute' the voice but the muting needed to be done every time the GPS is turned on. The 1490T allows the setting to stay in effect until changed. Joan, you never have to listen to 'recalculating' being sneered by an ungrateful electronic gadget.Maps never talk back. They do whisper things to me.Larry
Re: Life Time Maps Reply #11 – March 15, 2010, 11:47:37 am Yahoo Message Number: 111048It's also a lot of fun to watch the GPS unit get confused while taking a ferry; like we did on the Outer Banks last year to Ocracoke Island, NC. The GPS did not want to put us on the open water for quite a while but then it seemed to have no choice after we were far enough way from an actual road. We didn't have a voice feature on but I imagine it would have been having a serious fit! I suppose there must be completely different software for boaters using GPS.David
Re: Life Time Maps Reply #12 – March 15, 2010, 10:15:33 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111066Quote "yes, sometimes that 'Recalculating' or 'Take the next legal U turn' can get on your nerves." Andy, on another matter can you help me reach Tessa or ask her to contact me? I seem to have erased her somehow. Thnx
Re: Life Time Maps Reply #13 – March 16, 2010, 12:57:38 pm Yahoo Message Number: 111077"can you help me reach Tessa or ask her to contact me?" Tessa reads these messages, so I'm sure she'll contact you when she has a chance. :-)Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Topic: Life Time Maps (Read 1 time)
previous topic - next topic
Topic: Life Time Maps (Read 1 time)
previous topic - next topic