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That is quite the bargain. You do pay a fee for MSN but you also get more content (gas prices for instance).
It has some features that my 1490T doesn't have, such as 3-D w/buildings, and a phone book & recent calls feature.
Bob
One thing that I seem to remember is that the 700 shows more detail at the street level, more street names when you zoom in.
At What Point Should You Stop Listening to Your Nav System? (Straightline)
About the same time you stop listening to a road map or memory or a familiar route or... If there is that much snow on the ground, don't you stop or turn around no matter what the route??? :confuse:
And as noted a shovel is a must if you are adventurous in sand, mud or snow.
Most Navi system let you turn that on or off. It is an SUV after all, and could be used off road for some drives.
I turned on the "Ferry" avoidance after my Garmin tried to send me on White's Ferry, which isn't free, and isn't quick when the line to go across backs up.
Nothing like a map, but only if one knows how to read it while knowing which way is North, and then only if one if allowed to refold it differently every time!
Well I guess it's up there with the Hertz Neverlost (made by Magellan) that sent me through a subdivision that didn't exist yet. I could see my destination across the acres of fenced off construction.
All NAVs are a compromise. All should be used with a bit of good old human thought.
I rented a car in San Franciso once, a convertible, with very poor interior lighting. I had to pull over to read a map, and could barely see it. No co-pilot as I was alone. Plus a map doesn't tell you where you are now. And you'd need to add a compass to tell which direction your were heading (the rental lacked one).
The GPS is a map, plus a co-pilot, plus a compass, plus a locator.
Sure they're not perfect, but I doubt a co-pilot would be, either. I would have killed to have a GPS in that rental.
The first car I drove in Germany had nav, and I used it to drive to a city about 60 miles away. It came up with a 2 hour drive...I had nothing to do that afternoon, so I just went with it. When I reached my destination, I dug deeper into the (German language) menu, and saw that the shorest distance route was selected. I unchecked that for the journey back, and it was a 50 minute drive.
like anything else in the world, gps is not perfect. People too stupid to understand that should not be allowed to use a gps.
But major routes really did seem much different than quickest; we usually wound up on the freeway. Lots of time the nav seems to want us to go 3 miles out of the way to get to a freeway "quickest" when we could go straight on the surface streets and get to the destination lots faster.
Still lots of room for improvement but for the directional impaired like me, they are terrific.
A NAV with up to date info on highways would be top on my list buying another one. We did not use the guide portion as it would keep trying to get us back on the Interstate. I don't like her voice either.
Even on my 3.5" screen you can zoom in and out and pan around and get a pretty good idea of where you are and where you should be heading, even if you want to go a different way than the "designated" route.
Of course these days, all the hikers and bikers carry eTreks or similar. I bet the Army has their own versions.
Wonder what the cops would say if they saw you driving around with one of these on your head.
Who do you think developed the GPS system we all know and love?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I've been driving a GPS-equipped car since 2006, and I don't want to go back. I don't use it very often as I know the roads in my area very well, but when I do venture a few hours from home, it is nice to have a visual representation of your location, and directions. It was a godsend in Europe too, where street grids are wacky and often roads aren't posted as clearly as here. I'd say GPS is easily one of the most significant automotive features of the past generation.
I am sure the Army feels similar. Had such technology existed in the past, innocent lives would have been spared.
Yeah, but now it's starting to trickle down to infantry, not just the radio guys or artillery. So every member of every squad is probably getting wired.
GPS-led travel goes amiss; 3 Ore. parties rescued (AP)
Second, there is no way the two problems are related. A 2002 Civic is a FRONT wheel drive system. Your transmission, sits in the front, and would not have been affected by the accident.
If you plan to argue that a severe impact to the car affected your transmission, there is no one in the world who will believe that, especially not the insurance company. It is not at all unusual for a nine year old car to develop transmission problems. You will have to pay for the repairs yourself. Given that it is a manual transmission, and if the transmission can be rebuilt instead of replaced, it will likely not cost you that much money.
But let's look at that story:
turning off a state highway onto local roads and finally getting stuck in the snow
Did the GPS get stuck in the snow?
Is it the GPS' fault the car did?
Maybe they didn't have AWD/4WD or the necessary ground clearance to be out in the first place. And they ventured out in a BLIZZARD with a baby and no formula in their diaper bag? ARE THEY NUTS!?
Yeah, blame Tom Tom. Right.
Now the other example:
He used it for the first time to plan the trip to Central Oregon
Is that the epitome of DUMB or what? First time? No GPS experience at all, dive in head first in to a pool you're not sure has water, when you've never gone swimming?
And it's Garmin's fault?!
towed off railroad tracks
Again, not the GPS' fault, and I cross rail road tracks every day, so that's not necessarily even a mistake on the GPS' part.
their vehicle slid off a forest road as they were using GPS directions
Turn on the avoidance for unpaved roads and that's no problem. Plus they must've thought their car was capable - and that was the mistake. Just hit the Detour button if it's not.
I mean, seriously, they drove SEVENTEEN MILES on that forester road without realizing - oops, we don't have 4WD, maybe we won't make it after all. LOL
At what point does common sense take over, and you tell yourself, "Buffy, I don't think we should drive our Porsche Boxster on this forest road. We might scratch the paint."
travelers in a car got stuck in snow when they turned onto a Forest Service road that had been closed and converted to use for snowmobiles
Outdated maps, lack of signs, shoulda been roped off, etc.
Updates are probably my biggest gripe with OEM NAV units. You get sucked into this cool gadget for an extra $2000 in your vehicle. Then when you cannot find streets that have been around for a decade you want an updated map. The automaker in the case of Toyota is the only one that has the new DVD. You are stuck spending several hundred dollars on an update with no guarantee it will be that new. My DVD in my NAV was over 2 years old when I bought the vehicle new. Reading about the updated DVD it seems it will still be about 2 years old. As you mentioned the POI reference for all practical purposes are useless. A person would be better off buying a Garmin or whatever you like for a couple hundred dollars with current maps and free updates.. That leaves you with the white elephant stuck in your dash. I can tell you the experience has turned me off on OEM NAVs forever.
I have had just the opposite experience with my 06 Accord navi. Then again, I've heard lots of complaints about the Toyota units. Who make those? Honda's are made by Alpine.
I find mine much easier to use than the Garmin I bought for my wife. Of course the integration with climate controls, radio, etc. adds to it. I also like the touch screen and it's size.
The DVD updates are expensive but I've only done one update when they were having a 20% off sale.
I do understand that it is hard to justify the extra cost when the portables are so inexpensive these days.
PS
I was looking at a new 2009 BMW X5 diesel and played with the NAV for half an hour. I was not impressed with their unit either. Pioneer is the best I have seen installed in a vehicle. A fellow at our hotel had one in his new Chevy truck. He was able to give it directions verbally and find my Sister's place. The Toyota Unit was not even able to find the address we keyed in. Toyota sucks.
I accompanied a friend to Philly in his Audi S4 convertible. Gorgeous car by the way, fantastic drive.
The Navi was awful, though. You had to use this little joystick to enter one letter at a time, it seemingly took 20 minutes to enter one destination.
We were going to a Subaru dealer to meet Petter Solberg at the debut of the new STi. Audi had removed all Subaru dealers from its POI database.
Paranoid much? Seriously.
I had to find Miller Subaru on a map, enter the nearest intersection, and that's how we got there.
Shame on Audi. MMI was just awful, though it has improved since.
I hope insurance doesn't cover it. He shouldn't be driving! What if you child had been crossing the street and he didn't see the cross walk because he was looking down at his GPS?
Listen to the voice commands and keep your eyes on the road!
Oops, wrong discussion. :shades:
You could still keep your head up.
The next GPS I get I want elevation. My cheapo laptop GPS program from MS has elevation. I was really shocked that this one in the Sequoia did not have that very basic bit of information.
No idea about the height warning but I bet there's a trucker specific nav out there that lets you route around low bridges or roads with weight load restrictions.
It seems that they would have special units for truckers with all that stuff they need to know. Still have to watch the road.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
It also could be something under Avoidances, i.e. no heavy trucks are allowed on certain roads.
I see one of them is configurable for the size of the truck for picking routes; I assume that means the length as well as other factors.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
The Garmin 465T has height clearance and other info that truckers need. I'm sure there are others too.
Bob
Shop on crutchfield.com. That site will tell you what fits, and offers a good way to compare features.
I like the Kenwoods, which use Garmin's navigation interface (with very frequeunt updates available). Though I have no direct experience with those, since mine are smaller, portable units.
This happened on 2 separate occasions, so I'm skeptical, to say the least.
Whenver I hear "iPhone killer" I run in the opposite direction now.
His demo had the opposite effect - it convinced me to buy another Garmin PND.