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JonasM wrote:I've been on several group drives in the past few years. I have an old TomTom. Some other folks used their phone GPS. The ones who got lost were the phone GPS users when they lost a cell signal - lots of areas in Ohio where that happen - Hocking Hills for one example.
If you ever go into such areas, stick with a standalone GPS that does not rely on a cell tower nearby.
AMEN
As an avid, experienced, way above normal user - I concur. Been using it since before selective availability was turned off in 01 or 02, Boat, geocaching, hiking, input to several devices (ham radio, scanners, etc.)
I'd never rely on cell phone for GPS - the GPS will work fine, but without some work, you won't have any map data.
Garmin - imho, is the way .
I agree - out in the boonies, the phones have trouble.
On the other hand, in cities with tall buildings or inside parking garages, your GPS is useless because it can't see the satellites. A real pain if you are leaving a garage and need to know which way to turn BEFORE you leave the lot. It may be a couple of blocks before it knows where it is.
Bottom line, use what's best for the area you'll be driving around.
FWIW I've got a Garmin nuvi. Don't know the number. Anyway, it always lets me know where the school zones are... The ones that are closed. The open schools, it has no idea. Some of the zones haven't been there in years. That was after loading the new maps too.
Mike
The American Indians found out what happens when you don't control immigration.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
That is not necessarily a tall building problem, until you are moving it has no idea of direction. I see ot all the time when one parks for awhile and when you exit, no idea which way to go. Sometime zooming in and horse sense works, sometimes not.
pk47 wrote:
Face wrote:
JonasM wrote:I've been on several group drives in the past few years. I have an old TomTom. Some other folks used their phone GPS. The ones who got lost were the phone GPS users when they lost a cell signal - lots of areas in Ohio where that happen - Hocking Hills for one example.
If you ever go into such areas, stick with a standalone GPS that does not rely on a cell tower nearby.
AMEN
As an avid, experienced, way above normal user - I concur. Been using it since before selective availability was turned off in 01 or 02, Boat, geocaching, hiking, input to several devices (ham radio, scanners, etc.)
I'd never rely on cell phone for GPS - the GPS will work fine, but without some work, you won't have any map data.
Garmin - imho, is the way .
I agree - out in the boonies, the phones have trouble.
On the other hand, in cities with tall buildings or inside parking garages, your GPS is useless because it can't see the satellites. A real pain if you are leaving a garage and need to know which way to turn BEFORE you leave the lot. It may be a couple of blocks before it knows where it is.
Bottom line, use what's best for the area you'll be driving around.
I'll agree with that. That data is not very well done - and no way to disable that either .
There is a system to report errors , I have done it on several non-existent schools that get annoying:0 With all the new schools in the last few years it's screwy. It also lists many of these church schools that come and go rather quickly.
screwman wrote:FWIW I've got a Garmin nuvi. Don't know the number. Anyway, it always lets me know where the school zones are... The ones that are closed. The open schools, it has no idea. Some of the zones haven't been there in years. That was after loading the new maps too.
buckeye43210 wrote:Sounds like most of you may not know that you can download areas and navigate offline with Google maps on a smart phone or tablet.
Not news to me, but I use MAPS.me - let/s one carry entire states. I often will take a tablet on vacation with states loaded. Used it a few times when out of range of cell service or need a bigger picture.
Face wrote:That is not necessarily a tall building problem, until you are moving it has no idea of direction. I see ot all the time when one parks for awhile and when you exit, no idea which way to go. Sometime zooming in and horse sense works, sometimes not.
In large cities with tall buildings a GPS cannot acquire enough satellites to establish a location (accurately). Direction doesn't matter - it cannot even locate itself.
Same thing happens to race car GPS data acquisition systems. Inside the metal garages, it has no idea where you are and no satellites are acquired. Go park the car outside and in 1-2 minutes you're all set.
"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. . . Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them."
- Thomas Paine
"Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem."
