Garmin GPS

[johnridley]

I know I'm typing stuff that everyone else has known for years, but I got my Garmin car GPS today, haven't even taken it off the property yet and I'm already very impressed. The GUI is exceptionally smooth and easy to figure out, the online registration and map updating worked without a hitch (though I must admit that I'd already installed the Garmin driver in my web browser for linking to my hiking GPS), I can't even fathom that they seem to have every damned dinky little dirt road and address on those roads on the continent in there (I added a few people's addresses to "favorites", bluetooth pairing worked trivially (my first time even touching bluetooth).

The major selling point for me was POIs and the thing knows more about what's within 5 miles of my house than I do. OK, that's not too hard given my level of knowledge, but it's still cool. And I haven't even started to load 3rd party POIs yet.

I don't know if I'll ever use some of the gunk like the city Navigator add-on maps for exploring major cities on foot, but it's nice that they're there. Maybe it would help in London some day.

Comments

[erikvolson.livejournal.com]

POI lookups are huge -- I realized this when, on the road, I'd be using the thing to find nearby restaurants and grocery stores more than I'd be using it to get me there.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Well, that's really why I decided to get one. I've been put off by them in the past because, hey, I can read a map. But for what they cost now, I'd just as soon not have to bother, or be tempted to look at maps or written directions while driving.

The POI thing is the clincher. Pull into a campground or hotel, and be able to pull up every place to eat, go see a movie, whatever anywhere nearby? I think it'll be nice to be able to decide to go somewhere or order a pizza without spending 15 minutes thumbing through a phone book in a hotel room. It just seemed to me that it would make a gigantic change in the whole vacation experience. $180 is chump change if it'll make vacation more fun.

Also, I was kind of surprised by the increase in sensitivity of GPS units. This thing actually was able to get a tentative lock inside our house. Our house is pretty much a Faraday cage; the drywall is foil backed. My old Garmin hiking GPS loses lock as soon as I walk through the door. This one didn't have a steady lock, it was charging in the bathroom and until I got fed up and went back there to turn it off, it had lock most of the time but then every 5 minutes or so would say "lost satellite communication"

Apparently the QStarz recorder I have coming is even better for sensitivity; they say it'll reliably hold a lock in the overhead compartment on an airplane.