Garmin Good and Bad news

[bruceb58]

I use GoogleMaps on my iPhone, but it has problems when I don't have a data signal.

You can run GoogleMaps in an offline mode currently with Android and there will be a version for iOS soon.

Where The Garmin is better is finding food and gas stations along your route. Google maps has all my stored destinations in it so that is just like a Garmin. For Gas stations, I just use GasBuddy to find the lowest price gas.

 

[bruceb58]

Which app are you using? A 10" nav screen would be great!

CoPilot is one I have used for awhile with my nexus but there are a lot more out there. With CoPilot you preload all the maps. No need for cell reception.

Does your tablet have GPS? For example, the iPads only had a GPS chip in them if they were the 3G/4G versions. The Google Nexus was one of the only ones that had GPS capability in WiFi only versions.

 

[bruceb58]

From what I have read, the 2002 Tahoe had a double din opening, so you can get a new radio bucket and make it work in the older ones which is what I will probably do.

I have also seen where people have bought the dash bezel for a 2003 and were able to fit a double DIN radio in the older trucks. There is not a lot of room there so not sure how that works.

 

[bruceb58]

No it doesn't , but you have your opinion and others have theirs. Lets just leave it at that. Good thing it's all about opinions because we all have one of those other orifice output devices as well.

For my bike, I use a Garmin device and not my phone. I have used a Garmin auto device for years since they first came out. That first one I bought was $1000 and huge.

You are right that everyone picks what they are comfortable with but its a fact that the sale of Garmin GPS auto units sales decline around 12% per year. It's one of the main reasons they moved into and are a leader in the fitness GPS market.

 

[MTboatguy]

I have also seen where people have bought the dash bezel for a 2003 and were able to fit a double DIN radio in the older trucks. There is not a lot of room there so not sure how that works.

I have been looking at some of the installs on Google images and it looks like it is big enough for the modern double din units, I will have to pop off the bezel and see exactly what this one looks like back there, then see if it is really worth doing, or just picking up a new head unit.

 

[bruceb58]

I have been looking at some of the installs on Google images and it looks like it is big enough for the modern double din units, I will have to pop off the bezel and see exactly what this one looks like back there, then see if it is really worth doing, or just picking up a new head unit.

Its super easy to pop off the bezel and remove the radio so you can see what you have to work with. You and I both have a 99 Chevy Silverado

 

[MTboatguy]

Its super easy to pop off the bezel and remove the radio so you can see what you have to work with. You and I both have a 99 Chevy Silverado

Yup, we both have the Silverado, as I am looking for different things that need attention, I am finding it is not the same as the K1500, I need to replace the back brakes and found out it is a different set up on this truck! Like I said before, it has been many years since I have owned a Chev!

 

[bigdee]

I loaned my Garmin to son-in-law so I had to use google maps on my android. What a contrast of inconvenience and aggravation....almost threw it out the window!

 

[bruceb58]

Yup, we both have the Silverado, as I am looking for different things that need attention, I am finding it is not the same as the K1500, I need to replace the back brakes and found out it is a different set up on this truck! Like I said before, it has been many years since I have owned a Chev!

Biggest weakness on that truck is the parking brake.

 

[bruceb58]

I loaned my Garmin to son-in-law so I had to use google maps on my android. What a contrast of inconvenience and aggravation....almost threw it out the window!

Yeah..high tech isn't for everybody. I actually hated GoogleMaps for a long time. One of the reasons I wasn't using it and was using my Garmin until a year ago.

My mom probably wouldn't like Google Maps either but she is 82.

If you ever travel abroad and walk around a big city, having google maps in your pocket in "walk" mode is pretty outstanding. When I was in Italy was the easiest way to walk around to find places.

 

[dingbat]

I have a Garmin GPS but its been in the bottom of the center console for a couple of years now. Just use the app on my Apple app on my i-phone. Everything the Garmin does with no "updates" required. Plus it works all over the world.

I travel for a living and I live and die by my GPS. I show up in a town 2,500 miles from home with nothing but an address for a client. Unless they've changed in the past 1 year or so, all I can say about Garmin maps is that they are better than nothing. I've run into exits that no longer exist. Roads that don't show up on the map, etc.

Spent an hour driving around St. Louis one time looking for a customer. At the time "new" I-64 wasn't on the map. It keep telling me to get off at exists that didn't exist.

I have a customer in the northern Chicago suburban of Schaumburg. As of last year, all directions for the immediate area where backwards. I got off the exit and it said to take a left. To the left was fields and woods. To the right you could clearly see the plant.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Personally, I don't know why anyone would buy a Garmin anymore or buy a built in GPS in a car.

Probably because it seems you can't buy a car w/o one anymore. Basically, standard equipment... Just like backup cameras. Double din, no idea what that is.....

 

[rbh]

When cell reception is spotty, or the nearest tower is 50+ miles away Garmins are a good thing.

 

[gm280]

Probably because it seems you can't buy a car w/o one anymore. Basically, standard equipment... Just like backup cameras. Double din, no idea what that is.....

WIMUSKY, a backup camera is now demanded by the Federal government new regulations on all new cars sold, I think starting in 2016. So you have to have one now whether you want one or not. I wish there was a Federal regulation to stop all cell phones from working while moving in a vehicle, personally.

 

[WIMUSKY]

WIMUSKY, a backup camera is now demanded by the Federal government new regulations on all new cars sold, I think starting in 2016. So you have to have one now whether you want one or not. I wish there was a Federal regulation to stop all cell phones from working while moving in a vehicle, personally.

I do like our camera. Maybe if you turn your cell phone on in a moving vehicle the hazard lights start flashing! The would draw some attention......

 

[GA_Boater]

This is a Double Din - DinDin. Read all about it here.

Backup cameras are not required equipment. Starting in May 2018 that changes.

Boy, as this thread made a few loop the loops.

 

[ondarvr]

I basically drive for a living, I put mega miles on vehicles, this started long before cell phones or GPS units, I had a trunk full of Thomas Bros maps back then.

I use a Garmin GPS and take it with me all over North America, I use my phone or iPad at times, but a dedicated unit with all my saved locations works much better for me, too many regions have poor cell reception.

 

[JASinIL2006]

You can run GoogleMaps in an offline mode currently with Android and there will be a version for iOS soon.

Where The Garmin is better is finding food and gas stations along your route. Google maps has all my stored destinations in it so that is just like a Garmin. For Gas stations, I just use GasBuddy to find the lowest price gas.

If I'm going from Point A to Point B, and I know there will be good cell reception all along the route, I use my iPhone and GoogleMaps. It's very simple and it usually plots the best route. We travel enough places with cell service, though, that Garmin is needed. If there is an iOS version with offline maps, that would be handy. But GoogleMaps still doesn't have some of the conveniences that a dedicated device does. A big one we use, especially when on family trips, is the ability to add in an intermediate destination en route, without having to ditch the original routing.

Both the GoogleMaps and Garmin seem to be somewhat inaccurate in predicting arrival times; GoogleMaps seems to underestimate how long it will take to arrive, while Garmin overestimates the time needed. It's interesting to see how far into the trip I get before the predicted arrival times start to converge.

Probably the biggest factor in favor of Garmin is that, when I'm navigating with Garmin alone, and my phone is in my pocket, I'm much less tempted to check the phone. When my phone is on and navigating, I notice incoming texts, etc., a lot more. I don't check those when I'm driving, but it is distracting nevertheless.

On a side note, Illinois enacted a "no cell phone use" law (unless it's hands-free) and it has to be the most ignored law ever. Makes me crazy. I can't count the times I've had near misses because the other driver was fiddling with a cell phone...

 

[MTboatguy]

Several states have enacted no cell phone laws, unless hands free. They currently have the technology to jam signals in a car, which can be turned off if a demonstrated need exists and it will allow calls to 911, they should install this tech in all new cars and if you can show a legitimate need it can be turned off. I watched a demonstration at a industry electronics show last summer and the only drawback I saw was the jamming technology can affect others around you creating a problem for those who actually need to be able to use their cell phone.

In my travels through various states with no cell phone laws, it seems to be ignored equally everywhere!

 

[bruceb58]

Both the GoogleMaps and Garmin seem to be somewhat inaccurate in predicting arrival times; GoogleMaps seems to underestimate how long it will take to arrive, while Garmin overestimates the time needed. It's interesting to see how far into the trip I get before the predicted arrival times start to converge.

One of the things GoogleMaps does is to use the data of vehicle speeds of everyone who is on the route you are on and use that to determine what your average speed is. As congestion lightens up the arrival time changes. We drive up a local mountain a lot. It can tell us what the average speed is in one bottleneck area even though there are no highway sensors. We can change our route based on this which is nice.

We have hands free in CA. We probably have had it longer than anyone. I still see many on their phones. I love the ones that put it on speaker and hold the phone up to their lips. It's hands free...not ear free!:facepalm: One of my greatest fears riding my bicycle are the people texting.