OT: GPS device review

[AZ Nomad]

The difference is where your attention is focused.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, If it is a LED watch, it is hard on battery. I wear low end Casio G-shock atomic multiband solar watch with 3 sensor for every day. Shock, water resistant no need to adjust time(including DST) if I go across pond or Pacific, I just tell the watch which city I am in and time keeping is done automatically. Using Garmin GSP here.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Exactly. TV is a distration, a GPS does not have to be. No more distracting than looking for a street sign. It does not make you oblivious to your surroundings unless you want to be. People get distracted by the radio, kids in the car, wife yelling, cup of coffee spilling and many other things. It is the driver, not the device at fault.

[salty]

Then it is broken. Most of them, if you take a wrong turn will give you hell for it.

[George]

Don't know. What does your example have to do with a GPS? We have been able to buy a clock (from dirt cheap to mega expensive) you can fasten to your wrist for quite some time and be able to make good use of that technology.

If you chose not to but a GPS say 10 years ago you lost 10 years of convenience. Certainly there is lots of high end stuff but you don't need to spend big money for GPS equipment and I never have.

[George]

Never heard of that. About ten years ago I came in late and left a couple items in the car. Riff-raff broke in to a number of cars in my general area. They punched a hole in the drivers side door to unlock my car. Auto insurance said personal property was not covered under any conditions. Homeowners covered it for the little bit it went beyond the deductible.

[George]

Why needs to stare? Thats why you develop a scan pattern that includes the mirrors. I'll take a GPS user any day compared to being in traffic with someone who slows down, speeds up, slows down and looks like they are pulling to a curb to park only to pull out again then speed up then slows down and speeds up and swerves and then slows down and looks like they are parking only to speed up and pull out and speed back up while they are trying to find "Maple Ave."

[George]

He wasn't insulting you. He simply knows you never used one. No more attention is required than scanning the mirrors.

[George]

A lot depends on the vintage. It takes a little HP to process the info and GPSs with older processors would not be able to keep up. Not really a problem if you were used to it.

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

Cool. So it even shows children, dogs & little old ladies in the street? Or piles of glass. . . broken down cars. . .

I guess I'm old fashioned. If I can't see, I stop. [and get off the road in case there is someone out there with a GPS to show them where the street is]

Jim

[Worn Out Retread]

Around here, you can be the recipient of a fine if your car isn't locked and all valuables hidden out of sight....It isn't just on the "books" it is actually enforced.

[salty]

"in many cases"

[Tony]

A quart "can"! Wow, that was long ago!

[Tony]

Oh shit! That was you behind me!

[The Daring Dufas]

Around here, wandering Negro males known as urban campers will smash a vehicle window in order to pull up the back seat looking for change. I heard a crash outside my office some years ago and caught a Negro man who had smashed the window of my van in order to rifle the glove box. I bathed him with pepper spray and he started screaming " I'm stopping, I'm stopping!" to which I replied, "I'm not, I'm not!". The police caught him a few blocks away and it turned out that the vermin had been breaking into vehicles all over the area. The arrest was also his third felony and no, he wasn't sent away for life, I think there was a plea bargain. I've thought of some pretty horrible ways to put a stop to such nonsense but it would make me sound like a Muslim, darn it.

TDD

[HeyBub]

Yes, it does. Even my el-cheapo model has a facility for user input (such as detours or map errors). This user input is then propagated to millions of other same-manufacturer devices.

[Charlie]

No, this one is house broken and doesn't bite the hand that recharges its battery.

[George]

Actually it is such a great aid for positional awareness that you have a lot more time to scan for people in the street or whatever.

Especially if you are in a strange area. Instead of straining to read street signs on a tree lined street you plug in your destination and you don't even have to look at the GPS because it will tell you in advance of the turn and when to turn. If you catch it in your peripheral vision while scanning the mirrors the display will also call to your attention what action is required by adding colored arrows and zooming the display. Makes for much safer driving and you have a lot more time to actually pay attention to driving.

[Steve B]

Thank you for telling me what I do.

Steve

[Steve B]

"AZ Nomad" wrote

I wasn't insulting you. I can simply see that you have never used one. No more attention is required than scanning the mirrors.

Steve (kudos to George, too)