BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?

Subject: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 10:33 AM

I am having so much fun playing with my new toy I feel like a 5-year old who got something in a great big box you can then use as a fort, or anything! I've had it talking to me in English from various places, I like the Aussie ones, and in French (the Canadian french is a howl, it reads Dr as Doctor even when saying Turn Right onto whatever Drive, it calls it whatever doctor, which is pretty funny). And the Hungarian doesn't even try with the street names, since they would have to be declined, which is smart. And it kind of complains when you disobey (again I have to plan your route!) instead of the "recalculating" you get in all the Englishes and Frenches...
What is your favorite toy from this year's haul?

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 10:45 AM

The wireless-via-USB thingie and the Quill office supply catalog.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 10:52 AM

I've got a tom tom.

It behaves pretty well but once she told be to drive over a 30 foot embankment. Don't get her angry!

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: SINSULL
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 10:53 AM

Had mine for a year and it's still in the box. I hate electronics that tell me what to do. Told the elevator to SHUT UP this morning when it buzzed at me pre-coffee. Shocked a few people standing by.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 11:20 AM

Love my GPS, here and in the UK.

For Christmas I got the I-Pod Nano - haven't got round to playing with it very much yet but it does look like being a useful toy!

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 11:21 AM

Oh Mary

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: kendall
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 11:53 AM

I wouldn't swap my GPS for a farm Downeast with a hog on it!

My present this year, a half inch air tool. It must be good quality 'cause I dropped it on my head and it didn't break. It can remove a wheel quicker than an old fashioned lug wrench could remove one nut.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: SINSULL
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 12:00 PM

I would. Where is that farm, Kendall?

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Becca72
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 12:02 PM

I'd love to have GPS I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I have surveyed some people I know who have them to see what brand to go for but of course everyone gives me a different answer. Guess I'm gonna have to do the research myself.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: RangerSteve
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 12:09 PM

As some people have already stated, GPS will sometimes try to kill you. Mine hase directed me to drive into concrete medians. It seems they don't update changes in roads right away. Also, they don't always give you the shortest routes. Mine can be used to show you the route before you set out. I live in NJ, and in some cases, the GPS has shown me routes to other places in the same state that involve going into Pennsylvania and returning to New Jersey, as if we didn't have roads here. But mostly, I love the thing. And when it comes to finding addresses at night, when you can't read the numbers on houses, it's great.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 12:40 PM

I love, love, love my GPS and it's a cheap Navigon. I get lost easily, especially when I'm by myself and trying to read a map in the dark while watching for street signs, etc. It has taken me on some circuitous routes, including one down a mountain that was kind of dangerous, but it has helped me a number of times. It's so reassuring when I get that "lost" feeling to just switch it on and press "Take me Home".

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Jeri
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 12:42 PM

Mine provides an excuse for swearing.

I was going to Apple Hollow (Franklin, QC) last summer and tried to re-route to get around a road block. It wanted me to go to Ottawa.

I went to Toronto for Christmas and it sent me to a ferry that's always closed in winter.

It comes in handy when I want to go somewhere that's not too far away, or I have enough sense to not follow its directions when it's being stupid.

John, what do you mean, "Oh Mary"? She tells people to do that all the time, pre-coffee, but I'm sure you remember that.

Mine works best when I just let it tell me where I am, and then use a map. I AM tempted to download the Sopranos voices. Easier to swear at. "Take a friggin' left up here, or ya end up swimmin' with the fishes, ya moron!" It's really easier to be mean to than some nutso lady who pronounces 'Cornwall' so it rhymes with 'porn PAL' (accent on the second syllable). "And take the 401 to Corn-WAL."

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 12:43 PM

I found what *I* wanted before Christmas, and we sort of agreed that I could get it early on a sale.

7" portable, digital TV which will also plug in to my cable and receive ALL the digital cable channels. It has a tripod mount in its base, so I invented a heavy base I could mount it on, using an old tripod head. Now I can plug it in in about 5 locations in the house. It has an earphone jack, brightness control, sleep timer...etc..
So far, it is working like a charm. The only glitch was that the tripod mount was metric! I had to go to the hardware store and get a 6MM metric bolt and use a piece of wood to adapt it to the ¼ 20 tripod mount.

If I get a windfall, I'm gonna get another one for permanent mounting in my workshop.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 12:46 PM

(actually, this is the precise one I got. I think it is the same model with different branding)

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: kendall
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 01:06 PM

We have a Garmin and it does a good job. The one we rented with the car in California took us up the back road to hell and gone. Always wondered what that place looked like. I dubbed her the "Bitch in a box".

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Becca72
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 01:34 PM

Oh man, I gotta have one with Pauly Walnuts' voice!

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 01:39 PM

Grrrrrrrrr!!!

I hate my GPS... I mean, who needs two women to argue with in the car??? It's like being tag teamed and worst thing about it is...

...they are both wrong... lol...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 01:40 PM

I am whereever I am but I suppose it would be nice to prove it.

Soon every cell phone will have gps.

Two houses away there is a house with our identical house number but different street name. For delivery people who rely only on their GPS, I have to walk down to the corner to wave them up to the actual address. They say, "but the GPS said I was there!"?

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Cuilionn
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 01:50 PM

We got a TomTom this year, too--mostly for my partner, a piper with a poor sense of direction who needs to navigate to a lot of churches and cemeteries in rural Maine. I suspect she'll still get lost trying to find some of those cemeteries, but at least she'll be able--using the "points of interest" feature, to find the closest restaurant when she emerges, starving, from marshes or deep woods.

We didn't care for any of the standard voices, so we downloaded the only Scottish voice we could find on the TomTom site: "Andy," an attempt at a Sean Connery sound-alike. We've found him pleasantly amusing thus far--he tells us to "take the motorway" instead of merging onto the highway/freeway and--when informing us that we've arrived at our destination--he says, "now: sing for Scotland!"

The best part, though, is when you get to the screen where it asks you to choose a route with toll roads or a route with none. He proclaims, with an offended tone, "Ah'm no payin for THIS!"

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 01:57 PM

I love my GPS. It's not perfect, but even if the directions it gives aren't always perfectly accurate, it can still get me home if I don't know where I am. That's a very good thing.

I got the sewing machine of my dreams this year. It's the first one I've ever had that will easily hem bluejeans with french seams (like butter). It's a Janome, and it's the sturdiest, most well built and powerful sewing machine I've ever used.

JtS also gave me a very cool device that is a little screen with a display that shows the current weather conditions and weather forecasts for the next four days. It's not dependent on our internet working, so we can get current weather info even if the electricity and internet go out. That, combined with the alarm clock he got me previously that gives both inside and outside temps in our location, gives me pretty much everything I need, weather-wise (except, maybe a siren on top of the house that would give tornado warnings).

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 02:45 PM

Um, Kendall, a half-inch tool? What happened to your original and, um, presumably longer one?

Hey, this has just become a music thread - "I've only got a three-inch tool" to the tune of "I only want to be with you" (with the chorus line, when I'm coming out of the pool, I've only got a one-inch tool!) is one of the greatest parodies of all time!

Yeah, the GPS lies a lot, today it tried to get me to go straight out of a parking lot through several buildings and cars to get to the main road, but I don't obey it blindly at least. I have more fun disobeying it and making it reroute me anyway...

Although I do hear that it is the new wave in ERs, people who've had car crashes because of obeying their GPS...

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Don Firth
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 02:52 PM

Being wheelchair-bound, from time to time I ride the wheelchair lift equipped Metro-Access vans, a service that Seattle Transit provides if you can't ride public transportation (the nearest bus stops to where I live are either up or down a grade that's far too steep for me to try to negotiate in my manual chair).

Recently, the Metro-Access vans have been equipped with GPS. I give the driver the address I'm going to, he or she plugs it into the gizmo, and off we go.

I've notice, however, that the GPS picks the shortest route, which is not necessarily the most efficient route. For example, my most recent adventure involving GPS consisted of going to a doctors' appointment. On the way back, the GPS tells the driver to "Go west to 13th Avenue East and turn north," or words to that effect. Knowing the territory, I told the driver that it would be much more efficient to go to 15th Avenue East and then turn north. The reason? 15th East was a sort of main drag and there were traffic lights. 13th East was a residential street, and one had to cross a couple of busy thoroughfares where there were stop signs but no lights, and you had to sit there and wait for a let-up in traffic to get across them. The 15th East route was a couple of blocks longer, but it was a whole lot faster and less frustrating.

But no. He insisted on following the instructions of the GPS, and the trip took quite a bit longer than if he had made use of the traffic lights instead of sitting and pounding the steering wheel while waiting for a break in the stream of rush-hour traffic.

Methinks GPS is a boon to the barefoot pilgrim or the "Stranger in a Strange Land," but if you know the territory, it's tendency to pick the shortest route instead of the quickest and most efficient route can lead one to frustration.

I heard tell of one person who was following the GPS instructions and it led her to a dead-end street with a river a few yards away. The street she was on picked up on the other side of the river, but the GPS gadget miss one small essential:   no bridge.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 02:57 PM

You can programme a GPS for shortest route, fastest route, etc.

I've got a TomTom in the UK - it's invaluable when I'm batting about the country. It has the added advantage of letting you know the speed limit for any particular road, what speed you are doing (the numbers go red if you're above the road limit) and it warns of speed cameras en route. this was the cheapest model going - I'm only there for a few weeks a year!

The Garmin we have in the USA is good too. what I need to do is update it on line but I have the feeling that that is going to be expensive.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Don Firth
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 02:58 PM

Oh! But I know a couple of guys who are deeply involved in geocaching. They're having a lot of fun with it GPS is absolutely essential to that "treasure-hunting" hobby.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Greg F.
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 03:46 PM

Learn to read a map and use a compass. You might get where you're going in one piece. You allow a machine to think for you & you're asking for real trouble.

----------------------------

GPS-led travel goes amiss; 3 Ore. parties rescued
If you're using GPS, say Oregon officers and travel experts, don't unplug your common sense

By TIM FOUGHT, Associated Press
January 1, 2010

PORTLAND, Ore. -- In a holiday hurry, Jeramie Griffin piled his family into the car and asked his new GPS for the quickest way from his home in the Willamette Valley across the Cascade Range.

It said he could shave 40 minutes off the time of the roundabout route he usually takes to the in-laws' place.Following the directions, he and his wife headed east on Christmas Eve and into the mountains, turning off a state highway onto local roads and finally getting stuck in the snow.

They had no cell phone service and ran short on formula for their 11-month-old daughter. After taking exploratory hikes, trying to dig out and spending the night in their car, the distraught couple filmed a goodbye video.

Like two other parties of holiday travelers who followed GPS directions smack into Oregon snowbanks, Griffin and family were eventually rescued. But their peril left law enforcement officers and travel advisers perplexed about drivers who occasionally set aside common sense when their GPS systems suggest a shortcut.

"Did everybody just get these for Christmas?" asked Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger, leader of one rescue effort.

In Griffin's case, in fact, the GPS device was a Christmas gift, from his parents. He used it for the first time to plan the trip to Central Oregon.

It's one he'd made many times before, following a route travelers have found reliable since at least the days of the Oregon Trail. But, he said, a shortcut the GPS device suggested was attractive.

"We were in such a hurry to get over there, we programmed it in the driveway and went ahead," he said.

On Christmas Day, a Nevada couple took one such road in Evinger's County and spent three days stuck. They were rescued when a break in atmospheric conditions allowed them to signal their coordinates to 911.

Three Portlanders and their small dog got into trouble Monday when their vehicle slid off a forest road as they were using GPS directions to a hot springs in the southern Willamette Valley. Lane County officials said the three and the dog were exhausted and mildly hypothermic after walking 17 miles without survival gear to get into cell phone range and call 911.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: SINSULL
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 03:53 PM

A surviving member of the Donner Party wrote to her sister "Never ever take a shortcut."
Good advice.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Wesley S
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 03:57 PM

I got a GPS too. And since we just moved to Georgia about 8 weeks ago it's really come in handy. It doesn't mean I won't get lost but at least I'll have some help doing so. And someone to talk to while I'm doing it.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 04:09 PM

It's very easy to get lost in the greater Atlanta area. Even with a map and compass.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Tangledwood
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 04:44 PM

In the aviation world all these electronic gizmos are called navigation aids , with emphasis on aid. If you want to be directed on exactly your preferred route take the time to plan it on a map first and program some waypoints into the GPS. GPSs are only as good as the mapping data in them and I think most of that comes from a common source. They may not be perfect but they sure beat pulling over and studying a street directory.

Becca72 - you might consider hiring one for a short term to find what you like

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 05:08 PM

A GPS it a tool, not an excuse to throw out your maps or ignore GoogleMaps or Google Earth.

I was always able to get anywhere I wanted to go with a paper map, and in the last several years, I can enter an address in Google maps and SEE the area in photographs...some from ground level. That lets ME choose which route seems safest or even quietest or more scenic. If I was on a trip into really remote country, a GPS in addition to maps and Google would be fun to have... it would warn me if I made a wrong turn, and could no doubt get me back on track.

Now, if I was in REALLY remote areas, or out on the ocean, GPS would be invaluable to know where I was.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 05:12 PM

And when you hit 'Take Me Home' make sure its NOT on the Scenic Route setting !!

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 05:13 PM

I got a new new digital Leica.

Last year for Christmas I got a New Brunswick Atlas ... detailed maps of the province ... now can find some interesting 2ndary coastal roads .... allowing for some good off the beaten track exploration.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 06:32 PM

My GPS has been especially useful in cities like London where there is a lot of traffic and the street signs aren't always easy to see. Try getting there with just a map when there is nowhere to pull over to read it and there is heavy traffic all around!

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 06:36 PM

"I got a GPS" - sounds like you've picked up a nasty disease...

What's wrong with calling them "satnavs"?

I love mine, I set it to avoid all the big roads and I find places you never knew existed, and get there just about as soon.

And for fun you can always defy her, and turn left when she says turn right, and that way you can get to even stranger places - and still get where you want to go in the end.

I'm looking forward to the day you can set them to be proper back-seat drivers - tell you you're going too fast, and isn't it time you got some petrol, and have you remembered to do the shopping...

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 06:46 PM

Satnav is not a term that is in use in the US. People here would not know what it means.

I'm one of those people who have difficulty reading street signs, especially at night, and I am perfectly capable of getting lost even while using a map printed out from Google. And it's a lot more dangerous for me to try to use a map while the car's moving, so a GPS is a very good solution for me.

JtS uses the GPS for his work. It is a lot more dangerous for him to use the map program in his computer while driving than it is to use the GPS, so the GPS is a perfect solution for him. He goes to sometimes dozens of locations within a given day, so it really is essential both in terms of safety as well as in terms of saving time.

I don't see why some people feel a need to assess whether or not other people need to use a GPS. If you don't need on, fine. But mind your own business, ok?

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Greg F.
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 07:06 PM

Its more a matter of whether other people need to use their brains, rather than relying upon an electronic toy with demonsttrable shortcomings.

I realize that personal responsibility is out of fashion these days, but ...

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 07:09 PM

I would say that personal responsibility includes using a device that makes it safer for one to drive. Using a map while driving is far less responsible (and far less safe) than listening to a GPS device while driving.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Greg F.
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 07:12 PM

Right you are! stare at a screen on the dash instead of looking at a map. Much safer.

(Try pulling over to the side of the road to use either, & give the rest of us drivers a break!)

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 07:15 PM

You don't have to stare at the screen. The device talks to you and tells you when to turn. That's a hell of a lot safer than looking at a map. And sometimes it's not possible to pull over to the side, and people who are driving slowly trying to find their turn are a big pain in the ass. If your device is telling you when to turn, you don't have to inconvenience anybody. Come into the 21st century, Greg. It's perfectly safe here.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Greg F.
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 07:20 PM

If your device is telling you when to turn, you don't have to inconvenience anybody.

Unless it tells you to turn where no turn exists, or tells you to turn over a cliff, or the wrong way into a one-way street, or onto a logging road in the middle of nowhere - as they often do.

The 21st century has no edge on rationality, tho it may have an over-reliance on gadgets & gimmickry at the expense of human intelligence.

Ta-

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 07:26 PM

Anyone who is a more dangerous driver when using a Satnav (whatever you call it) is too dangerous to be allowed to drive anyway. Unfortunately there probably are a good few like that.

Roll on the day when there'll be upgraded versions that will be able to spot the dangerous drivers, and will turn off the engine...

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 07:35 PM

Sometimes they steer you wrong, but then so do maps. Even Google and MapQuest maps. You have to use judgement whether you are using a map or a GPS. It's still no reason to say that nobody should use a GPS any more than to say that nobody should use a map.

GPS devices are maps in the form of software. If you're using a road map that's five years old, for instance (and most people don't update their maps all that often), you're not getting any better information than a GPS that is five years old. They're both using the same basic information. If you update your GPS, you'll have more current information. Same with maps. For people who do a lot of driving, as JtS does, it would be cost prohibitive to try to update the number of paper maps he would have to use for all the driving he does, especially in metropolitan areas. He needs to have maps that are very high resolution. And he would have far more maps in the car with him than would be practical. He can use the map software in his computer, but that's not really any more accurate than either his GPS or a paper map that is not brand new. When his original GPS became out of date, he bought a better one on sale with updated maps. He's in far better shape with that than he would be with paper maps. And I got the old one as a hand-me-down, which is sufficient for my needs here in town.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 07:37 PM

...and if you are so adamant that people should use their brains instead of technology, maybe you should dispense with the maps and just navigate by the stars.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 07:59 PM

They never "steer you wrong", even if they sometimes might tell you the wrong way - the driver is the one with the steering wheel.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 08:10 PM

I got one a year ago as a gift, but haven't hooked it up yet. I'm not resistant to the idea or anything, I just haven't been anyplace new in the last year. We travel a fair bit, going to art fairs and festivals, but it's to the same places year after year. I could get to all of 'em blindfolded.

However, we'll be going to South Carolina for my daughter's wedding in April. I'll hook it up by then. She gave the thing to me so I guess I should let it guide me to the wedding chapel.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 08:48 PM

sometimes getting lost is a fun part of the trip.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 08:59 PM

Mine gets confused if we go driving in the bush...just shows green and yellow blocks on the screen and no road.

It annoys me when it tells me to take turnings I know will not take me to where I want to go. I try telling it to shut up but it ignores me.

I like it when it tells me to drive 500km...done that several times on trips up north from Perth.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 09:28 PM

sometimes getting lost is a fun part of the trip.


True enough - but if you use your Satnav imaginatively you can get lost together very enjoyably. Just set her to avoid the big roads, and do the opposite of what she says every now and again.

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 09:33 PM

Trouble is I have Satnag as well to contend with...the Mrs!

Subject: RE: BS: New Toy! I got a GPS, what about you?
From: Tangledwood
Date: 06 Jan 10 - 09:33 PM

What's wrong with calling them "satnavs"?

Nothing I suppose, if those you are communicating with have the same understanding of the term as you do. Of course satnav is a convenient abbreviation of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) the generic term which, as well as American GPS, includes Russian GLONASS, and the future Chinese and European systems.
I don't know that my TomTom GPS will pick them up.