GPS: For Work or Play?

I use mine for a little of both.
I honestly do not take many far
away trips but it does come in handy
when your on a section of town you don't
normally travel.

I got a GPS because I was flashed by a red light camera and my friend told me the GPS can tell you when you are close to one. He had the Garmin Nuvi 360 which is the size of a palm pilot. (it's sleek and looks great, and fits in my purse) I don't drive much so this is mostly for play (aka travel). My friend said he used in Florida and bypassed tons of toll roads to Orlando from the airport. In addition, it helps when traffic is congested after a game, go down a side road to another route home. And it helps when you need a restaurant name so you can call ahead for reservations. And this one has bluetooth so I can talk in the car without headphone.

So for work or for play? Maybe a little bit of both.

I have always enjoyed maps, this is the ultimate map. Living in a large city, there are always places I have to go that I haven't been before, and, although I am familar with the area, I don't **know** every street in detail. My GPS is satisfying because I can take new routes and it's real time directions advise me if I make a mistake.

Even if you don't travel much it can help you around town. Even though I've lived here several years, sometimes I'm not sure what is the best way to get from point a to b. I've also found new places to eat around town using the Food listings.

I bought my GPS (Garmin Ique M3) for the combo of Pocket PC Internet (work and play...) and the GPS features (mostly play and travel).

When traveling (mostly in Texas) I like to stay off the interstates as much as possible, so I add 'via points' of towns I would like to pass through on my way to the final destination without always having to get out the "Roads of Texas" atlas, which BTW is a great series of books/atlas' for analog back-up.

After downloading the red light camera POIs, I have been even more pleased with my decision for the GPS use.

The idea of Geocache activities is catching some of my interest as well, but haven't gone past the reading all about it stage.

I got my Mio C310x for travel/shopping. I am really tired of looking at maps along the way.

Plus GPS save $$$ and time. Take alternative routes save my many times. Red light camera alert is another advantage.

I got my GPS for pure fun. I love to travel and explore new places, and I thought that a GPS would be a useful, fun addition. It definitely has been that!

I bought mine as a combo with my DVD screen, I too find myself eating at places around town that I never knew about. I love driving around with the on screen 3D map showing every street, and never having to look at street signs.

It has been very helpful for other tasks though... Just last week I was invited to a 50th Bday party in a town I had only been to a few times... I didn't need to print any directions out or look for places to eat on the way or look for anything to do the next day.

My navigation brought me straight to the party, straight to the place of choice for food on the way, and on quite a tour around the city the next day!

In my opinion there is no such thing as a waste when it comes to GPS. I personally think that handheld units, whether PDA's, GPS Enabled Cell Phones, PDA's or Dedicated Units are the best because they provide the most versatility and portability. Plus most of the current handheld units can be used in conjunction with laptops and PC's. There are even Auto PC's now that fit in the space of a radio in your dash complete with touchscreen and some even with voice command capability.

I've owned a Garmin Etex Legend for the past 4 years and have been totally satisfied with it. I've used it for everything from routing trips, hunting, fishing, tracking delivery routes, Geocaching, and the list goes on. I've also used it to fine tune driving routes using the other info that the GPS provides through the Trip Computer. I'll soon be using it to provide much needed help in the Trucking Industry. I've also used it in conjunction with my laptop which displays my progress on the road, giving turn by turn directions and displaying nearby POI's.

With the addition of various POI's to my software I'm able to find gas stations, truck stops, hotels, motels, camp grounds, restaurants, local points of historical or natural interest, the list goes on.

As I mentioned, I'll soon be using my Garmin to help navigate America's Highways. This started a search for what I felt would be helpful additional POI's. Thus I found this site. I've found a couple of others that have been of some use but in general have found that when it comes to Professional Driving, there certainly could be a lot more POI's that would be useful. For example, a low clearance POI would be nice or current road construction, travel delays, etc. I've found that it's very difficult to glean this sort of POI from the web that's free. There are verious software offerings that do provide some of that very info but have a tendency to be very expensive or subscription services.

So in summary, Both of course! Serious business or a local exploration for fun. You can't go wrong with a handheld. Face it, you can't take your Nuvi or Tom-Tom fishing. You also can't take your Fishfinder/GPS Combo Geocaching.

Belive it or not, I have 3 GPS units. 1 for hunting on my hunting land, very basic unit a Garmin 12, Then I have a NAVMAN 5500 GPS/Chartplotter for my boat. I like this the best because there is just so much detail. When out at night it is so helpful in avoiding obstructions etc. Then my unit in my truck is a Garmin C 530. That is great as well. It is very helpful in both work and travel. I decided to get a car unit after I was 250 miles from home and my brother cut his hand severely while hunting. I called the local sheriff to get directions to the nearest hospital which was a half hour away, and the dispatcher could barely get me out of his county. So I decided the way I travel, I should get one. It would have helped so much during this event, and I hope I don't have to use it for anything like this again, but it is nice to know I have the piece of mind now.

I use it for the traffic information. However, now I cannot believe I lived so long without one. Not for directions or mapping, as much as having a portable phone directory for businesses.

My wife would say "What do you want to do for dinner?" I pull a restaurant out of the directory and order or make reservations. If I am low on gas, I punch in fuel and I am the nearest gas station.

Now, with traffic info and redlight information, even just traveling around town without one is unusual.

There are golf courses that I have saved as favorites and have discovered places that I never would have known about.

I bought a nüvi® 660 a few months ago and I love it. I travel 250-300 miles a day for work. The traffic feature keeps me away from the major tie ups and gets me home faster. I have time in the car to listen to audio books on my nüvi® that I would never have time to read otherwise(The World is Flat by Friedman is fantastic). The red light POI file from this site gives me a heads up and reminds me to be extra careful when I am in a government revenue generating zone. When my Bluetooth earphone dies at the end of my longest days the nüvi® grabs the phone calls and allows me to continue my hands free phone usage. I am actually enjoying my car time more and experiencing much less frustration. I would not want to go back to the days when I did not have one.

both

you should get one. If you are worried about the $$$
you can get a laptop or pda version cheaper. You will
probably end up savng money by sving gas by being loss
less, and also finding closer points of intrest you
forgot about

it will come in handywhen you have to go to specific places you havent' been to beore too. Someon needs a ride, no problem what's the address?

thanks so much everyone for all the responses. I really want one now!

There's so many great places around me that I never existed. Plus, the POIs you find here add even more places to explore and enjoy.

Have fun with it.

I got one as a gift and I love using it as a map. I'm not used to the directions it gives since sometimes it seems out of the way. But it is VERY useful as a map to plot my own course. It has all the little streets that a paper map wouldn't have and if I do get lost I can just use the GPS to get me home.

Oh no way. I use mine all the time geocaching and when I go on trips. I ride a motorcycle and like to get away every once in a while. It has saved my butt many times from getting lost. -AD

I just took mine on a long trip, North Carolina to NYC, to New Jersey, to Indianapolis, then down to Atlanta, then to Jacksonville and finally back to NC. I was surprised at how well the SiRFstar III chipset improved my coverage in Manhattan. My laptop with the DeLorme USB antenna lost complete coverage for most of my time there, especially in Little Italy, but the Mio only lost it when we went in buildings. Great device.

I first saw one used when a friend and i went to Washington D.C..He used it on his motorcycle and i loved the way we could find our way around. well i just had to have one, so i got the garmin nuvi 350. so far i've used it on several trips and it just makes "play out of work".

I even use it to help find my friends when they get lost on their random roadtrips.

Justification for shelling out almost $400 when TDY away from Wife..."WORK"
Most use..."PLAY"

Seriously though, I bought it mostly for "work", basically replacing hardcopy maps and planning out routes. I do find myself "playing" with it times though, to lookup places.
It is also great for when I am out and I need to find a particular store, most of the places I go are already in the POI database that is built in.

"D"

Definitely for fun. I love driving around and Atlanta's still pretty new for me so the Garmin is great.

It's funny. The logic I used to purchase mine was for my work trips. However all the trips I have taken so far have been for pleasure.

Well that will all change next week. I am making a business trip up to Maryland. The area is not that populated and the meeting is held off the beaten path. Heck, I might just forget something so that I have an excuse to find the closest Walmart. *smile*

A gps is fun and can be a great asset if you find yourself at a detour, or have an emergency were you need to get somewhere right away and have no directions.

I got my first GPS (quest) just for a new gadget, but quickly became attached and missed it when I was in another vehicle without one. I know my area pretty well but being in the Northeast traffic can bog down in seconds for no reason and my work commute would range from 30 mins to 3 hours if I stayed on the highway. They are a great way to avoid congested highways and find new ways to were you want to go and no longer think "I wonder if I could go that way to bypass this mess."

Bottom line, just get one, you won't regret it. I don't think i have ever heard anyone say, "Gee, I wish I didn't buy a GPS"

Absolutely!!! Like finding a hospital in a strange town ..... indispensable!!!!

I've used GPS for several years and recently bought a Nuvi
350 (wife's birthday present) to get away from having to use a computer with Delorme software. I was also frustrated with Delorme's inability to stay locked onto satellites in metro areas. I'm finding it very rewarding to set up my own POI'S in going where I want to go vs. the Nuvi's routing, even though being able to set up one via is useful. For example, bypasses around cities etc. So, yes, it's a very fun way to travel when you want to absolutely know where you are.
The POI Factory is a great place to find and download POI's, which others have set up and to have a support group for learning how to do this yourself.

I received my GPS as a Christmas gift from my wife. I use it primarily for business as I go to alot of small towns where my clients are located and I got tired of printing maps that also weren't always correct on Mapquest. Saves alot of time. I did download the POI file with the lakes as I am a fisherman and as soon as the weather gets warmer, I will find some of these lakes I have never fished before. This is the best toy since the Red Rider BB gun!!

I'm sure I could do just fine without a GPS device, so in that sense it is mostly for play. However, it will definitely come in handy for work as I need to get to new clients on a regular basis and the first time out, I have tended to have to stop a lot and re-consult my maps. I am expecting this will be a lot easier (haven't received the unit yet).

My mother is 80 years old and she wants one. She recently moved to my sister's town and is not familiar on how to get around. She saw my C550 when we recently took a trip out east to see some family.

So my mother called me up the other day and asked me to purchase a C550 for her. I did and plan to deliver it to her next weekend. This unit won't be used for fun, but it will enable her to get around better.

One big tip I have is, even if you have a gps, if you are going somewhere for the first time, it's best to look at the route on google maps first. Blindly following GPS is not always a good idea.

I couldn't imagine traveling without it now that I have one. But to be honest I play around with it when driving home too. It fun and indispensable when traveling in unfamiliar territory.

I can certainly understand the thought about whether it is a worthwhile thing to spend money on. I am kind of a gadget guy anyway and I use mine for BOTH work and play.

I just bought my Garmin StreetPilot 2730 used last year from someone on a different GPS forum. I did quite a bit of research and tried several before settling on the 2730.

I am a deputy sheriff assigned to civil process. I know my normally assigned cities pretty well and usually don't need a GPS to get around. However, last year when another deputy was on vacation for a week I was constantly using mapblast.com on my lap-top computer. It works okay navigating that way, but my neighbor and I were talking about how he owns several GPS units. Both he and I are amateur radio operators, so that generally means we are both:

-gadget geeks, and

-tightwads

Anyway, i tried his older StreetPilot 2610 and I thought it worked pretty well.

I do usually enter multiple address when I get new papers to serve and it gives me one less thing to concentrate on when the radio is chattering, the Nextel is chirping, and the CAD lap-top computer messaging is vying for my attention.

For play, I don't use it everyday, but it is very nice if I am driving somewhere new.

My wife, two sons, and I flew to Florida a couple of weeks back and visited Walt Disney World and other attractions. I brought the 2730 with me on my carry-on bag. It went in the rental car as soon as we got going. I really didn't say much about it to my wife, but it apparently impressed her because she would have otherwise been my navigator. She made the comment both to me and others on her Nextel that we will not travel again without the GPS.

Recently I got the bug to load Mapsource on my desktop computer. I have since created a number of different categories in My Locations/Favorites.

I now have also started filling up the Custom POIs. I found some interesting files here and also at http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=56474
In addition to the usuall department store, restaurant, gas station files, the files that interest me are radio related. Since both my wife and I are amateur radio operators, we have mobile amateur transceivers in our vehicles. When we travel with the family in our van, I usually have ham radio repeaters pre-programmed, but I don't always know how far I am from a particular repeater. When we drive to Wisconsin Dells and I am along I-94, just to look at a repeater directory that lists a ham radio repeater at Tomah probably doesn't mean that much to me if I don't know if I am 5 miles from Tomah or 105 miles. With the files I am creating, know I can check the GPS and know how far I am from that repeater or find a closer one if necessary.

We also have something called AutoTalk in our vehicles. It is just a TV Audio convertor that connects to the AM-FM radio and allows us to tune analog TV audio channels 2-69. When we are on the road out of our home area and it is 12:30 PM she wants to listen to The Bold and the Beautiful. With custom POIs I can look at the TV stations nearby and determine that we are only 12 miles from say WKBT TV channel 8 from La Crosse WI and she can tune in.

Even though we now have XM radio (sson to be XM-Sirius) we still occasionally will tune local radio station for information. Again with files I downloaded from here, I might be able to see that while we are in Warrens WI we are only a mere 21 miles from WCOW-FM 97.1 mHz out of Sparta WI. Yes , you can probably just select SEARCH or SEEK on your FM stereo, but is it kind of nice to know what the close stations are sometimes. I recall being in rural Wautoma WI when a tornado came through the area. It was nice to listen on the nearest local radio station AND tune in to both amateur radio operators as well as public safety folks.

Gee, now that I write this I was thinking that a Custom POI files of the NOAA Weather Radio station might be kind of neat. I think I will post that in the appropriate area.

Welcome to the site Jim, it is nice to have you here. There are quite a few people here that share your interests in Ham Radio locations.

Miss Poi

im a new driver so i dont really know my way around the area... I live in Los Angeles and it can get very confusing. Bluetooth has been a good feature but people have been not able to hear me, so im going to test out its usefulness soon.

I find that most of our red light intersections (and we dont have many) have a sign that says "camera enforced" or whatever

I have noticed that my wife seems to rather enjoy the GPS. She is a school bus driver and probably doesn't need it for her regular route, but I think it might work out for her in her van and possibly on the school bus when she makes trips other than her regular route.

I use mine mostly for personal use. I just moved from one side of the Cleveland to the other. I AM a skill map reader, but the convenience of the GPS unit is wonderful.

Plus - I don't have to re-fold the GPS

I always thought the rule for cartographers was "never fold! Roll".. that would be really difficult with a GPS unit..lol

I bought a Garmin 2730 sort of as a "toy" to play with and thought it would come in handy once in a while.

Now that we have used it, we could not imagine NOT having one.

It is so useful even if you are in your local town.

It gets us to homes of friends we visit for the first time. Finds us restaurants in the city, etc....

You can a decent one for pretty cheap now-a-days.

COSTCO has the 2730 for $500 right now. It is a high-end one and that's a GREAT price.

Tim

Who travels out of town frequently and is sometimes "Directionally Challenged". I can now have peace of mind that if she gets off track, Her GPS will get her there...

For
Unraveling routes
Never traveled.

I have recently moved to Atlanta, Ga and find it to be great way to get around and keep from getting lost. I also use the MP3 function like my iPod, I use a cassette adapter and it works great. Plus I enjoy just messing around with it

I bought my GPS on a lark, it saved my marriage!

I initally got it for work, but finding myself using it way more then just for work.

Ah, cute but what about...

Fun
Untravelled areas
Never be without it again!

My son gave me this extravagant and embarrassing gift of a Garmin StreetPilot C330 this past Christmas. I had said to my cousin not days before that I would never buy a GPS unit, what was wrong with using a map! Well, it took me about two hours to become addicted to this mini but mighty Chaperone as I travel to work and to visit far away friends. It's soooo easy to use and is CORRECT without fail to date.

Now, here's where I'm seeking help. A coworker told me about geocaching and I was ready to go. Unfortunately I discovered the the StreetPilot C330 is not made to be used for geocaching. Hmmm - well, that's what Garmin techs told me. But I can't let go of the idea that I can convert a coordinate to an address and let that lead me to the caches. (Per Garmin technicians, "The Garmin StreetPilot c330 was not made for and in not intended to be used for geocaching".)

Here is the question: Can I download POI's (aka geocache hides) to the SD card in my Garmin and use the StreetPilot C330 for geocaching? It might not be the ideal GPS geocaching unit, BUT--I already own it.

I'm grateful for all suggestions, instructions, cautions, and encouragement.

Thanks for POI Fact-ory.
Sharon

You cannot load POI files to SD card on C330.

It's a lot easier than reading a map while driving. It's also better to have the GPS tell you where to go than your spouse!

Why? In the worst case, she could load the location as a favorite. If there is no off-road setting on the C330 and the geocache is off the road, you could look under favorites and (I assume it's the same as on my Nuvi 660) there is an arrow next to each favorite showing the direction of each one relative to the last observed direction of travel.

It is certainly not the ideal geocache GPS, but like she said, she already owns it.

Assuming you can get the POI's on your unit, that should be the easy part. I'm not certain that the distance display is not rounded off (say at 10 or even 50 feet) so that it would make finding a precise location difficult. Also, if your unit wants to "snap" to the road that will also make geocaching almost impossible, since most caches are off road. Finally, since you don't have a "Topo" map, or an elevation readout, this adds another challenge

Maybe it will kinda work, but it will certainly make the hunt a lot more frustrating than it needs to be.