Why do you have a GPSr? What's your excuse?

I enjoy fishig and GPS makes finding and rememberihg locations simple and exact.

Yes..... How well I remember.

I use to use red paint to put an "X" on the spot in the lake so I could find my way back. But when I went back I couldn't find the red "X". I think somebody was stealing them to keep me from fishing there again.

With the GPS I don't have to worry about that, it helps me keep the secret location a secret.

I need it. Tired of getting lost.

It keeps the "Last Position," when I remove it from the car mount.

Makes the statement "Everybody remember where we parked" a moot one, since "Karen" would do that for me.

It's fascinating to travel with your finger on a map or globe, and now I can do it "live".

Always wanted one but too pricey and I am good with directions so no dice....when I got a new car, it was $2100 from the factory so again, not worth it. Watched the nuvi 660 go from the $400's into the $200's, back to mid $300's....got married and my wife is not that familiar with here so when the nuvi was back into the 200's, I bought it!

In the job I'm in I travel all over the Denver/Metro area and the GPS is the best investment I've made in a long time. I know I am getting where I am supposed to be going and there is no down time looking at a paper map. I can also see at a glance which streets are coming up and which streets don't go all the way through (Cul-de-sacs...etc).

It also alerts me to the red light cameras.

Most of the time it is very accurate and provides pretty good company. Also, it only talks back if you do not obey the directions (recalculates). Never a dull ride. Just love having it.

I tried an old Magellan years ago. A friend let me borrow it. Drove me nuts! And tooooo expen$ive back then.

The newer models, like the Streetpilots and Nuvi's are great. I use mine often, in the downtown areas especially.

GREAT DEVICE.

I kept getting lost because my nav partner (wife) gets car sick when she reads maps in the car. traveling with the gps has quieted down my trips.

gusb

Because I was born without a sense of direction, and my wife agrees.

Just like most everyone else that has to travel to unfamiliar places, I started with conventional maps (for the longest time of my life). Then came the "Information Superhighway" (Gads that sounds so dated) when I graduated to pre-printing Mapquest, Yahoo and then Google maps. Then when USB GPS pucks and bundled mapping programs dipped to an affordable $120 or so, I bought one of those for my laptop. Without a co-pilot, that was a darned dangerous setup! Waited patiently until a Nuvi became affordable, and welcomed myself to the 21st century. Now, I must confess the most entertaining feature of my Nuvi is searching for POIs like "Fast Food" while driving down the highway, and watching the list update and those little arrows turn and point to the nearest food.

Well, I guess that I bought my Nuvi 350 because I want to be able to drive around all those unfamiliar cities and not get lost. Of course I can't even afford to drive to work these days. I guess I can put it in simulation mode and pretend to go places!

Hi everyone,

None of us "needs" a GPS to find our way to, from or around places we're familiar with. My wife and I love to travel the Pennsylvania countryside, especially in and around the Lancaster area. Those familiar with PA back roads know that going from point "A" to "B" is usually anything but going in a straight line. I've become disoriented many, many times trying to figure out where I was. My first attempt at locating myself was with a laptop and USB GPS. It worked well, but was too BIG. Now with my 660, I always know where I am, and getting "anywhere from here" is a breeze. Makes me wonder how I ever got along without it.

Miki

I'm a gadget collector and I've wanted one since coming back from Germany where my uncle used it to keep track of his trip distances and destinations. Everything got logged into an Excel database. The fact that it could also guide him around the city was a bonus for him.

1. My wife is a TERRIBLE map reader. We (okay, I) bought a motorcycle last year and we decided to go to Daytona for Bike Week this year. I planned the route in Streets and Trips, bought an inverter for the laptop and off we went. Somehow my wife ended up in the Bronx, insisting that was where my map took her. I was sleeping at the time. I thought Stay on I-75 was pretty simple instructions .

2. I've joined a few riding clubs and when we go for club rides I'm too busy paying attention to my formation riding that I don't pay attention to the route. I wanted to do a route again on my own a few weeks later but promptly got lost after taking a right where it should have been a left. Fortunately I have a good sense of direction and I had no trouble getting home but I missed my ride

3. My wife won the Garmin 750 in a charity poker run. No more excuses needed. Still no money to buy one but I would have bought either the 760 or the zumi 550. Now I'll just buy an extra mount for the bike.

I no longer need to use Mapquest/TripTic products.

Before my GPSr, when I finally arrived at my destination, all I knew was how to get back home!

With all the POI's I now can feel "at home" while travelling.

And, in the unlikely event of a medical emergency, I can get directions to the nearest hospital.

10 days ago I got a flat tire way out in the country, surrounded by soybeans and corn fields.

I used my GPSr map to find the address on the road (which had no nearby sign indicating its name), and then used my cell phone to call AAA to send help. I was soon on my way again.

10 years ago, without cellphone or GPSr, I would have been at the mercy of whatever farmer would answer the door and let me use a phone.

And I might have had to get by the dogs to get to the door!

I admit it. I’m a gadget freak. A man who loves electronic toys. A big kid. A geek. Call me what you will, I truly enjoy the electronics that I’ve been able to get my hands on (much to the chagrin of my wife).

So far I’ve been VERY fortunate as I’ve not had to purchase many of my electronic toys for the boat because I’ve been able to get into a beta-testing arrangement with the manufacturer of the electronics I put on my boat. That in itself has saved (my marriage and) many thousands of dollars and kept me working with the latest and greatest technology for my floating hole in the water (into which I throw money on OTHER things).

In addition to my automotive GPSr’s I’ve owned (all Garmin – GPS III+, StreetPilot III, StreetPilot 2720 with GTM10 Traffic, Nuvi 660, Nuvi 680, and the Honda Navigation system on my Goldwing), I’ve also been a technoid working my way through a series of PDA’s that I can’t even begin to remember.

Other technology I’ve had an opportunity to obtain that has gotten me very excited has been the latest in telecommunications, Internet Protocol-based video phones. This link will open a video about the one I’ve got: http://ferrara.acnrep.com/c_products_digitalphone.asp?CO_LA=...

Are GPSr’s a FAD? No WAY! People thought cell phones were a fad, and look how pervasive they have become. Heck, when I was a part-timer at Radio Shack back in 1988 – 1990, we were selling cell phones for ~ $1,500 and then the service on top of that was ridiculous. Now they’re being given away with a two-year service commitment (like the video phone from the video).

Personal GPS devices are definitely not a fad, but are most assuredly one of the hottest selling electronic devices on the market today, probably second only to the cell phone.

Joe

I am Realtor, that should say it all

I initially got it because I like to stay up with technical stuff. It was kind of a toy. Now, I can't live without it. Driving into Phoenix daily, the traffic alerting is so valuable. I listen to the radio and watch the GPS to tell me what freeways to take in and out of Phoenix and it works great. Another reason, my wife just travelled to another state for a wedding. Before going there, she knew 4 addresses she needed to go to. I went to google map, put in the addresses, download the coordinats as favorites so my wife could get there without knowing the area. Also, on trips with the kids, they all of a sudden have to go to the bathroom. Just find the closest Gas station and there you go. Just of the few reasons I have one.

I drive in unfamiliar places a lot, and Mapquest printouts just don't do the job, especially when you're driving alone and trying to read and drive at once.

just fun

I don't have any real reason for having one, other than I love gadgets. I've wanted one for some time. I was going to be taking a trip to an area that I was unfamiliar with, and went ahead and picked it up for that reason. I ended up taking a bus to go on that trip, however. It was still useful then - so I knew how far away we were.

when I get the new radar detecter to let me know where the new mobile speed cameras are here in Phoenix and all over AZ

LOL, so true, with the price of fuel these days we can't even afford to get lost.

GPS are to make road safer.

At worst a driving companion, at best, a time saver.

On our first trip to California, we relied on Yahoo map printouts. On our second trip, we decided to include a GPS unit in our rental car.

Now with our third trip, we decided to purchase a unit (and beanbag mount) since we'll be revisiting California and will also be driving to Minnesota.

One thing, though...I just can't believe how small these new Garmin units are compared to the old Garmin Streepilot series that several car rental agencies still use.

I drive for a living and like the ETA feature. Some times i go places that are out of the way lot of rural deliveries in the midwest. Still carry my mapbook so i dont rely tottaly on GPS. Fun to figure out alternate ways.

To get good ETA and to keep watch while I am navigating

I had a handheld for hiking and boating for many years now, but I received my Streetpilot as a present for Christmas last year.
And to be honest, I forgot how to get to my sisters house four blocks away...J/K but that was the first time I used it!

Bill

Helps from having my wife always say, "I told you, you should have listened to me"

It sure isn't to find my way there. I inherited sense of direction from my father who never got lost (no joke intended).
Perhaps it is because I live in the only city to authorize using motion detector cameras on the highway that runs through it. Yeah, Scottsdale, AZ. Imagine going down the road at 65 (or so) MPH at night and having a camera flash in your face. Surprising there aren't more accidents than those that have been caused by them.
As for a radar detector, I was given a ticket in 1995 by photo radar enforcement. Seeing this as a money making effort only, I don't want to be the funding source. Thanks to the radar detector, I haven't had another ticket by radar since.
In 2006, the freeway camera did take my picture, so it was time to get a GPS unit. I don't see it as law enforcement evasion, only a desire to not pay excessive prices to companies that provide the services to cities for such cameras. It isn't going to help the city I live in near as much as the provider (they keep over half of the ticket in addition to their cost for the service) so let someone else pay for it. Beside all this, I have always wanted the inside of my car to look like the Starship Enterprise.

I grew up with a dad and grandpa that also never got lost. I find myself capable of finding my way around when traveling. I do find that using a GPS device "dumbs me down." The more I use one, the less I actually know about the area. This is a fairly new revelation , but I do find that the technology aspect is cool, and I've used several GPS devices, as well as software on PC's, Pocket PC's and Smartphones. Sadly, for me, I do not think it's a fad.

So, while I have no excuses, I find that being digital allows me to travel with more information in less space. All the POI files, route lists, waypoints, street and topo maps, and more - all crammed in a little space is appealing to me.

to find the nearest Dairy Queen when I need an ice cream fix!

I travel a lot by myn self and it keeps me from having to look at maps while driving

My wife doesn't need an excuse to buy a new pair of shoes, why would I need an excuse to buy a new toy for myself?

I started work in the Army GPS Program Office in 1986, when there were enough satellites in the sky to use GPS for about 4-5 hours a day. The man-portable receiver at that time weighed 18.5 pounds (26 pounds with the vehicular power adapter).

After 23 years of working with GPS, I decided it was about time I got one of my own, so I just bought a nuvi 760. Well worth the investment.

I hate printing a map off my computer every time I go somewhere new, then still going around the block once when I get there cause I miss a turn anyways...

Excuse??? Who needs a stinking Excuse

I ride a motorcycle and I'm passionate about finding out of the way places on twisty roads I've never ridden before. Although I'm good with a map on a tankbag, I'd rather just ride throughout the day getting "lost", and when it's time to head home, or back to the campground, have the Zumo direct me there. Saves me from having to remember to make the left after the bridge or the 2nd right after the painted rock, etc. So now I can ride "blissfully lost" and that in the end I'll be "found".

I also have a good sense of direction- however, there are many times when I just have an address and drive thinking I know where it is, and cannot find it. My Garmin usually takes me right there and on the correct side of the street. No more MapQuest for me! My GPS was a birthday gift from my kids.

Our first two handheld GPS were for Geocaching...

We got our GPS navigation system because it allows us to explore areas that we aren't familiar with and know where we are as well as what resources are around us if we need them.

It is just that easy... don't give me the whole picture, I need to know what is next step to do. Making a U-turn?

Because my wife is a HORRIBLE navigator....

She'll study the map, and when it comes time for directions, she's not prepared and looses her place on the map.

She gets mad at me for getting mad at her for not giving me directions....So, if the GPS take me the wrong way, I can get mad at it, not her...