Unintended GPS test (hospital trip)
 15 years
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I have been playing with my Garmin 2730 GPS for a few weeks now and learning the 'ins and outs'. This weekend, I finally got to use most/all of its features, and I have to tell you, I'm impressed.
Background: Live in St. Louis, MO area, dropped my two sons off Friday to go on a scout trip to Wausau, Wisconsin to go skiing.
Receive a phone call Saturday afternoon saying they are taking one of the sons to the hospital as he fell and hurt himself. By 5:00, it was determined he had seriously broke his leg, needed to go to Operating Room, and would be spending the night. I managed to get the address of the Hospital. Loaded up the car, typed the address into the GPS, and I was off an running on an unexpected 525 trip (yippee!)
Obviously, the GPS got me there the most efficient way possible. Arrived at about 2:00 am. Next day, I need to find a Walgreens to get him some X-Large sweatpants (to fit of over the cast), some prescriptions filled (cheaper than the hospital), some crutches, etc. Did a 'find' of 'Walgreens', bing, bang, bang, boom... Routed me to Walgreens.. and then back to the Hospital.
Driving back, need gas and some food. Searched for restaurants on route that was acceptable to my drugged-up son. Viola! All is well.
If it was not for GPS, I would have had to spend an additional 15-30 minutes to plan my route, and had to flip through maps as I was passing West of Chicago. The GPS saved me heartache.
I look back and realize that perhaps I over-relied on the unit.... What if it broke down? (well, then I would have gotten on the phone with someone to help me route it). But the fact that I could head to a destination I've never been to without any pre-planning at all is new to me.
I found one 'weakness with my Streetpilot 2730. It has the XM traffic and weather, but it has no battery. There is a major hiway closed due to construction in the St. Louis area. As I'm driving from home, it routed me around that closed highway. But, I had to stop for gas in St. Louis. When I re-started the car, it routed me over the closed highway for 15 minutes until it retrieved the traffic info from the XM. So, in this case, I had to re-route myself. I guess I'm a little disappointed that the GPS can't remember an Highway due to be closed for the next 10 months... but that was my experience.
round trip was 1,080 miles of roads I'd never travelled before.
Anyway, just thought I'd share.
Tim (Y_I_Work)
Hospital Trip
Glad to hear all worked out on your trip, hope all goes well for your son also. Shattered a bone in my leg and after 7 screws, steel plate and a bone graph later I'm now moving around and putting weight on my leg, a slow process. I bought an extra GPS just in case, waited tell black Friday and picked up one, I had the same thoughts (What If). Yep it got us to the Hospital and now to Therapy, soon it will take us on Vacation, my wife say's I owe her big time..
I live in Tucson and the weather has been great, and I'm inside!
Nuvi-3760 *** Magellan-5045
Power
I am not sure how the 2730 plugs in for power (is it direct wire or cig adaptor)? I do not usually power down my nuvi or streetpilot until I am done for the day. They both power off the cig, that is always "hot" in fords.
So you may want to rethink how your XM and 2730 get power. You could build a simple circuit with an on/off switch and timer that is triggered when you shut down the car to shut your radios off in x hrs if you are afraid of forgetting and running down your battery.
Daniel
Garmin StreetPilot c580 & Nuvi 760 - Member 32160 - Traveling in Kansas
power to GPS
The power was supplied by cigarette lighter and does shut off when the car is turned off. Same with an 'accessory port' on a Toyota minivan. Interestingly, I also hard wired to a battery of a motorcycle, and when starting the bike, the power left was inadequate for the GPS, so it shut-down then also. I guess it is just one of the disadvantages to having a GPS without any sort of battery built in.
All in all... I can live with that. It seems to me that it would be nice if the Garmin could 'remember' traffic info.... especially those types of traffic info that will last many months.. but, although awesome, I guess the Garmin is not totally perfect.
Thanks for the input.
Tim
Happy ending
Tim,
Glad your son is OK.
nüvi 760 (http://jdbeastlet.googlepages.com)
thanks for sharing Tim
I hesitated buying a GPS for a couple of years, because I didn't think I could justify the purchase. I don't travel that much, and the one long trip I make about 3 times a year, I know quite well.
But then I hear about experiences like yours, and a couple of other times when mine has been helpful, and I am very glad that I bought mine.
I am also going to take others advice here, to keep a good road atlas in the car, along with other emergency items like blankets and a shovel.
— (Garmin nuvi 765T) — "people who say money can't buy happiness, don't know where to shop"
Kids leg
FWIW - one month + 3 days after the broken leg incident, my son had surgery to add platss and screws to his leg.
Not really GPS related, but thought I'd update the story.
Tim
I am glad you updated us
FWIW - one month + 3 days after the broken leg incident, my son had surgery to add platss and screws to his leg.
Not really GPS related, but thought I'd update the story.
Tim
this is a community in the truest sense of the word.
I am sure that all of us wish him the best
— (Garmin nuvi 765T) — "people who say money can't buy happiness, don't know where to shop"