have garmins, but, has anyone used Waze?

 

tried Waze on android and it gave my Garmin a run for the money. Drawback is, it does eat up your data limits.
Just asking for comments, Garmin still rules here.

--
Blackbird53

if

you have visited the site regularly you could have been reviewing several different conversations regarding WAZE and talking about its strengths and weaknesses in comparison to various solutions from Garmin.

Personally, I don't use WAZE and never have. I have HD traffic on my 3597 augmented with Live Traffic. Everything is then routed through the Bluetooth connection to display on the 3597 but getting a warning about "slow traffic on your route" and then seeing it is 38 miles ahead is a little off-putting.

--
Illiterate? Write for free help.

waze

found more info on site that didn't show up for some unknown reason. now I have read more and generally agree with what is posted

--
Blackbird53

.

blackbird53 wrote:

found more info on site that didn't show up for some unknown reason. now I have read more and generally agree with what is posted

Waze is cute, but very distracting for the driver. It's a great tool for someone in the passenger seat to use however.

@blackbird53

Welcome to the site.

We usually recommend the following.

There is a "Learn" button in the upper right of this page next to "red light cameras" that takes you to a Getting Started page. It is worthwhile visiting this page.

To make navigation easy, most browsers provide the following option. When you want to follow a link - but still keep your current page open - you can hold down the "Ctrl" key as you left-click on a link. That action will open a new "Tab" in your browser up on the "Tab" bar. When you then left-click on that new "Tab", you will follow the link - leaving the "Tab" you are now reading open and available to click on and return here.

So, using the "Learn" link, you might try the "Ctrl" - left-click sequence and then return here. You can return by either "X-ing" out of the "Getting Started" page (using the "X" on the "Tab" itself) or just left-clicking on the "Tab" for the page you are on right now.

Note that the Learn Button will give you access to two valuable reference pages -
the "Index" to all of the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) and the Glossary of Terms and Links.

Since you are new here, I encourage you to go through a couple of the Tutorials.

The first link makes sure the settings on your computer are such that you can do more advanced POI loading.
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30393

The next link helps you make a backup of your GPS by attaching it to your computer. (NEVER do anything to your GPS until you have a backup). It also assures that you put your (newer) unit into a state where you can see all of the folders there.
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30394

Let us know how we can help you enjoy your GPS.

Not new here, just different

Not new here, just different name due to change in service. Good suggestions though, will use them as req. Been very long time since posting, used to go by Virgo53 if I remember correctly.

DOD Veteran, assignments dictated my time and net use, retired from Federal Service now and actually have time for other things.

Blackbird 53

--
Blackbird53

Distracting at times

telecomdigest2 wrote:
blackbird53 wrote:

found more info on site that didn't show up for some unknown reason. now I have read more and generally agree with what is posted

Waze is cute, but very distracting for the driver. It's a great tool for someone in the passenger seat to use however.

I agree with tele. The passenger might have fun for awhile playing with it.

--
nuvi 1390 LT, nuvi 1450 LMT, Win 10

.

telecomdigest2 wrote:
blackbird53 wrote:

found more info on site that didn't show up for some unknown reason. now I have read more and generally agree with what is posted

Waze is cute, but very distracting for the driver. It's a great tool for someone in the passenger seat to use however.

Agree, but Waze can easily be set to provide hands-free audible warnings. The driver can set and forget, and will hear "Traffic ahead" or "Police reported ahead" or "Vehicle on Shoulder ahead" etc. I don't recall if Waze has to remain the top/active (screen) app to get the audible warnings.

Nope

perpster wrote:
telecomdigest2 wrote:
blackbird53 wrote:

found more info on site that didn't show up for some unknown reason. now I have read more and generally agree with what is posted

Waze is cute, but very distracting for the driver. It's a great tool for someone in the passenger seat to use however.

Agree, but Waze can easily be set to provide hands-free audible warnings. The driver can set and forget, and will hear "Traffic ahead" or "Police reported ahead" or "Vehicle on Shoulder ahead" etc. I don't recall if Waze has to remain the top/active (screen) app to get the audible warnings.

I have forgotten to turn it off in the past while having text messaging up in front (finally got to the parking area). I lock the screen, and Waze is reminding me that I'm .1 mile from my destination.

--
Striving to make the NYC Metro area project the best.

I use both for navigation

I use Waze when I don't have the Garmin with me in the car. If I have to make a choice when I have both devices while in the car I definitely pick Garmin.

I use both Waze and Garmin too!

dtran1 wrote:

I use Waze when I don't have the Garmin with me in the car. If I have to make a choice when I have both devices while in the car I definitely pick Garmin.

I love to use Waze on my iPhone along side my Garmin! Handy for accidents, congestion, construction, or anything else that might not always be captured on Garmin Traffic. It also helps contribute to the greater good by automatically providing the traffic info. as you drive, sharing with others.

just

ptownoddy wrote:
dtran1 wrote:

I use Waze when I don't have the Garmin with me in the car. If I have to make a choice when I have both devices while in the car I definitely pick Garmin.

I love to use Waze on my iPhone along side my Garmin! Handy for accidents, congestion, construction, or anything else that might not always be captured on Garmin Traffic. It also helps contribute to the greater good by automatically providing the traffic info. as you drive, sharing with others.

Another technological toy to confuse and distract the drivers

--
Never argue with a pig. It makes you look foolish and it anoys the hell out of the pig!

Traffic

Box Car wrote:

you have visited the site regularly you could have been reviewing several different conversations regarding WAZE and talking about its strengths and weaknesses in comparison to various solutions from Garmin.

Personally, I don't use WAZE and never have. I have HD traffic on my 3597 augmented with Live Traffic. Everything is then routed through the Bluetooth connection to display on the 3597 but getting a warning about "slow traffic on your route" and then seeing it is 38 miles ahead is a little off-putting.

I think I am interpreting this reply as saying that your Garmin sometimes says traffic ahead and it turns out to be 38 miles ahead.

If so, I get that on mine too. It's often pointless to know that but other times I need that much of a heads up so that I can take a good alternate route.

Then again, most of the time, the traffic isn't as bad as my Garmin says it is. Or it clears up before I get there.

This isn't the GPS's fault. If the traffic is 38 miles away, sure, it might clear up before I arrive. But if it's 5-10 miles away, I blame the traffic data provider.

It's just not a perfect world yet.

whats really useful is

Sixeye wrote:
Box Car wrote:

you have visited the site regularly you could have been reviewing several different conversations regarding WAZE and talking about its strengths and weaknesses in comparison to various solutions from Garmin.

Personally, I don't use WAZE and never have. I have HD traffic on my 3597 augmented with Live Traffic. Everything is then routed through the Bluetooth connection to display on the 3597 but getting a warning about "slow traffic on your route" and then seeing it is 38 miles ahead is a little off-putting.

I think I am interpreting this reply as saying that your Garmin sometimes says traffic ahead and it turns out to be 38 miles ahead.

If so, I get that on mine too. It's often pointless to know that but other times I need that much of a heads up so that I can take a good alternate route.

Then again, most of the time, the traffic isn't as bad as my Garmin says it is. Or it clears up before I get there.

This isn't the GPS's fault. If the traffic is 38 miles away, sure, it might clear up before I arrive. But if it's 5-10 miles away, I blame the traffic data provider.

It's just not a perfect world yet.

When your stuck in traffic and that little voice comes on saying traffic ahead, or moderate traffic ahead and you're got nowhere to go.

About that time all you want to do is say something profane at the GPS

--
Never argue with a pig. It makes you look foolish and it anoys the hell out of the pig!

Waze is ok

While WAZE is very good with almost real time updates, the only drawback is that it eats up your battery really good.

There are substantial

There are substantial threads about Waze already.

I sometimes use Waze in addition to my Garmin. In congested and quickly changing areas of metropolitan areas, the social feedback can be quite useful and far more responsive than Garmin's traffic updates. That said, Waze can come up with peculiar, annoying and illogical routes at times...thus the tandem use with the Garmin.

--
Maps -> Wife -> Garmin 12XL -> StreetPilot 2610 -> Nuvi 660 (blown speaker) -> Nuvi 3790LMT

i dont like waze

i dont like waze

--
DriveSmart 50, DriveSmart 60, nuvi 2595, nuvi 3760,

OH COME-ON

nansoutey wrote:

i dont like waze

Tell us what you really think smile

--
Never argue with a pig. It makes you look foolish and it anoys the hell out of the pig!

I Like Waze

Use it a lot. The best part is knowing where areas of heavy enforcement are as well as more accurate information about traffic issues.

Google Maps gets some information from Waze when you use that for routing, also. Now if the HD traffic service could include the Waze Info as an overlay!

Need to plug it in...

LongAce wrote:

While WAZE is very good with almost real time updates, the only drawback is that it eats up your battery really good.

I agree, the biggest downfall is using your phone for this service, eating up the battery. Even when plugged in, it slowly goes down on my phone.

I don't find it very distracting at all

I use it's "hands free" mode (well, almost hands free). All I have to do is wave my hand in front of the screen and give it voice commands. I just say something like "road hazard", "on road", "construction", "send". Quite easy but probably not for everyone. Just remember that it's crowd sourced. If it weren't for people like me making reports nobody would have any reports to see. Just remember to do it safely.

As for the battery usage I had that problem when I first got this phone but I solved it with a more powerful charger. Now I can use Waze, stream Pandora and receive calls using Bluetooth, all while getting a positive charge on the battery. The only times I don't use the charger in the car is for short trips and for those I often don't bother with even using Waze. For anything else I prefer to plug it in anyway.

--
Live every day like it's your last. Some day you'll be right - Benny Hill

Another reason I don't

Another reason I don't particularly like apps like Waze is I also find for Waze and other similar apps, that sometimes the app can freeze or cause the phone to not respond. Since there are so many apps we all use on the phone, it's a bit of a pain to troubleshoot and I don't want to be concerned with which one may cause it or which is still running in the background, etc.

Garmin pretty much just works for us as a family.

Waze

telecomdigest2 wrote:
blackbird53 wrote:

found more info on site that didn't show up for some unknown reason. now I have read more and generally agree with what is posted

Waze is cute, but very distracting for the driver. It's a great tool for someone in the passenger seat to use however.

I agree.... My wife is always the one looking at the Waze Reports in order to stay safe while driving an dnot be too distracted.

I Like Waze...

I find the user comments to be very helpful.

--
RKF (Brookeville, MD) Garmin Nuvi 660, 360 & Street Pilot

thanks, very good comments,

thanks, very good comments,

--
Blackbird53

Waze as a commuter

Waze is superior for traffic information on my early morning commutes. It really is a lot like the old CB radio gang without the bad language.

That said - you cannot depend on any traffic re-routing in the NY metro area. The alternate routes are usually places with no traffic monitoring devices - secondary roads with plenty of traffic lights and intersections.

This part really galls me on my Garmins with automatic re-routing. Bumping me off a ten minute backup on the parkway for an hour in local traffic on the south shore.

waze uses google maps so can

waze uses google maps so can be more accurate. It eats battery so you have to leave phone plugged in with a phone hanger for hands free use. It is best for passenger to use/look at it.

I can have better traffic notices about whats coming up ahead although it isn't always accurate.

Traffic flows

I sometime use Waze in addition to GPS for more information on traffic flows.

--
Steve - 2 Nuvi 3597

Waze

Garmin #2495LMT traffic function doesn't work very well.
Then I turn on Waze and it shows traffic conditions instantly. In both directions.

So it has it's place. But it does burn up data, so I don't use it very much.

--
Michael J

I've been using WAZE since

I've been using WAZE since day one.

WAZE is great at traffic and the routes are identical to Garmin. It could save you 30 minutes or more on routes during rush hour. Great product but it does rely on cellular data.

Garmin needs to improve on local traffic

gotglasses wrote:

Waze is superior for traffic information on my early morning commutes. It really is a lot like the old CB radio gang without the bad language.

That said - you cannot depend on any traffic re-routing in the NY metro area. The alternate routes are usually places with no traffic monitoring devices - secondary roads with plenty of traffic lights and intersections.

This part really galls me on my Garmins with automatic re-routing. Bumping me off a ten minute backup on the parkway for an hour in local traffic on the south shore.

Your last part is where I find Garmins don't do well. Traffic on main highways are covered but the local streets have little to no information and thus one cannot depend on the gps to reroute and have a faster/shorter drive.

and why

team.rocket wrote:

Your last part is where I find Garmins don't do well. Traffic on main highways are covered but the local streets have little to no information and thus one cannot depend on the gps to reroute and have a faster/shorter drive.

is this Garmin's fault? they just display the data they receive.

--
Illiterate? Write for free help.

Need a better charger

dkstl wrote:

....the biggest downfall is using your phone for this service, eating up the battery. Even when plugged in, it slowly goes down on my phone.

You need a better charger. Happened on my phone, cheap charger couldn't keep up with the demand, better charger did.

Doesn't use all that much data

gadget_man wrote:

I've been using WAZE since day one. ..... Great product but it does rely on cellular data.

On a typical two hour trip I take from home to camp, Waze uses less than 10 MB of data. Not a significant portion of my overall data plan.

good

TWC42 wrote:
gadget_man wrote:

I've been using WAZE since day one. ..... Great product but it does rely on cellular data.

On a typical two hour trip I take from home to camp, Waze uses less than 10 MB of data. Not a significant portion of my overall data plan.

Good to know, thanks.

--
nightrider --Nuvi's 660 & 680--

I have cut the Garmin cord

Just traveled 2800 miles halfway across the country to Arkansas / NC / MD. My Garmin was left in its storage bag during the whole trip.

Waze did successfully redirect me around rush hour traffic in Memphis, TN. Then, took me on a southern route that I later realized saved me about an hour through Birmingham and Atlanta instead of traveling I-40 across Tennessee. I'm sure the Garmin probably would have routed me that way too.

I'm sold on Waze. If only they can add custom POIs.

Data usage

nightrider wrote:
TWC42 wrote:
gadget_man wrote:

I've been using WAZE since day one. ..... Great product but it does rely on cellular data.

On a typical two hour trip I take from home to camp, Waze uses less than 10 MB of data. Not a significant portion of my overall data plan.

Good to know, thanks.

Before I started using Waze extensively, I Googled around trying to find how much data usage others experienced. A cabbie reported that he used Waze all the time and figured he consumed under 100 MB in a month. I didn't find anyone claiming their data usage was astronomical as a result of using Waze.
The way that AT&T reports data, with delays as much as five days, it is difficult to get a handle on exactly how much data is consumed. It is even more confusing when other apps are running in the background. I checked my data usage immediately before and immediately after several trips and came up with about 10 MB in two hours.
But rest assured that using Waze all month will not put a significant dent in even a 2 GB data plan. It certainly doesn't on mine.
If concerned, one might go into the settings in Waze and eliminate a lot of the unnecessary info, like nearby Wazers, Chat, Road Goodies (whatever that is), etc.

Waze

I have just tried the WAZE app and so far, I feel it is much better than the traffic reporting from the Garmin unit. (3490)