Posted by HisHughness on 12/28/11 9:14pm
Msg #407748

I am a dedicated technophobe.

My computer runs on kerosene. The nail on my index finger is kept clipped short so that it doesn't get hung up in my rotary dial phone. The last computer game I played was Pong, and that substantially exceeded my grasp of technology. Frogger screwed up my synapses so badly I was the subject of several medical journal treatises.

Nonetheless, I find that the tech world has caught up with me, run me down, hogtied me, and is ready to dump me into whatever universe is inhabited by you people who actually understand what the term analog means.

My Magellan GPS has had a nervous breakdown, which I think is only fitting considering the number of times it has had me hyperventillating. I have to get a new GPS. This is a prospect I confront with much trepidation. For Christmas I gave myself a new HDTV to replace the cathode ray tube set on which I had watched the moon landings. Not the ones you are thinking of: I'm talking about those recounted in the 1958 film version of Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon." I had planned to spend 2012 learning how to operate the TV. Now it looks like I will have two electronic devices to bedevil me simultaneously, one while trying to ignore other drivers yelling about Olde Phartz behind the wheel.

I would appreciate some help from those of you who actually know what an iPhone app is. I'd like to know what I should take pains to avoid in a GPS, and what amenities are most useful. I do want free map updates, and since PeeBee the Platinum Blonde is no longer around to provide backseat driving guidance, a sultry female voice would be welcome. I probably should also also point out that I am an extraordinarily cheap technophobe.

Reply by BrendaTx on 12/28/11 9:29pm
Msg #407750

Hugh, I do not have a GPS. I use apps on my Android. Telenav ($10 a month) for Android and Google Navigation (free). One of them always finds my destination for me. In Houston, I usually need both of them. If you ever decide to get an IPad, you can use free Google maps with that and it's so big that you can see it and don't need the verbal navigation.

Telenav's voice is decently sultry, I guess.

I do not want a navigation system. I have too much technology already. I would be angry beyond angry my GPS was stolen. I take my IPad and Droid phone with me everywhere and keep them in my purse so that there's never a dull moment...games, books, music, bells, whips, chains, whistles, cameras, video cams, and even an app that makes flatulence noises for slow elevators and those long lines at the grocery store...all that in the Android AND on the IPad on which I can see all those things a lot better.

Bottom line? Don't get a GPS system. Get a purse and an IPad, in that order.

Reply by HisHughness on 12/28/11 9:48pm
Msg #407751

My mobile phone dates from the era when the coolest thing in phones was to carry a flipphone that was tiny enough to be completely concealed if you folded you hand around it. My daughter bought me an iPhone. She now has two of them, and I still have my micro Motorola.

I already have a purse.

Reply by Buddy Young on 12/28/11 10:16pm
Msg #407753

Hugh

Don't get a purse. When men carry a purse they call it a Euorpean shoulder bag.

I've thought about getting one myself to put all my stuff in. I've since changed my mind, I don't want men hitting on me.

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 12/28/11 10:40pm
Msg #407756

I do the same as Brenda. My Android phone does it all. I have Sprint and they include Telenav for free with the data plan. It works really well in conjunction with Google Maps. Now, that's the basic.. if I want the extras like lane assist, red light cameras, speed traps, speed limits and commute alerts... that would cost me an extra $5/month. Since I'm mostly rural, I already know most of that from experience so I don't need that. Besides, most of those perks don't show for the rural areas anyway, so it's useless.

What I like to do is plug in my appointments at my computer, save them under my Google account, and it automatically syncs to my phone. When I pull up the location on the calendar, it lets me navigate to the location that I entered. Totally awesome.

I don't use telenav to search for stuff...that frustrates me. I look it all up in the Google Maps app, and then click the "Navigate" button, which opens up the GPS navigation in telenav.

There is no need for a GPS unit if you've got a good smart phone with telenav. Of course, I pay through the nose for the privilege, but it's worth every penny.

Reply by Belinda/CA on 12/28/11 10:00pm
Msg #407752

Well, I liked this post so much I had to log in.

I have a love/hate forum relationship with you Hugh. :o) You made me smile tonight.

My husband studies things like you are talking about. Techysmart. He's driven to know the best of whatever one might possibly consider needing some day. I'll ask him for his recommendations on your behalf.

Reply by HisHughness on 12/28/11 10:35pm
Msg #407755

Re: Well, I liked this post so much I had to log in.

***I have a love/hate forum relationship with you Hugh.***

My ex-wives share at least half your sentiments.

Reply by Buddy Young on 12/28/11 10:19pm
Msg #407754

Re: I also have a flip phone.

I just learned how to program my vcr. Oh wait I don't have one anymore, they have something called blue ray disk players now.

Reply by GOLDGIRL/CA on 12/28/11 11:10pm
Msg #407757

Re: I also have a flip phone.

I'm of the flipphone era, too. People look at me like I'm a dinosaur when I haul it out.

My GPS, which is one of the first models, looks like an old TV set, but recently went kaput. I narrowed the cause down to a faulty cord; so I bought a new one on Amazon (yes! I figured out how to order stuff online). It now works with the new cord, but the strangest thing ... the sultry feminine voice speaks in some Slavik type language which I have figured out is actually Russian. So I can proudly say turn left, turn right in Russian now! Maybe you'll be so lucky with your new GPS, Hugh!

Reply by MikeC/TX on 12/28/11 11:37pm
Msg #407760

Since you don't have a smartphone, my recommendation would be a Garmin Nuvi. Amazon carries a good one at a decent price which includes lifetime maps and traffic updates:

http://amzn.to/n3QUtf

If you're in an area where there's a lot of road construction, even the best GPS is going to fail you at times. There's an incredible amount of road work being done in this part of Texas, especially around DFW airport, and sometimes the roads here are like the moving staircases in the Harry Potter films - you never know where they're going to be next. Even the smartphone navigator apps (which are updated more frequently than Garmin's maps) get confused here, so there's not much benefit to paying $10/month for an app vs buying a stand-alone with lifetime updates, at least as far as the economics are concerned. Convenience is a matter of personal opinion...

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 12/28/11 11:53pm
Msg #407762

If my suction cup dash mounted portable Garmin broke ...

I would just buy another one. Why? I have an Atrix 2 and the navigator that comes loaded on the phone does a great job, voice directions and all at no extra cost. My wife's iPhone has an app that works nearly as well, but she bought it. Forgot what it cost. But here's the rub. We are asking a lot of cell phones, besides just being phones. All the high end smart phones do a wonderful job, but unfortunately, battery technology has not kept up, and when the gps navigator is on, they suck the batteries. Heavy usage and you are charging your phone twice a day, or at least keeping it plugged in while you are using it as a gps. You will also find that most smart phones don't connect as well in rural areas as that flip phone of yours.

I have never been a dedicated "all in one" type of guy. I don't like combination printers, don't like combination entertainment centers for the home. I like to keep it separate. Same with the GPS. I still find I like the "old style" suction cup mounted stand alone gps better than using the all in one smart phone.

Reply by BrendaTx on 12/29/11 7:50am
Msg #407772

Re: If my suction cup dash mounted portable Garmin broke ...

Glen, I keep a freshly charged battery on my desk and chargers in my car, at my office (j.o.b.) and at my home base. I buy them on Amazon...the cheap aftermarket kind.

Reply by Karla/OR on 12/29/11 1:04am
Msg #407763

Hi Hugh~ Santa brought me a Garmin nuvi 40lm - I'm SO loving it after my ventures out and about this year without one!

It has free lifetime maps. I have no idea what you get with "40" vs. a higher numbered version though. The cost for it was $20 more than what is featured on the link above and mine was purchased at Best Buy!

Though it is a new piece of techno I have to get used to, it is very much welcome. Good luck with your choice.

Karla

Reply by JanetK_CA on 12/29/11 1:21am
Msg #407765

I think I've seen that one advertised with Costco for $99. It's in the email advertisements, but I don't remember if it's only for online purchases. Seemed like a good deal to me.

Reply by Yowheelz on 12/29/11 9:38am
Msg #407778

Gps kept giving me wrong info, went back to old ADC mapbooks

Last time I used my GPS it was a cold rainy dark winter night and I was sitting on a dirt road between cornfields when my GPS was saying "You have reached your destination." Gave the GPS to my son and got out my mapbooks. I've worked the same 5 counties for 15 years and with the exception of new developments I know the roads. People laugh but it works for me.

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 12/29/11 11:38am
Msg #407791

Re: Gps kept giving me wrong info, went back to old ADC mapbooks

I'm not laughing. I still look at my Thomas Guide before I go anywhere. I use them in conjunction with the GPS. You will find that the error in GPS will get larger around military installations or areas where there may be a lot of federal buildings, or in an area where an Ex-President may live. It's not an accident.

GPS is to driving what an electronic calculator is to math. You still need to know how to do it the "old way".

Reply by jba/fl on 12/29/11 12:09pm
Msg #407794

Re: Gps kept giving me wrong info, went back to old ADC mapbooks

Totally agree. Only in the middle of a river or woods would I give it as much reliability as others do here. My home consistently comes up elsewhere on several devices, maps have it where I am. And I'm in an established neighborhood.

Reply by MW/VA on 12/29/11 10:26am
Msg #407784

There are so many options for GPS devices these days. I

use a Mio that I got at RadioShack cheap & reliable). While I now have Sync in my Ford Escape, Nav through my Droid, Google Maps, etc., on that same phone--I still prefer to use the GPS. It's fastest & I'm not fumbling with my phone while in the car. IMO the day's fast approaching that all phone use in vehicles will be illegal. It's because of this biz that I got fast-forwarded into the world of technology.
I could spend a good portion of what's left of my life keeping everything charged. LOL
BTW, good luck with that new Iphone, Hugh. You know that everyone who's cool has one, don't you?
:-) LOL

Reply by jba/fl on 12/29/11 11:34am
Msg #407789

Funny-est line of the morning:

I could spend a good portion of what's left of my life keeping everything charged.


So very true! ROFL

Reply by Linda_in_MI on 12/29/11 4:01pm
Msg #407827

Word of caution RE: addresses in dash mounted GPS units

Would have never thought of this, until car sales guy was going over the in-car navigation system. NEVER LIST YOUR EXACT HOME ADDRESS IN YOUR GPS OR NAVIGATION SYSTEM. Why? If your car or GPS is stolen, then thieves know where you live. What to do instead? Pick a point close to your home, say the grocery store down the block. Put that in as your home address.

Reply by Shoshana/AZ on 12/29/11 7:38pm
Msg #407838

Here's another good one....

Never put your home address on your luggage tags! The thieves cut off your tags and burglarize your home!

Reply by Calnotary on 12/29/11 8:52pm
Msg #407851

Re: Word of caution RE: addresses in dash mounted GPS units

Linda in my vehicle that it's password protected.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 12/30/11 2:36pm
Msg #407920

If you car is stolen they have your address on the

registration and insurance card too..if they really really want it

Reply by BrendaTx on 12/30/11 3:14pm
Msg #407922

Yeah, lately, it is all about what can be turned over for a

little quick crack money at the pawn shop. The ID/registration will probably be left behind...it would require the crooks to know how to read.

Once they get those gadgets, some of them are using professional looking cellophane packaging and stickers that look like they came out of another used stuff store that's going out of business. They knock out windows of cars, pull out anything they see, go home to their little crackhead dens and get out their re-packaging materials and make them all nice and neat. The next day, they take them to sell.

Ask me how I know all this.

My car was broken into once; the next morning they stop a guy with a trunk load full of neatly packaged stuff from the previous night's haul. The police called me to come down and look. It was all laid out on tables. Cords were packaged inside the cellephone with the items they went with; neat, well organized.

Looked like we were at a flippin' gadgets resale shop.

If they can do that kind of careful detail work, why not just get a job?

It is definitely