Blogging Ottinger (tim)Garmin Nuvi navigator
If you know me, you know my sense of direction is not very good.
When I walk out of my client’s break room my sense of direction uniformly screams at me that I’m facing in precisely the opposite direction that I really am. I have to step out, look around, and wait for the disorientation to subside. It is a little like that feeling you get when the car beside you drifts backward and that you feel you’re drifting forward: it is disorienting and even dizzy-making. I don’t know why it “feels” so opposite of the way it really is. Strangeness. Darned spotty memory also doesn’t help, because mine doesn’t preserve order of things seen and sometimes drops useful detail. I need a less defective brain, I think.
I’m pretty well protected since I have google maps in my blackberry, and a compass built into the rental car, but that error prone sense of direction complains. I can trust the compass and follow the map as long as I can see it well, and I know where I am. Of course, I don’t always have a compass in my rentals and don’t always have a NeverLost unit.
Finally I took my fearless leader’s advice and got a new navigation unit. His is a TomTom, mine is a nuvi (by Garmin). Now I always know where I am, which way I’m headed, and a route to my destination.
It’s cute. Great form-factor, very light-weight, nicely backlit touchscreen, and very very easy to use. It tracks your location very closely, and the instructions are very easy to follow. I had a lot of trouble with neverlost units blanking or changing display at bad times, and it always seemed to announce turns too soon or too late. Sometimes the NeverLost even told me to do things that were dangerous (get in the left lane, then make a right turn) or impossible (turning north from a highway with no ramps).
The only trouble I’ve had with this unit is that its points-of-interest are not always current. One BBQ place I tried to find has become a “Biscuits” breakfast restaurant, and another BBQ place is apparently a car lot now. I can even add my own points of interest, so I know where a laundromat and a nice BBQ place are located
I’ll probably get some kind of carrying-case because I fear I’ll get it scratched, but it’s small enough to travel in my bag complete with the mount and cigarette-lighter adapter. I’m now a functional cyborg (directions, blackberry, pda/ogg player, laptop with docs and tools, movie player, etc). I’m electronically enhanced. I can even switch to “pedestrian mode” and carry it with me provided I don’t use up the battery.
Now that silly brain can spend its time more fruitfully and worry less about my location and directions. Whew.
Those things are fun, so long as the database is mostly current. But I spend two hours driving in circles one night in North Carolina because the “Never Lost” unit insisted that I use an on ramp that was closed due to road construction…
That was frustrating.
Comment by Walter Moore — 2007-April-15 @ 11:53
Yeah. I did look up a few churches that were closed, so I know that it can be tough. This one is really quick to reroute, and can track your location and direction with only a few steps in any direction. That’s really cool. I came across some construction, decided to go west and try again, and it caught up with me within seconds of my varying the route. And it was right, which helps.
I saw that I can get maps for out-of-country navigation too. That’s kinda cool. I might try that later this year.
Comment by Tim — 2007-April-16 @ 03:09
I have a Garmin I use for trailblazing and cross country biking… it’s been quite a reliable unit.
As for directions… request driving directions from Google Maps for NY, NY -> Paris, France… best directions I’ve ever seen. (look closely)
Comment by Kevin — 2007-April-16 @ 12:00
“Out of country”… that might come in useful in places like, Tokyo.. =8-0
Comment by Walter Moore — 2007-April-19 @ 03:25