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Re: GPS

By: oldCADuser in FFFT | Recommend this post (0)
Fri, 14 Dec 12 12:25 AM | 31 view(s)
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Msg. 48479 of 65535
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The other feature that both of these new units have that's nice is the lifetime free traffic alerts, which indicate when there are problems in the area and will even highlight the routes where problems are being experienced. And if you're actually using the trip routing to a destination, it will automatically give you instant updates as to how many additional minutes that you can expect to add to your travel time if you remain on the designated route. And if things get really bogged-down it'll offer you alternate routes or detours to get around whatever is causing the delay. Now this feature is not available everywhere but seems to work pretty well in most larger metropolitan areas. What it uses are digitally encoded signals which are being broadcast on the FM band in many parts of the country with status reports of average speeds on major roads, areas where road construction is taking place and traffic accidents where emergency vehicles have been dispatched.




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The above is a reply to the following message:
Re: GPS
By: oldCADuser
in FFFT
Fri, 14 Dec 12 12:10 AM
Msg. 48478 of 65535

Both my wife and I have Magellan Roadmate GPS units in our respective vehicles. While her's is a large 7" model, mine is a smaller 4.3" version which I also take with me on the road as I have a portable (beanbag) mount that I can just throw on the dash of a rental car, plug-in and go.

As for their accuracy, the two GPS units we now have include free lifetime map updates so I think things are getting better since in the past, most of the so-called errors that I've experienced resulted from major changes having been made in some street or highway routing and the GPS maps are simply out-of-date. Our older Magellan units (purchased about 3 years ago), which were replaced by the two we just bought (within the last 3 months), did not have free map upgrades and since a typical update cost almost as much as a new unit (the street prices have been dropping significantly the last few years) we never upgraded any of them and so it was getting pretty bad. But now with the new units things appear to be better (we've already had one update each since we bought our most recent Magellan units).

Now it is true that occasionally you'll lose satellite connections, usually downtown in cities with lots of really tall buildings, and I have seen situations where I've been basically taken for loop around a block or suddenly being told "When possible, make a legal U-turn." for no apparent reason, but compared to our first GPS unit, a Magellan Roadmate 360...

http://www.gpsinformation.org/penrod/rm360/rm360.html

...which we bought maybe 6 years ago, today's technology is light-years ahead...

http://www.magellangps.com/Search/RoadMate_old/Magellan-RoadMate-2136T-LM

http://www.magellangps.com/Search/RoadMate_old/Magellan-RoadMate-9020T-LM

BTW, one feature on my smaller 2136T unit that I like is that it has a local speed limit indicator which you can set to warn you if you go some preset amount over the posted speed limit (it shows you a little speed limit 'sign' on the screen which turns red when you exceed your preset and if you have the audio option on, it will tell you that you've exceeded the speed limit as well) and it's amazing how accurate it is, as you drive say though some small town, the speed limit indicator updates literally within feet of you passing a sign with a new posted speed limit.

All in all, even with their occasional 'blips', I wouldn't want to travel anywhere new without one of these devices along for the ride.


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