[TeamCaffee]

We have about have a million miles on our Lowrance iWay 500c and we would not trade it for anything. We are familiar with the Garmin’s and still for us we like ours best. For us though we hated the voice so ours has been turned off for most of the miles. Our screen is very nice and easy to read, we can easily see our arrow telling us which way our next turn will be, we can easily see how far our next turn is and also which lane we need to be in. As we get closer the turns are blown up so this is also very easy to read as you are going down the road.

We have not had any complaints about our Lowrance and when we argue with "Lori" very seldom do we win.

[Turtle]

The biggest thing about the Traffic is actually what you don't see. When you are on a route the Garmin (and almost all other standalone units) are constantly recalculating looking for faster or shorter routes. You can be casually driving along and the Garmin might make a routing change 200-300 miles ahead of you. It's the same with the Traffic. When it gets to within radio distance of a traffice service area finds out about a traffic problem, sometimes 50, 100 miles ahead, it will quietly make the necessary course corrections for you. Sometimes by the time you get nearer to the traffic problem, it will have cleared up, and the Garmin knows that, too, and will again re-route it the fastest or shortest way. It's a very kewl thing.

Of course, the CB is sometimes a better source for problems, especially in more rural areas not covered by the FM Traffic.

It's not something that is necessary, by a long shot. But, a few months back when my subscription expired and the FM quit working, there wasn't any bells and whistles to let me know it expired. But, it didn't take 2 days before I realized that it sure seemed to be missing a lot of traffic problems all of a sudden.

[ATeam]

Turtle,

Can the route recalculate feature be turned off? There are often times when we do not have the option of deviating from our planned route, or there may be a reason why we would not wish to.

[TeamCaffee]

The recalculate option works very fast and if you do not want to deviate from your course you do not and the GPS will immediately recalculate again. We check our route on the map against the suggest route and then we often compare the GPS directions. When you see on the GPS directions that the GPS wants to take you on a road you do not want we make a mental note and we go our way. One of the directions we often watch is customer directions often the customer will give very specific directions to their location and the GPS will want to short cut when this happens we follow the customer’s directions and let the GPS keep up with us. Even in this situation the GPS is very handy as the GPS shows you the name of the next road you are coming to. We have found the GPS just keeps us more on the edge of knowing what lane we need to be in and when our turn is coming up.

The one thing to remember is the GPS is a tool and right now the driver is still the master!! Of course some day that may change but right now we override our system. That is another reason we turned the voice off was we found ourselves arguing with her.

[Turtle]

Phil, yeah, what Molly's pet said.

I turn the voice off most of the time, too. I have, on several occasions, uttered something along the lines of, "You're stoopid, I'm not going that way."

When I first got mine, the Traffic thing worked like, it would find a better route, and it would pop up a note and then aurally inform me, "A better route is available. Would you like to take it?" I liked that, but apparently enough people didn't that they took it out in the next software update.

Sometimes you have to fiddled with it, set it for Car, or Truck (or Bus or Taxi), Shorter Distance then Faster Time, to see which route it takes, compare times and mileage, then decide which way you want to go, or go a different route altogether. Sometimes I'll run it in Streets and Trips and go with that one. Like they said, it's a tool, just a tool.

Just don't set it for Emergency Vehicle, like an ambulance, cause it'll take you the wrong way on One-Way streets.

Wanna see something funny, sit in Detroit, plot a route going to Windsor, only set it to Avoid Tolls. It'll get you from Detroit to Windsor, and it'll avoid all tolls roads and toll bridges. It's hilarious.

[P51bombay]

Originally Posted by ATeam

Thank you, folks, for the Nuvi information. Perhaps the Nuvi 200 is a bit lightweight. Continuing my research, I stumbled upon GPS Magazine reviews. These reviews are thorough and enjoyable to read.

WOW, I'm amzed at how detailed the reviews are and the number of images. Now I want a new tomtom

[Turtle]

Read the comparison reviews to get an idea of the differences between NavTeq (Garmin, Magellan) and TeleAtlas (Tom-Tom) mapping. TeleAtlas is the clear choice for European map accuracy, NavTeq for North America.

[ATeam]

New Garmin Nuvi 750's are selling on eBay for $275 - $300.

[piper1]

Originally Posted by Turtle

I have, on several occasions, uttered something along the lines of, "You're stoopid, I'm not going that way."

I have a Garmin 250w. If I'm in Atlanta and tell it I want to go to Detroit it routes me off I-75 at Dalton and then up GA 71 and TN 60 around Cleveland TN. I have it set for "Fastest" and this route falls into the "Stupid" category. Funny thing is, same trip southbound and it keeps you on I-75.

[Rocketman]

Originally Posted by ATeam

New Garmin Nuvi 750's are selling on eBay for $275 - $300.

Worth every penny at that price..or double that price imho.

[guido4475]

about 2 months ago i have bought a cobra nav one 5000 from petro. petro has made good on their end of the 30- day return/exchange policy. cobra has not. i have had nothing but problems with this unit. it freezes up for periods of 43 miles before it starts working again,and sometimes a master reset is needed to get it to work at all. these are the few of the problems i have with it, even after the required updates downloaded from their website. this is all they can do, they tell me. so much for customer service. it does work well for getting me to a wal-mart,postoffice or laundromat, if that is all you need it for. go figure. and.....another thing. i have had a few problems with my blue eagle headset losing it's bluetooth signal with the phone. thinking it was the phone, i bought a new phone. the problem still persists. i called the phone number on the bottom of my interstate connections receipt for the support center (866-984-9393) and it gave me a phone numberfor blue eagle,(866-557-0211) i got ahold of wendy in this department, and she tells me that blue parrot manufactures blue eagle headsets, and to call them at 800-742-8588. through all of this i have found out interstate connections call center is giving out the wrong phone numbers.blue parrot claims they do not make blue eagle. wendy may even give you a phone number of 877-972-7768 which is actually parrot inc., a totally different company altogether. does any one know of a good headset that has good noise cancellation similar to the blue eagle or parrot?

[ebsprintin]

I've been using the nuvi 200 for about a year and a half now. The new truck I'm in came with the nuvi 350, so I've been comparing those two the last couple weeks. The big difference between the two is that the 350 gives street names when announcing upcoming turns. I personally don't like that. It's too wordy. In future purchases I'll turn that function off. Learning on the old model, I learned to glance down at the unit if I want to verify the upcoming street name. Perhaps its a matter of teaching an old dog new tricks, but I don't need confusing verbiage going into my ears. "Vine street" might be easy enough, but I don't like things like "county road two-thousand five hundred and twenty-five". My brain sees it and remembers it as "county road 25-25". I've also been looking at upgrading, and the 750 seems to have what I'm interested in.

Auto rerouting can be an annoyance. There are time when you do want a locked in route. My unit doesn't lock into the route, so I have to be extra careful, and sometimes to the point of shutting the unit off. It might insist on routing me over that one lane wooden bridge or reroute me to take the Holland Tunnel.

As for the price of the nuvi 200 these days, it still might be worth the purchase just as a walmart finder.

eb

[cheri1122]

Dude, if all you need to find is WalMart, they sell an atlas for $5.00 that lists every location within a mile or two if the interstate.
The Nuvi 200 has helped me find everything for a year now, (I keep the volume muted, though), and the only reason I'm upgrading is to play audiobooks through it.

[ATeam]

Well, after asking a lot of questions here on the Open Forum and receiving a lot of good answers, our Nuvi 750 is in the truck. We call her Gertrude, having seen another team do the same. For whatever reason, the name seems to fit.

The unit is performing as advertised. Having not fully read the manual and experimented with the features, there is an immediate difference in driving that makes the unit worth its price. It is really nice being told in advance of the next turn as the turn draws near.

Before, I was looking at signs and traffic and house numbers many blocks ahead of the turn. Now, I can concentrate fully on traffic and rely on Gertrude to tell me if my delivery is on the left or right side of the street and when my turn is approaching.

I think it was Terry that once cited a statistic here saying accidents happen more frequently near deliveries than out on the road. That makes sense. Looking for an address and traffic at the same time is more complex than just looking at traffic. Gertrude takes care of the address part, leaving the traffic part to me.

[Turtle]

Mine's name is Linda. When ya go to select a Voice and Language, says so, right there. Linda. I didn't feel comfortable changing her name without her permission. I do call her a few other names now and again, tho. She seems to be OK with it.

Although, I did call her a goober yesterday. Not too long after that, she routed me to take an exit, go one block, turn left for half a mile, then get right back on the Interstate in the same direction I had been going. Women, sheesh.

I think she's watching me as I type this. I better be careful. I have to go now.