What are the GPS manufacturers thinking?

[+Insp Gadget]

I have been using various GPS units since 2000 and recently I was looking for a new unit for the car and after trying a few of the newer models, it left me wondering what the heck these manufacturers are thinking. Bear with me while I try to explain.

 

I was at The Sourcecc one day and they had the Mio520 on display and on sale. I played with it for a while and finally decided to buy one. I was immediately impressed with the device. I installed it into my car and was impressed by the build quality. It was well designed and tough but I found the bracket to hold it in my car was quite flimsy. I didn't like how the cigarette adapter plugged into the GPS as it made it a bit frustrating to connect it each time I put the GPS into the car. I found it easy to upgrade the unit to the latest firmware and update the cameras and such. I absolutely love the display on the MIO. IMHO, it blows away all the competition and I hope that all GPS units in the future have this type of display. It was easy to differentiate things on the screen and also follow the planned route. I did not, however like the fact that when using the voice that announced the street names, that the unit would frequently pause while I was driving, as if the processor was overloaded and could not keep up. It got so annoying that I would sometimes miss my turn while waiting for the voice to tell me to turn. The 520 also can play videos, show pictures and play MP3 files and has Bluetooth.

 

I returned the Mio and picked up a Magellan Crossover. Sorry to all you Magellan fans out there, but I could not wait to return this unit. The built quality was good, but I found the interface to be rather “old” and not very nice. I also found that turning the “reset” switch to power on the unit seemed rather odd. The display was rough, but it was fast and did speak the street names which I really liked. I took it for a drive and was immediately unimpressed, especially when I was more than 1km from my intended route and the GPS would not recalculate. I returned this unit the very next day and picked up a TomTom One XL.

 

I found the TomTom to be the nearest thing to what I was looking for. As with all the other units, the first thing I did was to update the Firmware, which in the case of the TomTom made a huge difference. I loved that the One XL was easy to use, had lots of features that were designed for driving and was well built. I hated the display though. Why does a Tomtom shift all around when your at a dead stop? I found the graphics to be very blocky, light years behind the Mio. I liked the Mapshare feature which allows you to make corrections to the maps right in the GPS itself, but it was very limited. It would allow you to enter a street that was not on the map, but only if that street was a straight line. In my area, there are some parts of a new highway that are not on any of the GPS units and I was hoping to use the TomTom to correct this, but alas, it is not able to. I was very disappointed in the Plus services from Tomtom. They advertise this service as being so great to have updated safety cameras, traffic information etc, but none of them are available in Canada. I returned this unit as well.

 

After having tried all these units and having used a Garmin Streetpilot C330 at work for a year or so, it made me wonder. What are these manufacturers thinking? Why would they add an MP3 player, Video Player, Bluetooth, IPOD control, etc etc etc to these units when they are not needed for trying to find my way to my destination? Why can't they concentrate on things like better maps? More accurate POI's? Gas prices displayed when looking for gas, times to take rest breaks and such? It makes me feel that these guys are going in the complete opposite deirection to what we need.

 

What do you guys think? Do you find it necessary to have all these extras in your GPS receiver? What things would you like to see?

[cervezamatte]

Sounds like you are just a little too critical. When did people completely abandon the idea of being responsible for where they are going and what they are doing behind the wheel of a car? Sure, having a voice tell you to turn is a neat novelty, but jeez... try taking a moment to look at the map beforehand and then reading the street signs as you approach them. So dadgum lazy!

 

As for units with all the gadgets... I look forward to total convergence. When one unit is my cell phone, mp3 player, GPS, FM radio and tranceiver, PDA, digital camera, calculator, toothpick and tape dispenser. Seriously! We each have all these gadgets and we've paid in the thousands of dollars for them collectively. Why not have one unit, even if it is a little bulky that, for $1200, does every dadgum thing we have a gadget for?

[+linuxxpert]

Garmin Nuvi..... Thats all I am going to say....

[+Insp Gadget]

Sounds like you are just a little too critical. When did people completely abandon the idea of being responsible for where they are going and what they are doing behind the wheel of a car? Sure, having a voice tell you to turn is a neat novelty, but jeez... try taking a moment to look at the map beforehand and then reading the street signs as you approach them. So dadgum lazy!

 

As for units with all the gadgets... I look forward to total convergence. When one unit is my cell phone, mp3 player, GPS, FM radio and tranceiver, PDA, digital camera, calculator, toothpick and tape dispenser. Seriously! We each have all these gadgets and we've paid in the thousands of dollars for them collectively. Why not have one unit, even if it is a little bulky that, for $1200, does every dadgum thing we have a gadget for?

 

I was just playing with the unit near my home and was trying to see how it would work, how quickly it would recalculate after missing a turn etc....

[piratejimmy]

While the all-in-one concept sounds nice given the lack of quality these days I hate the idea of having to replace EVERY gadget when one goes on the fritz. That's what would happen since they are all in one box, right?

 

Otherwise, I'd rather cut back to basics for a bit. I'm experiencing sensory overload around here and loosing my mind as a result. Seriously, the old memory is failing.

[+Miragee]

I have never been a fan of all-in-one items. I have a hand-held GPSr, a Garmin Vista HCx, and a separate PDA, an inexpensive Palm M500. Of course I also have a separate Digital camera. MP3 Player . . . well, I haven't ever seen the need for one of those.

[+TrailGators]

I agree with the OP that a GPS is a tool. I don't need all the gimicy things in my GPS but obviously some people do because it's all about supply and demand. I agree that better maps would be nice but those are controlled by another company that sells them to all the GPS makers. I like the idea of routing you the fastest way while taking into account the current traffic conditions. If their is an accident ahead the GPS could recognize this and instantly route you a different way.

[cervezamatte]

I guess you're right... that an all-in-one tool that had one portion go bad would be inconvenient and expensive to deal with, but I was calling for the dream machine, which would also be indestructable and fail safe. hahaha. I just can't believe someone would continue to return expensive electronics because of this little or that little issue. At some point, you either need to do better research up front, or live with your choice. Though it would be nice to return a wife in the same manner that gadget boy dealt with is unfortunate purchases.

 

I have an old GPS III + which still works awesome and has been truely tested beyond what 99% of folks would consider normal use. To tell it right, my GPS III + has bounced around the floor of our 5-1600 race car for over 5 hours when it was dropped during a race. It is scratched and dinged and still works like a champ. But as I look for a new unit (strongly considering the 60CSx) I keep reading posts about all the crap people expect the unit to do. So there's a certain amount of sarcasm in my first post. But still, my passenger seat is a messy spread of battery powered things with cords and cables that ring and beep and flash.

 

It would be ideal to have one unit that did everything. And I would buy it at 5 times the price.

[+Indotguy]

Sounds like you are just a little too critical. When did people completely abandon the idea of being responsible for where they are going and what they are doing behind the wheel of a car? Sure, having a voice tell you to turn is a neat novelty, but jeez... try taking a moment to look at the map beforehand and then reading the street signs as you approach them. So dadgum lazy!

 

As for units with all the gadgets... I look forward to total convergence. When one unit is my cell phone, mp3 player, GPS, FM radio and tranceiver, PDA, digital camera, calculator, toothpick and tape dispenser. Seriously! We each have all these gadgets and we've paid in the thousands of dollars for them collectively. Why not have one unit, even if it is a little bulky that, for $1200, does every dadgum thing we have a gadget for?

 

If this gadget you speak of will do dishes and laundry count me in! (AMEN! to the first paragraph too!)

[+DonB]

I have been using various GPS units since 2000 and recently I was looking for a new unit for the car and after trying a few of the newer models, it left me wondering what the heck these manufacturers are thinking. Bear with me while I try to explain.

 

I was at The Sourcecc one day and they had the Mio520 on display and on sale. I played with it for a while and finally decided to buy one. I was immediately impressed with the device. I installed it into my car and was impressed by the build quality. It was well designed and tough but I found the bracket to hold it in my car was quite flimsy. I didn't like how the cigarette adapter plugged into the GPS as it made it a bit frustrating to connect it each time I put the GPS into the car. I found it easy to upgrade the unit to the latest firmware and update the cameras and such. I absolutely love the display on the MIO. IMHO, it blows away all the competition and I hope that all GPS units in the future have this type of display. It was easy to differentiate things on the screen and also follow the planned route. I did not, however like the fact that when using the voice that announced the street names, that the unit would frequently pause while I was driving, as if the processor was overloaded and could not keep up. It got so annoying that I would sometimes miss my turn while waiting for the voice to tell me to turn. The 520 also can play videos, show pictures and play MP3 files and has Bluetooth.

 

I returned the Mio and picked up a Magellan Crossover. Sorry to all you Magellan fans out there, but I could not wait to return this unit. The built quality was good, but I found the interface to be rather “old” and not very nice. I also found that turning the “reset” switch to power on the unit seemed rather odd. The display was rough, but it was fast and did speak the street names which I really liked. I took it for a drive and was immediately unimpressed, especially when I was more than 1km from my intended route and the GPS would not recalculate. I returned this unit the very next day and picked up a TomTom One XL.

 

I found the TomTom to be the nearest thing to what I was looking for. As with all the other units, the first thing I did was to update the Firmware, which in the case of the TomTom made a huge difference. I loved that the One XL was easy to use, had lots of features that were designed for driving and was well built. I hated the display though. Why does a Tomtom shift all around when your at a dead stop? I found the graphics to be very blocky, light years behind the Mio. I liked the Mapshare feature which allows you to make corrections to the maps right in the GPS itself, but it was very limited. It would allow you to enter a street that was not on the map, but only if that street was a straight line. In my area, there are some parts of a new highway that are not on any of the GPS units and I was hoping to use the TomTom to correct this, but alas, it is not able to. I was very disappointed in the Plus services from Tomtom. They advertise this service as being so great to have updated safety cameras, traffic information etc, but none of them are available in Canada. I returned this unit as well.

 

After having tried all these units and having used a Garmin Streetpilot C330 at work for a year or so, it made me wonder. What are these manufacturers thinking? Why would they add an MP3 player, Video Player, Bluetooth, IPOD control, etc etc etc to these units when they are not needed for trying to find my way to my destination? Why can't they concentrate on things like better maps? More accurate POI's? Gas prices displayed when looking for gas, times to take rest breaks and such? It makes me feel that these guys are going in the complete opposite deirection to what we need.

 

What do you guys think? Do you find it necessary to have all these extras in your GPS receiver? What things would you like to see?

I'm with you on the MP3 players and all the other add ons that have nothing to do with GPS functions. I have nothing against MP3 players and satellite radios, I have those myself, but as stand alone units. I think what the manufactures are doing is trying to appeal to the younger consumers that like to have all of the other toys, it's called marketing. That's why I hope my 2610 keeps on working for many more years.

[+nicolo]

...

Why not have one unit, even if it is a little bulky that, for $1200, does every dadgum thing we have a gadget for?

Because it probably won't do any one thing well.

[+Jenischmeni]

Remember the old rack stereo systems? Remember how fast they came and went? It was because one part would go out (usually something simple) and we'd (or me at least) had to replace the whole thing. Now, they're sold as components for that reason.

 

Someone already mentioned the Nuvi, which is what I was going to offer. I have one and found that it can reroute VERY quickly. No, it doesn't let you amend the maps, but is is really easy to use. Depending on your desires, you can get a very simple unit with little or no frills all the way up to one that displays pictures, videos and plays MP3s. By using Garmin's POI Loader, you can load up all the caches and if they're LPCs, you don't even need your handheld. (But I still use my handheld outside of the car.)

[+Insp Gadget]

Remember the old rack stereo systems? Remember how fast they came and went? It was because one part would go out (usually something simple) and we'd (or me at least) had to replace the whole thing. Now, they're sold as components for that reason.

 

Someone already mentioned the Nuvi, which is what I was going to offer. I have one and found that it can reroute VERY quickly. No, it doesn't let you amend the maps, but is is really easy to use. Depending on your desires, you can get a very simple unit with little or no frills all the way up to one that displays pictures, videos and plays MP3s. By using Garmin's POI Loader, you can load up all the caches and if they're LPCs, you don't even need your handheld. (But I still use my handheld outside of the car.)

 

LPC's ???????????

[+Jhwk]

Remember the old rack stereo systems? Remember how fast they came and went? It was because one part would go out (usually something simple) and we'd (or me at least) had to replace the whole thing. Now, they're sold as components for that reason.

 

Someone already mentioned the Nuvi, which is what I was going to offer. I have one and found that it can reroute VERY quickly. No, it doesn't let you amend the maps, but is is really easy to use. Depending on your desires, you can get a very simple unit with little or no frills all the way up to one that displays pictures, videos and plays MP3s. By using Garmin's POI Loader, you can load up all the caches and if they're LPCs, you don't even need your handheld. (But I still use my handheld outside of the car.)

 

LPC's ???????????

Lamp-post caches.

[+Trucker Lee]

Like so many of our other everyday toys, the GPS makers have gotten onto the "more gadgets in our device" bandwagon. The more complicated they make the unit, the more chance of trashing the basic intended function, and the more possibility of breakdown.

 

To the makers, not just of GPSrs, but all our devices, including cell phones. FOLLOW THE KISS RULE ---- KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID!!

I use a phone to talk, a camera for pictures, and a coffee maker for my morning beverage. I don't want to inadvertantly send a picture of me getting my morning scratch in while talking to my coffee cup. Nor do I think anyone wants to see that!

[+hogrod]

I disagree, if you want a simple plain GPS you can just buy a cheaper one. hell even calibrating an electronic compass is over most peoples technical level.

 

lets take the Nuvi 360 as an example: It has an SD slot I can play my MP3 files from, and an Headphone jack/audio line-out so I can hook it directly to my car stereos line in(some higher model Nuvi's have built in FM transmitters, so you can do this wireless). now I can not only be listening to my MP3's off the GPS, I can get my turn by turn directions through my car stereo speakers.

This unit also has bluetooth, which with my bluetooth enabled phone I can wirelessly connect both devices to see my caller ID on the gps screen, answer & place calls, text message, & call any POI in the database.

 

These features are not useful to everyone but guess what? thats why garmin makes 20 different models of Nuvi ranging from the 200-770.

Edited September 24, 2007 by hogrod

[+RRLover]

My take on this whole conglomeration issue is that the manufacturer is cutting corners and making due

with one piece(with some minor modification)of software that they can use across the whole spectrum

of devices that they produce. If adding superfluous feature sets creates a perceived market advantage

they'll jam 'em in there.

 

Norm

[tubemonkey]

I'd be happy if they paid some additional attention to their handhelds. Look how many years it took them to get rid of serial in favor of USB? And then what did they do ... they went with the older version.

 

Then look how long it took them to put memory cards in. Considering the price of memory, handhelds should come with 1 or 2 GB of onboard memory; plus an expansion slot.

 

Maybe one day they'll catch up with current technology.

[+Cacheoholic]

I find my nuvi 360 exceptionally functional on my bicycle. I can measure speed, distance and a whole lot more. I have topo maps loaded on the SD card along with MP3’s and audio books. I listen to MP3’s or audio books while pedaling along the trail. I can also make and receive hands free phone calls via the Bluetooth. Let’s face it; some of us are geekier than others.

 

I used the Bluetooth just the other day. We were looking for a place to eat. I search the POI’s, found a restaurant, touched the “call” and called via Bluetooth to get the business hours and average menu price.

[+SidAndBob]

It drives me nuts that I have to take a PDA out with my CSx. Why can't Garmin wake up and integrate a Cachemate type application within the unit. It's not exactly rocket science.

[+Miragee]

It drives me nuts that I have to take a PDA out with my CSx. Why can't Garmin wake up and integrate a Cachemate type application within the unit. It's not exactly rocket science.

If you use GSAK, and its "Smart Name" codes, to load the Waypoints into your GPSr, you can get a lot of information in the Waypoint name and in the comments section. If you load the caches as POIs, you can get even more information in the comments section. Unless I am having trouble finding a cache, and need to look at the Past Logs, I often don't have to refer to my Palm.

 

Just a suggestion . . .

[+SidAndBob]

I do all that. I have full hints on POI's, custom icons, last 4 find status etc etc etc, but it doesn't help when you're trying to do a multicache.

My Palm died a couple of weeks ago and I made the mistake of trying to do a letterbox cache with just the GPSr information. When I got home and looked at the listing it said "From the coords go 60 paces....". I was on eBay within 10 mins.

[+NightPilot]

I use a Palm T3 and a dumb bluetooth GPS. The GPS just gets the location, sends it to the Palm via bluetooth, and everything else is on the Palm. I have all the maps and routing information the Nuvi and the rest have, Cachemate, CacheNav, Plucker, and everything else at the touch of a stylus. GSAK sends all the cache info directly to my SD card, I pop it in, and I'm ready to go. My Garmin handheld hasn't been turned on in many months.