GPS Tracker

[Just Us N Texas]

First, let me explain that I can't find my way out of a wet paper sack, even with directions! Recently, we went to look at horses, and the gentleman there was laughing as we were asking for directions on how to get back home. He told us he had invested in a GPS navigating system several years ago. Well, since we are always out looking at horses, it made good sense to us to think about investing in one. Well, I saw the Garmin c330 street finder on sale at Wal-Mart, while in Ky., and bought the rascal. I can put in an address, and it will take me right there! It also has several added features as to where to find gas stations, hotels, cities, restaurants and you name it!

I had a blast with it coming home from Ky., and put it in the car while hubby and I were going out to dinner one night last week, and it gave us another way to get to one of our favorite restaurants. He kept saying it had lost it's way, and found out it hadn't. For all of us directionally challenged people, it is a must. Besides that, it's a lot of fun. I passed on the one that had all the games and etc. added. I just need to find my way there and back! I would definitely suggest it to people that are constantly trying to find horses, and horse shows! A couple of friends from Ky. were bringing some horses here last week-end, and Tina told Faye about it, and she bought one. It brought them right here to us. She and Charlie had a lot of fun with theirs too! Faye says she is directionally challenged too, and at least she wouldn't end up lost as much as before!

Oh, and when you arrive at your destination, it shows you the checkered flag! It can startle you though, when you've been driving for some miles, and suddenly it tells you that in 1.1 miles you will make a right turn.

Guess you can tell I like it quite a bit!

 

[angel_cowgirl]

So it makes audible commands too?

I've only seen the ones built into vehicles.

 

[Sonya]

We just recently bought a garmin also (couple months ago), but not sure of the model, it was around $600...and yes, she talks, sometimes very annoyingly! lol...I hate when she says..."recalculating, recalculating, recalculating"..I just want to throw her out the window! Or she'll say..."make a u turn now, make a uturn now"...she's trying to make me get a ticket!

They are wonderful though, it's amazing what they can do and we do use ours alot...I wish it had a sexy man voice...lol...

Forgot to add:

My husband has named her "Cecilia"....and god-forbid I relocate her to my Kia and not return her back to the F-250, her natural habitat...it seems she is just too sophisticated for a Kia...why do I know this?? Because my husband said she said so...

 

[Basketmiss]

My husbands boss lets us borrow his GPS when we go on trips.. There is a girl doing the talking, so i tell my husband your girlfriends talking to you!!

If you decide to go another way (to avoid traffic or something) she starts nagging you like a wife!!

They are very cool though, I get lost easy too!! I need landmarks like McDonalds on right etc, and not landmarks like Marty gives about the boulder, or ditch, I am no good with those!!

I'm glad I dont have to go to the sticks much as I would NEVER get there!!

 

[Bluerocket]

Here is a link to a GPS online -- kinda interesting how it works.

Put in your phone number and watch it locate where you are now (assuming your phone is with you).

http://www.satellite-gps-locator.com

 

[wantminimore]

OMG!!!! I thought, hey this GPS site is way cool to be able to find where other people are.

All I have to say is, everybody needs to check it out!!!!

Leslie

 

[Marty]

How much?

 

[Chpmnk1]

OH!

 

[Kathy2m]

I have one too, but mine is on my laptop. I wanted a GPS for the same reason as you all, but I also wanted a laptop that I could use when we went on trips and my 17 yr old hogs the desktop when we are home so I spend most of my time on the laptop at the kitchen table. When we are on the interstate for a long time I play games on the computer. Then go back to the GPS. I liked the idea that the screen is so big for those of us who are sight challenged. Mine does talk too. I got the bottom of the line Dell with the GPS software, car charging kit, delivered for about 600.00. I figured that most GPS are about 3 to 4 hundred dollars for a couple hundred more I got a computer too! Kathy

 

[Just Us N Texas]

When I got mine, it was 249.99. A week later, they had it on sale for 179.99. Believe me, I pursued a refund! And I got it! This one does not have games and etc. installed. It only has the navigation features. The larger one, that regularly sells for about 500, (games and etc. included) was on sale at that time for 379.00, or thereabouts.

You have 15 days to return it to Wal-Mart, and it is warranteed for 1 year. I feel that I have bought a toy that is extremely useful! Think about this, a couple months ago, a couple of little ladies' bodies were found in a field, dead. Seems they had gone on a road trip, got off the highway, and could not find their way back to the highway. Had they had a GPS, they could have found their way out of there, and if not, with the GPS, they could have been tracked. It is not only convenient to be able to find your way around, but it could also be a lifesaver!

 

[hobbyhorse23]

My friend Maggie had one in her Miata when she picked me up at the Louisville Airport for my trip to the National Drive and I was a convert within the hour. I never thought I'd want one but hers took us right to JJay's through winding one-lane Kentucky roads at 1AM without a single missed turn! No worries over trying to read a map in a moving convertible with no overhead light, no concern over whether we'd missed a turn or how much further to the next one, the visuals of the road kept us from being surprised by sharp curves we couldn't see (KY DOT apparently doesn't believe in curve warning signs

), and we easily found gas on the way by asking "Bridget," the British woman on the Garmin StreetPilot C530, where to go.

The war cry of the week was "Bridget will show us the way!"

She took us to Walmart, the KY Horse Park, various restaurants, back and forth to JJay's house from anywhere, and when we decided on the spur of the moment on our free tourist day to try and find that park I remembered with the statues of a full race scene it not only found it but took us right to it. Way cool!

I've talked to Garmin since then trying to decide what model to buy and it seems the C500 series has the more sensitive satellites but doesn't say street names, the C300 series says street names but doesn't have the sensitive satellite pickup, and the Nuvi series is the newer thin one. I forget what was special about them! OH! Apparently there's a new C700 series coming out that does both street names and the more sensitive satellites as well as allowing more flexiblity in planning your own routes through places you already know but at $600 I can't afford it yet. Maybe in a couple of years when the price has dropped. Garmin customer service was also very prompt and helpful which is something I look for in a company that I suspect I may have to call for map updates.

I can see that I wouldn't use it much day to day as I probably know the backroads around here better than the Garmin does, but it's invaluable for trips to strange areas or destinations you're not familiar with. I might actually brave Seattle traffic if I had a Garmin to help me find the Paramount or Seattle Center! Sure it sometimes doesn't show you the shortest route compared to the way a local would have sent you, but you'll get there.

Bridget did get a bee in her bonnet every time we left the Horse Park thinking we were going the wrong way and saying "Make a U-turn. Make a U-turn. Recalculating...." Maggie and I would look at each other, grin, and chorus "Shut up, Bridget!" as we turned off her sound.

She'd figure it out by the time we got to the main road and start talking sense again.

Leia

 

[Just Us N Texas]

Mine came with a driver, and a USB cable, and the recommendation that you update it often.

 

[twister]

I have a garmin too, hubby got it for my birthday in October, we call her Angela

Works great as I am often on strange roads by myself and you can't drive and look at maps lol I drive about 60,000 km a year and this gps is the best thing since sliced bread.

Yvonne

 

[iluvwalkers]

[SIZE=12pt]we had one...a couple years ago hubby had to have one, he loves all that "new technoligy" we went on a little trip to Vermont to look at a horse, he stared at that thing the whole time he was driving, pushing buttons and so on. The further we got the madder I got...I had to keep reminding him to look at the road, 1,2,3,4,5 seconds...ugh...watch the ROAD! I had had enough and told him he was going to kill us or someone else and if he looked at it one more time it was going out the window...well about 20 minutes later there he goes staring at it again, out my window it went, you should have seen the look on his face

, it was mile marker 124 if I recall. When people talk about them he always says "I had one and used it once" I warned him and he knows I am a woman of my word so he never did get mad, (well maybe a little

) we still laugh about it...Nikki [/SIZE]

 

[Bluerocket]

Carolyn:

Mine came with a driver, and a USB cable, and the recommendation that you update it often.

Is the "driver" named Jerry???

JJ

 

[Just Us N Texas]

Cute J J, one driver goes in the computer, the other is named Jerry!

 

[minimule]

Sounds like the one in the movie "RV" with Robin Williams. He called her Lola. It's a very funny sequence when he goes "off road"!