UffDa
Gold Member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 1999
- Messages
- 42,596
We were getting ready for our vacation to Vancouver Island and my wife has been bugging me for a GPS for her car, so when Costco had a sale on a Garmin nuvi 270 we bought one. Our results were mixed.
The good. On several occasions it guided us to the front door of places we would never have found without it. I long ago found that you can't always depend on the accuracy of directions from "natives". If you plug in the address that you want to go to it will give you the approximate time of arrival and the distance. The maps are pretty good.
One time it really surprised me. We were at a motel in Victoria and my wife entered Port Angeles. It took us right to the waterfront and told us to take the ferry.
The bad. That female voice can drive you nuts. On a number of occasions she would tell me to turn when I had already passed the spot. If you miss the turn, she says "recalculating" in an exasperated tone and sometimes it got confused and wanted to take me in the wrong direction. You have to stop and reenter the address were you want to go to.
From Oakland, CA we were going to stop in Bakersfield for the night. We entered the address of the motel and it took us there, but in a rather strange way. It chose a road that I wouldn't have taken. When we arrived in the area, it told us that we reached our destination, but it wanted us to turn into the wrong hotel. Ours was a good 200 yards further down the street.
Overall, I think it's a useful gadget, but I wouldn't bet my life on it. I wish that it provided a bit more information like map coordinates and elevation. I guess these things are intended for people who don't know how to read a map. I'm not sure if the more expensive models offer more advanced features.
The good. On several occasions it guided us to the front door of places we would never have found without it. I long ago found that you can't always depend on the accuracy of directions from "natives". If you plug in the address that you want to go to it will give you the approximate time of arrival and the distance. The maps are pretty good.
One time it really surprised me. We were at a motel in Victoria and my wife entered Port Angeles. It took us right to the waterfront and told us to take the ferry.
The bad. That female voice can drive you nuts. On a number of occasions she would tell me to turn when I had already passed the spot. If you miss the turn, she says "recalculating" in an exasperated tone and sometimes it got confused and wanted to take me in the wrong direction. You have to stop and reenter the address were you want to go to.
From Oakland, CA we were going to stop in Bakersfield for the night. We entered the address of the motel and it took us there, but in a rather strange way. It chose a road that I wouldn't have taken. When we arrived in the area, it told us that we reached our destination, but it wanted us to turn into the wrong hotel. Ours was a good 200 yards further down the street.
Overall, I think it's a useful gadget, but I wouldn't bet my life on it. I wish that it provided a bit more information like map coordinates and elevation. I guess these things are intended for people who don't know how to read a map. I'm not sure if the more expensive models offer more advanced features.
