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I have a soft spot in my heart for Garmin. I am one of the few people left that still use Garmin's car GPS. I currently use the latest model, the Drive Smart 6

by regus 2y ago

I have a soft spot in my heart for Garmin. I am one of the few people left that still use Garmin's car GPS. I currently use the latest model, the Drive Smart 66. It is my daily driver (lol?). I recently went on a cross country road trip and this thing worked perfectly even when I was in the middle of the desert or driving through a canyon. It was nice to not rely on cell phone service for navigation on this trip. Although the question often comes up: why not just use your phone? There are pros and cons for sure. -------- Pros: - You don't need a cellular connection for map data. -- Counter Point: You can download map data on google maps. True, but it is something extra that you need to remember to do. - You don't need to waste your cellular data -- Counter Point: Don't most people have unlimited plans these days? - A corporation isn't tracking your every move -- Counter Point: Most people don't seem to care about this. - Modern Garmin GPSs can get traffic data -- Counter Point: It requires a cellphone and it is not going to be as good as google maps - Modern GPS screens look just as good as a phone and you can get one that is as large as a tablet -- Counter Point: you could probably use a tablet and google maps - Garmin makes GPS units for specific vehicles like motorcycles and RVs and they take their vehicles quirks into account when routing trips. Google maps is one size fits all - A Garmin GPS unit from 20 years ago will still work today as long as you can update the maps. - Because of the previous point, it is very nice to keep one of these in the trunk of your car as a back up - Garmin GPSes can handle sitting in the hot sun without overheating, which some cell phones are prone to do. - I really like having the GPS on my dashboard so I don't have to look down and to the right to look at my car's infotainment screen -- Counter Point: You can mount a phone on your dashboard or windshield. They even sell stand alone monitors for your car where you can view apple car play as it was a stand alone gps. Neutral - The routing can make weird mistakes, but this is true for all GPSes including apple maps and google maps Cons - And this is the biggest: it is nowhere near as good at finding businesses as google maps. To me that is google map's killer feature

rufus_foreman 2y ago
>> Modern Garmin GPSs can get traffic data -- Counter Point: It requires a cellphone and it is not going to be as good as google maps They make versions that get the traffic data over FM radio, you don't need a phone with those. For example https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/1240929 https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/1240929.
- regus 2y ago
  That's true, I was considering mentioning that but I wasn't sure if that feature is still enabled in the latest version. It is also not really dependable because you need to be in the right place in order to get the data, or at least that was my perception when using older GPS models.
maples37 2y ago
Fellow user of a physical Garmin car navigation GPS. The one I use is my dad's old Nuvi from about 2015. In addition to several of the pros you listed, I'd add a few more: - Stupid-simple interface. I was a Google Maps user for a while, and I was not a fan of various popups (from "Welcome to <state name>" to "Is this speed trap still here?"). I'm piloting a several-thousand-pound hunk of metal at highway speeds, do NOT interrupt me! - Unchanging interface. I'd get used to the way Google Maps behaved, and then an update would change something and break muscle memory. Whereas my 2015 Garmin isn't getting updated with unnecessary animations and pointless button re-arranging. When updating maps, the firmware update is a separate download. Since it's not Internet-connected, I don't care if I'm running "outdated" software. As long as it still gives directions, that's all I want. - It's not my phone. I don't want my text messages coming up across the top of the screen while I'm trying to read the next turn on my route. I don't want anything on the screen that's not directly related to navigation. It's a great example of KISS in a hardware product. It does GPS navigation. It is literally incapable of distracting you with anything else. I consider that a killer feature.
- regus 2y ago
  I agree with the interface. It only does one thing and it does it really well: it tells you how to drive somewhere. I also never considered the fact that the UI won't change randomly to be a feature lol. In the latest model you can hook it up to the internet so when you get home it auto updates itself. You can also hook it up to your phone so text messages and Slack notifications pop up on the side of the screen. I would imagine these are features you would not want to use.

by regus 2y ago

rufus_foreman 2y ago

>> Modern Garmin GPSs can get traffic data -- Counter Point: It requires a cellphone and it is not going to be as good as google maps They make versions that get the traffic data over FM radio, you don't need a phone with those. For example https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/1240929 https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/1240929.

regus 2y ago
That's true, I was considering mentioning that but I wasn't sure if that feature is still enabled in the latest version. It is also not really dependable because you need to be in the right place in order to get the data, or at least that was my perception when using older GPS models.

maples37 2y ago

Fellow user of a physical Garmin car navigation GPS. The one I use is my dad's old Nuvi from about 2015. In addition to several of the pros you listed, I'd add a few more: - Stupid-simple interface. I was a Google Maps user for a while, and I was not a fan of various popups (from "Welcome to <state name>" to "Is this speed trap still here?"). I'm piloting a several-thousand-pound hunk of metal at highway speeds, do NOT interrupt me! - Unchanging interface. I'd get used to the way Google Maps behaved, and then an update would change something and break muscle memory. Whereas my 2015 Garmin isn't getting updated with unnecessary animations and pointless button re-arranging. When updating maps, the firmware update is a separate download. Since it's not Internet-connected, I don't care if I'm running "outdated" software. As long as it still gives directions, that's all I want. - It's not my phone. I don't want my text messages coming up across the top of the screen while I'm trying to read the next turn on my route. I don't want anything on the screen that's not directly related to navigation. It's a great example of KISS in a hardware product. It does GPS navigation. It is literally incapable of distracting you with anything else. I consider that a killer feature.

regus 2y ago
I agree with the interface. It only does one thing and it does it really well: it tells you how to drive somewhere. I also never considered the fact that the UI won't change randomly to be a feature lol. In the latest model you can hook it up to the internet so when you get home it auto updates itself. You can also hook it up to your phone so text messages and Slack notifications pop up on the side of the screen. I would imagine these are features you would not want to use.