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Posted: 9/23/2005 5:52:48 AM EDT
[#1]
Good point, and the major reason a Magellan Roadmate sits on my dash while I am driving. I may never need it for a bugout, but I have it if I do.
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Posted: 9/23/2005 6:05:44 AM EDT
[#2]
GPS helped me out during our evacuation last year for Frances.
I didn't really use it for navigation, but we were at a standstill for about an hour after only moving 10 miles in about 50 minutes. I was going to turn around but GPS showed that we were only about 2 miles from an intersecting highway and that's why we were stopped. After about another 30 minutes, we were past the intersection and able to up our speed to about 35 mph. My only recommendation: Get a GPS with plenty of memory to load the maps. My older unit only has 8MB of memory and I still had my detailed maps of where we went to vacation loaded instead of my local area maps. |
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Posted: 9/23/2005 6:08:36 AM EDT
[#3]
I don't trust mine for a fewroads around here. I've run into a deadend instead of an intersection quite a few times. As long as you have current updates and you have verified that your path to get out of Dodge is accurate it's fine, though. The GPS companies aren't at fault, the various gov'ts are slow to get updates out..
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Posted: 9/23/2005 6:10:32 AM EDT
[#4]
All things considered, that sounds like pretty good time. Glad you got out, though! Watch your back. |
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Posted: 9/23/2005 6:10:33 AM EDT
[#5]
It wasn't even 5 years ago when driving "back roads" didn't require GPS. What happened? Did people forget how to use maps in a few short years?
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Posted: 9/23/2005 6:11:26 AM EDT
[#6]
I purchased my Magellan Platinum after getting lost in the hilly west TX desert for over 4 hours, deer hunting. I have the mount for my quad and the one for the car. Good piece of insurance unless the .gov decides otherwise one day.
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Posted: 9/23/2005 6:14:15 AM EDT
[#7]
I always have my PDA with me, and have the GPS software installed on it, with the receiver always in my car. With an extra 1 GB SD card in the hardcase I keep the PDA in, I have detailed maps of the entire country handy (not that I would be likely to need them immediately) and keep maps of PA and all surrounding states loaded all the time.
Between the GPS and the XM Radio traffic reports I was able to avoid any significant traffic jams on the two week driving vacation I took in August. For our vacation (drove Skyline Drive & the Blue Ridge Parkway and stayed in the mountains in TN for a few days) we had specific places we wanted to go, using the Parkway as a base. We only used the GPS to find our way around. If we hit bad traffic or unexpected detours, I put them in the GPS and let it reroute us. While not the magnitude of a major evacuation we had almost no traffic on our entire two week trip, and when we did the straight shot home from TN to PA, I put in the areas that we wanted to avoid (knowing the traffic patterns on the major highways in VA, MD, DE, and PA) and had the GPS route us around them. It came up with an alternate route that was only 12 miles longer and had minimal traffic issues. ETA: And I have the Garmin 76cs for my bass boat, with all the naviagble water maps loaded for the tri-state area, along with the base map land maps for the local geographic region. |
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Posted: 9/23/2005 7:19:16 AM EDT
[#8]
No one is saying you shouldn't have maps or map skills. We are simply advocating the use of new technology. I will always have an up to date atlas under the drivers seat of my vehicle. Old habits die hard and electronic gizmos can break. I will say this, since I got my GPS I haven't needed to use the atlas, not even once. The GPS is easier to use and in my opinion easier to understand in an unfamiliar area. |
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Posted: 9/23/2005 7:30:19 AM EDT
[#9]
I have detailed maps of the local area in my car. My GPS maps get updated every 6 months; how often do paper maps get reprinted?
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Posted: 9/23/2005 7:38:43 AM EDT
[#10]
 Garmin StreetPilot 2610 Since my job involves visiting 4-5 houses a day all over the Bay Area, I put one of these in my truck. With a 512MB CompactFlash card, I was able to load all of the data west of Montana/Utah/New Mexico, so I have street-level maps of about 1/3 of the US at all times. I found that it saved 30-45 minutes per day vs. trying to navigate from MapQuest print-outs. The GPS can route you correctly, and knows about things like one-way streets, so you won't THINK you can get somewhere you can't, which happens with printed maps sometimes. It will hold a couple hundred waypoints (addresses or other locations), and you can pick one and route to it near-instantly. There is a Detour button that will find another route for you, and if you decide to leave the route on your own, it will auto-re-route you (unless you turn that feature off). Because it uses flash memory, it calculates routes quickly and is immune to bumps and vibrations. I did find that the internal antenna isn't always great at quickly regaining signal when coming out of a tunnel, under an overpass, or whatever. I just recently picked up an external antenna for it, made by Glisson, that costs half of what the OEM external antenna costs, and it works great. Signal recovery takes no more than 2 seconds from leaving a tunnel, and in other situations, may not lose lock at all due to picking up sats off the horizon. It would be hard to live without it now. -Troy |
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Posted: 9/23/2005 7:41:19 AM EDT
[#11]
Got the Magellan RoadMate 300 sitting in my car strictly for getting around traffic congested areas of NYC. Go me!
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Posted: 9/23/2005 7:42:55 AM EDT
[#12]
GPS + a DeLorme atlas for your state and all contiguous states.
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Posted: 9/23/2005 7:49:50 AM EDT
[#13]
Here is my thread on how to turn your handheld GPS unit into a cheap Lo-Jack type device which will allow your movements to be tracked on the internet. I use it on long trips to let the folks back home know where I am at any given time.
www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=123&t=392183 |
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Posted: 9/23/2005 8:10:07 AM EDT
[#14]
GySgtD, would your device work overseas where there is no Garmin mapping data? If I could get a read out of a grid coordinate, that would be great.
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Posted: 9/23/2005 8:15:47 AM EDT
[#15]
For a low-cost alternative, pick up a state Atlas & Gazetteer from DeLorme. Every little backroad is on those.
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Posted: 9/23/2005 8:17:27 AM EDT
[#16]
This system does not rely on any particular mapping system. Garmin uses an industry standard "language" with its GPS units. IIRC, it is called "GPRMS" or something like that. It is usable outside of the U.S.. As I posted in my thread, for some reason the websites that I normallly use have been down for the last few days. Reasons unknown. That is why I linked to a foreign (German) website. The website that I normally use allows you to use satellite imagery, topo maps, as well as highway maps. You show up as an icon that is superimposed on top of the relavent map or satellite photo for your area. El Neato. |
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Posted: 9/23/2005 8:19:37 AM EDT
[#17]
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Posted: 9/23/2005 8:23:46 AM EDT
[#18]
They are fantastic maps. I lived in Kansas a few years ago and remember what a big deal it was when these maps became available for Kansas. We found lots of new hunting spots and new ways to get around in areas where we thought there were no roads. |
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Posted: 9/23/2005 8:30:04 AM EDT
[#19]
If you already have a laptop, Microsoft Streets and Maps along with a GPS antenna is around $100, $80 on sale. You then get maps for the entire US, free road construction updates, and a huge screen for navigating. Those little dash units are toys in comparison and they cost a fortune.
It has saved my bacon countless times. |
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Posted: 9/23/2005 8:31:18 AM EDT
[#20]
my garmin gpsV is ALWAYS with me. not sure how i lived without it.
mike |
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Posted: 9/23/2005 8:40:48 AM EDT
[#22]
Is there a case for not having a GPS in your car?
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Posted: 9/23/2005 9:01:18 AM EDT
[#23]
When you can't read it, but Onstar can. |
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