*Ding!* "Checking in?"

[BRWombat]

Actually, it was on 680. Allow me to set the scene:

It was back in the late 1990's, and we were heading north to go to a little place called Virtual World. My brother was driving up 680 with me as his passenger. Now, it has been a bit of a running gag regarding my dad and my brother sometimes having problems with getting lost. I, for the most part, take after my mom in this respect. In any case, he missed the turn-off, which wouldn't have been so bad by itself. After all, it just meant we needed to get off at the next exit, and get back on going south.

However, for some reason, my brother got off...and then got back on still going north!

You can imagine my confusion at this. I asked my brother why he got back on the northbound side of 680. He replied "No, we are going south." No matter how much I insisted we had not changed directions could persuade him. It took me pointing out a sign clearly saying "680 North" before he would admit his mistake.

These days, he uses his GPS feature on his phone quite a bit.... :cat1:

Were these people yelling at him?


"You're going the wrong way!"

[PatchOBlack]

Were these people yelling at him?


"You're going the wrong way!"

Um...no? I don't even know what that picture is from!

[hobie16]

Um...no? I don't even know what that picture is from!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

[goofyjoe]

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

"Oh, he's drunk. How would he know which way we're going?"

[chelleb]

I admit I use my GPS on a daily basis going to and from work (though mostly just to work) even though I've been driving the same route for 10 years... My GPS displays traffic data on it, and it'll alert me if there's an incident on my route.

I have it set to a "silent" voice though, so the only sounds it makes are the traffic alerts.

I also like to just keep an eye on whether I'm running on-schedule or not.

-Rob

I do this frequently. Plus, there's hardly a highway in Mass that doesn't have SOME kind of traffic on it in the morning, lol!

~Chelle
(Proud to be a Masshole, lol)

[Freak]

Once I've taken a drive somewhere two or three times, I generally won't need a GPS. All you need to do is get familiar with the area, and places will be easy to navigate. Obviously I don't need to use a GPS anywhere near my house or any neighboring cities.

I still GPS when I go to other cities/states, even if I've visited before. Reason being I don't have full familiarity of these places. Sometimes I'll get lost.

[Mayonnaise]

I used to be terrified to drive new places... I guess I'm a little bit of a super wide ranged agrophobe... because if I don't know my exact route home (or to a temporary substitute home base, i.e. hotel room, afriend's home, the RPI Playhousse) at any given moment, it messes with me.

Ever since I got a Droid 2, with the built in Googlemaps GPS... damned if I don't feel a lot better about going new places.

8^)

[DragonFox98]

I'm a printed map person, be if Googlemaps or Mapquest (which tend to differ, believe it or not). I don't trust GPSs....too many times I've driven with co-workers or friends and the machine has been incorrect or takes a really long route to get to something a mile away.

I'll just stick to my paper, thanks. :)

[Zazu]

I too love having a GPS, especially on long trips or through traffic, and it's the "live traffic reroute" feature that finally weaned me off paper maps. As some have stated, I take the box's advise as suggestions, as sometimes the advise really can be stupid.

Sadly, SWMBO can't do this. She also can't stand the way my TomTom repeats the same warning to "Keep Left" at every freeway offramp. (It is a bit annoying.) She now refers to the voice in the box as "The Bitch" and a trip with both of them is always longer and less pleasant than I would like.

Problem is, we're planning a driving trip to Chicago, Yellowstone, Vancouver, and Los Angeles this summer, and it's beginning to look like I'll be tossing The Bitch out the window before we get home.

Anybody want a nearly new GPS cheap?

[Shorty82]

I too love having a GPS, especially on long trips or through traffic, and it's the "live traffic reroute" feature that finally weaned me off paper maps. As some have stated, I take the box's advise as suggestions, as sometimes the advise really can be stupid.

Sadly, SWMBO can't do this. She also can't stand the way my TomTom repeats the same warning to "Keep Left" at every freeway offramp. (It is a bit annoying.) She now refers to the voice in the box as "The Bitch" and a trip with both of them is always longer and less pleasant than I would like.

Problem is, we're planning a driving trip to Chicago, Yellowstone, Vancouver, and Los Angeles this summer, and it's beginning to look like I'll be tossing The Bitch out the window before we get home.

Anybody want a nearly new GPS cheap?

Can you turn off the voice? I got tired of my GPS telling me stuff like "slow traffic in 2 miles", "slow traffic in 1 mile", "entering slow traffic" and half the time there isn't any slow traffic or I'm not going nearly that far on that particular road (when I'm not navigating with it) so I muted the voice. When navigating with it the occasional glance keeps me on track.

Yours tells you to keep left at every off ramp? Yowsers, and I thought mine was annoying saying to keep left at every toll plaza (which I'm sure causes confusion for lots of tourists who don't know how a lot of our toll plazas are set up these days making them unintentionally run the toll by staying in the Sunpass/Epass lanes without a Sunpass/Epass).