Date:         Sun, 28 Mar 2010 15:55:12 -0400
Reply-To:     Jack Reynaert <jack007@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jack Reynaert <jack007@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Re: GPS Recommendation
In-Reply-To:  <30E15520-13E0-4486-BAC8-AACF31043282@dragonhome.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

OK, bringing Vanagon Content in.

I have the Garmin 770 with the European Maps pre-installed!  Great for
vacations and walking around in Europe.

You do have to pay refresh the maps, and for the traffic feature however.  I
suggest that if you get a Garmin, use if for a year before you go on line
and link it up to register and update the maps.

The best thing with the Garmin is that you can change the vehicle icon to a
VW Bus! (not a Vanagon, but close).

I also added a hidden 12v plug under my dash, and fished the power cable up
under the counsel cover and since Michigan allows the attachment to the
windshield, I secure it in the lower left corner of the windshield, with the
power lead only showing about 4 inches of wire.  I installed a small switch
to the lower right of my steering wheel, which allows me to switch the power
source from "ignition on, to always on"... same lead that switches my radio.
That way I can charge the unit, and use it for hiking or biking around the
camp area. Most of the GPS units have a "foot" mode.

While my Vanagon is at its camp sight, I have the exterior windshield sun
screen which keeps it out of sight, so it is less likely to walk away.  They
are hot ticket items, and it is easy to forget that you have it installed,
so be cautious.  At least the Garmin has a unique power adaptor, and with it
fished through the dash as I have it, it is harder to take the whole unit
too.

Jack R.
84 Westy Wolfie.



-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Rowan Tipton
Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2010 3:32 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: GPS Recommendation

On Mar 28, 2010, at 1:38 PM, Dave Mcneely wrote:

> I thought the point of a map was to get somewhere, while
> understanding where that somewhere is.  With a map I have the option
> of exploring when and if I have time.  The GPS is a great way to get
> somewhere sometimes (the times it works), but not to understand the
> terrain.  More than one person has been sent up a blind alley that
> he would have known about and probably not pursued if he'd consulted
> a map.  That's all I'm sayin'.

I agree totally.  Speaking as a GPS fanboy, I use my maps a lot and
don't understand how you get around just using a GPS.

> BTW, I have to use GPS for some of my work.  I once encountered a
> young colleague who told me that the location on a creek that I'd
> reported for a fish collection was not where I said it was.   Turned
> out he had used a GPS to look it up (not to field truth it), and his
> lat/long did not agree with mine.  I'd been there, he hadn't, but he
> insisted that because his GPS gave him (erroneous) data, (reporting
> a bridge to be on a different road from the one it was on), he
> insisted it was the right location, down to a thousandth of a
> second.  He claimed there was no bridge located at the lat/long I
> reported.  People can become tech dependent, rather than common
> sense dependent.  He and I both had reason to return to the location
> together for some further work.  I suggested he meet me there.  I
> went, started on the part of the work I could do myself, but he
> never showed up.  I called him.  He was wandering around, trying to
> get to where his erroneous GPS told him to go.  He was in the
> vicinity, but about three miles away on a road that didn't even get
> to the creek.  I directed him how to get to me, and we got the work
> done, hours late.

Yeah, any GPS is only as good as the maps it uses.  If the map it uses
is wrong, it's useless to keep trying it hoping it will get better.  I
read about people that drive down a stream because their GPS says it's
a road.  That's not a GPS problem it's a people problem... well, the
GPS error is a GPS problem.  But somehow we expect technology to
always be correct. I've owned or at least used most of the major
brands of GPS and I've never seen one that had totally correct maps.

> Maps can be erroneous, too, of course.

Sure - that's what causes the GPS problem.  It has erroneous maps.

> People can be tech dependent, at the expense of common sense.

So true.  I've been a living example of that more than once!

>
> DMc

I remain, as always
YrLyl&ObdntSrvnt,

r
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