Driver's Guide to Car GPS Systems
With the fall season comes trips over the river and through the woods, to grandma's or your significant other's parent's house. Road tripping to these destinations in your car using a paper map is so Y2K. These days, there are a slew of digital devices to stick onto your windshield and give you turn-by-turn directions in glorious color screens.
These products work because of 24 global positioning satellites circumnavigating the earth twice per day, from 12,600 miles in outer space, put there in 1978 by the U.S. government to beam their unique identification signals to earth. There is no monthly charge to use these satellites, but it is estimated to cost the government around $400 million per year. Receivers, now most commonly in the form of navigation systems, listen for the signals from two to 12 of these satellites at a time to determine your location on a computerized map. When consumer devices were first released for this technology, they provided nothing more than latitude and longitude information on a grey LCD screen that needed to be referenced to a paper map. Then came expensive in-car systems using color dash-mounted screens and DVD-ROM loaded maps and miniaturization followed.
The good news for you is that, as LCD displays and storage have become less expensive, so too have the maps moved to the digital realm and the price of good quality GPS receivers has dropped to around $500. For this price you get a color screen that is about 3.5" wide, around one to four gigabytes of storage for national maps and points of interests and a battery that lasts between four and eight hours. Inside the chassis, which typically measures 5" x 3" x 2" and weighs less than a pound, will also be a speaker which is required for hearing, as I frequently do, "when possible, turn around" or even music as some offer playback of your music files.
When searching for a GPS receiver, I look for removable storage like SD card support so I can substitute larger memory, or bring into the house to update its data on a PC. This is important as roads are added and occasionally closed, but more importantly, restaurants and other points of interest in communities change over time. You will want to have the latest information so that you can search for nearby gas stations when you are running low on fuel or food when you need to fill up.
The GPS Devices
For a year, I have been using a TomTom brand GPS receiver and Tom is always there for me when I get lost. Originating in Europe, these models were the first with somewhat-open operating systems that allow you to add skins, voices and even plug-ins like route creation from a PC running Google Earth. This brand can connect directly to your PC via USB or by putting the SD memory card in a reader; their "TomTom Home" software can download updates for points of interest and even update the unit's operating system, as this too loads from the card. It was also the first to introduce my favorite "gee whiz" feature -- integrated Bluetooth capability.
Once the GPS receiver is paired with your mobile phone, caller-ID will pop up on the screen for incoming calls which you can then answer by touching the screen, turning it into a speakerphone. When you search for restaurants, hotels or whatever is contained within its 5 million points of interest, you can also press on-screen to connect you with the establishment similar to what On-Star offers in many new vehicles. Subscription services such as weather and traffic updates can use your mobile phone as a data modem to help re-route you away from storms and traffic backups. With their models starting at $499 for the TomTom ONE and $799 for the 910, which offers a 20GB hard drive and even iPod and photo playback, there are plenty of choices available from this vendor.
Newer devices such as the Garmin nuvi are a bit smaller physically but have even more additional features, albeit with a lack of customization. Included software such as a world clock, calculator and the ability to download and buy software like language and travel guides are virtual accessories which add to this already pricey device. You will also find Bluetooth communications within models of the nuvi, and it can be a bit more useful due to their great organization and categorization of 6 million points of interest. When you need to upgrade your maps on these devices you will find yourself paying, so the initial cost is just a door opener.
If you are not into the idea of paying for a specific piece of hardware just to tell you that you are lost, there is another option. Since in the fall of 2005, every mobile phone sold is required by law to have GPS or electronic location based capabilities within. Unfortunately, you cannot load your own GPS software onto current phones, but Verizon and Nextel are letting their customers use their systems with maps and turn by turn voice instructions. Currently they are offering a free trial for 14 days. Once you use this trial period, the rate is $2.99 for a 1-day purchase, perfect for day-trips, or $9.99 a month for regular road warriors.
Using a mobile phone will not be without its shortcomings as your screen will be much smaller, and there is no convenient mount for your dashboard or windshield. Its usage will also draw power from your already tired battery. That being said, the price is right and you don't need to carry another gadget around if you like to travel light. Plus, when you park, it won't be a theft target mounted in the windshield or back seat of the car.
If you want to give a virtual test-drive of what navigation devices will be like when you are actually driving, check out the Crutchfield interactive demonstration at crutchfield.com/navdemo. If you end up buying one of these high-tech devices, try playing this little game with the points of interest; when you are in a city, search for restaurants that start with V, Q or Z and let me know where you end up eating and if the food was any good. GPS can be used for finding new things too!
Dave Mathews is lost in San Francisco, but never will admit to pulling over and asking for directions. His stories and multimedia can be found at www.davemathews.com.
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