Chuck Frank wrote:
Your Garmin allows you to store different route maps and switch between them?
Yep. Not all Garmin's are created equal, it seems.
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Mine doesn't, only the current trip.
What is the major difference between using a laptop and trying to do anything with the Garmin while you are by yourself?
I can easily drive the Garmin with one hand and it will sit on the dash when I don't need to touch it. Where do you put the laptop so you can see it if you need to and you're by yourself?
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Besides I can do a LOT more with a laptop while on a trip than just get directions.
Oh, I'm with you there. I never leave home without a laptop. Well, at least go very far from home.
Both our primary daily drivers have cell data antennas on them and I have a wifi router that will tether to my blackberry or will let me plug a Sprint USB dongle into it (I have both) and then anyone in the car with a wifi device can use it. That's why I pondered whether you could get weather radar data on top of your nav screen on any of the Windows-ish products.
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Put the laptop on the pass seat or even on the pass side floor. The center armrest on our Sierra has a top that opens to a compartment large enough for most laptops, even has a 12V outlet inside.
With S&T I can store as many routes as hard drive capacity for as long as I'd like, I can easily open the route I took last year or two years ago complete with any notes or adjustments.
Then there is the price which cannot be ignored, 120.00 for a system more powerful than a stand alone costing 3-600.00 that's just a door stop between trips.
Used IBMs and Levenos are available very inexpensively, throw it away if it craps out.
My Garmin will let me store many routes on the PC (and in the unit, though obviously a few hundred would be too cumbersome to try to pick through on the unit itself). I usually use the Garmin PC software to find all my important points for a trip and I download them to it that way (you can do it on the unit itself, but it's easier on a big screen and plus I usually am using the web to find the hotel address and so forth anyway, so this lets me cut and paste). I almost never bother with actually doing the routes on the PC, though. I just let the Garmin auto route. I only bother with routes on the PC if there's somewhere I want to avoid for some reason, and even then I usually just create a waypoint along the way of the new route for the place I want to avoid and save it. Then you can have the Garmin route with a "via" and all is good.
Mine has always routed me well enough (even for the big rig) that I never felt the need to pre-plan the exact route except for a few rare cases.
I do agree that the price of the nicer Garmins like I have is a bit nuts for what you get, though. Well, compared to what a laptop can do. I just don't find them very convenient to try to use by myself while moving in a car.
On another note, I've found the Pioneer double DIN stereo headunits with Nav to be pretty good, also. The D3 and the Z2 are both pretty dang good. I put those in my daily driver type vehicles so I don't have to carry anything extra. For those wanting a built in solution with VERY good bluetooth integration and iPod support, the D3 isn't all that spendy, especially if you shop around.
--Donnie
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