How reliable are GPS units?

D and D · Guru

How reliable are GPS units?

19bruce54 · Member

I only use mine when I need to go through a major city I am not familiar with or as a back up to help me find an address, I still do my best to navigate on my own. Out on the open road I turn the thing off.

elliemike · Guru

Like everything "you only get what you pay for" There are GPS units and GPS units. Accuracy of maps and satellite reception quality usually get better the more $$$ spent on the unit.

Learning to use them properly is advisable. Although these things are pretty clever, they are not infallible. It is advisable in unfamiliar areas to have a look at the route the GPS is proposing to take you. They usually have a screen that will show the whole route from start to finish on a map. Also a detailed turn by turn list of the proposed route. Only takes a minute to do a cursory check of the route this way.

We always use our GPS along with the map book in tricky unfamiliar city's / areas. Changing the route if we see a better alternative as we go along. We go on bush tracks as well so we use the Hema HN6 GPS. But the paper map of the area is always out as well. We still carry a compass as well for emergencies.

Having had a few Garmin units the ones I have had (still have two) have always given us excellent guidance through cities and town all over Australia and parts of Europe. Travelling through Sydney with the rig, on a Friday at 5 pm a few years ago was a breeze with the GPS. And all the other major cities and towns around Oz. I use it lots of the time driving just to give me accurate speed. As my speedo is about 4 kph out of whack.

I was at sea in the days when the Sextant, Chronometer, Nautical Almanac, Compass and Charts, only let you know where you were approximately at 12 noon each day. The next 24 hours were usually by Dead Reckoning on the open ocean.

In the 60's a very competent navigator and old Master Mariner told me that. Those aforementioned Nautical instruments were just tools. Learning to use combinations of them in all conditions was the art of the navigator.

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Navlady (Navman) has only let me down once when she led me up a garden path, literally. She told me go down this dirt road and when I was in the middle of a cane field I thought, bugga, this is not right so turned around and found that the spot I was looking for was just on the other side of the cane field.

The only other time was in the centre of Q'land she told me to go to the nearest road, mmmmm, I was already on a road and the screen showed me off the road.

Apart from those two situations I find it great to keep an eye on distances, speed and times, I must say though, I have Camps7 with me as well and refer to the maps in that at times.

spida · Guru

I use my Garmin all the time - have Camp6 on it so finding a camp is (usually) a breeze. But in Hay it wanted me to swim over the river to get to the camp!!!! I like to know how much further to go to destination, my speed - also not the same as the speedo - and sometimes to see if the road has a corner coming up when letting people pass etc. Always check on where I am going on a map as well just in case - dont trust any GPS entirely . They are only as good as the maps in them.

simonp · Veteran Member

Mine is used when in a new town and want to know were the caravan park is. I find that the big downfall with them is you can't get a overview of your journey as you can with a map.
So in my opinion they are only good for close range stuff and not planning a journey.

Wirroff · Senior Member

First off, check your settings on the Garmin. Make sure 'Fastest Route' is more implied than 'Shortest Route' as this can take you through dirt tracks and rivers! Garmin are the leaders in GPS as they are used throughout the World...............in aircraft!

Happy Camper · Senior Member

I use a TomTom and find it great getting around & through cities.
It's great in the outback for estimating Kms to next service centre for fuel.
It's only let me down once and like Doug's experience it sent me up a farm track between cane fields.
It warns you when coming up to fixed speed camera's which I find handy on freeways as you can creep just above the speed limit without realising it.
On the whole I give them a big thumbs up.
Cheers - John

2foot6 · Senior Member

I have a Tom Tom One,about eight years old,I punched in the address of my son in Bendigo ,I was in Leongatha. Because I had selected do not use freeway or toll roads the response was no route available.I rely on the GPS for areas I do not know,but if I have knowledge of the area I use the GPS as a back up.Another interesting point about GPS,s you cannot input my address or any house in my street.Just for the exercise try in punching in Koonwarra rd . Leongatha ,any number between 23 to 63,it would be interesting to see if any one can get directions.My street is a valid street as it is the highway from Dandenong to Sale. cheers Peter

chopit · Senior Member

We have a Garmin.
We've learned to consider it a usefull tool, not holy scripture.
We update it regularly,lifetime free updates for ours helps.
We also have Camps 7 on it.
It has,on occasion got "Geographically embarrassed".
South of Gympie ( Qld) we were on a 4 lane road and it showed us careening through a paddock.
Gotta laugh.
If you take an alternative turn to the GPS you get that " Recalculating" voice.
Keep up with your map reading & use the GPS as an on the move aid. That's my thoughts.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Don't confuse the terms "GPS" which is a position fixing devise, and "Navigator" that uses a GPS plus (maybe lousy) maps to tell you which way to go.
If the maps and the calculation methods are poor, it does not matter how good the GPS is.

For the bush, we use a HEMA GPS with HEMA maps, but it is NOT a "navigator", it simply tells us where we are.

Cheers,
Peter

MollyW · Veteran Member

I have a Tom Tom. I paid $800 for it about 15 years ago. His name is Ken, he is Australian, and he rearly gets lost. Make sure you have it set correctly. TAKE THE QUICKEST ROUTE not the SHORTEST Quickest will take you via freeways. Because they are 100klm per hour Shortest will take you up dirt roads. Ken got a bit confused up in the Mallee the other day, but I blamed loss of satalite connection. I am a professional driver, haven't used Melways since I bought him.

exa41 · Guru

I just bought a 7" garmin Dezl 760 about 3 weeks ago , compared to the Navman I had its chalk and cheese , The dezl 760 is designed for Motorhomes , trucks and cars ,has overnight truck stops etc for truckies which will be great when on the road full time , and as Chopit has Camps 7 on it , we are going to do the same.It also lets you know speed camera areas traffic update and other handy tips , turns on and off with the ignition, after sale service was excellent.

milo · Guru

When we had the tardis Ken was great but led us up some strange roads out the bush !
but Vicki ( the English Voice) was invaluable when we used it over in the UK !!

Maggie and Alex · Veteran Member

Alex now listens to his Garmin. We were coming home from a funeral when "G" told him to turn left. Naturally he thought it was a no right turn, but it wasn't so he went right. All along the road "G" was trying to get him to turn. We entered the M5 to come to a complete standstill. There was an accident ahead. He listened to "G" and took an exit and went around the world then back onto M5. He was told to take first exit, we go 2nd exit so this time he obeyed. We found out later there was another accident ahead. Had he listened to "G" the first time we would have been home an hour earlier and he would have had an extra hour pub time.

D and D · Guru

Interesting comments. Thanks all for them. Today we moved location and I used the opportunity to program the new coordinates into both the Garmin and the Mazda GPS units. I have no idea were the Mazda unit was going to take us but it was going to take 16 hours - gave that a miss in favour of the Garmin that was pretty right in its predicted 3 hours even if it was totally wrong on the destination we were able to figure out were to go. I certainly wouldn't want to stake my life on this technology - I wonder what the emergency services use?

03_troopy · Guru

Radio mostly

Santa · Guru

We have a Tom Tom and a newish Garmin, of the two the TT is by far the best as far as map accuracy is concerned, on the other hand the Garmin will get you lost about 20% of the time.

How reliable are GPS units? very handy in a city environment, in the bush? don't trust em, we always have maps with us and use them in conjunction with a GPS.

This link contains a warning. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-10/apple-maps-strands-motorists-looking-for-mildura/4418400

Its just a matter of time before someone perishes due to blindly following GPS directions in the Outback of Oz.

magnus1941 · Member

Hi D & D

I use the Garmin product Basecamp (free) to plot my trips and then load them into the Garmin. That way I can see the route on my PC or Laptop and check the actual road using Google Earth if needed.

Works a treat and certainly avoids ending up down wrong roads or in the middle of cane fields as one poster mentioned. Basecamp can be downloaded from the Garmin site and the maps in your Garmin can be downloaded into Basecamp. Just need a usb cable to connect the Garmin to your PC/Laptop.

Cheers
Rex A

aussie_paul · Guru

magnus1941 wrote:
Hi D & D

I use the Garmin product Basecamp (free) to plot my trips and then load them into the Garmin. That way I can see the route on my PC or Laptop and check the actual road using Google Earth if needed.

Works a treat and certainly avoids ending up down wrong roads or in the middle of cane fields as one poster mentioned. Basecamp can be downloaded from the Garmin site and the maps in your Garmin can be downloaded into Basecamp. Just need a usb cable to connect the Garmin to your PC/Laptop.

Cheers
Rex A

Great idea Rex, I must follow that up. I am looking for heads up displays etc at the moment. I love the gps telling me I am over the speed limit when I go over by 1km.

Aussie Paul. smile

mongrel · Guru

Aussie Paul . Check your menu on your GPS and you will probably find an overspeed adjustment . I have a Garmin Nuvi,3 year old .and set mine to 3ks over. Annoying but extremely Helpful.

aussie_paul · Guru

mongrel wrote:
Aussie Paul . Check your menu on your GPS and you will probably find an overspeed adjustment . I have a Garmin Nuvi,3 year old .and set mine to 3ks over. Annoying but extremely Helpful.

Yes Alan, my current gps does that for me BUT the numbers are not big enough to glance at so looking forward to HUD. I have been using gps since around 1997 for aircraft use. In the early days before all the satellites were up the signal could not be guaranteed. I remember heading north east out of Deniliquin in my gyrocopter and programmed the next destination, Narandera I think it was. I set track and checked the compass. A little while later the signal dropped out so I just maintained compass heading until the signal came back and I was only a few hundred meters off track. Loved them for that. In vehicles you have to make sure you keep updating the maps, seems there are roadworks, bypassing etc always on the go, and of course some brands are better in the maps department than others.

Annoying yes, BUT not as annoying as a speeding ticket!!!!

Aussie Paul. smile

Bryan · Guru

Mine's always been good until today. I set it for home from the caravan show and it went completely hay wire. Eventually I found my way onto West Coast Drive and the map showed me well offshore sailing north.

Its one of those that come fitted with the car if it doesn't reset itself I'll have to take it to the dealer.

Lesson learnt. Keep a map book in the car.

Hydeeeho · Senior Member

I use the tom tom on my iPad mini no dramas at all works great, I use it in with Wiki Camps and alls well