Subj : I am thinking...
To   : Nightfox
From : Accession
Date : Mon Dec 25 2023 08:11:38

Hello Nightfox,

On Sun, 24 Dec 2023 17:54:02 -0800, you wrote:

 N> You don't have to go to the dealership to upgrade them.  It seems it's
 N> typically just a flash memory card with recent maps that they need.  I
 N> bought a new car recently which has GPS, and I bought a SD card for its
 N> navigation from eBay for $40, and it works just fine.

While I have seen this feature recently with newer vehicles. GPS was around in vehicles before USB was. During that time, I'm fairly certain you either needed to take it to the dealership for an upgrade, or buy a CD that was upwards of $300 in order to update.

 N> Also, I find it more convenient than getting my phone out and plugging
 N> it in, etc..  But also, I currently don't have a cell phone holder for
 N> my car.  My car does have Android Auto, but still, I have to get my
 N> phone out and plug it in. The Android Auto isn't wireless - but I have
 N> seen some USB Bluetooth adapters that let you use Android Auto wirelessly.

To be honest, if I'm using my phone, I don't bother plugging it into the vehicle and just use the phone's GPS by itself. Seems to be more up to date, and the voice assistant is much better - as far as letting you know there's a speed check ahead, or an accident with possible alternate routes, etc.

 N> I just haven't gotten in the habit of plugging my phone in to my car.

Tried that last weekend with Adroid Auto, all sound stopped working and the actual path to the destination didn't show on my vehicles's GPS, only on my phone. It was kinda wierd, so I unplugged and just stuck with the phone's features. My only guess is that I was driving (stopped at a stoplight) when I tried it, and it was having issues with that. You're supposed to be in park when you set it up.

Either way, all Android Auto and Apple Carplay really does is basically mock what's already on your phone anyways. That and it uses your vehicle's speakers. While I wouldn't mind using the hands free calling through those apps, the GPS doesn't really gain anything between those apps and just using your phone by itself, IMO.

 N> That is nice.  It seems a car GPS can detect heavy traffic, too - I had
 N> a GPS in my last car too, and I had a route that I used to drive fairly
 N> regularly, and sometimes it would route me differently, and I think it's
 N> because it was able to get traffic data from somewhere and route me
 N> around bad traffic.

You think? It didn't tell you there was something going on up ahead and that it found a faster route for you? If not, I think the GPS just gets wierd at times and routes you the fastest way it thinks you should go.

This past week I've been working in the same location about an hour from home. From my house, there's basically two ways I can take to the freeway, with not much difference in time, really. Turn on my GPS on my phone in the driveway, and I'd bet 50% of the time it would tell me to go one of the ways, and the other times the other way. Almost like it's confusing itself at times. ;)

Regards,
Nick

.... "Take my advice, I don't use it anyway."
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