On 6/9/2015 12:43 PM, bob_villa wrote:
On Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 11:39:22 AM UTC-5, KenK wrote:
Last week on the way to downtown I found my main east/west road was closed.
Trying to avoid a two mile drive to and from the next e/w main road I
ducked into the residential area nearby. This is a dry agricultural area so
there are lots of irrigation ditches and I kept getting blocked by them.
Quickly became lost. Finally ended up on the next main road I was trying to
avoid driving to but with many side trips on the way. sigh I had wished I
had a compass. Can you still put one in the car? There used to be many more
places to fasten one around the windshield than nowdays on a modern car.



--
You know it's time to clean the refrigerator
when something closes the door from the inside.

Get a GPS and you get directions and a compass.


I second that.
I have a Garmin Nuvi with lifetime maps and traffic.
It probably would have routed me around the blockages.

Frank wrote:
On 6/9/2015 12:43 PM, bob_villa wrote:
On Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 11:39:22 AM UTC-5, KenK wrote:
Last week on the way to downtown I found my main east/west road was
closed.
Trying to avoid a two mile drive to and from the next e/w main road I
ducked into the residential area nearby. This is a dry agricultural
area so
there are lots of irrigation ditches and I kept getting blocked by them.
Quickly became lost. Finally ended up on the next main road I was
trying to
avoid driving to but with many side trips on the way. sigh I had
wished I
had a compass. Can you still put one in the car? There used to be
many more
places to fasten one around the windshield than nowdays on a modern car.



--
You know it's time to clean the refrigerator
when something closes the door from the inside.

Get a GPS and you get directions and a compass.


I second that.
I have a Garmin Nuvi with lifetime maps and traffic.
It probably would have routed me around the blockages.

My car came with a built in compass but I did not get GPS option
which costs few G. Instead I got a 5" Garmin Nuvi GPS with LMT.
Auto parts store or RV store will have compass.

"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
...
Frank wrote:
My car came with a built in compass but I did not get GPS option
which costs few G. Instead I got a 5" Garmin Nuvi GPS with LMT.
Auto parts store or RV store will have compass.


Unless I was going to trade every 2 years I would not get a built in GPS,
especially if it was more than $ 200. You can get several for way under
that and lifetime map updates.
Then if you do trade cars you can take it with you.

a GPS comes in real handy at times

but if you only need it - say once a year, maybe not needed

marc

wrote in message
...
a GPS comes in real handy at times

but if you only need it - say once a year, maybe not needed


Just like the spare. I have a 2007 and 2008 truck and car that the spare
has never been on the ground, but don't intend on taking them out.
If you need it, you need it even if only once every 20 years.
Just like insurance.

On Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 1:04:54 PM UTC-7, Ralph Mowery wrote:
wrote in message
...
a GPS comes in real handy at times

but if you only need it - say once a year, maybe not needed


Just like the spare. I have a 2007 and 2008 truck and car that the spare
has never been on the ground, but don't intend on taking them out.
If you need it, you need it even if only once every 20 years.
Just like insurance.

good point

i wouldn't be without a GPS now

used it a few times and i don't want to be without

marc

On Tue, 9 Jun 2015 16:04:49 -0400, "Ralph Mowery"
wrote:


wrote in message
...
a GPS comes in real handy at times

but if you only need it - say once a year, maybe not needed

Exactly. Once near Plymouth Rock, all the roads went in S-curves and
the fog was thick (so Icouldn't tell where the sun was) and the guy I
asked had me follow him to get to a numbered highway. And twice I've
come to a road thinking turning left will be south, when it was really
north, but that's only 3 or 5 times in 20 years. Plus the two times I
left the house for blind dates and didnt' take the address with me.
Once I somehow remembered the complicated instructions and the other
time I had to go door to door asking, Does Jane Crawford live here?
Where does she live? Only took two houses to find her.

Just like the spare. I have a 2007 and 2008 truck and car that the spare
has never been on the ground, but don't intend on taking them out.
If you need it, you need it even if only once every 20 years.
Just like insurance.

Yeah, but you can ask someone where you are. You can't ask him to run
along side the car, holding up one corner.

Ralph Mowery wrote:
"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
...
Frank wrote:
My car came with a built in compass but I did not get GPS option
which costs few G. Instead I got a 5" Garmin Nuvi GPS with LMT.
Auto parts store or RV store will have compass.


Unless I was going to trade every 2 years I would not get a built in GPS,
especially if it was more than $ 200. You can get several for way under
that and lifetime map updates.
Then if you do trade cars you can take it with you.


This MDX has DVD based GPS costing over 4G, the thing is
DVD is not that reliable in a car and updating is extra.
No way I'll pay that kinda money for a GPS. When I went to Korea
for a visit, I noticed their GPS is really nice, it even tells where
speed trap is, surveillance camera is, direction is much more detailed.
I guess 'cos it is a small country.

micky wrote:
On Tue, 9 Jun 2015 16:04:49 -0400, "Ralph Mowery"
wrote:


wrote in message
...
a GPS comes in real handy at times

but if you only need it - say once a year, maybe not needed

Exactly. Once near Plymouth Rock, all the roads went in S-curves and
the fog was thick (so Icouldn't tell where the sun was) and the guy I
asked had me follow him to get to a numbered highway. And twice I've
come to a road thinking turning left will be south, when it was really
north, but that's only 3 or 5 times in 20 years. Plus the two times I
left the house for blind dates and didnt' take the address with me.
Once I somehow remembered the complicated instructions and the other
time I had to go door to door asking, Does Jane Crawford live here?
Where does she live? Only took two houses to find her.

Just like the spare. I have a 2007 and 2008 truck and car that the spare
has never been on the ground, but don't intend on taking them out.
If you need it, you need it even if only once every 20 years.
Just like insurance.

Yeah, but you can ask someone where you are. You can't ask him to run
along side the car, holding up one corner.



Smart phones can have GPS now.

On 6/9/2015 3:24 PM, Tony Hwang wrote:
Frank wrote:
On 6/9/2015 12:43 PM, bob_villa wrote:
On Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 11:39:22 AM UTC-5, KenK wrote:
Last week on the way to downtown I found my main east/west road was
closed.
Trying to avoid a two mile drive to and from the next e/w main road I
ducked into the residential area nearby. This is a dry agricultural
area so
there are lots of irrigation ditches and I kept getting blocked by
them.
Quickly became lost. Finally ended up on the next main road I was
trying to
avoid driving to but with many side trips on the way. sigh I had
wished I
had a compass. Can you still put one in the car? There used to be
many more
places to fasten one around the windshield than nowdays on a modern
car.



--
You know it's time to clean the refrigerator
when something closes the door from the inside.

Get a GPS and you get directions and a compass.


I second that.
I have a Garmin Nuvi with lifetime maps and traffic.
It probably would have routed me around the blockages.

My car came with a built in compass but I did not get GPS option
which costs few G. Instead I got a 5" Garmin Nuvi GPS with LMT.
Auto parts store or RV store will have compass.


Wife's Subaru also has the compass mirror but she uses her Nuvi.

I would never get a built in car gps. Son had one in his Mercedes and
it needed repair while under warranty. Dealer said it was good that it
was still under warranty as it would have otherwise have cost him $3,000
to repair. It was a nice system with Blue Tooth and voice control but
you can get the same thing in a Garmin Nuvi for 1/10th the price of the
repair. Think I paid about $125 for mine with LMT.

On 6/9/2015 4:04 PM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
wrote in message
...
a GPS comes in real handy at times

but if you only need it - say once a year, maybe not needed


Just like the spare. I have a 2007 and 2008 truck and car that the spare
has never been on the ground, but don't intend on taking them out.
If you need it, you need it even if only once every 20 years.
Just like insurance.



Many cars now have a can of fix-a-flat instead of a spare. Useless when
you cut a sidewall like I did last December. It is the first time I put
a spare on in over 25 years, but I'd have not gotten home without it.

On 6/9/2015 3:45 PM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
...
Frank wrote:
My car came with a built in compass but I did not get GPS option
which costs few G. Instead I got a 5" Garmin Nuvi GPS with LMT.
Auto parts store or RV store will have compass.


Unless I was going to trade every 2 years I would not get a built in GPS,
especially if it was more than $ 200. You can get several for way under
that and lifetime map updates.
Then if you do trade cars you can take it with you.


Not that simple. In most cars today the navigation is a part of a
package. If you want the other items in the package you have to pay for
the high price of the nav. Updates from the dealer are very expensive.

On my car, the Limited, it was included, but on the lesser models it is
part of a $4100 technology package.

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message
...
On 6/9/2015 3:45 PM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
...
Not that simple. In most cars today the navigation is a part of a
package. If you want the other items in the package you have to pay for
the high price of the nav. Updates from the dealer are very expensive.

On my car, the Limited, it was included, but on the lesser models it is
part of a $4100 technology package.

The old 'package extra charge'. Seems that they will have a package you
have to get to get one or two things you really want. Most of the package
deals can be argued down in price as there is often a very high markup in
them.
In 1972 I ordered a car and it came in with an electronic ignition system
that was not included in the origional price of the car. The dealer told me
I had to have it with the engine I wanted. He showed me a book of prices.
It started off at about $ 50 and he flipped over to 3 or 4 other prices. He
finally did show me a price of about $ 10 that it was actually suspose to
cost the dealer.

I don't know how it is for some cars, but for the Toyotas ( all I have
bought for the last 25 years) it is difficult to get anything special. They
come in certain packages and that is about it. The dealer may be able to
add a few minor things, but that is about it.

On Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 9:29:16 PM UTC-5, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 6/9/2015 3:45 PM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
...
Frank wrote:
My car came with a built in compass but I did not get GPS option
which costs few G. Instead I got a 5" Garmin Nuvi GPS with LMT.
Auto parts store or RV store will have compass.


Unless I was going to trade every 2 years I would not get a built in GPS,
especially if it was more than $ 200. You can get several for way under
that and lifetime map updates.
Then if you do trade cars you can take it with you.


Not that simple. In most cars today the navigation is a part of a
package. If you want the other items in the package you have to pay for
the high price of the nav. Updates from the dealer are very expensive.

On my car, the Limited, it was included, but on the lesser models it is
part of a $4100 technology package.

Some years ago, I read about how you could buy a GM onstar system out of a Chevy in a wrecking yard then interface it with a laptop. I believe the system had an RS-232 interface. This was the case with the early analog units. I found a link that describes the hack and it's very interesting. 8-)

http://openminds.net/onstar/index.html

[8~{} Uncle Hacker Monster

On Tue, 09 Jun 2015 18:31:01 -0400, Frank "frank
wrote:



I would never get a built in car gps. Son had one in his Mercedes and
it needed repair while under warranty. Dealer said it was good that it
was still under warranty as it would have otherwise have cost him $3,000
to repair.

Cost of repairs is one reason I now longer own a Mercedes. The better
dealers though, give you some KY jelly when you get the bill.

As stated before, you don't need the car nav, but in some cases you
have to forgo a lot of other options as it is part of a package, They
don't split the package, it is an expensive YES or NO.

On Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 8:37:28 PM UTC-7, Ralph Mowery wrote:
"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message
...
On 6/9/2015 3:45 PM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
...
Not that simple. In most cars today the navigation is a part of a
package. If you want the other items in the package you have to pay for
the high price of the nav. Updates from the dealer are very expensive.

On my car, the Limited, it was included, but on the lesser models it is
part of a $4100 technology package.

The old 'package extra charge'. Seems that they will have a package you
have to get to get one or two things you really want. Most of the package
deals can be argued down in price as there is often a very high markup in
them.
In 1972 I ordered a car and it came in with an electronic ignition system
that was not included in the origional price of the car. The dealer told me
I had to have it with the engine I wanted. He showed me a book of prices.
It started off at about $ 50 and he flipped over to 3 or 4 other prices. He
finally did show me a price of about $ 10 that it was actually suspose to
cost the dealer.

I don't know how it is for some cars, but for the Toyotas ( all I have
bought for the last 25 years) it is difficult to get anything special. They
come in certain packages and that is about it. The dealer may be able to
add a few minor things, but that is about it.

last year a bought a new toyota avalon, without any navigation,
which would have been 1.000s more

so i treated myself to a $200+ garmin GPS, with voice navigation, and a very large screen

i really like it, and i can use it in other cars
i haven't tried the voice command thing

marc

On 6/10/2015 12:08 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On Tue, 09 Jun 2015 18:31:01 -0400, Frank "frank
wrote:



I would never get a built in car gps. Son had one in his Mercedes and
it needed repair while under warranty. Dealer said it was good that it
was still under warranty as it would have otherwise have cost him $3,000
to repair.

Cost of repairs is one reason I now longer own a Mercedes. The better
dealers though, give you some KY jelly when you get the bill.

As stated before, you don't need the car nav, but in some cases you
have to forgo a lot of other options as it is part of a package, They
don't split the package, it is an expensive YES or NO.

Son got rid of his largely because of this reason. Also got rid of a
Porsche he had - $100 just to change oil.

On 6/10/2015 12:48 PM, wrote:

last year a bought a new toyota avalon, without any navigation,
which would have been 1.000s more

so i treated myself to a $200+ garmin GPS, with voice navigation, and a very large screen

IIRC, you give up having a backup camera that comes with the navigation.
That will change in another model year or so. I won't buy a car
without the camera.

On 06/10/2015 12:04 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
....

IIRC, you give up having a backup camera that comes with the navigation.
That will change in another model year or so. I won't buy a car without
the camera.

Guess they're ok but...there's one in the Enclave but I simply find I
never pay any attention to it since its output is a section of the
center rearview mirror; I (like most truck drivers I suppose) use the
side mirrors automagically as you get to where you simply "know" there's
nothing visible directly behind you excepting the front wall of the
truck bed (here, most frequently the grain box). Also, with dirt roads,
the lens is always covered with dust and if it gets muddy it gets
splattered as well. I did happen to notice today when in town with it
for a meeting that if one looked _very_ carefully, one could still see a
few smatterings of something totally indistinguishable between the
opaque spots--and that's _after_ I happened to swipe a finger across the
lens getting back in out after coming out of the post office a day or so
before...

The audio avoidance warning is really more useful in many ways imo as
even when it was clean and first got the vehicle I found the distortion
in it to be of limited use. I suppose for the instance of the kiddo in
the driveway, but we have none of them any longer...there are some
neighbors with them on trucks and for a bumper hitch they turn out to be
the cats meow they say...

--

On Wednesday, June 10, 2015 at 10:03:49 AM UTC-7, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 6/10/2015 12:48 PM, wrote:

last year a bought a new toyota avalon, without any navigation,
which would have been 1.000s more

so i treated myself to a $200+ garmin GPS, with voice navigation, and a very large screen

IIRC, you give up having a backup camera that comes with the navigation.
That will change in another model year or so. I won't buy a car
without the camera.

actually,
my Avalon did come with a back up camera
[it must be standard on all Avalons]

but it's not easy getting used to.
i have mirrors, over my shoulder, and now a camera?
almost too many things to look at

marc

On 6/10/2015 1:24 PM, dpb wrote:


Guess they're ok but...there's one in the Enclave but I simply find I
never pay any attention to it since its output is a section of the
center rearview mirror; I (like most truck drivers I suppose) use the
side mirrors automagically as you get to where you simply "know" there's
nothing visible directly behind you \

The audio avoidance warning is really more useful in many ways imo as
even when it was clean and first got the vehicle I found the distortion
in it to be of limited use. I suppose for the instance of the kiddo in
the driveway, but we have none of them any longer...there are some
neighbors with them on trucks and for a bumper hitch they turn out to be
the cats meow they say...


OK, you give me another reason not to buy Buicks any more. I have a
very clear 7" screen in my Sonata. After driving 25 miles in the snow
it will be a bit blurry but a swipe of the finger restores it. The
screen is shared by the navigation. New models have an 8" screen.

A surprisingly large number of kids are killed every year so there is
definite payback for many drivers. Also nice when parallel parking in
tight spots, the yellow and red lines are very accurate.

On 06/10/2015 7:01 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 6/10/2015 1:24 PM, dpb wrote:


Guess they're ok but...there's one in the Enclave but I simply find I
never pay any attention to it since its output is a section of the
center rearview mirror; I (like most truck drivers I suppose) use the
side mirrors automagically as you get to where you simply "know" there's
nothing visible directly behind you \
....

OK, you give me another reason not to buy Buicks any more. I have a very
clear 7" screen in my Sonata. After driving 25 miles in the snow it will
be a bit blurry but a swipe of the finger restores it. The screen is
shared by the navigation. New models have an 8" screen.
....

The problem w/ the Enclave is one of most SUV body styles; the upright
rear is far worse for blow back on the rear as compared to a sedan.
That we're also on dirt roads doesn't help. The snow'll come off
easily, it's the dried/caked mud I've not wet down to wipe off the lens
that's the problem above.

The size is a little of an issue if one really cares about using it, but
I'm just too old and set in my ways to really care/pay any attention.

--

On 06/10/2015 11:24 AM, dpb wrote:
there are some neighbors with them on trucks and for a bumper hitch they
turn out to be the cats meow they say...

With the step and tow bumper on my old F150, the audio avoidance is when
I back into something.

rbowman posted for all of us...



On 06/10/2015 11:24 AM, dpb wrote:
there are some neighbors with them on trucks and for a bumper hitch they
turn out to be the cats meow they say...

With the step and tow bumper on my old F150, the audio avoidance is when
I back into something.

Braille parking?

--
Tekkie *Please post a follow-up*

On 06/11/2015 02:39 PM, Tekkie® wrote:
rbowman posted for all of us...



On 06/10/2015 11:24 AM, dpb wrote:
there are some neighbors with them on trucks and for a bumper hitch they
turn out to be the cats meow they say...

With the step and tow bumper on my old F150, the audio avoidance is when
I back into something.

Braille parking?

You betcha. I was sitting in the truck one day when some woman was
braille unparking and backed into me. She continued on her merry way so
i don't know if there was any damage to her car. Sure as hell wasn't a
problem for the F150.