Verizon Droid GPS. Won't Get Fooled Again.

[chopper]

Took only my Droid X to the boonies of Wisconsin last weekend and came back glad that I had a general idea where I was.

GPS seemed to be working well, then suddenly phone started re-starting repeatedly when being used as a GPS unit with a destination. And now it loads the program or destination, tries to load directions and locks up.

Won't take a Garmin unit out of the car anytime soon based on this. Droid GPS did work well but now ... how do the kids put it? FAIL.

[JoeM]

I have used my Droid X's navigation a number of time with good accuracy, as good as or better than my Garmin but recently had an incident in NJ where it just couldn't connect to the GPS and was useless. Luckily my wife had an idea where to go so we managed to figure it out.

I feel less confident in it since that trip.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

After a number of incidents - the most recent being when the GPS in my wife's Lexus swore to us that the nearest Olive Garden restaurant was located in a residential district backyard - I have lost all faith in the GPS.

I do appreciate it for the onscreen map it provides, but other than that? Meh.

[cowboyxjon]

N-OS X-tasy! wrote:
After a number of incidents - the most recent being when the GPS in my wife's Lexus swore to us that the nearest Olive Garden restaurant was located in a residential district backyard - I have lost all faith in the GPS.

I do appreciate it for the onscreen map it provides, but other than that? Meh.

It's probably more of a database issue than the actual GPS technology itself. I have an in-dash nav in my Jeep and the database is a few years old, so it still lists businesses that have long been closed and obviously doesn't include recent businesses, or in some cases, new streets. I think it's tough for global companies (like Navteq) to produce timely updates that are detailed enough to catch changes at the local level.

I COULD buy an update CD for my nav, but when reading the fine print, it indicates that my city wasn't one of of the 'updated' cities.

[vision63]

You can't use Google Map's for that? That's what I use on my Evo.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

cowboyxjon wrote:
[quote=N-OS X-tasy!]
After a number of incidents - the most recent being when the GPS in my wife's Lexus swore to us that the nearest Olive Garden restaurant was located in a residential district backyard - I have lost all faith in the GPS.

I do appreciate it for the onscreen map it provides, but other than that? Meh.

It's probably more of a database issue than the actual GPS technology itself. I have an in-dash nav in my Jeep and the database is a few years old, so it still lists businesses that have long been closed and obviously doesn't include recent businesses, or in some cases, new streets. I think it's tough for global companies (like Navteq) to produce timely updates that are detailed enough to catch changes at the local level.
The Olive Garden in question is still in business. I doubt an outdated database is to blame for depicting it in the middle of a housing tract that clearly has been there for years.

BTW, the Olive Garden in question is actually located about a quarter-mile away from where the GPS indicated we would find it. We did lunch there that day after locating it the old-fashioned way: looking around a bit and trusting my instincts.

[Markintosh]

Everyone has a story about when their GPS failed. I was on a weekend fieldtrip with some middle school kids recently. We needed to go to a dollar store for some supplies. "Marge", the navigator on my Droid, took us on a three mile long convoluted cloverleaf to avoid crossing a highway, during which time we passed the store three times. We continued to follow Marge's directions just for the fun of it. The students are still telling the story.

Otherwise, for 99 out of 100 trips, Google Maps navigation has been right on. I continue to use it, but keep that seed of doubt planted.