GPS system in service van?

[bolo]

I'm thinking about purchasing a GPS navagator for my service van , has anybody every use one and how well do they work?

[ryan_the_furnace_guy]

wellll, if you like to wait an hour or two combined per day for dispatchers/directions then go without it...if however, you like to rock-n-roll directly from one call to the next...GPS is a must! they work better than you can imagine...:)

[sarge]

A good map only costs $35 bux.


If you just have to have it.....get it.

[Plates5]

Once you use one you won't want to go back, Routes turn by turn voice and map, Miss a turn and it automatically re-route you back. Traffic alerts and location list built in. Seems like a lot until it takes you strait to the drive way when its dark and no lights for streets and house numbers. Try it! :)

[hillbuck]

My Garmin is a gift from God.

[mcr]

Got my wife a Tom Tom. Had to go to a house way out in the middle of no where one night. Punched in the address and it ask's if we wanted to go on any unpaved roads. We answered no. Guess what? It said "turn left" we did and there it was. An unpaved road. :eek: We took another route home. 2 mi longer and all roads were paved.:)

[markettech]

Got my wife a Tom Tom.

Hey, we don't wanna hear about your swingin' lifestyle..........this is a family program.




















:D

[chicago installer]

love my garmin to

[thoglow]

The best investment I've made in a while.

[BigMikeB]

A good map only costs $35 bux.


If you just have to have it.....get it.

Yes one map is @$35, my area covers way more than one map, I carry 7 Hagstrom atlases. The GPS has no boundries, county-county or state-state. Welcome to the future of HVAC.

[sprintmj19]

Is there a preferred Garmin Model #?

accessories?

[BigMikeB]

Is there a preferred Garmin Model #?

accessories?

c330 is what I have and I love it

[dcx516]

i bought a gps from toys r us for 100.00 back in august. i have not used an atlas since.

[jrbenny]

c330 is what I have and I love it
That's the one I use. Love it.

I use it all the time. Keeps me from speeding in the city. Ya just don't save much time trying to rip through city streets.

[crackertech]

That's the one I use. Love it.

I use it all the time. Keeps me from speeding in the city. Ya just don't save much time trying to rip through city streets.

Ky has city's.:rolleyes:

[Yuma]

GPS units are great but knowing your city/area and some good paper maps are better.



:eek:


Yuma,

[ryan_the_furnace_guy]

I bought a Garmin and thought it has T2T (text to talk) capabilities. But it doesn't seem to. For instance it will say "Turn right...", but it wont' say "Turn right on Main St". Does anybody know how to activate this or is it an upgrade? I've got the NUVI

[hillbuck]

same with my c330.my buddy has a c340 that names streets.

[ryan_the_furnace_guy]

same with my c330.my buddy has a c340 that names streets.
that really sucks because my old lady paid like $250 for mine, and there are some that people paid like $100-150 for that have this capability. I bet it's an upgrade at their website.

[renaissanse man]

I just got a Garmin street pilot c330 today and I love it! Works great so far.

[y7turbo]

I have the TomTom One, and i like it. I got it as a gift, so that makes it even better. Its nice because i dont have to look at a map while driving :eek: lol. I have had it for just over 2 weeks, and in that time my old trusty map book just sits under my seat.

Its a good buy, but i dont think i would ever pay over a couple hundred just to have a GPS.

[PaysonHVAC]

GPS units are great but knowing your city/area and some good paper maps are better.



:eek:


Yuma,

No doubt LOL! In the local area you should know your way as far as the MAIN STREETS go.





I've been using Microsoft Streets and Trips for FOUR YEARS now. It installs off of two CD's (well actuall 2007 installed off of one DVD). So the entire US plus some major cities in Canada and Mexico are all on your hard drive. It even has the gas station and all the eating joints, ATM's, BANKs, etc with the phone numbers.
In my work van i NEVER plug the GPS sensor into it. It is annoying when all I need is to know where the adress is, not how to get there.

I just punch in an adress and see what major crossraod it is near. So I don't really need it to tell me how to get to the major crossroads. Just where the adress is in the neighborhood, or how to get into the neighborhood. And that's all shown on one screen.



However, in my personal vehicles and when we go to California I've plugged that sensor in. It does have talking directions and about every option you can think of. You can even plug how much over the posted speed limits you drive and it will calulate the time. Plug in your MPG and it calculates that.
After entering your route, it can download the latest road construction areas as well.
If you want to find a McDonalds or a nice restaurant near your area, it does that too.


They make tom tom and other add ons for the Palm and other Windows Mobile devices. But I like MS Streets and trips.

[HVACLincoln]

My boss bought one and loves it for finding houses on dark streets with no porch lights on. One problem is if you do alot of new construction, some of the new streets are not in there yet.

[jeffflk]

I've had mine for a couple years now and rely on it so much I'm not sure I know the city anymore cause I don't pay attention to how im getting some where I just program her in and go on down the road...i would like to know how they get a womans voice on there..was cuzzin down the road talking to my G/F and the voice came on "turn right in 1 mile" G/f thought I had a female passager, guess all backseat drivers are females thats why its a female voice

[Cast Iron]

A good map only costs $35 bux.


If you just have to have it.....get it.

I think we all used maps before GPS. With the navi theres no need to pull one out now. Maps usually don't have new developments on them. GPS is constantly updated. Try using a map here, Chicago, with 50+ surrounding suburbs that are constantly building. That $35 for a good map you spend is wasted here, you would have to keep buyin new maps every year if you're lucky. Invest in a Garmin and you're done.

[tjc76]

I bought a Garmin and thought it has T2T (text to talk) capabilities. But it doesn't seem to. For instance it will say "Turn right...", but it wont' say "Turn right on Main St". Does anybody know how to activate this or is it an upgrade? I've got the NUVI

if your gps has it, it will be on already, generally. what model nuvi do you have? if it has text to speech it should be on, unless you changed the voice that is navigating you. i have a garmin c550, which has text to speech, but for example if you switch it to the australian voice, just an example, it will not text to speech

[Kayaker530]

I have been using Garmin GPS Devices for several years now. I have tried some other brands, but I keep coming back to Garmin. They are one of the few companies that make consumer GPS and Aviation certified GPS devices.

[geno54]

Have had the Garmin c340 for about a year now. Gets me to where I'm going without fail. Trying to read maps at night (or even the day) is a pain even when you get directions from office. One annoyance I find is getting the street numbers backwards. Odds and evens reversed. Other than that, very rarely do I use a map

[in-trane-ing]

My boss bought all of us service techs magellan 3000 I think. Dont know how much better other brands are but I really like this one

[acmanhoney]

gps improved my quality of life

[Mr Bill]

If my wife gains much more weight I will need a GPS to find the tunnel. :eek:

[Creekpathguy]

My Garmin is the one from Tim Horton's.

Has all the locations pre-programed and the nearest one is only a touch of a button away; which makes any unknown area feel like home.

[The Penguin]

My Garmin is the one from Tim Horton's.

Has all the locations pre-programed and the nearest one is only a touch of a button away; which makes any unknown area feel like home.

Cdn eh?

[hillbuck]

If my wife gains much more weight I will need a GPS to find the tunnel. :eek:

I'll draw you a.....er....nm :D

[channelislands]

bought a tom tom when I moved up to the area im in, saves me hours some days finding my way around. Still keep maps for emerginces but never plan to use again. Keeps custs from getting pissed when they find out the call starts from time dispatched, and you can show them you have a gps that finds the quickest route.

They are also great if your not familiar with an area and want to find a place to eat a starbucks whatever.

[acmanhoney]

your clock tics from time dispatched? id like to know more about how that goes please

[AngryReferGuy]

i went to frys and got a little gps that does turn by turn .. gives the name of the street to turn on and the distance until the turn comes up .... only costs about 140 bucks .... i got tired of using the map books ... i cover a area the includes san diego , orange county , and the inland desert ..palm springs , for all you out of town guys .... and we have over 200 stores ... maps get a little tired after a while , just enter the address and go .... a little lazy i admit ...but f**k'm im tired ..... .:D

[bob hubbard]

I bought the garmin 350 ? Cant remember why , Mabe it was smaller than the 330 ? Works pretty good except alot of times it doesnt take you the best route , Just try to take your the shortest . But its still better than lookin at a map whilee driving .

[itsiceman]

if your gps has it, it will be on already, generally. what model nuvi do you have? if it has text to speech it should be on, unless you changed the voice that is navigating you. i have a garmin c550, which has text to speech, but for example if you switch it to the australian voice, just an example, it will not text to speech
I have the Garmin 350 set with the Aussie chick and she does it for me :D

[acmanhoney]

lol, good ol map while youre drivin...i shouldnt be here today:D

[Eaallred]

Our local ShopKo had the Magellan 3100's on sale for $129 a couple weeks ago so I went and picked one up.

For $129, it rocks! For the 'normal' price of $249 i'd call it 'okay'. I have all the supply houses programed into the address book so I can get to those quick and easily when I need to do a parts run or something.

[Logan_L]

I've got a gps in my van, but it must be broken... no matter how nice I ask for directions I get ignored... all it does is tell my boss where to find me...