I jog a park called "Garden Of The Gods". Acres of red rocks jutting 300' in the air. A car stopped me wanting to know where "The Souper Salad" eatery was? I said it's on Garden Of The Gods ROAD.....not in a wilderness park! They of course said their GPS led them here...and wanted to argue....:0)

We were in another state looking for our hotel at night. This was back when we used Garmin. It sent us to this Halloween scary, creepy neighborhood. We high-tailed it out of there fast!

Another time Garmin had us getting off and then back on the freeway......we were hysterical with laughter.

Now we use Google maps on the phone or Siri and haven't been sent to creepy neighborhoods or in circles yet.

I have a Magelin (sp?) in my truck which I last used six years ago to navigate our way through from North Vancouver to Whiterock. I was amazed at how good it is, even making sure we were in the right lane to make our turns. I mostly use my iPhone app (google maps). I turn off my data after I key in the address I need to go to and set my phone down, listening for directions on the way. I don't use it often. Only when I'm going somewhere we've never been before or when my husband thinks he knows the way but gets us lost.... hahaha

We use them all the time. We call them Lucy lol. If we are going somewhere we are not familiar with we ask anyone grab Lucy? She has taken us all over the place flawlessly. I am getting ready to purchase a new car that will have a built in GPS Lucy 2.0 :)

Back when they first came out we used one to get from Ma to Fl. We were in DC on one of their loops that loop you around the city and then you take an exit to the road you need. First time around didn't notice anything, 2nd time around we were like weren't we just here? Third time around Yep definitely going in a circle, Forth time around it was like just jump off an exit and hope she doesn't put us back on the loop again and fixes herself which she did. We would have been going around that darn loop for days had we listened to her lol.

My new house is in a brand new community. I have been here a year now and none of the GPS services can seem to find my house yet which is getting frustrating good thing we know how to get home. They have started the 2nd phase of our community so hopefully soon we will show up. We have even contacted places like google maps to be added but I guess here the Fire Dept or Police have to add your community to the map.

Yes, all the time and it's quite accurate in our 2016 Subaru . Once with our first Prius, we drove around an hour looking for a friend's house which had been there for 30 years.

I don't use the Sync traffic assistance in my Ford. Waze on my phone is much more accurate and warns me of traffic slow downs, accidents ahead, detours, better routes, etc.

I stopped using my car GPS because I didn't want to pay for the updates and Waze is pretty much perfect. I had an older version and yes it did send me wrong a time or two but now I keep it updated and even use it for everyday drives to alert to traffic jams and accidents as our area has some of the heaviest traffic in the country.

We use Google maps on our phones. It usually gets us pretty close. Last winter, we were in FL and were looking for a particular house. We had been there the year before, so we'd know it when we saw it. It was a community where all the houses look about the same. Well, the GPS took us in a direction that didn't look right. It finally said " you have reached your destination. Please walk the rest of the way." I guess it gave up.

Well I've learned something. I had no idea Waze could be used like that! I have it on my phone and pretty much ignore it. LOL! I bought a new Garmin last year before a trip and chose the model with free updates. But I still use my iphone to spot traffic problems ahead of us. That's helps us out of several close calls!

Marcy, yes, you just put on waze but don't enter a destination. Will alert to heavy traffic, accidents, etc. Another fun thing is they have celebrity voices you have giving you directions and alerts. Nothing like having Morgan Freeman as God tell you where to go! LOL ( I only know because of one of my kids and a brother in law who drives in DC traffic every day.)

Yes, used Garmin, Google maps, and Waze. Currently, am using Waze as it helps avoid delays. There are times it wanted me to take an alternate route, and I ignored it, only to learn it was good advice.

Can't live w/o GPS. I've had problems if, for ex., there is a main street East and a Main Street West. GPS might send you to the wrong side.

Once in a while a GPS sends a first-time visitor to Maui on the 'shortest-distance-route' from the airport in Kahului to their lodging in Kapalua. This is a barely improved and sometimes one-lane road that goes long the eastern side of the West Maui Mountains, then over the 'top' of the island before dropping south to Kapalua. It's especially hair raising to drive on the ocean side. This seems to happen most to people arriving OGG after dark.

GPS is also easily confused by Hawaiian street names. Much easier for tourists to use a paper map.

I use Waze occasionally, but I try to print out maps if I am going somewhere unfamiliar. My last snafu with a Garmin was on a driving trip to a friend's house in Santa Rosa. No matter how we entered their address parameters (use freeway, fastest route, slowest route, etc.), it would always route us through downtown Sonoma rather than using the 101 to bypass it. We finally fooled it by using the address of a gas station near the 101 exit to their house.

I noticed when I was in Illinois last month that the Lyft driver following GPS directions went a few blocks out of the way to get to one address. It was in a residential area, so traffic wasn't a concern. I have no idea why GPS came up with that route.

The first time I used GPS it took me right to a brick building, could not go straight like it told me I should. I decided no more GPS. Then my son gave me one and it seemed easy to use. Once I figured out how to set it (you can choose no highways etc.) I won't be without it. I will check out mapquest if going on a long trip, just in case. Also have maps in the truck and like to look at those before a long trip as well. All in all, I now love GPS.

Google bought waze some 4 or so years ago. Its info and that in Google maps , I believe, is the same and comes from the same sources from place to place.

Several years ago we used an older Garmin and DH's new iphone on vacation in Michigan. (DH is techy and loves his gadgets.) Things were fine until they gave differing directions! DH was beside himself. :)

Sure, use my "Carmen" frequently, with only a few quirks. Once in Virginia it thought a locked, unpaved forestry road would be a good shortcut. But it quickly rerouted when we kept driving on the planned route. It is also good for an occasional laugh. At one time, for one particular drive, it would say the name and then "doctor" instead of drive. I still laugh about it reading Dr. as doctor, and was disappointed that the term disappeared with an update.

I prefer Google Maps on my phone when taking long trips over the car's GPS and my Garvin because it shows multiple route options from which I select. I also like its real time traffic function as it offers alternate routes to avoid jams and accidents.

Still have my Magellan but it's not quite so useful now - no more map updates and they want you to pay for traffic info which is silly. Must remember to download the Maze app, it's just we seldom drive in traffic (ah, the joy of retirement) so I keep forgetting!

Our new car has satellite GPS and it's terrific. Very accurate and love the voice-activation. But I'll probably hang on to the Magellan for a while, because it has an easy-to-use feature for "mostly freeways" and "least freeways", which I often use when we're traveling. I can do it on the satellite GPS screen but it's actually more time-consuming and finicky than on the Magellan. We have been on some stunningly beautiful drives by using the latter choice.

Besides, I usually pre-load the Magellan with a bunch of addresses when we're traveling. It's nice to be able to check at a glance where you're going next, when it's one of 20-odd destinations you've got planned for the next week!

Yes, and we typically use the iPhone maps to navigate and alternate with the built-in car GPS, which must be updated periodically. Sometimes use Google maps which has better traffic info. Maybe. And I often have my paper map out so I can see the 'big picture' and so we won't miss any interesting side trips when we're on a car trip.

gyr_falcon's "Dr." reminded me of last week, when we were driving home after the eclipse. We stayed on back roads, and in SC many of them are labeled something like 21-57. It would say "continue on state route 21 minus 57." We laughed.

First got it on my Audi in 2009 - it was part of a package and I had to get it to get something I really wanted. I'd been a map girl for my entire life. Well, this has changed my life! When one is driving alone at night, pulling over to read a map is a bother, and potentially dangerous. I love it when I'm tired and in an unfamiliar area - it's never let me down yet.

I did learn pretty quickly that any of these devices understands numbers better than words. So, when I look up an address before leaving home, I always make sure to include the zip code. When I use that when entering the info into navigation, it always finds what I want with no problems.

I daughter uses an app on her iPhone and can track her two teenage boys everywhere. Yes, she had to have their permission to do so, but as she pays 1/2 of their cell phone cost, it was a matter of "pay it all yourself and have privacy or allow me to track you and give that up". They chose the more economic way. She was tired of trying to find them when they changed locations and forgot to call. She also caught her youngest in a lie last summer on the Vineyard - he was NOT where he said he'd been. His curfew was made an hour earlier as punishment.

Maps are just fine with two people in the car if one can read while driving, but for a lone driver, navigation is the way to go.

I have a horrible sense of direction. I love any and all GPS enabled devices.

DH is such a good navigator, when I'm driving somewhere unfamiliar or far by myself I now rely on my phone! It does a pretty good job, except for the first time I tried it out. I used it in a familiar area (just in case lol) and it tried to drive me into the river. Good thing I knew where I was!

I do need a "what did you say?" function on my phone, because if I'm chatting, listening to an audio, or just not listening for the voice I miss something important.

Yes, I use it and really appreciate the help when going somewhere new. Just used it this weekend, twice. it was a real help.

When traveling, we share our Waze route with our kids so they know where we are. We also share our drive (ETA) with the other party so they know where we are and when we'll be arriving.

Waze also shows multiple route options.

I rented a car in Vermont with a GPS and it worked great in helping me find my way around with one exception. I gave it the address I wanted and after driving around for what seemed forever it announced that I had reached my destination which apparently was a cow pasture. Not at all what I was expecting!

I've had only two experiences with an built-in GPS in a car. One was when I was looking to buy a new Subaru about 12 years ago, they had a previous years model at a significant mark-down, that had a built-in GPS. I took the car out for a test drive and the GPS didn't know the road just off the dealer's lot. The road had been there at least 6 years. They said they would include one free update of the GPS data if I bought the car, which otherwise would cost $400. Rather than convincing me to buy the car, that convinced to not buy it.

A couple of years later a rental car had built-in GPS. As a "safety measure" it wouldn't allow you to enter an address into the GPS while it was in motion. While I agree that distracted driving is a big problem, I was not driving, my co-worker was. I was in the passenger seat and still the GPS wouldn't let me enter an address.

I'd much rather have a stand-alone GPS system.

We rarely go anywhere LOL outside of our frequent trips to Pittsburgh. The Garmin and the smartphone does not work in Pittsburgh we continue getting *calculating* and that's it. Weve ask quite a few people from Pitt about why and they usually say Welcome to the city of no signal. Pitt is less than an hour from home but there's a few places I'd like to stop at when in the city but can't find them.

I am a huge advocate of Waze (no affiliation, just a really good App). I had forgotten about a trip my sister and I took. She was sick so I was the driver from the DMV to Atlanta in her car with a stop in SC. Let's just say it was ten years ago and her GPS was not updated! Met a nice family on the little street it sent us to.

No it's the one piece of tech I cannot embrace. I think GPS is just one more way of dumbing down. Not because it can't be useful but it's overused. Some people have gotten so dependent on turn by turn directions that they have zero idea of how they got somewhere. They never learn to actually get anywhere. They just follow that damned annoying voice. I get tired of asking someone who should be familiar with an area how to get somewhere and they answer, "I don't know, I just use GPS". "You were at my house last week, how do I get to yours?" "I dunno, I used GPS to get home too." ACCCKKK! It was bad enough before dealing with people who can't figure out what a northwest corner is and don't know what direction their own home faces. I do check Google maps or mapquest to see how to get somewhere but I get there on my own. Waze does have usefulness for getting out of a traffic jam. Sigh. I miss the days of the handy Thomas Guide.

We use it and know of 2 common mistakes it makes just in our area. But I'd say 95 percent of the time it's been accurate.

We find GPS 10 THOUSAND times easier than those thick map books that used to get us around larger metropolitan cities. Roads change often and it did take the software installers time to get ALL the roads included in GPS systems. In the beginning one often found GPS had misled. Today, forget the GPS--it is rarely COMPLETELY updated. Our phones are accurate and know the up to the minute traffic issues. We have found google to be accurate and trustworthy.

Another great, helpful feature included with Waze is "real-time" updates like;

Hazard ahead, object on road; hazard ahead, accident ahead, , car on shoulder, etc. That info is passed on by other real-time wazers.

Maps can't do that!

Waze. Crowd-sourced updates on traffic conditions, rerouting when conditions on the planned route deteriorate, and updates on arrival time if traffic conditions improve or deteriorate. Also, with app updates, the maps update, unlike the map in my car GPS which relies on yearly updates.

I didn't get my drivers license until I was In my early 30s (long story, but it was my choice). My ex-husband taught me to drive after our divorce. I had never paid attention to the route when someone else was doing the driving, so I really was starting from scratch. I didn't enjoy driving then, I thought of it as a chore, but it was necessary, as I now also had my first full-time (paid) job. I got lost a lot, because I'd never heard of GPS, and I have a very bad sense of direction. Maps were not my friend. A few years later I married the love of my life. Before we met, he owned a moving company; also drove one of the trucks cross-country. Sold it before we met. I was always amazed that he knew how to navigate to ANYWHERE, and if traffic was congested or there was construction, he knew all the back ways to get around it. I had to drive a specific route several times before I'd remember it. If I had to deviate because of a detour or because I'd been asked by my boss to pick up something, I'd get hopelessly lost. There were times when I actually had to call DH in tears and say , "If you ever want to see me again, you'll have to help me get home!". I'd describe my surroundings and he would tell me step-by-step how to get home.

He bought me a GPS and the world opened up for me! Truly.

I use maps.

Both my wife and I are adept at reading maps. When we travel together, one drives and the other becomes the navigator with maps.

Interesting article. Sort of supports my gut feelings and observations on the matter.
https://www.vox.com/2015/9/2/9242049/gps-maps-navigation

GPS was designed for people like me who get lost every day of their life. I'm the queen of u-turns.

GPS usage confession #2: I use multi-billion-dollar military satellite technology to find Tupperware in the woods.

A dedicated GPS unit I once owned sent me to Brooklyn, not Queens, NYC once. This was a bad thing... I now usually pre plot trips before leaving home. I also have physical maps for some places I'm apt to visit.

There are some places where satellite/mobile signal will drop. Near my future rural home, for sure. I do like Waze a lot, but if signal goes... paper maps or just drive around a bit until you pick it up again.

I am a Waze devotee.....It is real time as opposed to Garmin

I have used Waze since the weekend it came out. Read about it in a blog post while waiting at the DFW Airport. Then we drove to San Antonio. While my wife was driving I downloaded Waze the turned it on. Waze bypassed at least 10 miles of construction traffic in the Waco area, and I was SOLD. Having said that, early on it had its quirks. I live in rural areas and once it sent me to a rural water tower instead of the Walmart 5 miles away.

The more Waze is used the better it gets. I use it on roads I know. I don't use it to go to work, but I use it to visit my daughters both out and back (80 and 100 miles). With crowd-sourced information, Waze gives you multiple routes to choose from, tells you where the police are active, and announces road hazards.

Yes, Waze was purchased by Google several years ago. However, Google Maps and Waze are distinctly different. My wife uses Google Maps on her phone and I use Waze. Sitting in the same car we find the routing is different between the two, travel times are different, and even destinations are slightly different. We are mutually frustrated with each other for using the wrong GPS system, but we both know we're going to end up at the same place.

I use English (UK) (Kate) for my Waze voice. It's always amusing how she pronounces the oddball Texas towns and street names.

Some of you have some misinformation, or at least let me say, my understandings differ on a few points:

Realtime traffic updates like Google maps/Waze? My portable Garmin has that, so too the built-in GPS units in our 3 cars.

Rerouting to avoid problems? Ditto

Info sources for traffic? In California, sensors in the pavement provide car speeds to Caltrans and other authorities and I believe this information is passed along to a number of companies, including Google/Waze. That same information finds its way to Garmin and the built in units in my cars just like Google maps. Same info, same ultimate sources.

"Crowd sourced information?" Meh, I find it less accurate. No need to have millennials (driving and using their phones) telling me "Oh no, mommy didn't say there would be cars ahead of me that would slow me down. What do I do now, she's not answering her phone?".

Navigating where there's no cell signal? Here's where built ins and Garmin type devices excel because they don't rely on having a cell signal to function. An example, I've driven into and out of Death Valley a couple of times - >100 miles of no cell coverage but the built in GPS functions completely normally. No traffic data is received but Hey, there's no traffic in such desolate places.

For those of you who want to use Google maps but drive regularly in places where there's no cell signal, you can put the map app into what it calls Wifi mode. Download maps for the areas you'll be driving in while connected to Wifi, then Google maps will work normally (though with no traffic signal) using the downloaded map data. I've done it, it works fine. Or, as above, get a Garmin or a car with a built in.

Phone apps are notorious for frequent inaccuracies. True GPS units are much better but will send some strange routes at times. Most phone apps will send people 20 blocks away when trying to use my address. Not a new address either. This place has been here for well over 40 years. I have friends who drive truck for a living and they can't even use phone apps for a backup when there's GPS issues. The reason is always the same: "TOO INACCURATE!!!"

Most people don't care if they get sent the wrong direction. Most people wouldn't know if they were sent the wrong way. So most people don't know when they're getting inaccurate directions.

I can't count the number of times I've given turn by turn directions to people and had them call that they're lost. Gets me rather annoyed. Well I followed the "gps"! First, you don't have a GPS, you have a phone app and I told you up front you'd get lost and now you are. I lose patience with these types.

Many Gps systems rely on location software and data from third parties -Navteq is one such supplier. Think of the millions and millions of data items for a North America map. If the error rate were half of one percent, there would be 5000 errors in each one million.

If you know you house address is inaccurately sited by GPS systems, give visitors your gps coordinates. That will work right every time. Obtained by looking at a device when at your house or from an internet map. Find the right spot on Google maps, click on it to drop a marker and the coordinates will be shown.

I like a paper map when going into unfamiliar territory. I am more comfortable if I understand our general route in advance, and where we will be with regard to other cities, landmarks, etc. With Garmin especially it's hard to zoom out far enough to get any idea of where you're at. I do like garmins and cellphone apps for detailed driving directions, although I tend to turn too early for fear of turning too late. Recalculating!

Not sure if it's been corrected, but several years ago there were two destinations in Virginia called "Potomac Mills." One is a giant shopping destination, the other is a tiny speck in the road out in the middle of nowhere.

cynic - "Phone apps are notorious for frequent inaccuracies. True GPS units are much better but will send some strange routes at times."

Just curious on what the differences are? Both the apps and a Garmin, etc. rely on their communication with a Global Positioning System to map your location.

When you know there's an ambiguity in name, as above or like 4th ave NYC, is it Brooklyn or Manhattan, the problem is avoided by using the zip code when entering the address.

To look at the route first, view it on Google maps- I always do for unfamiliar trips.

Errors are often in the database data. Gps devices use map coordinates, so one error might happen by entering 2500 main and the database gives coordinates for main between 28th and 29th instead of between 25th and 26th.