Perspective, The Fickle Mistress

[dyingquail]

So, I been thinking. Five years ago I was well behind the phone curve flipping away. When I needed to get somewhere I'd get on the internet, print out instructions, and off I went. I'd guess that I had about a 5% failure in finding places but mostly I got there fine.

Today, I'm sitting here, maybe just for the exercise, thinking about upgrading my car. What about built-in navigation? Well, I live in an area where you can legitimately go off the grid. I've dropped calls on the town's main street and there are plenty of places without cell service. Yeah, I should think about that! How often am I not getting where I need to because of no cell service*?

Less than 5%.

Okey Dokey!

* Don't get me wrong, apps are incredibly useful, just saying'.

 

[7eregrine]

Huh? Are you asking for advice on buying a new car? or just Navigation?

 

[dyingquail]

Huh? Are you asking for advice on buying a new car? or just Navigation?

No, it just amused me that 5 years ago I was fine with a paper map printed from Google that missed 5% of the time. Then I was fine with missing 5% of the time with an iPhone, probably less, because I live in an area that does have some cell problems. Really I can only think of two times where I would have needed it.

And here I am considering a $1,000 solution to what is barely a problem.

I guess I was sharing a psychological revelation.

 

[RDK006]

I feel kinda the same way. 95% of my trips are going to destinations that i already know how to get to or that I've google mapped before I leave the house. In the three months I've had my car - the first car I've owned that even had nav or connectivity - I think I've used my nav twice (other than playing with it to test it out). My favorite and most used feature on the info unit is the passive cross street status bar.

 

[RG_Flyer]

We are a society obsessed with gadgets. I paid dearly for a Garmin Colormap back in the '90's. Crude by today's standards, it was really cool at the time. I rarely use nav these days.

 

[Monterra]

Alternatively you can download area maps locally to your device and still be fine- with google at least

 

[joe6864]

The benefits of built in built-in navigation, for me, is the availability for when you need to go somewhere unexpected. If you're already out and you need to make a detour, or add a new destination. It allows me to either just fire up the map to see the surrounding area, or navigate to a new destination from wherever I am at any time.

 

[7eregrine]

I like the built in for that, too. Don't have to worry if the phone is charged. Don't have to plug it in. Running nav is a battery killer.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[murky]

I must be the exception. I have the nav on all of the time, even during my 15 minute commute to work. I like to see my progress, learn the side roads, and visualize the layout of the roads as I drive. I don't necessarily set a destination.

 

[andamanc]

Since moving to metro Atlanta, I rely on Waze (community based GPS phone app ) to find me the quickest routes around traffic and accidents , not to mention warning me of speed traps ;-)
Pretty sure built-in navigation would not help me much in this area.
Sure would be nice if I could cast my phone apps to the Infotainment display!

 

[ColoradoDriver]

So, I been thinking. Five years ago I was well behind the phone curve flipping away. When I needed to get somewhere I'd get on the internet, print out instructions, and off I went. I'd guess that I had about a 5% failure in finding places but mostly I got there fine.

Today, I'm sitting here, maybe just for the exercise, thinking about upgrading my car. What about built-in navigation? Well, I live in an area where you can legitimately go off the grid. I've dropped calls on the town's main street and there are plenty of places without cell service. Yeah, I should think about that! How often am I not getting where I need to because of no cell service*?

Less than 5%.

Okey Dokey!

* Don't get me wrong, apps are incredibly useful, just saying'.

I had a flip phone till 2013.

I printed out instructions too.

Now-adays I don't use NAV that much. My CX-5 doesn't have NAV and I only use Google Maps on my phone for trips I don't know.

 

[iheartmypitbull]

I love having the navigation but I never use it to navigate because it doesn't have real time traffic. To me that's a major, even fatal, flaw in the navigation system. In the Bay Area there's so much traffic that I rely almost exclusively on Waze.

However, I really enjoy having the navigation and leave it on the nav screen a lot because I love knowing my surroundings and exactly where I am on a map, learning all the cross streets, etc.

 

[finch204]

Waze is my go to app for navigation too. However the built-in NAV still has its use for me. I still use it if I don't want to bother using my phone for navigation, which isn't a priority if I'm not in a hurry. It is also a nice to have when the phone is running low on battery. It's basically a fail safe for when you have no means of navigation using your phone or other gadgets. It is there, will always be there if and when you need to use it.

Real time traffic not being available is a disappointment though, get that fixed Mazda!

 

[GAXIBM]

Having the nav on gives me the estimated arrival time which helps me decide how hard to drive to get there on time...

 

[Monterra]

I had a flip phone till 2013.

I printed out instructions too.

Now-adays I don't use NAV that much. My CX-5 doesn't have NAV and I only use Google Maps on my phone for trips I don't know.

Haha and I thought I was the last holdout..Nov 2013! Now- its all I use for NAV and both my cars have it built in w/traffic.. Google maps is easier/quicker and just plain better. Yeah the screen is smaller but its also closer to me (more so in the bmw) with my dash vent mount. Onboard display handles tunes- S7 runs maps and its not too horrible on battery- plus it encourages me to keep it charged. Exception being long drives where I'll probably fire up the onboard nav but still check in w/google for traffic areas/re-routes.

 

[7eregrine]

We are a society obsessed with gadgets.

I was talking to a group of older folks in their late 50's and 60's.
The old "kids today... all they do is look at phones, play video games."
Then it invariably always comes up: "When we were kids, we went outside! We didn't have to come home until the street lights came on" (that one I've always found odd...I was still allowed to be outside when it got dark) "we didn't stare at screens!"

Well, I just cannot stand that holier than thou attitude so it finally needed said: if you had the things that kids have today, you'd be JUST LIKE THEM. You went outside because there was NOTHING TO DO INSIDE! lol

And do NOT tell me you didn't watch a lot of TV either.

"well, err... yea, but...."
mm-hm.
If you could have held a TV in your hand in the 1960's, you'd have carried it around, too.

 

[ColoradoDriver]

I was talking to a group of older folks in their 50's and 60's.
The old "kids today... all they do is look at phones, play video games."
Then it invariably always comes up: "When we were kids, we went outside! We didn't have to come home until the street lights came on" (that one I've always found odd...I was still allowed to be outside when it got dark) "we didn't stare at screens!"

Well, I just cannot stand that holier than thou attitude so it finally needed said: if you had the things that kids have today, you'd be JUST LIKE THEM. You went outside because there was NOTHING TO DO INSIDE! lol

And do NOT tell me you didn't watch a lot of TV either.

"well, err... yea, but...."
mm-hm.
If you could have held a TV in your hand in 1960, you'd have carried it around, too.

Yep, very true!

I'm only 26, I look at stuff my 17 year old nephew has growing up and it's like "oh man, that would have been cool as a kid".

 

[TinyTires]

Since moving to metro Atlanta, I rely on Waze (community based GPS phone app ) to find me the quickest routes around traffic and accidents , not to mention warning me of speed traps ;-)
Pretty sure built-in navigation would not help me much in this area.
Sure would be nice if I could cast my phone apps to the Infotainment display!

I also use Waze all the time, even for short trips as Chicago roads/streets are always in a state of construction or bottlenecked. These impediments change day to day and time of day.
Waze even indicates where the potholes are. That's good for those alloy rims in city driving.
Not sure if Waze is available on Apple CarPlay yet but maybe I would prefer to run Waze separately as I think I'll really enjoy the Mazda control knob system for most things other than nav.

 

[astriuminc]

I was talking to a group of older folks in their late 50's and 60's.
The old "kids today... all they do is look at phones, play video games."
Then it invariably always comes up: "When we were kids, we went outside! We didn't have to come home until the street lights came on" (that one I've always found odd...I was still allowed to be outside when it got dark) "we didn't stare at screens!"

Well, I just cannot stand that holier than thou attitude so it finally needed said: if you had the things that kids have today, you'd be JUST LIKE THEM. You went outside because there was NOTHING TO DO INSIDE! lol

And do NOT tell me you didn't watch a lot of TV either.

"well, err... yea, but...."
mm-hm.
If you could have held a TV in your hand in the 1960's, you'd have carried it around, too.

Yep, very true!

I'm only 26, I look at stuff my 17 year old nephew has growing up and it's like "oh man, that would have been cool as a kid".

Adolescent kids have no freaking idea how easy they have it, all they have to do search the internet, I had to watch squiggly scrambled WHT TV signals on UHF frequency (before there was cable) to get my adult movie fix LOL

 

[AlecMyrddyn]

Not sure if Waze is available on Apple CarPlay yet

Sadly, Waze is not available on Apple CarPlay. No indication that it's coming either.

Waze for Android Auto is in beta testing right now, and should be available soon.

I wish Apple would allow alternate map programs via CarPlay, but they restrict it to Apple Maps right now.