I’ve been hating Garmin since 2001.
Their shitty proprietary software and proprietary data have been my bane on every vacation I brought Garmin equipment to. It’s not a walled garden, it’s a walled slum. Years ago I would say, “I wish Apple would make a GPS — at least they could do the interface right.”
It’s only recently come home to me that I have something even better than an Apple GPS unit…I have an iPhone.
It’s an Apple UI + Google brains + Google Ubiquity. And it’s just part of my phone… no stupid walkie-talkie sized nerd tool. And it doesn’t need to rely on GPS — it can figure its location from triangulating cell-phone towers, too.
Now Garmin doesn’t get to ransom me into buying CDs of their stale old data for each of the regions I might travel to and then guess which regions I should download to my handheld unit. If I am connected to the net, the iPhone just sucks down whatever map data it needs from Google (both map and satellite imagery) (for free)
The UI is Apple/Google, not something farted out by one of Garmin’s Kansan engineers. I guess it lacks the “Hunt/Fish Calendar” and the “High Altitude / Low Opening Parachute” function, but I can probably get by without. In the worst case, I’d just google for whatever it is those two stupid Garmin functions do.
Example: I MMS’d this screenshot to Ling so she knew where/when I’d be coming from when I met her at the Queen Victoria Building.
And since it’s Google, the place finding and direction routing is superb. It allows you to route for driving, walking, and even public transport (although the transport is in beta and failed to work with Sydney trains)
What’s the downside? If I use the iphone for data in a country where I don’t have a data plan, it can be fiendishly expensive. Fortunately, I can get ok data plans for most places I travel to. (note to self: get ready for Italy)
The other downside? The iPhone battery is pretty bad and the GPS/Map seems to be a particulary vicious joule consumer. I really should find a decent (non-Griffin) car charger for my iPhone.
But anyway, the tide has turned.
Death To Garmin!
Death To Garmin Apologists!
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I have been running garmin equipment since 1997. Have had virtually no problems and do find the sky diving function thrifty and reliable. Your just mad because they made you pay to have the joy stick fixed even though it broke only one day after the warranty ran out. Long live stately Garmin, Texas Instruments, and Compaq.
Garmin………….ahh, I could wax poetic about the times it has guided me through the dark of night over unknown terrain.
Alas, the one problem I did run into was a driver (please fill in the blank with the proper name MICHAEL) who chose to block out clear instructions while we roamed the highways of Seattle. With deep chagrin, I waved fondly at the exit that “might have been”!!
[...] longstanding hate-object was Garmin, but now that Google Maps and my iPhone has mooted standalone GPS units, I have the luxury of not even thinking about Garmin any [...]