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Oscar2

Jan 3, 2007, 10:53 AM

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GPS Revisited

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Before I left on my one-month trip to Guad I purchased the City Select® Mexico NT, SD chip as a plug-in specifically for my GPS from Garmin. I have the Garmin Street Pilot 7200 with the large screen and just like US domestic GPS’s it worked very well in Guad.

All the customary features one gets with an advanced, deluxe, high dollar GPS worked as well as if I were driving in any major city in the US. I discovered afterwards the same SD plug-in chip works on less expensive models. Difference being that it just a smaller screen size and a few less features but it will get you there for less.

If you had a correct address, cross streets or the proper name of a known sight it would get you there and reroute you quickly if you made a wrong turn. I especially liked the feature which allows one to Mark and save any location your at as a favorite, such as Costco, home, home 1, Restaurant or anywhere. It will return you to it no matter what your location. Guad is a huge city and the madness of traffic and the jet speed and maneuvering of accustomed drivers, although nerve racking, I feel they were good and very daring drivers.

After about a week of daily emersion in this madness, my knee jerk reactions got up to speed allowing for greater maneuverability under conditions not accustomed too. Throughout, the little lady or guy pending which voice you selected, kept ticking away and not losing a directional beat.

I guess if you’ve been in Guad for sometime it’s pretty easy to navigate but if you’re just an interloper visiting, it can prove daunting.

On the Carreteras to other cities, outside Guad, Monterey and DF, only the main carreteras show up on the screen and mainly will try and point you too and keep you on the Quota highways. After a few times of driving the carreteras libre and hitting unmarked Topes and massive cracks, chuckholes and animals on the highway while going at quite a clip, the price one pays for the Quota becomes quite attractive.

Personally, I’m really glad I had this GPS on this trip. It made finding unknown locations so much easier to find.

belgique

Jan 12, 2007, 8:08 AM

Post #2 of 3 (5074 views)

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Re: [Oscar2] GPS Revisited

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I bought Microsoft Streets and Trips 2007 before we came here and have been very pleased with how much detail it does have for a $39 program. We use it on a laptop in an RV and already had a GPS receiver. It is not useful for directing you since it doesn't have a lot of the roads but it has been very useful in planning the distance and time between cities, showing you where you are and how much longer before a maneuver, and speed in KM so I don't have to squint at my MPH oriented speedometer.

The other US mapping programs for laptops (Garmin and Delorme) were useless here. I want to try the one that has been mentioned before that is made in Mexico. But the S&T was a cheap alternative this time. Steve

(This post was edited by belgique on Jan 12, 2007, 8:09 AM)

Oscar2

Jan 12, 2007, 3:58 PM

Post #3 of 3 (5052 views)

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Re: [belgique] GPS Revisited

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Steve,

A number of years ago I remember using Streets and Trips on my PC to plan printed out trips and time schedules. I can’t quite remember but I believe GPS’s were not yet a consumer product.

Yes, I do remember putting S&T on one of my earlier laptops and yes, it was innovative and fun back then. In fact, we too would take it in our RV and check out our whereabouts and places to go.

Of course, as anything else in this current age of obsolescence, trends, gadgetry and the smoke and mirrors of the gigabyte avalanche into our living rooms, life’s technology supposedly is to usher in simplicity but first you must apply for the correspondence course that accompanies its simple operational instructions. ;>)

Pending size of RV, dash space for a laptop is much easier. Unfortunately Garmin intentionally doesn’t supply a Mexico SD plug-in mapping chip for other venders. They prioritize this kind of stuff to maintain a steady bottom line. I suspect, eventually, like everything else, competition sets in, availability spawns and prices affordably drop.

Incidentally, it sounds like your testing this system down south, whereabouts?