Comments on: Postmortem on a gadget-filled Road Trip

After 16 days and 3,279 miles, a CNET News.com reporter weighs in on the technology that accompanied him the whole way.
Photos: Grading the gadgets

[brownki]

Nuvi 350

Oh c'mon -- the antenna on the Nuvi is mentioned in the instructions and shown on the pictures. It's a great compact GPS. I just finished a trip all throughout New England with it and it performed great.

[shanewalker]

My own road trip...

I used my Garmin eTrex Legend hand-held GPS and it performed
flawlessly (I bought it two years ago to assist on an RV trek
across New Zealand and it was fantastic), as usual.

My 4-year-old 10GB iPod supplied some audiobook relief on the
10-hr drive (it likewise came in handy on a weeklong Route 66
trip when I first bought it), as well as some Gottlieb video pinball
on my PSP (which my wife soon became obsessed w/, I must
add). No movies were watched...all listening while watching
scenery or something to keep the brain in slow forward motion.

Alas, even w/ all that electronic distraction, I even found time to
read the newspaper. Gasp, the analog horror ;)!!

[DatabaseDoctor]

Nubie using Nuvi?

I'm a bit confused by the author's inability to realize what went wrong. I purchased my first GPS a few weeks ago and poured over the choices to finally select the Nuvi 350. Within five minutes I had it all setup and, being in an office, couldn't get any directions as it displayed the fact that it couldn't receive a satellite signal. The manual mentions the antenna continually and correctly but anyone with a shred of common sense would understand that basic technology behind the device. You must acquire satellite signals to alloow the device to know where it is. No signal = no directions or, as must be the case with the Nuvi 350, it assumes HQ is its current position. Didn't you think to check the satellite signal strength that is displayed in the top left corner. Who let this guy out of the office?

Seriously, this device worked perfectly well in South Florida, Boston, New Hampshire and is easy to use, responsive to missed turns (we missed them puposefully to hear it say in a slightly annoyed turn "Recalculating"... someday it might say 'Idiot if you can't follow directions, get out of the car!') clear graphics and safety protocols that can be turned off.

Overall a great GPS that anyone can enjoy if they read the manual and use their head!

[brownki]

Nuvi

I absolutely agree. I hardly had to even read the user's manual. Just open it up and go. Every picture shows that you have to pop up the antenna!

[info]

great article - very interesting road trip

You guys should do more of this type of thing. It's both interesting
and helpful to read about how these gadgets work out the in the
real world!