Too Much of a Good Thing

[gfspencer]

As I write this the latest version of City Navigator (U.S. v7HSD) is uploading (downloading?) to my Navigator II Plus. I also have iQue’s for the car and the Jeep, a GPS76C (or something like that) for my boat and a Quest which I use on my Ducati (and my mountain bike). And it occurred to me that I have too many GPS’s and (more importantly) I rely on them too much. Last week I took the Duc in for service. I didn’t want to use the tank bag so I didn’t take the Quest. (When I ride the Ducati the Quest resides in the tank bag map pocket.) When I got home I realized two things:

(1) I didn’t “need” the GPS.

(2) I rode a lot better. I took the curves better. I was more aware of my surroundings. I actually enjoyed the scenery.

I personally think that I pay too much attention to my GPS. I might be as bad as a person in a cage talking on his/her cell phone.
Am I going to give up my GPS(s)? No. They are useful. They keep me from getting lost. They give me peace of mind. I know about when I am going to arrive at my destination. And they are fun! But I am going to make a sincere effort to pay less attention to them, especially when I am driving/riding. (I can watch the damn thing all day long on the sail boat. Things don’t happen very fast at 4 or 5 knots. )

And my computer tells me that I have 54 minutes remaining on my upgrade.

 

[PanEuropean]

That is a very wise observation. I very often turn my GPS off if I don't need it for guidance purposes - meaning, if I know where I am going, or if I know I will be staying on the same road for 30 miles or more. If I am out tossing the bike around in the twisties, I ALWAYS turn it off. I dumped my bike into a ditch going into a corner in Germany about 2 years ago, and I am pretty darn sure it was because I was looking at the GPS screen, not the road.

 

[samwise]

That's sort of why, when I eventually buy one, it'll be primarily for the voice guidance part - don't care what the road looks like on the GPS when I'm riding, but will like to know when the next turn-off is so that I don't miss it. I can look for the curviest roads when I'm stationary, and then ride them not the GPS

 

[DodgyGeeSer]

Another down-side I find (from using a Quest for the last couple of months) is that if you use the track up option (i.e. on the GPSR screen you're always heading North), you never really get a sense of where you are or what direction you're travelling in... You'll never get lost, but you'll never really know where you are either..

Having said that, I wouldn't part with mine (and 'North up' is just one psychological adjustment too many!).