Used Droid on Vacation - Pretty Disappointed...

[billyk]

Just got back from a New England vacation. I relied on my Garmin and Droid to navigate everywhere. Garmin worked every time I used it - thank God.

The Droid/Google Navigation was unavailable about half of the time - extremely frustrating! I updated my PRL prior to the trip, but even when I could surf the web, I'd switch over to Navigation and get "Data connection lost" (or something like that). This happened in too many different places for me to depend on the Droid at all - really sucked IMO.

Then, just to check GPS on the way home, it couldn't "Locate GPS" from CT all the way through Maryland! I restarted the phone several times. Even on roads close to home that have worked 100% of the time - 0% GPS. The Maps app and the Navigation didn't work once - for hundreds of miles.

I checked the Google page just to let it acquire my location, and it did so 100% of the time.

What am I missing here? My Droid (which I love) had so little value on this trip as a navigation tool. Very disappointing!

 

[pyro6128]

thats because maps and navigation has had problems the last couple of days. There are a couple of threads on it. I was experiencing the same problem as you. It seems to be fixed now though

 

[Martin030908]

I live in the area you were vacationing. Coverage and navigation exceptional.

Google Maps was experiencing issues the past couple days.... as stated above.

 

[billyk]

Thanks Pyro - I actually wondered if it was a general problem. But as of 4pm Eastern, it wasn't working at all in the Maryland area.

Goes to show you how fragile this technology is. My old-school Garmin worked like a trooper.

 

[Martin030908]

I've got a TomTom as a backup

 

[hookbill]

My wife just started working in Virginia and she couldn't be happier with her Droids navigation.

 

[hubdroid]

I just got back from driving to Estes Park, CO from Dallas, TX. Both ways the Droid work great. I have a 2008 Lincoln Navigator and the Droid with Google maps is more uptodate than the disk that came with the navigation system. Pandora rocked the doors off as well so I'm thinking of cancelling Sirius radio (only lost connection a total of 10min on a 30hr round trip but navigation didn't miss a beat) music muted out as navigation spoke and even the calls muted the music and came thru the speakers which I wasn't sure would happen.

 

[Dave12308]

Thanks Pyro - I actually wondered if it was a general problem. But as of 4pm Eastern, it wasn't working at all in the Maryland area.

Goes to show you how fragile this technology is. My old-school Garmin worked like a trooper.

Well, to be fair, your Garmin isn't a beta product. Google Nav does warn you that it is in beta and might not be reliable. I am sure at some point it will be final, but like all other Google products it may have issues from time to time. Sort of like when the weather feed gets screwed up and Beautiful Widgets doesn't get a forecast update for 3 days.......

 

[billyk]

All good points. Thanks folks.

Mark it up to a beta product that makes no promises to be there when you need it. That's fair.

But, I wonder how many people (like me) have come to expect that it's a service that's available all the time.

Thanks again!

 

[gatecitycanes]

It would freak me out if it didn't work. I was in Baltimore in April and I really counted on it for exploring. It went out one time on me but all I did was reboot the phone and it was fine.

I had VZ Navigator for two years with my BB and this is sooooo much better - and free to boot!

 

[AZDroid09]

I am going to be flying back east for a round of university tours with my son soon, I will be using my Droid GPS in CT, NY, NJ, PA, & MD But I will print out maps with directions as backups just in case Google Nav goes down again.

 

[takeshi]

Then, just to check GPS on the way home, it couldn't "Locate GPS" from CT all the way through Maryland! I restarted the phone several times. Even on roads close to home that have worked 100% of the time - 0% GPS. The Maps app and the Navigation didn't work once - for hundreds of miles.

Reactivating (*228, option 1) generally resolves my issues when the receiver is unable to obtain a fix. Can't say that it would have definitely helped you but try it next time.

Well, to be fair, your Garmin isn't a beta product.

The problem isn't just Google Maps Navigation though. I've run into many situations where the Droid's GPS receiver hasn't been able to obtain a timely fix.

I had VZ Navigator for two years with my BB and this is sooooo much better - and free to boot!

I had Telenav on my BB and never had any GPS fix issues. Then again, the BB always operated in standalone mode where the Droid is assisted (and apparently has trouble falling back to standalone sometimes). I'd certainly pay $10/month if it would give me that sort of reliability but, again, I don't think the issue is always Google Maps Navigation based on my experiences. You can always verify with an app such as GPS status (or any other app that uses the GPS receiver).

 

[Dmoralize]

I've driven all around PA and NJ and haven't had any drops or mistakes yet. In fact I like the droid nav better than the nav that's built into my car. Mainly because I can quickly say what I want to find, hit 1 button and it takes me there. No need to ever program an address.

If it was down for a few days, i'm glad I didn't experience it!