[bwilson4web]

This weekend I needed to visit Canton Il so I borrowed my wife's Prius which was a Garmin Nuvi and asked it for "shortest route." What a great trip!

On the trip up, the Garmin routed me on some Tennessee and Kentucky back roads I would ordinarily not take. But on a fine, Fall, Saturday with little traffic other than some motorcyclists and a few others, what a joy filled drive. The leaves are turning, the air was 'windows down' and at 20,000 miles, the steering was finally free from 'sticktion' and it handled great. No cops and the occasional vehicle to pass . . . well I really wanted to make sure I cleared the slower vehicle. It took one tank to reach Canton and I never looked nor felt the need for a map.

On the way home Sunday, I asked the Garmin for the fastest route. Oh BOY! It routed me to an Interstate posted at 70 mph . . . and everyone was 5-10 mph faster. Well I did have to keep up with traffic. Then about 90 miles outside of Nashville, a red Mazda sports sedan passed at 90-95 mph followed by a small Caddie tailgating and back a couple of car lengths, another Mazda sports sedan. Finally, there was this Prius following behind with the fool driver making an movie clip with his cell phone:


It was probably that Prius on the right in the first photo doing all the mischief.

When I think of all the complaints about Toyota GPS including difficulty of getting map updates, the Garmin is clearly a better solution. It works, simple to operate at any time, and easily taken inside to program for trip planning. For this weekend, it led me down roads less traveled.

Two practical observations about hard braking on this trip. The most frequent happens when traveling at high speeds and often in surprising situations. Country roads, it is expected but on the Interstate, there are 'standing wave' situations that can quickly develop and then the car has to braked hard. I wonder to what extent the emphasis on hard braking in automotive magazines might be a symptom of speeding tendencies.

Also, on a clear Fall day, we passed an accident being worked on the opposite lanes and our lanes didn't stop but substantially slowed down. I know my wife is curious about accidents and she scares me when we come with eye-sight of an accident as she stops looking around her. That is precisely the time I'm looking everywhere BUT the accident because I don't want to be in one . . . especially on the highway.

Bob Wilson

[tumbleweed]

I agree Bob, I own both a Garmin and the Toyota system. Virtually everything about the Garmin is better. The only advantage to a built in nav system is that it's built in.

Unfortunately Toyota, and other manufacturers, include their rip off nav systems as part of a package. So, for example, if you want a radar cruise control or the pre-collision system in your prius you have to buy the nav system and some other overpriced junk. But having a backup camera which uses the large nav screen is nice.

[Mckenzie500]

Its quite easy to replace Garmin's GPS system... I too disappointed with functionality and directions of Toyota's GPS system.