Project Notebook: Voice-Guided GPS for Under $200

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By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Ever since I rented a car in France that accidentally came with a free voice-guided GPS system, I have been lusting and drooling over every car commercial and product page I see that sports an in-dash mapping system. That in-car GPS system literally saved our trip in the French countryside with maddening traffic circles and little roads no one would find with a map. Miss a turn and it simply found a new route, announcing every move in a collected and cheery English woman’s voice. We called her “the lady”and she became like a friend on the trip.

Since then, I have had my eye on many products like a few Garmin and Tom Tom Go devices, but the prices are mind boggling. Some close to a thousand. You can also add in GPS capability to your PDA but I always wonder about accuracy if you aren’t outside walking around. I also don’t use a traditional PDA and nothing is available for the Blackberry.

And then it hit me. I have a $1,000+ device. It’s called a laptop. Why not harness my laptop that I seem to haul with me everywhere anyway into an in-car GPS system?

After some research I found the Garmin GPS18 USB. I got it for about $120. The unit is small and simple. It comes with a puck-sized magnetic antenna and suction cup mounting bracket. You can put it directly on your roof outside (it’s weather proof) or on the front windshield inside with the suction cups. The USB cable is 6 ft long.

The software installation however was a living hell. It literally almost broke me. The installation program would ask me to insert the next disk, but when I did it would demand disc 1 which in turn would ask for the other. I worked on it for at least four hours. Here is one of the error messages that drove me insane. There was no way to get rid of it. Even Widows task manager was unable to clear it.

In the end the secret was to move the error box to the right and then somehow the program seemed to be using the correct disc despite the message. I swear this would have broken a novice in two.

Once up and running the "nRoute" travel program, I stuck the antenna on my office window to begin orienting the receiver. It claimed to need 15 minutes to”find itself.”(Don’t we all!) For one instance it thought I was in Washington State but then correctly found me in downtown San Francisco. Even with what looked like a clear view of the sky, the program would say “satellite connection lost” many times and then try again. I was staring to feel doomed.

When it was time to head home, I set the antenna up on my windshield, fired up my laptop and being in a covered parking garage, got the “Searching for Satellites”message until at least 7 minutes outside of the garage. This is good to know if you have no idea how to start your journey and you are not outside when you begin.

But then a funny thing happened. The thing worked! It followed my path and suggested my upcoming turns with incredible accuracy. When I took my usual route home and not the one it had chosen for me, it quickly found the freeway I was shooting for and got me on the on-ramp without a hitch.

And then when I decided to not go by my friend’s office (I had typed in the office address) and headed home instead, I watched it try and re-group with new routes as I climbed one of the tallest hills in San Francisco. Nothing threw it off. It just kept showing me other ways to get there and it was easy to skip looking at the map and trust the voice prompt instead. “The Lady” was back!

Bottom Line: I love this product. If you can get past the installation that will kill most mortals, then it is worth it. The level of detail in the maps including nearby businesses and attractions make driving fun again, and I can’t see how you would ever get lost.

Garmin GPS 18 USB
Garmin, Ltd

http://www.garmin.com/products/gps18/

Hint: You can find it
cheaper online. Try the European package for travel abroad as well
as third party maps for more obscure places like Chile and South
Africa. Where was this when I went to Cape town….