August, 2001

Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Trust My StreetPilot III !!

We are just back from a brief four day holiday in the Los Angeles/Southern California area during which we used the StreetPilot III as our sole means of navigation. I repeat, as our sole means of navigation!! Hey, you need to know that I am a true 'GUY' who depends 100% on road maps to know where he is going. I always pre-plan all my routes in advance so I know which freeway I need BEFORE I get to it. And when the maps aren't available, I go by pure gut instinct, no matter how long it takes to get there!! But this time, we left our office in Las Vegas and headed to Los Angeles WITHOUT any trusty road maps, but with the SP3 firmly mounted on my windshield.

Los Angeles, Here We Come!! (August 3, 4:30PM)

We fired up the SP3 on I-15 as we headed south to LA. We decided that we had better book a hotel so we wouldn't have to search all over for one once we arrived. As Universal Studios was our target destination for the next day, we punched it up on the SP3, then searched on nearby hotels. We selected a Doubletree Hotel in Montebello. A quick call on the cell phone and the room was reserved for us, so we made the Doubletree our destination on the SP3 and settled back for a relaxing drive down I-15 to LA.

We relied on the SP3 to guide us, and every so often 'Betty', as we nicknamed her, would speak updated driving instructions for us. (There is a rumor floating around that the actual name of the lady at Garmin who provided the voice prompts for the SP3 was 'Betty', so it just seemed fitting that we referred to the SP3 voice as that!!)

Man vs. Machine: Bout #1 (August 3, 8:00PM)

As we descended down the long hill from Victorville into the LA basin, the SP3 guided us perfectly along the way, until it had us exit I-15 onto the Foothills Freeway. My gut feel told me that something was wrong, as we still had over 45 miles to go to reach our hotel, and here we were on a smaller road with traffic lights at every intersection. My gut told me that this was not right, and I began to immediately suspect 'Betty' was faulty.

We stopped and checked our data entry, and found that we had selected the correct destination, but had chosen 'Shortest Route' instead of 'Fastest Time'. We reselected the 'Fastest Time' method and Betty proudly announced that she was 'Calculating' our new route. Sure enough, she quickly announced new travel instructions for us, so we turned around and headed back to I-15. Score this one a draw, or even a win for Betty as she was only following our instructions!!

Arrive at DoubleTree Hotel (August 3, 9:00PM)

After getting back on I-15, Betty navigated us through a maze of freeways with consistently accurate voice prompts. Typically, when it was time to change course, we would get an advanced warning about 1.7 miles from the turn, which was enough time to allow us to get into the proper lane for the turn. She would guide us into the turn along the way with her prompts, and we just simply followed suit. Around 9:00PM we exited Hwy 60 and 2 minutes later we drove right up to the door of the DoubleTree in Montebello. I was totally impressed. This system was so much easier than any road map!! What I really liked was the ability to stay focused on my driving while listening to the voice prompts, instead of having to take my attention off the road and refer to the printed road map.

Goooooodddd Morning Universal Studios (August 4, 9:00AM)

The next day we fired up the SP3 and punched in 'Universal Studios' as our destination, and off we went, confidently marching to the voice directions of Betty. She guided us merrily on our way, even taking care to let us know to 'keep left' when we exited on a ramp to the right that had two more exits of its own. Every time she let us know which turn to make with enough time in advance. We flew along the Hollywood Freeway (not true!!, as anyone in the LA area knows, the Hollywood Freeway is one gigantic parking lot!!) with Betty as our sole means of navigation and arrived at Universal Studios.

We Interrupt This Trip for .... Supper!! (August 4, 7:00PM)

After an awesome, fun-filled day at Universal (ps - we bought VIP passes for ourselves and avoided the 45 to 60 minute lineups at every event, so we heartily recommend this to all visitors), we headed back home to our hotel. Along the way, while flying through the Hollywood Parking Lot (again), we decided we were hungry, and after a quick vote, we chose Italian for supper. While inching along the freeway, we searched on the SP3 for a nearby Italian restaurant and found a Spaghetti Factory only 1.8 miles away. We selected that as our destination and shortly Betty gave us instructions to get there that included exiting the freeway at the next available exit ramp, making a U-Turn, and re-entering the freeway going the other direction this time. We exited at the Sunset Boulevard and within 2 minutes we were guided right to the front door of the Spaghetti Factory. In total, it took us about 8 minutes from the time we selected the restaurant as our new destination until we pulled up in front.

Man vs. Machine: Bout #2 (August 4, 8:00PM)

After leaving the Spaghetti Factory, we punched in our hotel as the destination, and re-entered the Hollywood Freeway to head to the hotel. But this time, I thought I knew the way home and did not listen to Betty. I confidently exited the Hollywood Freeway onto I-10, all to the dismay of Betty who keep saying I was 'off-route' and who obediently 'calculated' a new route to the hotel. I kept wondering what Betty's problem was, and we rechecked and rechecked that we had the correct hotel selected for our destination. Yes we did!! Ten minutes later as we drove on I-10 realized that I was in error, and I should be on Hwy 60 instead. So I humbly (hey for a guy to admit this is really hard!!) listened to Betty who once more 'recalculated' my directions and off we went, this time adhering to my navigation partner. Twenty minutes later we were back at our hotel. Score this round a resounding win for Betty, and the total score being Betty 2, Brad 0.

A Day At The Beach: (August 5)

We spent the next day at the Santa Monica beach, enjoying the ocean and surf. As Santa Monica was right at the west end of I-10, we gave Betty the day off, and I proudly navigated us to the beach using my GUY navigation methods.

From Sea Level to 7000 Feet in Less Than 2 Hours: (August 6, 9:00AM)

The next day found us heading again to unfamiliar territory using Betty as our sole means of navigation. Our destination was Big Bear Lake, a resort area in the mountains north of San Bernadino. We headed east, as per Betty's directions, on I-10 for 40 miles, then north up into the hills and mountain area. The going was slow as the road was very windy, but we eventually emerged right at Big Bear Lake. I kept waiting for Betty to ask for some kind of praise, like 'Aren't I good, huh?' or 'I told you so!'. I would have gladly agreed with anything she said.

Our timing was excellent as the Big Bear Lake Parade was just starting. We parked and were entertained for the next 2 hours by various marching bands and floats. After the parade ended, we dropped the kids off at the local skateboarding park while we decided to go get some lunch. We searched the SP3 for closest restaurants and found over 20 right in our immediate vicinity. We chose Subway and Betty guided us right to it from where we were.

Heading Home - Man vs. Machine, Bout #3 (August 7, 9:00AM)

Going home was easy - we entered our home address in Las Vegas into the SP3 and Betty quickly calculated the fastest route for us and off we went. We headed out of Big Bear Lake towards Victorville, listening to Betty's voice prompts.

A half hour later, we reached a Tee in the road, with Victorville to the left and Barstow to the right. Betty was advising to turn left to Victorville, but the GUY in me rose up again, and I turned right to go to Barstow. We ended up on a paved road in the middle of nowhere, but it did get us right to Barstow. I'm not sure why Betty wanted to go to Victorville first, except that it was the quickest route to the freeway and its 70MPH speed limits, and her calculations told her that that was the fastest route to get home. Score this round for Brad, although in the end either way would probably have taken the same time.

In Betty's defense, there was no traffic on the road to Barstow, so we were able to make real good time. We even played around trying to set a new maximum speed on the SP3, but we ended up shy of reaching triple digits (had the wife not been there we would have been able to see if the SP3 would show triple digits!!). And guess who we met just as we were coming down from light speed after trying to set the speed record? That's right - a highway patrol car, heading right towards us!! As he passed, I looked in my rearview mirror waiting to see the red flashing lights and a quick u-turn, but luck was with me and he kept on going.

A few hours later, Betty guided us right to our door in Las Vegas.

Conclusion:

I am absolutely blown away by the SP3. Real time maps. Many Points of Interest, including restaurants, theme parks, hotels, and more. Automatic guidance with voice prompts easing me to my destination. It's time to say goodbye to all my Rand McNally road maps!!

Observations/Details:

I used the SP3 (firmware version 2.10) with a 64MB cartridge with all of DCA area 1 loaded. Screen redraw at all times was very acceptable. The unit never hung on me at all. I mounted the SP3 using a RAM Suction Mount, part #B148-G1. The SP3 was mounted up high on my inside windshield so it was level and to the right of my rear view mirror. This location allowed me to check my position as easily as glancing at my rear view mirror.

The RAM Mount held for the full trip, never once coming loose. I used an remote antenna, the GA26C, which I attached to the inside of the front windshield with its self-contained suction cup mount.

The best accuracy I saw during the entire trip was 13 feet. I did on one occasion see the SP3 tracking 12 satellites.

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