When I was growing up, my dad taught me to read a map, so I’ve never had a problem navigating to an unknown location. With the advent of GPS navigation units, is there a need to learn how to read a map? Possibly, but it is significantly diminished.
Several years ago, I got a Garmin iQue 3600 to test compatibility with our product and started using it for navigation around town. I soon started depending on it for getting to places I didn’t know. I had to send the unit to a co-worker and soon realized that I couldn’t get along with out it. After looking at a few alternatives, I determined that the device was the lowest priced portable GPS navigation system I could find. Last night we arrived in Hawaii for our vacation and I had already put in the address for where we were staying. It was very dark and the signage wasn’t very good, but the iQue got us close to our destination without incident (the street addresses seem a little weird and the exact address wasn’t in the device). It took us on what I’ve now determined to be an odd route, but it got us where we needed to go. I also entered a few other addresses and it, as usual, has performed flawlessly. I’m not sure what I’d do without it.
(It now seems that I’m a Garmin household with the Forerunner and the iQue 3600; I even convinced my dad to get an iQue 3600.)