Now I’m not a GPS virgin at all since I’ve used GPS devices for running for so many years but this was my first experience with a driving GPS for the car. I recently ordered a refurbished GPS on the internet and it arrived last week. It was fairly priced and I thought it was a good way for me to get acquainted with the technology while not having to spend more money for a new device. After installing the mounting equipment on the car, updating the software, and charging the battery, I got a chance to take it through its paces last Saturday morning. I plugged in a course to Joe’s Crab Shack where I was supposed to meet some people to run with. The device told me to drive down a block over to Long Beach Boulevard to enter the freeway, instead of my usual route of driving down Atlantic Avenue and accessing the 405 freeway from there. That was one point against the device. Then it told me to enter the freeway on the left side of the street. If I didn’t know any better, I might have crossed over to the wrong side of the street and hit something. Two points against the GPS. Upon entering the freeway, the device turned itself off and I had to turn it back on again. This happened quite frequently during the course of the day to and from my destination, so that makes it strike three. On my way back home it again gave me the wrong side of the street for the freeway entrance again. As far as identifying street names and intersections for me to turn to, the device worked quite well.
I was really excited on buying my first GPS and wanted to find out how it worked, but I’m terribly disappointed that it didn’t function as it was supposed to. Now I’m faced with having to return it to the manufacturer for repair or replacement instead of a refund from where I bought it from originally. I’ve used several refurbished products before (like this netbook I’m typing on) and they worked quite well. This particular one did not. I like the technology itself so I hope that the company replaces it with something that works. There might still be a GPS device in my future.
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