Does using your GPS make you drive faster?

Maybe not your wife's voice, but there are alternatives...

http://gps.about.com/od/testcategory1/a/alternate_voice.htm

I'd love to have Yoda...who better to direct you

http://gps.about.com/b/2010/06/26/tomtom-adds-new-star-wars-and-spongebob-gps-voices.htm

. . . as long as he doesn't tell you to turn it off and trust The Force.

I use my GPS, but I don't change my driving because of the estimate. I like to make good time, but I also like to stop every hour or so to walk around and get the blood flowing again, so I use up any improvement in time by stopping.

YES YES YES. I find that I drive like a madman when the GPS lady is giving me instructions and I check the screen every few miles. In June and early July I was in NYC and on Long Island (the town of ISlandia). I was driving home on the LIE and the GPS lady gave me a prompt that there was huge traffic jam and she asked me whether I wanted an alternative rout (I hadda punch in "Yes" on a dialogue block). The doirections took me through NYC amnd onto the Verrazano Bridge into NJ. I was driving through NY at about 50 between lights and was certain that, once I reached the Expressay to the Verazzano, I was doing a high rate of speed.

I drove up to Centralia Pa last Monday to do a field trip to the big mine fire and I had to take lots of side jaunts through these little coal towns. My Escape was going airborne. Thing is, Im usually a lower speed driver except with my GPS honey giving me directions. EVEN if I screw up, she doesnt lose patience. She just says "Recalculating" and gives me new directions.
The entire US road net is one big matrix

Speaking of voices, I tried the Australian guy and sheila for a try. They didnt sound much f=different from Piedmont Virginians so I changed to the German guy. He was quite assertive.

I would love to have Yoda speak to me.
"Turn you must"

I dont use GPS. I always drive my car at a medium speed

I found one fault in my Garmin. It doesnt allow me to plot a route , it seems to want to send me onto I-95 whenever I head into New ENgland. I dont know how to set a route that Im familiar with .It does give me an option to enter coordinates . SO I have to resort to a damn book map anyway.

Sometimes I just go another route that I know - just to irrate that lady - she has to keep recalculating.

when I went up to New England this weekend, I was in a hurry and drove by her say so (95 to 91 to Springfield MAss). When I went home I wanted to go by 84 and just use her as a monitor so I wouldnt miss turns around HArtford. She kept wanting to send me back to 95. and Ive been trying to figure out how I can set the route

Maybe set a point along the route you want as the destination.
Then, as you get close, change to the real destination.

No. It doesn't require me to drive faster; most often, I leave plenty of time for those unforeseen events that might slow down traffic, so I'm usually more early at the destination. That's been a habit from the time I was very young, and it has stuck with me.

It isn't the arriving early - it is the challenge to beat the GPS estimated time.

No. I usually believe the GPS estimated time doesn't take into consideration deviations that can take place during any trip - such as meals, bathroom breaks, shopping, and such. However, the estimated times is valuable in planning for such "breaks" in the journey. Unforeseen traffic jams can throw it off, but that happens rarely.

Hello everybody,

Many new users of Garmin receivers have questions about simulation mode on their new units. Once they have worked through the getting started portion of the manual the wonder if they would ever want to use simulation mode again. This chapter explains what can be done with this useful feature. Strange as it may sound there is some navigation features on some of the Garmin hand-helds that can be used in simulation mode. In particular, any of the newer units support a screen that shows the sun and moon positions. This can be used as a crude compass to determine North and can be quite effective under conditions where you can't get a fix or need to conserve batteries. For rough estimates hold the unit in front of you with North straight ahead and then rotate your body until the sun or moon in the display is approximately where it really is in the sky.

Best Regards,
Anthony Martello

I always try to beat the Estimated Arrival Times and often, the estimated mileage. You can always beat the mileage by cutting left turns

That's one fault. Another is it doesn't send you by the most direct route all the time, so if you want to go a certain way, it has to recalculate all the time.

You also don't get to see the whole route to see if you want to go that way.

It bugs me that I can't store a route of my own preference in there.

Sometimes the directions are wonky - WTF?

It does not recognize my iPhone!

well, thats probably a feature that the next several generations will feature "like thye just thought of it" .
Ive bitched to Garmin and I keep getting these stupid form e-mails

And you only get ONE option! I hate that. I have Google Maps on my iPhone so I pull over and use that if the GPS is sending me on a stupid route.

Very annoying. Why can't they do a complete job the first time out, incorporating all these ideas, instead of coming out with new features requiring you to buy a new GPS?? I know - Money! a-holes.