[Mountain]

Went on a trip last week and used my Storm and the VZNavigator program to get to a home address about 2 hours away. Didn't use the cigar lighter battery plug (was in wifes car and frankly forgot to take it) and got turn by turn directions there and back.... still had two bars left on the battery. Even did a lot of demo stuff at location on video, net, etc. Took some photos, etc.
As far as VZNavigator... I found it to be very accurate except for the final destination... unlike my Garmin Quest, it doesn't let you know "arriving at destination" very accurately... it did, however, get me on the street and told me which side of the street the house was... I had to look for the address... no big deal but would be nice if it was more specific. I suspect that's a problem with the method in which the cell towers find you... anyway, the directions were the same with the Garmin Quest and the Storm except that the Storm alerted me to traffic problems where the Garmin Quest doesn't do that.

Now that I am comfortable with the Storm's ability to get me there I will probably give the Quest to the Wife....

Thought I'd pass this info along... was satisfied with the battery life... now that I exercised the battery pretty good I find with minimal use... email checks, phone calls, some texting... I get almost 3 days out of the battery! Not bad as far as I am concerned....

Happy New Year to ALL.

[bbstorm4me]

But if you fall out of cell phone range, like up in the mountains around my house the garmin will work and the VZ navigator will not work. So keep that in mind if you go to someplace remote with poor cell coverage. It needs cell coverage to work.

[Nevadadrifter]

But if you fall out of cell phone range, like up in the mountains around my house the garmin will work and the VZ navigator will not work. So keep that in mind if you go to someplace remote with poor cell coverage. It needs cell coverage to work.

I was wondering about that. It looks like I'll take a pass on Garmin's software. Living in Nevada means I lose coverage quite a bit if I'm driving through the middle of nowhere. I think I'll stick with my Nuvi 650 for navigational purposes, especially since I do a fair amount of exploring around the desert and the Nuvi will allow me to load Garmin's topo maps onto an SD card for when I'm in the car, and the 60CS on foot or ATV.

Wayyyyy off topic here, but If there are any hikers/outdoorsmen here that often travel where there is no cell reception, and who haven't invested in a sat phone. I highly recommend the SPOT SATELLITE MESSENGER. SPOT is a GPS based device that will send SMS text messages or email to whoever you add to your list.

A push of the "OK" button will send a message containing your current lat/long and a customizable message letting your friends and family know you are safe. The emails sent will even bring up the position on google maps.

The "Help" button sends a message to the same group of people stating that you are in need of assistance, again along with your lat/long.

The "911" button bypasses the family and will activate a response from the SPOT call center, who will contact local law enforcement, fire, EMS, Search & Rescue, National Guard, etc.

At $150 for the device itself, and $100 per year for service, it's not the cheapest device in the world, but if you ever find yourself in a situation where you need it, you'll really be kicking yourself for not investing in one!


My apologies, and I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.