Stories About Where We've Let Our GPS'rs Take Us

[Sakiman]

One day while heading towards Eastern Long Island, mmacgown and I wanted to pick up a quick bite to eat for breakfast. For some cachers (maybe a few more than some??), a quick bite equates to fast food. That morning, we decided to pick up some Egg McMuffins. So, rather than rack our brains on locations of McDonalds along the LIE, we punched McDonalds into Nuvi and let it find it for us. Low and behold, it found one 6.something miles away; and it looked like it would be a quick off/on from the Expressway. However, as we continued to follow Nuvi's directions, we were quick to realize that Nuvi had steered us wrong yet again . It took us down a residential street to a house on the right of the street as our final destination. Mind you, as I said, we didn't punch in any towns or addresses -- we just punched in Food and spelled out McDonalds. We joked that the directions given would have been all the more funny if there was a sign in front of the house that said, "Welcome to the McDonald's House" (or something like that). I've since learned to try to see where Nuvi is taking us before we blindly follow it for too long. I'm sure that we'll let it steer us wrong yet again. Probably sooner rather than later to our dismay.

[hallycat]

You should have knocked on the door to see if they would fix you breakfast

I've had my GPS take me to an off ramp and telling me"you have reached your destination" while looking for a store. Not a building in sight for a half mile. Last Saturday heading for Campmor which, luckily I know how to get to, GPS keeps telling me to get off Rt 17. I ignored it.
When I asked in the store why it was doing that I was told it was trying to take me to the warehouse. And going to a cache in Seaford it took me to the wrong side of a canal.

[Child Of Atom]

I don't drive a lot these days, being a city boy, but occasionally when I travel for work I rent a car. A few months ago I was in central CT with a rental car that had a GPS attempting to make my way between the theatre I was working for and a few stores where I was prop shopping. The trip went pretty smoothly until I started to make my way back to the theatre. The GPS (I don't remember which brand) Turned me onto a street, and then right, and then right again, and then right again... back onto the street I started from. I tried again... same results. And again. I knew enough to know that if I went a bit off course the GPS would adjust and send me to a new way of getting to my destination. I tried it, and after 2 miles of turns and twists... ended up in the EXACT same place. The thing was determined to put me onto... some street... that I was obviously missing. So I started listening to street names and matching them rather than just making the turns, and eventually figured out that the street it wanted me to be on DIDN'T EXIST. A call to the theatre got me the proper directions, but all I can figure is that the map must have changed through construction or something and the GPS still had old maps installed. Quite fun driving in circles through the CT countryside for an hour though.

[gerkmax]

My sister-in-law just bought a Nuvi and wanted to try it out. So we're input a location, it says "right turn ahead in .6 miles"... we just kept driving and driving... nothing about turning. Told us to make a u-turn, and then it froze.

Good thing I brought my Magellan.

[addisonbr]

[lekogm]

[halijusapa]

Last July I bought my mother a mio DigiWalker for her birthday. She is a real estate agent and uses it a lot for that. Well one time while taking a buyer to a house the GPS took her to an empty lot. Oops!

But that's the only incident I can say in my experience.

[mmacgown]

Yep Nuvi has sure taken us to the oddest of places. I also had an incident where I was traveling south on the NJ Tpk and needed to go south to an event. Well, Nuvi proceeded to tell me to exit off the TPK, only to do a loop and then get back on the TPK. I was wondering what was going on, only too late. I thought I needed to exit much later. So, I ended up paying tolls which I feel weren't necessary. I know of a pair of good geobuddies of mine who ended up crossing the Verrazano Bridge in their quest to grab a quest in SW Brooklyn too. The GPS took them onto the ramp with no way to turn around. They weren't too happy about it either! So, I've learned to question the route at times and to check ahead with the directions to be sure they are right and not taking you to places where it'll cost more in tolls time or taking you in circles.

[halijusapa]

Actually, mmacgown's story does remind me that I do have my own tale to tell after all.

A couple of years ago I bought on clearance one of the first "car" GPSr's, the discontinued black and white Lowrance iWay 100M. Now at the time I worked on rt. 9A in Montrose (extreme northwestern Westchester just south of Peekskill). I obviously knew the way (I had worked there for 12 years at the point), but for fun I let the iWay direct me).

Well, if you look on a map just south of Montrose of 9A, there's a literally 100 ft. long road called Doskow Road that basically juts out briefly from Rt. 9A then comes right back to it. It's only purpose is entry and exit to a small clothing distributor (I believe that's what they are) called Leonore Doskow designs or something like that. Well, my iWay thought the most efficient way was to do this little 100 ft. detour instead of staying on NY 9A. Interesting....

[Harry Dolphin]

I get to Weehawken heading east on Rte 3, and 495, and take the Last Exit in New Jersey - Hoboken Weehawken. Take the offramp to Blvd East, and wait at the light to make my left. I'm under the helix, but Gupy now assumes that I am on the helix. I am now supposed to 'go on the Lincoln Tunnel (not through), make a u-turn on Dyer Street', and come back 'on' the tunnel back to Jersey. I don't think so, Gupy!

[Tatanka49]

My Garmin was but a few months old and this was my first 'road trip' It got me to the Outer Banks of NC ok but then I was driving to Raleigh. According to the Garmin, there was no highway where I was traveling and kept telling me to turn left,right etc on a US highway that was at least 3 miles away. Apparently this was a new section of interstate that was not yet on the Garmin database.