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Costco

Garmin Drive 50 gps

  • Last Updated:
  • Dec 11th, 2017 8:12 pm
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Member
Dec 6, 2008
285 posts
161 upvotes
Ontario

[Costco] Garmin Drive 50 gps

Bought this at costco today. I believe maybe a costco exclusive. It has lmt (lifetime maps and traffic). Good deal? Thoughts?
28 replies
Deal Addict
Feb 26, 2008
1821 posts
1285 upvotes
I can't really say whether the price is good or whether it's too high. But, I will observe that I've never perceived much of a benefit from having a GPS because 90%+ of my driving is on routes that I know well. Add to that the fact that pretty much every smart phone has an integrated GPS, I really can't see why I'd go to the trouble of buying one for my car to satisfy the 8 times per year when I might need it.

They are, perhaps, gold for a pizza driver or somebody else who regularly finds himself on an unfamiliar route.
Banned
Aug 22, 2017
248 posts
65 upvotes
kneevase wrote: I will observe that I've never perceived much of a benefit from having a GPS because 90%+ of my driving is on routes that I know well.
TY for the insight
kneevase wrote: Add to that the fact that pretty much every smart phone has an integrated GPS
Uses up battery quickly
Dedicated GPS has advantages
Deal Fanatic
Sep 29, 2005
6758 posts
1786 upvotes
Montreal
I have this and paid the same price on sale a few months ago. Traffic adds about $20 to $30 to the selling price.
Phils
Member
Oct 24, 2013
291 posts
585 upvotes
BELLEVILLE
kneevase wrote: I can't really say whether the price is good or whether it's too high. But, I will observe that I've never perceived much of a benefit from having a GPS because 90%+ of my driving is on routes that I know well. Add to that the fact that pretty much every smart phone has an integrated GPS, I really can't see why I'd go to the trouble of buying one for my car to satisfy the 8 times per year when I might need it.

They are, perhaps, gold for a pizza driver or somebody else who regularly finds himself on an unfamiliar route.


“How can one tell the taste and satisfaction of devouring a Pizza if he/she has never taken a bite of that round thing Slice Of Pizza

Similarly, utility and benefits GPS can only be realized after using it for sometime Winking Face
Yes you never want to eat a slice, but, please let others enjoy it Relieved Face
Deal Addict
Nov 21, 2017
1029 posts
763 upvotes
Surrey BC
elcheapoh wrote: TY for the insight



Uses up battery quickly
Dedicated GPS has advantages
That's why there's wireless charging or via the USB in your car.
Member
Dec 6, 2008
285 posts
161 upvotes
Ontario
This unit doesnt have voice commands thats a deal breaker for me. Going back to costco...and a gps blows a phone away 24/7.
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Mar 9, 2007
2393 posts
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Waterloo
flipper316 wrote: That's why there's wireless charging or via the USB in your car.
Right, cause every RFD'er has a wireless charger in their car, or wants another wire dangling to charge their phone.

I've used my phone as a GPS before and it gets hot. Some people would just rather have a dedicated GPS that frees up their phone, so this deal is for them.
Deal Addict
Feb 26, 2008
1821 posts
1285 upvotes
superfigz wrote: Right, cause every RFD'er has a wireless charger in their car, or wants another wire dangling to charge their phone.

I've used my phone as a GPS before and it gets hot. Some people would just rather have a dedicated GPS that frees up their phone, so this deal is for them.

Absolutely, there's a role for a dedicated GPS for some people.

I guess I'm struggling to imagine a lifestyle that would make much use of GPS. Maybe a salesman that makes sales calls in different places or even different cities? I really struggle because I tend to project my lifestyle onto others, and for me, I never changed employers or my residence, so I always drove the same basic 3 or 4 routes to work and back. I pretty much buy groceries at the same place most of the time. The baseball stadium never seems to move.

What kind of jobs (or hobbies) are people doing that they are frequently unsure of where they are going? Just curious...
Deal Addict
Jan 18, 2013
3026 posts
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B.C.
kneevase wrote: Absolutely, there's a role for a dedicated GPS for some people.

I guess I'm struggling to imagine a lifestyle that would make much use of GPS. Maybe a salesman that makes sales calls in different places or even different cities? I really struggle because I tend to project my lifestyle onto others, and for me, I never changed employers or my residence, so I always drove the same basic 3 or 4 routes to work and back. I pretty much buy groceries at the same place most of the time. The baseball stadium never seems to move.

What kind of jobs (or hobbies) are people doing that they are frequently unsure of where they are going? Just curious...
Not everywhere has cell phone coverage!

That being said I go to such places and don't feel the need to drag out my old GPS.
Sr. Member
Jan 4, 2010
778 posts
463 upvotes
Waterloo
really good gps btw, I have owned two older ones. One got stolen out of my car and another I'm still using till this day even in cars with built gps, I still bring it along.
use it to go camping all over ontario, tobermory, states shopping, kijiji meet ups, helping family move and deliver stuff, long roadtrips
I actually can't imagine not having one. I remember before GPS was affordable and phones had GPS, we had to print out google map directions.
I only use my phone gps in case of emergency and most older car gps gets me lost. It's nice to have a good gps in your glove box at all times.
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User avatar
Jun 3, 2008
8405 posts
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While I can't ever see myself using a GPS again, i can understand how its large screen and simpler operation (relative terms) would be more convenient for my parents.

Also, I don't expect my parents to know and understand how to use Offline Maps when there's no cell reception (eg. If you drive to crater lake).
Deal Fanatic
Sep 29, 2005
6758 posts
1786 upvotes
Montreal
These are the scenarios where I use my Drive 50 LMT.

It doesn't happen that often but I use it when I have to go somewhere local when I am unsure of how to get there.

I use it for a long drive like Montreal to Toronto even though I know the route perfectly. It gives me the distance to the next turn and an estimated time of arrival. What is useful about the ETA is that I can monitor it when there is traffic or if I stop for a bite. I can tell how much time I lost. The last time I did the drive, I lost 40 minutes due to traffic for 11 kilometers around Brockville.

I use it when I drive in faraway places like Florida.

I use my phone's GPS for walking in unfamiliar places (like Florida). The only problem is that it consumes a lot of storage. Here we go on my phone uses 3 GB of storage and I only have a couple of regions on it.
Last edited by Phils on Dec 11th, 2017 6:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
Phils
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Oct 4, 2004
4349 posts
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Vancouver
Hockeyman888 wrote: This unit doesnt have voice commands thats a deal breaker for me. Going back to costco...and a gps blows a phone away 24/7.
superfigz wrote: Right, cause every RFD'er has a wireless charger in their car, or wants another wire dangling to charge their phone.

I've used my phone as a GPS before and it gets hot. Some people would just rather have a dedicated GPS that frees up their phone, so this deal is for them.
Can you please share some of the advantages of a dedicated GPS unit? I am not being argumentative, rather, curious, because my GPS was stolen from my car about 3-4 years ago and I had pondered buying another one. Ended up doing so (mainly for the "travelling without a cell signal" reason), one with lifetime maps and traffic, and I can't really count the number of times I've used it (it's close to zero).

The apps today are just so good compared to yesteryear (offers all of the functionality of dedicated GPS, plus more). What I did use my dedicated GPS for was speed monitoring (which Waze does as well) in the states. I'd switch the display over to MPH and watch that for speed reference and also to know what the speed limit was in the area.

However, for day-to-day driving, it's hard to beat the convenience of a smartphone app. My experience (being a millennial) is that I always have my phone on me and that I'll more than likely be plugging in my phone to charge so that cable is there already anyway and to listen to music. For short trips, I don't even bother with the charging. But really- the convenience over a dedicated GPS unit is huge... being able to just search for any POI, either by voice or text, and being warned if it's about to close, and how traffic conditions are, within seconds.. it's so much faster than whipping out the GPS, mounting it, waiting for it to boot and slowly search for a POI which may not be in the database, or rely on address search.

On my last road trip into the states, I brought the GPS thinking it would finally be useful because reception would be tough through the national parks and indeed, reception was terrible but offline maps was reliable enough that we didn't once set up the GPS. This was a 2 week adventure. In my cross-province trips to ski resorts, I've lost reception and not loaded a map but navigation is a "set it and forget it" thing that it will still take you to where you need to go just as long as you don't completely close out the app. Worse case scenario, I take a trip back to 1990 and rely on the road signs to get me to my destination- it's not worth the $150 for that dedicated unit.
kneevase wrote: Absolutely, there's a role for a dedicated GPS for some people.

I guess I'm struggling to imagine a lifestyle that would make much use of GPS. Maybe a salesman that makes sales calls in different places or even different cities? I really struggle because I tend to project my lifestyle onto others, and for me, I never changed employers or my residence, so I always drove the same basic 3 or 4 routes to work and back. I pretty much buy groceries at the same place most of the time. The baseball stadium never seems to move.

What kind of jobs (or hobbies) are people doing that they are frequently unsure of where they are going? Just curious...
For me, it's the live traffic information. But here's the thing, I've never found the traffic information on dedicated GPS units to be as reliable as the crowd-sourced traffic data from Google Maps or Waze. 90% of the time, Google Maps and Waze will reliably get me to my destination around the pre-determined ETA and choose the quickest route. I use Google Maps (or Waze) on every trip now, even though I know the route. I'm sure it differs by person though- when I lived in the suburbs, I was just off the freeway and understanding traffic conditions made me choose either the freeway (90% of the time), or the alternative highway which would move significantly faster due to an accident on the freeway. I just had to cover so much ground to get places (downtown, school, friends 30+km away) that the traffic information was helpful.
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Dec 1, 2002
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Halton
Someone gets GPS, someone uses phone and someone reads map.

For this unit is ok.

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