The application of GPS navigation as Waze have invaded land that until the arrival of the smartphone was exclusive of specific models. I’m talking about GPS for driving. But is a mobile with Waze always better than a dedicated GPS?
GPS navigators versus navigation app
Among the GPS applications for mobile, Google Maps is the most used to come by default and its integration. However, of the free and most complete we have Waze, recently also owned by Google. The combination of navigation and smartphone app has become the preferred by users when it is their tool to follow a route and receive information while driving. Are not they already dedicated to car GPS?
Perhaps the answer would be very clear just a year ago. Dedicated GPS navigators touched down to the potential of apps that offered the clear advantages of permanent connectivity for updates and relevant information. The GPS navigator stayed, it seemed, just to tell us how to go from one place to another. And so did the smartphone application.
While smartphones are tackling negatives such as map downloading or data consumption, dedicated GPS browsers gain connectivity to deliver real-time services
The latest generation of GPS browsers sheds much of that connectivity and community advantage offered by apps like Waze. They still maintain a price that cannot compete with that of an app that may even be free and fully functional, but the usage profile is not exactly the same. If you use it often or in certain situations, it makes sense to get one . But not just anyone.
If we stick to the advantages of the classic GPS navigator side, not depending on a permanent connectivity can be in certain situations an advantage. When traveling abroad or in areas with little or no data coverage for the phone, having fully functional maps makes the difference. These maps, in many cases, are global and free for life.
Applications already support the download of complete maps or specific areas for use in offline mode, but it is something that the user must do. Let us think, for example, of adults who do not usually have the necessary notions. With the dedicated GPS is a task in which they do not even have to think, but they must do it to update it, either via WiFi or cable.
Interface, brackets and battery
If the use you make of a GPS navigator in the car is not limited to any sporadic instruction, issues such as battery, charging, support or interface is key.
In spite of the wide catalog of dedicated supports with which we have in the market, the GPS navigators count a priori with systems of anchorage and placement very comfortable. In addition, they allow the handling of the screen and its options of safe way, we can adjust it quickly and all that is very important thing while driving.
Also in interface issues dedicated GPS usually have advantages. In spite of the vehicle-specific modes of use, the information displayed by classic GPS on their screens is clearer and often split screen and helps such as the lane change assistant. Also in buttons, interaction and control options GPS usually have some advantage.
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Real-time information is the key
While data traffic is less problematic on our smartphones, or the ability to download maps and offline navigation zones on the phone is standardized, dedicated GPS navigators have collected the glove and the latest ones rely precisely on the connection of our smarpthone to receive updates and offer services such as traffic alerts or real-time issues. It is along with price and not having another redundant device at home, which differentiates between Waze-type apps and a basic dedicated GPS.
Waze also has a community focused on providing valuable and increasingly important information when we move in big cities.
Knowing that there is a traffic jam prior to arriving in that area and that the navigator proposes alternative routes or knowing warnings about radars, blackheads, maximum speeds or even dangerous situations is something that a GPS user does not want to stop having in his GPS navigator, either app or dedicated.
Car GPS that offer more than Waze
Although in price it is impossible for a dedicated GPS navigator to ever win an app as complete as Waze on large diagonal smartphones, there are profiles of users who for work or leisure make intensive use of the browser and aspire to more without giving up everything that they offer Waze-like apps.
For them we have selected the ones we consider as three best GPS for car that can compete in functionality with Waze and even surpass it.
Garmin DriveAssist 51 LMT-S: With camera for added safety at the wheel
Surely, the most complete GPS on the market today because of its possibilities. To a high quality screen of 5 inches with the possibility of zooming pinching, you have to join the integration of a camera that is basic for some of its most outstanding functions.
With the Dash Cam of the Garmin DriveAssist 51, you can record video of our driving, including voice if we want. Thanks to the included accelerometers, after a crash or incident, the video and coordinate information are automatically recorded on an SD card. That camera also attends other functions such as the lane change warning or frontal collision.
Of dedicated GPS, it is the most prepared to compete with Waze at the level of useful information for the driver. To the typical warnings of radars, traffic jams or incidents, you have to join the live parking mode with information of prices and availability.
TomTom GO 6200: Wifi and Data included
It is not exactly cheap, it costs 320 dollars, but if you are going to make an intensive use of the GPS in the car, with many routes and interaction, it is a guarantee of comfort by its screen, the magnetic holder that makes it very easy to place and remove it, and Of course for its performance, including a powerful processor and internal memory of 16 GB.
The price includes worldwide maps for life, as well as radar updates or traffic information. It also allows you to configure and plan routes from your browser, store them and make them available as soon as you connect the GPS in the car. For connectivity, you do not need to use a smartphone because it comes with a slot for your own SIM that includes data, even roaming. For upgrades better opt for WiFi connectivity, so you do not need the PC for anything.
The TomTom GO 6200 does not disconnect you from the world and includes Bluetooth hands-free, Siri and Google Now, and you can receive messages and alerts from your smartphone on your screen.
TomTom VIA 53: Connectivity thanks to smartphone
The TomTom VIA 53 is a new GPS of a price not too excessive (199 dollars) and it gathers the advantages of the continuous updates of information on the traffic, best route or radars connecting to your smartphone.
It also means voice using Siri or Google Now, and it allows you to receive messages or make calls with hands free, all using voice recognition for greater security.
The price includes maps and traffic conditions throughout the lifetime of the browser, although for the radar data only three months of service are included.
Tags: GPS, Waze
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