--- On Sat, 3/26/11, Barney Gaylord <barneymg at mgaguru.com> wrote:
> That
device should be a strictly optional accessory that can
> be installed or
removed or moved from one car to another as
> easily as a cell phone (assuming
someone thought they
> actually wanted one in the car).
However, if that
kind of device is stolen, your insurance
company won't pay for it. I ran into
this years ago when
I left my car unlocked and someone took my radar detector.
The insurance company told me that they do not cover any
device which draws
power from the car and does not install
in a mount provided by the
manufacturer specifically for
that device.
I have no problem navigating with
a map, but a GPS, which
lets you keep your eyes on the road, and otherwise
highlights what is important on the map at that moment,
is in my opinion far
safer because it doesn't divide
your attention as much.
That said, I was
wrather disappointed a couple weeks ago
when the "Zorro GPS" software I'd
installed on my iPhone
took me down a dirt road and to the edge of a pit clay
quarry outside Berod (in Germany) then said "In 200 Meter,
links fahren."
It's a shame my Fiesta rental car didn't
have the hover option. But I have
found built-in GPS
units to be more accurate than portable devices, because
they have a better idea exactly what the car is doing at
any given time.
My
opinion of GPS is much like that of air conditioning.
I'd never have paid
extra for AC until I bought a car with
it in 1988. Now I'd really have to
think twice about
buying one without.
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