By the way, what I meant by ‘my GPS setup’ is these:
1. Nokia 6120c
2. G-top BT GPS Receiver
3. Garmin Mobile XT + Malsingmaps (using the free version which is not so updated)
Test Number One
I was from One Utama Damansara heading towards Petaling Jaya. It was about 4pm and was raining very very heavily with visibility so poor I’m only able to see the range of 2 cars in front of me. I can’t even read most of the road signs and I was feeling like I am driving purely on my instinct or following THE FORCE like a Jedi in STARWARS.
Quickly turn on my GPS as backup and got it fixed or locked on with the satellites. Suddenly I was relying mostly on the GPS to help me stay on the right track ie sometimes you have to ‘keep left’ or ‘keep right’ so that you don’t end up with a wrong turn which you are force to make, right? So the GPS really help me with that. So I know when exactly to stay on which side of road on a highway so that I don’t miss the exit in heavy rain situation. As far as I can recall, my GPS unit maintained its lock all the time although it was real dark with the heavy and dark rain clouds and everything ie I bet there won’t be any Astro unit which can connect to the Measat satellite at that time…
I reached my destination with no problem at all.
Test Number Two
I was from Petaling Jaya and was heading to Gombak Setia. Last time I was quite familiar with the route to the said destination but it was many years back and I’ve forgotten most of the road there. So it’s another good opportunity to test my GPS unit. At beginning of the journey, the GPS was suggesting a different route a couple of times..but I was adamant that I follow my own route first and then I would rely on the GPS when there’s the ‘need for details’ or when I got lost. The need for details refers to when I think that I am near the destination but somehow could not find my way to the finish line because it involve the smaller smaller roads in the housing area which usually look the same and very confusing to drivers like me.
I kept to my plan..followed my chosen highways and all and kept ignoring the GPS’s suggestions. By the way, the GPS will re-calculate another route in real time every time I did not follow it’s suggestion. When I exit the highway and going into the smaller roads, I start following the GPS’s suggestion and suddenly I arrived exactly at the destination. I was very pleased because I was not really confident with the GPS at first. But for now, I think the GPS is doing a great job as a backup way finder. It is my opinion that it is always a good brain exercise to use the brain to plan the route to the destination..just to keep the brain active coz it will try to remember things/roads/places which strengthens the errr…you get the drift..whatever.
Posted by bopihz 
