iPhone or dedicated portable GPS?

May 18, 2009 4:03 AM

I've resisted getting in iPhone so far. However, now I need a good, portable GPS and am wondering whether I should go for an iPhone, or a dedicated GPS. If the latter, which one?

I've resisted getting in iPhone so far. However, now I need a good, portable GPS and am wondering whether I should go for an iPhone, or a dedicated GPS. If the latter, which one?

I am travelling a lot these days, so I want a small, compact and portable GPS that I can carry with me when I go for walks in an unfamiliar area. It should also help me navigate when I'm driving, but the portability is more important. In terms of portability the iPhone is a winner, but I have read conflicting things about how good the iPhone is as a GPS device. So, what should I go with - a dedicated device (which one?) or an iPhone? Big bonus points for something with good local maps for Europe, especially France and Switzerland.

posted by thread_makimaki to computers & internet (32 answers total)

in iPhone = an iPhone, obviously (agh)
posted by thread_makimaki at 4:04 AM on May 18, 2009

Only an anecdote here, but my brother (who has an IPhone) also likes geocaching, and found that the IPhone simply wasnt sufficient for doing stuff like that. I recommended he get a relatively inexpensive Garmin, which he did, and that seems to work just fine. I couldnt recommend any specific model, but you should be able to narrow it down by a little surfing on their website.
posted by elendil71 at 4:14 AM on May 18, 2009

If you happen to need a new phone right now, get the iPhone to get the best of both worlds. If all you need is a GPS for going on your walks, get a dedicated GPS. It'll probably be a lot cheaper than an iPhone and suits your needs more exactly than an iPhone would.
posted by Effigy2000 at 4:18 AM on May 18, 2009

Tomtom is probably going to release a GPS unit for the iPhone, perhaps as soon as the new models come out, which is in a month or so. You can get a dedicated GPS unit, but if having fewer devices to carry around is important, it might pay to wait.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:28 AM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

I just switched back and forth from using a Garmin Nuvi (don't know which model) and the iPhone on a trip to L.A. They almost always gave different directions, and I ended up using the iPhone more BUT that was as my SO's passenger. Basically, we used the GPS for him, and I used the iPhone to find my own directions or use Google Maps for more palatable directions.

The little blue dot that tracks your location on the iPhone is often surprisingly accurate, but sometimes takes some time to load when you wake it up again. It would be a better tool for walking than the GPS, but at the moment it doesn't do the best at turn-by-turn directions for a single driver (although I've heard that the GPS features will improve with the next software release).

Even though I like the iPhone's directions better, I think for your purposes it would be best to get a GPS, and maybe print out some maps of the areas beforehand so you could figure out your own directions.
posted by hellogoodbye at 4:28 AM on May 18, 2009

I have both a Garmin Nuvi and an iPhone (my s.o.'s actually). The nuvi is great for driving and lives in the car and is indispensable. I would never think to carry it with me. The iPhone has not been much of a help driving.

To echo hellogoodbye saying that it is a better walking tool here's my silly iPhone anecdote:

Walking in the english countryside, we took a wrong turn and got hopelessly lost and it was getting dark -- kind of scary for me as I am a city boy and it's real country darkness here. So I pull out the iPhone, go to the map and we navigate our way to the main road and our car. We would have wandered nondescript fields for hours.
posted by sundri at 4:39 AM on May 18, 2009

Have you considered a Nokia device? A lot of the Series 60 devices come with a built in GPS. I believe you can load maps for any country for free. They do charge for the navigation license after the first year (at least in South Africa, I'm sure this varies from country to country though). Even without the navigation though you get access to all the maps for free.

Disclaimer: my S.O. works for Nokia, but I'm also a happy user.
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 4:54 AM on May 18, 2009

You don't have to get an iPhone to use your phone for GPS. My Blackberry Curve has a GPS and I use Google Maps (free!) with it for navigation. I also have a Garmin, but most of the time these days I just use the phone.
posted by katemonster at 5:39 AM on May 18, 2009

The iPhone has two really significant issues for GPS use:

1) battery life just isn't that hot. If you're using it for a road trip, you're going a while between charges, and if you need to make some calls you'll be scrounging up a plug.

2) no turn-by-turn stuff is out there yet. I wouldn't bother with a GPS that didn't do turn-by-turn.

The iphone's GPS stuff will certainly improve over the next release of the system software, and turn-by-turn may be coming out.

A dedicated GPS will be a much better GPS. IPhones are great for lots of reasons, but their GPS support just doesn't compare.
posted by jenkinsEar at 5:47 AM on May 18, 2009

Yeah, the battery life goes to shit when you're using the iphone's GPS. I took a trip that was only a couple of hours each way and my fully charged phone was nearly dead at the end, and that was after turning off the GPS once I got on major highways. Obviously a car charger would alleviate that problem.

From what I understand, turn-by-turn means that it has vocals, right? Because the iphone doesn't have that yet (next OS update, I hear?) so if you're not going to have a passenger it won't be of much help. It's just your location layered on top of a google map.

It works well for my use, because I don't take many road trips longer than a couple of hours. Last summer, before getting an iPhone, I went to Minneapolis from Chicago and having a Garmin then was a godsend. Plus we set it to have the accent of a stern British lady. Man, she would get mad when we made a wrong turn and she had to recalculate.
posted by sugarfish at 6:11 AM on May 18, 2009

Turn by Turn means it tracks where you are and tells you what/when the next direction change occurs, the current iPhone software doesn't do this. It gives you the directions but doesn't integrate that with your actual location. the iphone 3.0 OS software which is supposed to come out around June is supposed to enable this ability.
posted by bitdamaged at 6:24 AM on May 18, 2009

I'd wait until the new iPhone gets announced in a few months or else you may feel buyers regret.

It is rumored to have a Magnetometer (compass).

http://www.intomobile.com/2009/05/09/new-iphone-os-30-beta-reveals-iphone-compass-and-parental-controls-for-apps.html
posted by glenno86 at 6:33 AM on May 18, 2009

Well, just so you know: If you get an iPhone, it will be quite difficult to use the maps in France or Switzerland. You have to do one of the following:

1) Have an expensive international roaming plan added to your account and be careful not to exceed its limits

2) Unlock your phone (which means jailbreaking it) and buying a European SIM card for the country you live in (data will cost around 2-20€ per day depending on how heavily you use it)

3) Walk around with your iPhone until you find a wifi connection, then load one screen of a map, then navigate until you're off the screen, then find another wifi connection, etc..

Also, if you're hiking in an area with no cell phone signal, you will have no maps... so the iPhone might not be the best choice for your situation. I have an iPhone and use the GPS constantly, but just for navigating/walking within a city.
posted by helios at 6:33 AM on May 18, 2009

I have a TomTom ONE, and it's been good to me for a long time, but I was trying to get to a hotel near the notoriously confusing Philadelphia Airport (my home city, no less!) this weekend and TomTom didn't know where to start, getting me stuck in a loop several times. My friend's iPhone proved to be the hero, somewhat creepily recognizing our position as we drove and getting us where we needed to be.

That said, I might not use the iPhone for a GPS for regular driving, but your portability concerns suggest that the iPhone would be great for you.
posted by sjuhawk31 at 6:38 AM on May 18, 2009

Nthing the Nokia reccomendation. I use it for on-foot navigation and tracking my runs, and it barely touches the battery. (full disclousure, I keep 3g off since T-Mo doesn't suppprt it's 3g bands)

I'm in the US, fwiw.
posted by ConstantineXVI at 6:43 AM on May 18, 2009

If you want this for anything besides getting directions on normal roads you want a dedicated GPS device. GPS on phones and those meant to be primarily used in cars have software that is optimized for this purpose and won't serve you very well with geocaching in a field, because it will be constantly trying to lock you to the nearest road.

I have an older eTrex Legend that runs on two AA batteries for several days. It's perfect for geocaching. I'd recommend it because it has an integrated compass (instead of one that only works when you move), has great battery life, can do nifty calculations, and has great accuracy.
posted by odinsdream at 6:43 AM on May 18, 2009

Though, to be fair, these types of GPS units will suck for driving directions.
posted by odinsdream at 6:44 AM on May 18, 2009

Helios raises an important point about international roaming.

The iPhone is great in a car if you've got someone riding shotgun who can navigate, but an absolute hazard if you're trying to use it while driving. As others have said, this is likely to change with version 3 of the iPhone OS (soon). On foot, also great.

On a recent trip, the map on my iPhone extended into an obscure area that my parents' TomTom could not map.
posted by adamrice at 7:34 AM on May 18, 2009

Three major drawbacks of the iPhone:
1. It costs $70 per month, while a standalone GPS has no monthly fee.
2. It doesn't tell you when to turn - you tell it when you're at the turn, and ask it where to go. This is unsafe to do while driving.
3. The international issue - a standalone GPS is going to be way cheaper and less complicated in this department.
posted by Dec One at 7:34 AM on May 18, 2009

If you can afford to wait for June 8, do - that's the day the WWDC begins, and that's the date most people expect the new models to be accounced.
posted by DreamerFi at 7:35 AM on May 18, 2009

my two cents:
1. iPhone works out rather expensive if you do not really leverage the extra data plan that ATT pushes on you. The data plan costs $600 over two years -- so you need to know that you will find it useful.
2. iPhone is not a great navigation device. You can manage with it, but it is not a replacement for a navigation device if you drive in traffic areas where you need to have the device talk to you with street names and what not -- I believe good Garmin Nuvi's now sell for $100!
posted by shalam at 7:35 AM on May 18, 2009

If I was going to get a new GPS I would wait a couple of weeks and get the Garmin 1260t, it has free traffic!, pedestrian mode & pub transit info, and you can buy maps of Europe for it.
posted by zenon at 7:36 AM on May 18, 2009

Because the default mapping application (Google Maps) doesn't store the maps on the phone, but rather downloads them as you go, you might find yourself in a situation like I have where you have a wonderful GPS signal, but all you see is a blue dot on a grey background because there was no data signal where I was.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:16 AM on May 18, 2009

I have not seen a GPS that I'd recommend for driving directions that also seemed well-suited to handheld use when walking around, geocaching, etc. Those use cases just have so little in common that they produce very different devices as a result.

I think you will be happier getting two separate devices, and although I'm sure that's unpalatable to you now, it will probably make you happier. I know it did for me; I bought the handheld first and held off on getting the dedicated car GPS for several years, telling myself that it was stupid to buy one when I had a handheld GPS already. Finally a broke down and bought a TomTom and wished I'd done it years before.

Car GPS units are optimized for use while driving, or at least sitting in a car (most of the manufacturers will tell you not to use them while actually driving, but everyone does); their interfaces are obnoxious and clunky when you're not using them this way. Handheld GPSes throw too much information at you to be useful when driving, so unless you'll always have a passenger I don't think that's a good idea.

Think hard about which one you'd use more, handheld or GPS, and buy that one first; then save up and buy the other one when you can afford it. It's better to have two devices that each do their job well than one device that tries to do two jobs and does both poorly.
posted by Kadin2048 at 8:39 AM on May 18, 2009

I love my iPhone but it's several orders of magnitude inferior to a dedicated GPS for navigation. The fact that it doesn't keep the maps in local storage is just icing on that inferiority cake.

I'd bet you can find a good handheld unit on eBay for half the price of admission to an iPhone, and without ongoing charges. Some will have options for downloadable map updates.
posted by phearlez at 9:07 AM on May 18, 2009

i didnt read the all the answers, but get a gps for gps, an iphone can be used in a pinch but otherwise it needs an upgrade before being very useful.
posted by fumbducker at 10:14 AM on May 18, 2009

Nokia phones with the Maps application are great for battery life and for data-less operation, but anyone who is "happy" with that has never seen a real GPS application. Nokia Maps is horribly rendered and has a horrible interface. It is buggy. Most features beyond the basic (POIs, turn-by-turn, etc) require payment.

I have Google Maps and Nokia Maps installed on my E71. The only time I resort to Nokia Maps is when I want to avoid roaming data charges. Otherwise Google Maps is far better (as good as on the iPhone...aside from screen size).

If you need advanced GPS, go with a standalone Garmin or TomTom.
posted by randomstriker at 11:07 AM on May 18, 2009

I actually do have a Nokia with GPS right now - the 6115, which I believe was the last one of the 6000 series (or one of the last) to use Route66 maps instead of Nokia Maps. It's not bad, except that it takes a long, long time to find my location if it can find it at all, extra maps are not free, and seems to eat up the battery quite fast (maybe the reason Nokia went to its own Maps software?). I am sort of due for a new phone...which is why I was eyeing the iPhone.

(Also, I didn't make it clear, but I'm based in Switzerland atm and may be moving to France soon, so getting the Switzerland/France maps for the iPhone should not be a hassle, hopefully.)

I guess getting both may be the best thing...though I'd have to consult the household budget. Off to check out some web sites...

Thanks for all your suggestions!
posted by thread_makimaki at 11:30 AM on May 18, 2009

(and yeah, the reason why I was looking for a walkabout GPS is that I got lost the other day in an unfamiliar village, and almost walked into a river. So I an relate a lot to sundri! )
posted by thread_makimaki at 11:37 AM on May 18, 2009

I'm based in Switzerland atm and may be moving to France soon, so getting the Switzerland/France maps for the iPhone should not be a hassle, hopefully.

Yes, but just in case I wasn't clear, you don't get any maps on the iPhone. The iPhone does not store any maps in its internal memory; instead, it uses Google and loads the maps in real-time from the internet as you move around or zoom in/out. Therefore, it must be connected to the internet at all times for the GPS functionality to work, otherwise you will be looking at a blue dot on a plain beige background.

As long as you know you will have a data plan that works in whatever country you're in, you'll be fine though.
posted by helios at 7:34 PM on May 21, 2009

TomTom for iPhone
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:34 PM on June 10, 2009

I actually had some first-hand experience with the GPS issue this week, while I was in Costa Rica.

I had the radio turned off because I wasn't interested in paying AT&T's exorbitant roaming rates but sometimes had wifi access. I downloaded and installed MotionX GPS and attempted to use it.

I was never able to get a GPS lock without turning on the radio and being at a wifi hotspot. The app/phone would search for several minutes, then pop up a box asking if I wanted to keep looking for satellites. A "more info" button would claim that the phone relied upon tower recognition to improve acquisition of a lock. Without it, the app went on to claim, it might be as much as 15 minutes before a location was locked on.

Based on my experience with needing wifi (since I had data roaming disabled) I think you also need data access. Domestically that's no issue but if you were in a high-cost roaming situation like I was it might matter.

The repeated asking about sats was an application annoyance and not the phone's fault, but the fact that I couldn't get a location even in open sky was worrisome if you want to try to use the device for offline access.
posted by phearlez at 8:33 AM on June 11, 2009