Simplest GPS units for seniors

November 2, 2022 12:21 PM

My mother-in-law just moved to a new state where she doesn't know the neighborhoods like she did in her old home. We would like to get her a GPS for her car so she can drive by herself, but it has to be ridiculously simple to use.

My MIL is 80 and very cognitively sharp, but she has never had any desire to learn to use a computer or smartphone, and adopting new technology is very hard for her. We would like to enable her to drive by herself, but any GPS we would get for her needs to be as simple as possible to use.

The one technology she has adopted without much difficulty is an Alexa Echo with a screen. She took well to issuing voice commands, so I think that would work for her in a GPS, but she only ever uses the Alexa to make video calls; I don’t know if she's ever used the touchscreen.

She moved in with her daughter and her family, who are all very comfortable with tech, so they are on hand to help her set anything up in the beginning. But if she is in the car by herself, she will be very limited in how she can interact with the device.

Affordable options are best, but we are willing to spend more for a unit she can actually use. Thanks for any suggestions!

posted by Neely O'Hara to Shopping (11 answers total)

Honestly, I would look for a street map for where she lives - sometimes they are issued in book form. I had one for my city that was printed by a local printer and this county and a few surrounding ones, but had plenty of detail.
posted by TimHare at 12:35 PM on November 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

I get that she doesn't want a smartphone, but using a smartphone for navigation is probably going to be easier than using a GPS. She wouldn't have to learn about any of the other things you can do with a smartphone, just how to say "Okay Google, navigate to Target" (and maybe how to enter the address manually if the Google assistant misunderstands what she's saying.) Someone else could set up the Bluetooth connection and then the phone should automatically connect whenever she gets in the car. (She could just leave the phone in the car if she really doesn't ever want to use it for anything else.) Why not let her try it out with someone else's smartphone and see what she thinks? If it works for her, then you can get her an inexpensive Android phone to be used only for navigation. (And maybe over time you can introduce her to a few other handy things the phone could do for her.)
posted by Redstart at 12:53 PM on November 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

We just switched my 82-year-old aunt from an Android phone to an iPhone SPECIFICALLY because Apple Maps is so much simpler and easier to understand than any other GPS we knew of. And it gives warnings like "go past this light and then turn at the next one" which is very helpful. (And this isn't just us assuming it would work for her, my other aunt had an iPhone already and she said something like "now THAT is simple and understandable".)
posted by rabbitrabbit at 1:09 PM on November 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

The problem with standalone GPS is that smartphones basically ate their lunches a long time ago, and so as a product category it's a bit niche at this point. That said, there are voice-controlled standalone GPS units on the market, if a smartphone is an absolute non-starter. (I have no experience with this one, but I liked the Garmin GPS units back when I still used them.)
posted by Aleyn at 1:43 PM on November 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

The other advantage to a smart phone, if you can sell her on it, is that she will be able to call if she experiences an emergency in this new place.
posted by joycehealy at 2:52 PM on November 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

I’d still get a cheap smartphone because it will have GPS, camera, and be useful as a phone for emergencies. And a good dash mount. The learning curve for gps is easy on my phone.

The camera and the ability to receive pictures is a big draw that pushes the learning curve.
posted by theora55 at 3:26 PM on November 2, 2022

And it gives warnings like "go past this light and then turn at the next one" which is very helpful.

My mom loves this. I mean she mentioned it when we were driving around at least four times over the last weekend I visited with her.
posted by praemunire at 5:36 PM on November 2, 2022

Apple's CarPlay is pretty simple, she just has to remember to plug it in via USB, then she can hold down a button on her steering wheel to tell Siri to "drive to xxx" or whatever.

But it still might be a lot, because you do have to use the touchscreen occasionally. Maybe the best solution is to get a car with built-in navigation, then at least she can see what street she's on if the needs to.
posted by credulous at 6:30 PM on November 2, 2022

If you decide to go for a dedicated GPS, I've found Garmin units to be easier to use than the alternatives. And my Nuvi has a two big buttons on the main screen, called something like "Navigate" and "Look at map". The first button on the navigation screen is "Take me home" which does what it's supposed to (as soon as someone has entered the home address in the configuration, but that's a one-time thing).
posted by Harald74 at 3:10 AM on November 3, 2022

The thing I don't like about GPS units I've used is that you generally have to enter an exact address in exactly the right format. Sometimes even when you have the exact address you want to go to you can't figure out how to enter the road name in a way it recognizes. Sometimes you don't know the address, you just know you want to go to the Best Buy near the mall. I had a GPS that had some ability to search for nearby places by type of business, but it wasn't nearly as easy as doing the same thing on a phone. On your phone, you can just say things like "Navigate to the nearest Target" or "Navigate to the Best Buy in Williston." And with Bluetooth, you can do it while you're driving.
posted by Redstart at 7:27 AM on November 3, 2022

Mom bought an iphone to adjust her new hearing aids. It's like a remote control. Now when she uses GPS on the phone, it's in her ear. Makes a big difference.
posted by MichelleinMD at 8:19 AM on November 3, 2022