jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Not only is the GPS great for traveling, but it's also good for local driving. I had to drop something off in Woodstock yesterday before continuing on to Catskill. I figured I'd take my regular route through Woodstock, but the GPS had a different idea. It had me turn left and right and left and right on roads I had never taken before. It wasn't until I was a few miles from Catskill that I was on a familiar road. I don't know how much time I saved, but the GPS is set for the shortest time.

This has happened several times when I am at a local location and have to go to another local location. The GPS shows me a route that never would have occurred to me.

BebuLamar

I need GPS for in town travel. I go to estate sales often and need GPS for that. When I returned the Iphone to my company I didn't have a smartphone for a while and the only thing I missed was the GPS.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

My wife is addicted to GPS. She uses it for 95% of her trips. She didn't get a drivers license until age 39 so in her youth she missed out on the art of finding your way by landmarks. She's map-challenged (and I don't know how we ever really managed using folded maps to get around while driving).

Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

I don't know how I got around without Siri. Remember having to pull over to look at a map?

tcthome Loc: NJ

Mine has taken me different routes from more than one same point A to point B more than once. Don't mind at all for the same reason you state. I like seeing places, streets, & neighborhoods haven't been to before.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

One thing I've noticed on long trips is the absence of "Recalculating." It seems to know the route better. Years ago, it had me get off an Interstate and then get right back on.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Modern GPS systems take traffic into account.

HamB

We recently moved to a new state (VA).
If it weren't for GPS I would be driving around Nebraska looking for our house.

stu352 Loc: MA/RI Border

The trip home from a local race track usually takes just under an hour using my favorite route. One day last fall I decided to let my car's GPS guide the way. The general direction I wanted to go was northeast, but it directed me to a highway going southeast for many miles, then onto some little neighborhood roads barely wide enough for two cars to pass, eventually putting me on some roads I finally recognized near home. The total time was about 20 minutes longer than my usual route. Yes, GPS is wonderful....

Texas George Loc: Stamford, Texas

While I have used Gps I mostly look at a paper map and memorize the route, usually the night before I go. While traveling my wife likes to use the gps on her phone and half the time we’ll miss the exit we need because of miscommunication. Gps is great for hiking though and having gps coordinates helps first responders to get to where they need to be quickly.

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

I like exploring new places. Often I will head out with the intention of getting lost. If there is a road that ends, I take the left or right -- whichever looks less familiar. After wandering around lost for a few hours, I hit the GPS to take me back home. I call this GPSsing.

One day driving along the Hudson River in Hoboken though, I hit the go home dropdown on the GPS and it told me to take a left at the next intersection -- that would have put me into the river! Sometimes the GPS will take me around two miles and put me back to where I started. Recently I was using it to get me to the airport in Myrtle Beach -- it took me right past the turnoff for the airport and kept saying go 2 miles and continue on Hwy 17. It did this about four times and I was getting so far from the airport I finally turned around and headed back down 17. I saw the airport as I passed and thought it was taking me to the terminal entrance but it was doing something that most likely would have landed me in NC! There is a military air station up that way but the instruction was for the Myrtle Beach International Airport.

The other danger is being in a mountainous area where there is no GPS signal. When that happens, I just continue in one direction until there is a major highway and find my way back to where a signal is available.

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

I know/knew that area. Some friends of mine owned a B&B in Round Top. We had lots of good times there.

Canonuser Loc: UK and South Africa

Sounds like you’ve got shortest route set rather than quickest. What you describe is exactly what happens when my GPS is set to prioritise the shortest route.

Canonuser Loc: UK and South Africa

Even on routes I know well, I almost always use my GPS. It knows where the traffic jams/congestion is which I don’t and looking at a map book wouldn’t help with.
Recently mine turned me off a route I always used and I was tempted to ignore it. A couple of minutes later a radio traffic broadcast announced a serious traffic jam on the route I would have taken without my GPS.

Nortfish Loc: Port St. Lucie, Fla

The only time i got into trouble with my GPS is when I didn't believe it and didn't change my route. I got caught up in a traffic jam that cost me over a half hour in delays. Ya gotta believe. That is if your GPS has traffic advice active.