Ditching Google Maps for an old GPS

Today I'm talking about why I picked up an old Garmin Nuvi GPS to use as my navigation solution while on the road. Is older sometimes better?

Put Open Street Maps on your GPS:

Where I got my map:

My dumbphone - Cat S22 Flip

The mic I use:

The camera I use:

Lens:

Disclaimer
All Amazon links placed in the description section are Amazon Affiliate links, and I receive a small commission on any purchases made through this link. Thanks for your support!

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:40 Meet the Garmin
01:18 Why not Google Maps?
02:40 Downloading maps for phone
03:24 Single-use device pros
04:18 Adding Open Street Maps
06:20 Initial impressions
08:18 Who is this for?
10:34 Final thoughts

[a_decent_user]

You briefly touched having "offline maps" on your phone, but you can also literally have "offline google maps" on your phone. It takes less than 1gb to get a pretty sizeable chunk of maps downloaded into Google Maps with no issues. Yes, you have to do it in advance for an area you are going into, but it's still there for you. I bet most people would easily have 1gb of storage available on their phone. This is usually my go to solution when traveling somewhere where I'm not sure if I would have service in.

[katherinetaylor]

Thank you so much for this video. I’ve been looking into getting a satellite gps but haven’t yet because I wasn’t sure if it would work or if I would be able to update it. I’ve been loving all of your videos and they are very inspirational and helpful!

[fn]

I threw this exact model out last year thinking the maps couldn't be updated damn

[BobbyMack]

Dude! I leave my comment last week about ditching google maps and here you are getting a Garmin gps. Awesome!
Btw, this really helped out last year when a hailstorm came through my city and all cell towers were down. My friend had no idea how to get home so I let her borrow my Garmin and it worked perfectly!

[lilPopper]

I think I have this exact model. But all the reason why I still have a Garmin Nuvi on backup. Phone data is not being used -- more savings back in your bank account. And if I recall, there is still a market for stand alone GPS units, especially for truck drivers because by law there are certain routes they are not allowed to take.

[NickBEADG]

Download offline maps on Google, not that hard. Satellites on today's phones are significantly better than the old Navi's, Google Pixel 8 Pro has L1+L5.

[jasonjayalap]

The best part of my old garmin was the voices and car icons you could choose from. Worst was scrolling and entering addresses into that old tech touchscreen. Some of those units had traffic updates via.. FM radio or something. I was never that fancy. On trips I confirmed everything with paper maps.

[dgalloway]

I still use my Tomtom GPS on my motorcycle. People look at you like a dinosaur.. haha. It will be funny when all the non-dinosaurs are following me when they don't have cell signal 🙂 Your videos are really great Spencer.. Thanks!

[cherylT]

I still have a Garmin sitting in the glove box of my car…Now that I’m watching this, I’m going to update it!

[Landon-vpun]

Great advice we all should go back too a regular GPS plus it works better than the smart phone
Great video

[Mikehero_]

I like seeing these 10+ year old devices, like the iPod, be brought back and given purpose again. Really makes me wonder what other devices are like this.

[guilhermemartinez]

You can download google maps to use offline using less than 1GB and, in android auto, can set to turn off notifications when driving to avoid distractions. With google maps and waze you can also see road blocks that maybe be happening in the route and do another path.

[jasonjayalap]

It's baffling how google maps doesnt have a "tourist", "simplest", "least chance of getting screwed" or "fewer turns" mode. I don't need to cut through neighborhoods to save 3 minutes while in an unfamiliar place.

[adamwragg]

Ah I remember when my
Dad bought me one when I first passed my test lol! You can still get print out instructions of where to go I think

[Rajorsi]

In 3rd world countries:

Google maps: 🗿
Other maps: 💀

[taylorborie]

I use my garmin 52 gps every day. It doesn't have traffic, but garmin makes a replacement power cable for it that has a tiny module that add traffic data to the gps

[Warp]

I saw a few new Garmin Gps devices at walmart. I recently got rid of my smartphone for a flipphone so it would be useful

[JoBlower]

Here maps works great also. Phones are the future. Going to the past is pointless

[tippy]

Do you need to have the precise street address when searching for a route? If I can't type the name of the restaurant and it can find the info from there, that might be a deal-breaker. Because that means I still need a smartphone to look up the actual street address.

[shanedowling]

Can you search for addresses using this?