Though I am certain we all have our complaints about GPS systems, nothing can be worse than the "bitch" I have in charge of my car, or Serena.
Serena is a GARMIN GPS I recieved for Christmas a year or so back. Often I curse at her for various reasons, however, my problem goes deeper than that. These car GPS systems have changed the way we navigate. The evolution of navigation went from recieving directions from a friend (and writing down) to printing directions from Mapquest to being heavily reliant upon our digital GPS systems (whether embedded or detached).
My issue is about the purpose of the GPS. On Mapquest we could choose between fastest route, shortest distance, avoid tolls, etc. Supposedly, our GPS finds a combo of the first two - this is it's purpose. Serena FAILS at this.
I have tested this theory - I have printed directions from Mapquest that show the approximate distance/time and I have plugged the same address into the GPS. Without fail, Serena always takes me a route that is both longer distance-wise, and more time-consuming. I know this because when I have ignored her "take the exit in ___ miles" prompts, the ETA adjusts to a shorter TIME than with her calculated route.
This new route is the same route I have printed out from Mapquest, the same route that is less mileage.
I just don't understand. Does Garmin have some kind of stock sharing with STS or JiffyLube? Why does she continously intend to take me on a longer route with higher mileage?
Also, why does she have me U-Turn through toll booths? I won't elaborate - I could guess there is some partnership with EZ-Pass or something. Either way, I hope to investigate these things sooner as I am a heartbeat away from going Office Space on her.
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