Touring - VZ Navigator

Not trying to be a corporate mouthpiece, but yesterday I was in a Verizon Store and saw a really cool new feature, VZ Navigator. ON GPS- enabled Cell Phones, you can use the service to get step-by-step instructions to anywhere.

The best part is that you can specify to get bike directions! I tried doing a trip from the store to my home first by car and then by bike. Although the bike directions were not the way I would have gone, they still would have gotten me home.

I'm looking forward to getting a phone with this service next year. Should help me find my way next time I get lost on a tour through unfamiliar areas...

Has anyone else tried this service?

The phone/map doesn' recognize where I live. But of course, there are only two roads here, so..... Never mind.

I don't want to pay for the service...so I am a cheapskate.

I tried it out about two weeks ago. I didn't use the bike direction feature, but even without that, it works pretty well. You really need an earpiece, though, because it is tough to hear over the sound of traffic.

I've used VZ Navigator. It works better than I thought it would and has come in handy for me more than once. Definately worth it to me.

One problem though: I have an LG VX8300 phone with Bluetooth. When I use the Bluetooth headset and VZ Navigator, the sound still comes out of the phone speaker. I haven't figured out a way for it to come out of the Bluetooth headset. I haven't tried a wired earphone yet. Does anyone else know anything about this?

I'm skepticle about it only because the "auto" features on GPS's by Garmin are horrible routes. The GPS tends to dump you on fast and often restricted highways. This is why it takes quality time to build a route from scratch using the map software and downloading it to your GPS.

I found that even though I would set the software to choose a slow route, eventually you'll get dumped on a fast highway sooner or later.

Um... wouldn't you need to be somewhere there is cell service for this to work?

You have to pay a monthly fee. The screen is tiny. You are probably better off with a traditional mapping GPS like the Garmin.

The advantage of the VZ is that you should always get the latest maps, a traditional GPS would require that you wait for a update to be published and then you would have to purchase it.