Android Auto Google Maps

[VAMike]

I honestly don't know how they are staying in business.

because they make very little of their money from selling mapping tools in cars

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[slowmachine]

I find your statement to be completely incorrect.

Phone based nav systems give better time estimates due to real time traffic updates, can reroute you around accidents and construction you don't know about due to the same, AND you can download maps to use offline anytime you want.

I put in over a thousand miles a week, driving around a major metro area in areas that are unfamiliar to me for a living. I wouldn't use a standalone unit like a Garmin if it were given to me.

I honestly don't know how they are staying in business.

The phone-based systems definitely have an advantage in areas where there is continuous construction, resulting in continuous map changes. The stand-alone GPS model of map updates as seldom as annually can't compete with that. Given a street address that actually exists on their map, though, they usually find it. All four of my stand-alone and in-dash systems do a passable job of routing around obstructions, with the limitation that it only works where there is FM Traffic coverage.

 

[D Fresh]

because they make very little of their money from selling mapping tools in cars

My schooling is in Avionics, I was well aware of their aviation division, but that's a niche market, although pricey.

Was not aware of their fitness division which appears to lead their profits, however.

 

[D Fresh]

Yeah, exactly. Garmin is not the first thing I think of when it comes to city/street navigation. But it is the first thing I think of when it comes to any other type of navigation or GPS useo. Almost every modern, or retrofitted, airplane I know of with a glass cockpit uses Garmin of some kind. And same with almost every outdoors-person I know.

There is a lot more non-city than there is city.

Again, their aviation stuff is nice and spendy, but that's not where they make the majority of their money.

So a Garmin is superior to an app like CoTrex, or OnX?

No way in hell.

With offline maps there's literally nothing a handheld GPS can do that a phone can't.

When I'm hiking/hunting/camping/wheeling/skiing space is at a premium. Why carry another device when the one I already have does the same thing?

The only "outdoors -person" I know that uses a Garmin is older than me. And I'm old.

 

[VAMike]

Again, their aviation stuff is nice and spendy, but that's not where they make the majority of their money.

So a Garmin is superior to an app like CoTrex, or OnX?

No way in hell.

With offline maps there's literally nothing a handheld GPS can do that a phone can't.

When I'm hiking/hunting/camping/wheeling/skiing space is at a premium. Why carry another device when the one I already have does the same thing?

Battery life, durability. If you don't want one, don't buy one. But a phone just isn't the same thing. It can do some things better, but it does other things worse.

They're pretty diversified: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/investors/earnings/

 

[shred5]

Remember they rely on a cell connection and if cell service is low or gone it will be slow to respond or not at all..

 

[THLONE]

Driver distraction is a real problem. My nephew was just rear ended by a delivery driver who hit a suburban before hitting my nephew. Nephew had a rear camera and caught the whole thing. Delivery driver did not even brake. $10,000 dollars and diminished value on my nephews car. Toys should be shut down when the vehicle is in gear. Stop and look at the map. Use voice directions on your gadgets to find the address. It is not that hard to do. The life you save may be your own. ?

 

[Big Blue]

Has anybody ran into the issue where AA disconnects after the phone reaches 100% charge. My AA works great in my ranger but always disconnects and will not reconnect after the battery reaches full charge. I just stopped using it and connect through blue tooth now cause I couldnt figure out why it was doing that and couldnt find a setting to change that

What are you using for NAV when you unplug your phone. In our trucks you need to be plugged in for AA to work.

 

[richmondjd11]

What are you using for NAV when you unplug your phone. In our trucks you need to be plugged in for AA to work.

I have the stock nav option, so I just use the dash unit. I listen to music and podcasts through my phone, so having all that and nav done through the in dash screen is nice, but not a huge inconvenience to connect through bluetooth for audio only.

 

[FoMoCoDave]

I think I'll try a new usb cable too. Within the last few days waze on AA has started flaking out on me. The direction arrow almost spins around on the screen while driving. There will be no speeds displayed and no other wazers show up. Do a complete reboot, turn off truck and open, close the door, restart truck and restart phone, solves it for awhile. Google maps seems to work thru this though, weird.

 

[VAMike]

I think I'll try a new usb cable too. Within the last few days waze on AA has started flaking out on me. The direction arrow almost spins around on the screen while driving. There will be no speeds displayed and no other wazers show up. Do a complete reboot, turn off truck and open, close the door, restart truck and restart phone, solves it for awhile. Google maps seems to work thru this though, weird.

that's not the cable, that's the phone. I had that on a previous phone, kept getting worse, eventually I got a new phone. something was flaking out in the gps, affected other apps not just waze, but google maps lasted longer than the others for whatever reason.

 

[NooTrucker]

Still having a glitchy, frustrating time with Android Auto in the Ranger. I've tried three different cables, so I don't think that is the problem. I've had Google Maps and Waze both freeze, as well as Pandora. The only "solution" was to unplug my phone and then plug it back in and then not change anything.

 

[mtbikernate]

this isn't really mentioned, but I'm pretty sure the age of the phone and the version of android that phone runs is a significant factor. I almost always buy refurbished phones for cheap that are a couple generations old. I do tend to run into the "planned obsolescence" problem a bit sooner, though. sometimes it can get bad with certain tasks, but I think since some of the phone manufacturers have been busted for purposely making old phones run slower, it's not quite as bad as it used to be.

still, I've noticed with my phone (LG V20) that it takes some time for Android Auto to boot up and calm down before it will respond to any inputs. Pretty sure this is 100% my phone. a newer, faster phone likely wouldn't take as long.

 

[NooTrucker]

this isn't really mentioned, but I'm pretty sure the age of the phone and the version of android that phone runs is a significant factor. I almost always buy refurbished phones for cheap that are a couple generations old. I do tend to run into the "planned obsolescence" problem a bit sooner, though. sometimes it can get bad with certain tasks, but I think since some of the phone manufacturers have been busted for purposely making old phones run slower, it's not quite as bad as it used to be.

still, I've noticed with my phone (LG V20) that it takes some time for Android Auto to boot up and calm down before it will respond to any inputs. Pretty sure this is 100% my phone. a newer, faster phone likely wouldn't take as long.

I'm using a OnePlus 6, running Android 10. So, the phone is a little over two years old, but is running a pretty recent version of Android. I think I may be able to install Android 11 on my phone, and it might be worth trying.

 

[TechnicallyReal]

I'm using a OnePlus 6, running Android 10. So, the phone is a little over two years old, but is running a pretty recent version of Android. I think I may be able to install Android 11 on my phone, and it might be worth trying.

Did you get around to trying a different cable? As mentioned earlier Google discovered that most of people's issues were cable-related but it took a long time for that discovery to be made. I've never had issues with AA in any of my vehicles but I've only had better-than-average cables.

Sidenote - today I went wireless thanks to "AA Wireless". I was an early backer in the Indiegogo campaign. It works greast! For those not in the know: it's a little device that you plug in where you would normally plug your phone in, and it allows you to use Android Auto wirelessly. It works super well with the Ranger. Also they were aware of the cable issue so the little cable that comes with it is known to be good

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