VZ Navigator

[horsepower]

I just learned my cell phone is capable of supporting VZ Navigator.  Anyone used it and have any thoughts.  With it, I could get audio prompts via bluetooth in my helmet.  I am wondering about what happens when I wander out of cell tower coverage, though.  Does it have a road map in it so my route would still be usable but I just wouldn't know my precise location along it or would be without an oar, so to speak?

[Siskiyou]

A hunting partner was using VZ Navigator and gave up on it because it did not work when he left a Verizon service area.  Meaning when he left the valley for canyons, and river roads. 

The other day I took a trip across the Sierra’s and had the Bluetooth enabled between my automotive gps, and my Verizon phone.  I had the telephone page up to see where I would receive a usable phone signal.  Out of a 250-mile round trip I had a usable signal for about fifty miles.  If I had been using the version of VZ Navigator my friend was the Navigation aid would have been lost.  I had a usable gps navigation signal the entire trip on my automotive gps, and my handheld gps.

It did not meet my friend’s needs and he followed up by purchasing a Rino 520C and a Rino 530HC for hunting.  He purchased an automotive unit for travelling.  I have a phone call into him and will ask for an update.

Verizon says it works in “coverage areas.”

A hunting partner was using VZ Navigator and gave up on it because it did not work when he left a Verizon service area.  Meaning when he left the valley for canyons, and river roads. 

The other day I took a trip across the Sierra’s and had the Bluetooth enabled between my automotive gps, and my Verizon phone.  I had the telephone page up to see where I would receive a usable phone signal.  Out of a 250-mile round trip I had a usable signal for about fifty miles.  If I had been using the version of VZ Navigator my friend was the Navigation aid would have been lost.

It did not meet my friend’s needs and he followed up by purchasing a Rino 520C and a Rino 530HC for hunting.  He purchased an automotive unit for travelling.  I have a phone call into him and will ask for an update.
http://support.vzw.com/faqs/VZ_Navigator/4.0.html#item104

[Siskiyou]

Friend called back and he long ago discontinued thoughts of using VZ Navigator.  His other two purchases have paid for themselves.  He said the automotive gps paid for itself when they were touring a National Park.  The gate they had entered by, and planned on exiting was to close for the night at 8:00 p.m.  The other route out was a four hour detour.  The automotive gps unit gave them the most direct route back to the gate they wanted exit.  They made it by a few minutes.

My friend lives, hunts, and fishes in an area in the white on the Verizon Coverage Map.  It appears that about 2/3 of the county he is in has no coverage.  A quick look at the map indicates that East of the Mississippi coverage it better, but there are some locations without coverage.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/CoverageLocatorController?requesttype=NEWREQUEST


In my reading I noted that if you use certain extend features you might be wise to have it wire into your vehicle electrical system.  When I use my automotive gps with Bluetooth it uses up my battery faster when I am travelling in marginal areas because it keeps searching for a tower.  I bought an upgrade battery for my cellphone that has about 60% more compactly then the stock battery.  It has proved to be a good investment.

http://www.batteries4less.com/

I told a friend about this source because she is an emergency dispatcher who is on call 24/7.  A few months after our conversation she felt the need for a higher compactly battery and contacted the suggested source.  She now has a fat battery on the back of her cellphone.

Might want to call Verizon direct and find out what they have to say.