Warning on having a---- G P S----

[Gotrek1966]

I know people who've had their house broken into after their GPS was stolen.

Same.

If you do have your home address in one, make sure it does not have "Home" as an entry. That way they should just think its a place you visited.

Oh and I never leave mine on window, always in house or hidden if I have to leave in car while I am away.

[MunchY]

Call home 'Not Home'. They'll never know.

Interesting to see that the original story was ligament though.

[Agent_Dark]

GPS are over-rated imo. They kill peoples abilities to navigate without them - It astounds me to see how many people struggle with a map these days.

[Gotrek1966]

GPS are over-rated imo. They kill peoples abilities to navigate without them - It astounds me to see how many people struggle with a map these days.

Yup, still use normal road maps as well. Sometime the GPS feels the way IT wants to go is the way I want to go.........."Do a U turn", wait, I'm still in my driveway!!

Also how many times have you heard about someone driving into the ocean because GPS said to?

[brat81]

I use one on a daily basis

[Omni]

Looks like thermal runaway, something that is possible for any lithium-ion battery.

[wayne19540]

People don't think I all so see cars at shopping centers with their GPS and TV just waiting to be nick; And "Dean has made a very good point about having your home address in your GPS bye don't be stupid bye doing it but People are what they are and they will keep on doing it regardless;
As I said I think I personally just keep on with my road book.
1- I don't need it to blow up
2- I don't need my car to be broken in to
3- I don't need my home to be broken in to again that was so stressful.

[ChainsawMcP]

I hope no one has their home address programmed in their GPS

??

The reasoning goes - if your set of keys or handbag is stolen (all you fellas carry a handbag right) the thief uses the remote locking to locate your car - then uses the GPS to direct them straight to the house that they also have keys for...


As for the battery exploding. Almost any battery can be made to explode - but lithium has a greater propensity for burning in a rapidly expanding fashion (most people call it an explosion). There are reports of laptops and tablets and phones all destroying themselves...



And for understatement relating to catastrophic failure- I've just noticed the warning on a lamp I replaced
"Halogen lamps operate under high pressure and may fail non passively (shatter). Protective panels should be used"

[DXPetti]

I use my phone

im such an illegal person.

This!

Glad I skipped the craze and just went straight to a smart phone (Google Maps + Navigation on Android is godly)

[MunchY]

I use my phone

im such an illegal person.

This!

Glad I skipped the craze and just went straight to a smart phone (Google Maps + Navigation on Android is godly)

Another +1 here. Just pull over and get google maps up when I'm lost. Why bother paying for a GPS to yell stupid **** at you? Phone+Google maps = melways but it says where I am. All I need!

[revengous]

buy gps

fill with all ex's entries, call them things like "house sitting house" "holiday house" etc

let it get stolen

revenge! >: D

[wayne19540]

Why You Can't Track Your Stolen GPS

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j ... ZvXtXnDMAg

It's a cruel irony: Car navigation devices keep you from getting lost, but their location-sensing acumen won't help you find them if they get lost or stolen. Why not? Because location and tracking are two different matters. "The GPS calculates location for you. Communicating that location to a tracking center requires a separate service," says Kanwar Chadha, founder and vice president of SiRF Technology, the largest supplier of GPS chips to navigation device makers.

Of course, GPS tracking systems have existed for years — they are used every day to keep tabs on valuable cargo, rental cars, and even parolees who are shackled to GPS-enabled ankle bracelets. Cell phones are routinely embedded with GPS chips too, and can communicate their location via cellular networks. (The Helio Ocean phone, for example, has a "Buddy Beacon" feature that lets you map your friends' precise whereabouts on your handset.) Personal navigation units could easily incorporate the same features, but device makers say there's little demand. "Most consumers are just looking to get from Point A to Point B," notes Tom Murray, vice president of TomTom.

That may be about to change. Some 5.8 million personal navigation devices were sold in the U.S. in 2007, according to NPD Group, and their theft is on the rise. Like iPods and laptop computers before them, the pricey gadgets have become the newest high-tech target. Yet even as sales have slowed in recent months as consumers cut back on discretionary spending, theft of the devices has continued to soar. According to the FBI, as of late April, 31,324 portable navigation devices had been reported stolen in the U.S. — a 12% increase since late February. The crime is particularly rampant in big cities — Houston saw such robberies triple last year to 1,303. "These thefts get reported every day," says Captain Don McKinney of the Houston Police Department.

Companies are beginning to take note. In March, the $400 Dash Express became the first personal navigation device to communicate back to a server, rather than just passively receive information, such as traffic updates or where the nearest gas station is. Unlike other navigation devices, which rely on FM frequencies to receive updates, but can't communicate their own location, the Dash Express has both Wi-Fi and a cellular modem built in. Yet even the Dash Express can't be remotely located using this technology. "We are not technically capable of tracking exactly where a device is," says Mark Williamson, Dash's director of marketing, who adds that the device was purposefully designed that way to protect consumer privacy. Instead the Sunnyvale, Calif.–based company uses information sent from Dash devices only to provide faster updates on local traffic conditions. (Should a unit get stolen, however, Dash lets owners disable it remotely by calling customer service and providing the serial number.)

Leslie Presutti, director of product management at Qualcomm, which sells the GPS chips that go into more than 100 million cell phones each year, says enabling two-way connectivity on GPS devices is the logical next step. As for why device makers don't offer it yet, even though the technology has long existed to do so, she says, "They never really had to compete in this space, so there wasn't the need." But as prices come down (on April 23, TomTom reported that its average product price had fallen 42% over the past year to $185 per unit) and as the number of GPS device manufacturers increases, companies are scrambling for ways to differentiate their wares.

Even with two-way connectivity, makers may still allow consumers to opt out of subscribing to the unit-tracking function, in part because that service would increase the annual fee — about $50 — that many companies already charge to transmit traffic updates and other information. What's more, it's not the average consumer who would track down a criminal to get his TomTom or Mio back. But the fact that it could be tracked at all would serve as a powerful deterrent; it would also help authorities locate and bust larger-scale crime rings, which typically hawk stolen electronics in pawn shops, on street corners, and on websites like Craigslist and eBay. What's more, it would help authorities locate people in roadside emergencies or if they're reported missing, much like GM's OnStar service. "Two-way connectivity is definitely on our roadmap," says Larry Rougas, vice president of marketing and product planning for Pioneer, which specializes in high-end navigation devices with large screens. Until then, you're on your own when it comes to keeping your GPS from ending up in the wrong hands.


Thieves Target GPS Devices To Find Out Where You Live

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j ... 1wPJRNuexA

[brat81]

I use my phone

im such an illegal person.

This!

Glad I skipped the craze and just went straight to a smart phone (Google Maps + Navigation on Android is godly)

Another +1 here. Just pull over and get google maps up when I'm lost. Why bother paying for a GPS to yell stupid **** at you? Phone+Google maps = melways but it says where I am. All I need!

As stated before i use a GPS on a daily basis Google maps isn't really upto scratch to replace a standalone gps.

Few reason why.
1. The gps chip doesn't poll as quick in most phones.
2. Drains the battery like a mofo (gps, data connection and display all on consistently does have a toll on battery life and a cig lighter plug can't charge fast enough)
3. Need a constant data connection
4. Screens are so damn tiny

I do use my phone for locating newer area's

[SaNE]

TomTom app for iPhone works pretty well and has no problem with charge, only heat.

[brimlad]

Looks like thermal runaway, something that is possible for any lithium-ion battery.

yes Nikon recently sent me an advisory that a batch of their l-ion batteries (EN-EL15) were faulty and could overheat and deform the camera case.

cheers