Anybody have a backup plan?

[Ian McLaughlin]

Charge your phone. Have a backup charging solution.

Don't do lame thread titles.

Anything else?

 

[GBBSbassist]

I've always been someone decent at finding my way home from places. If I'm truly lost, I just head the direction I know is at least not wrong.

 

[tradernick]

Fixed the title for ya.

Phone charger in car, ciggy lighter adapter. Difficult to conceive that you did not think of this.

A reasonable response. However, I found out the hard way that with my iPhone at <10%, the USB port in my car doesn't provide enough current to charge the phone with Waze running! I was low on battery on my way to a cottage country gig where I absolutely needed GPS, plugged the phone in to the USB port, and the phone continued to die.

Not sure if lighter adapters are the same voltage as my USB out, but anyway...

These things are indispensable for me now. They'll charge my iPad Pro at least twice from 0% and my phone multiple times. Now that I've moved to iPad for gig charting, I carry one and one spare. I'm known as the guy who always has a charge.

 

[NOVAX]

My sense of direction is similar to that of a sea turtle.

That's all I got.

 

[whero]

My car has satnav built into the dash, and Android auto, so the satnav is the usual plan A, and Google maps from my phone is plan B. I don't have to worry about the phone running out of juice as it plugs into a USB socket in the car's centre console (the car actually has a wireless charging pad in the centre console but my phone too old so I still have to plug it in!).

Edit: That said, I've often used satnav to get where I'm going but never needed it to get home. You don't have to drive too far in New Zealand to find a road sign with directions to somewhere, and I can always find my way home from somewhere.

 

[Ian McLaughlin]

A reasonable response. However, I found out the hard way that with my iPhone at <10%, the USB port in my car doesn't provide enough current to charge the phone with Waze running!

True. Technology works on its terms, not ours.

I'm known as the guy who always has a charge.

Not always a good thing!

 

[N4860]

I also regularly drive within 2 hours of where I live, often to places I've never been. I will usually take a look at the directions before hand to, at the very least, know which main highways I will be taking. I'm not in a major metropolitan area by any means, but for the most part, anywhere I am going can be accessed using a local highway which I at least have a moderate understanding of where they go. So if my GPS or phone died, I feel like it wouldn't be too much trouble to find my way to a highway or major road that I am familiar with. When I'm not using my phone, I have a TomTom GPS which still works decently to this day. Still gets updates occasionally as well.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

Standalone Garmin GPS units still outperform many factory in-dash GPS installations. Look for a 5” screen, with traffic alerts. Lifetime subscriptions are another key feature to shop for. In the Garmin range, look for models with the LMT suffix on the model number.

They also beat the crap out of a cel phone. This is one application where a lower resolution display designed specifically for driving wins out. Better map display formats, and they continue to work where cel coverage is poor or non-existent. They plug into the lighter socket, and built in battery backup means that your maps are always available.

My wife’s 2014 Prius has the factory Toyota unit. No traffic warnings, updates were absurdly expensive, and the search functions sucked. It often failed to recognize rural addresses that my 5 year old Garmin NUVI had no issues with.

I found a good sale at Costco on a recent Garmin with lifetime map and traffic subscriptions. Cost less than one map update at the Toyota dealer.

Liked it so much, that I bought another to replace the older unit in my car.

Tom Tom are apparently popular in Europe, but their maps don’t compare to Garmin for North America.

 

[tradernick]

Not always a good thing!

Literally lol'd at this. True enough. But you know how it is. Make yourself look useful to the BL, maybe you'll get another gig.

EDIT: steve_rolfeca's post above has me thinking. I guess I always just assumed that stand-alone GPS units like Tom-Tom and Garmin were obsolete. Maybe not?

If I thought they were significantly better than Waze or Google Maps, I'd buy one in a heartbeat. However, I need something that knows about local traffic conditions and slowdowns and I need to understand whether the stand-alone units do that without the radio subscription.

 

[HardNHeavy]

old fashioned atlas road maps......

 

[Turbo Sparky]

adcmaps.com

CDs and books.

 

[JW56789]

'It's incomprehensible that I'd pull out a map at 2AM . . . . . . ' You know, back before we suffered from these first world problems, people went all round the world with maps. Airliners. Cruise ships. The US military. My mom and dad on vacation. Columbus didn't have a map, but hey, everybody gets lucky sometimes . . . . .

A few years ago, I drove from Nashville to Lauderdale to catch a cruise ship, and drove 1000-odd miles into South Florida (I'd never been south of Daytona Beach) to a hotel I'd never seen in Miami (where I'd never been before) and drove straight into the parking lot of that hotel to register. With a map. Not one wrong turn.

Maybe it's the 2AM part . . . . but the road atlas isn't on a monthly plan, works all night long, doesn't have to be recharged, and won't put my destination in a lake, and there's no dropouts . . . . . . but I gotta admit, it can't get on Facebook or Talkbass. Crazily enough, most states GIVE you a free, up-to-date, printed-at-taxpayer expense road map at their Welcome Centers by the state line. They have 'Reserved for Neanderthals' parking spots for the express line to the map counter.

Maybe you could carpool to gigs and have double or triple redundancy with your fellow passengers.

 

[Joe Nerve]

'It's incomprehensible that I'd pull out a map at 2AM . . . . . . ' You know, back before we suffered from these first world problems, people went all round the world with maps. Airliners. Cruise ships. The US military. My mom and dad on vacation. Columbus didn't have a map, but hey, everybody gets lucky sometimes . . . . .

A few years ago, I drove from Nashville to Lauderdale to catch a cruise ship, and drove 1000-odd miles into South Florida (I'd never been south of Daytona Beach) to a hotel I'd never seen in Miami (where I'd never been before) and drove straight into the parking lot of that hotel to register. With a map. Not one wrong turn.

Maybe it's the 2AM part . . . . but the road atlas isn't on a monthly plan, works all night long, doesn't have to be recharged, and won't put my destination in a lake, and there's no dropouts . . . . . . but I gotta admit, it can't get on Facebook or Talkbass. Crazily enough, most states GIVE you a free, up-to-date, printed-at-taxpayer expense road map at their Welcome Centers by the state line. They have 'Reserved for Neanderthals' parking spots for the express line to the map counter.

Maybe you could carpool to gigs and have double or triple redundancy with your fellow passengers.

Whelp... on the way home from my gig tonight, which was 2 hours away, I ran into exactly the type thing that would make a map a major PITA for me.

For anyone who knows NY, the Staten Island expwy was closed due to construction (I was coming from the Jersey Shore into Bklyn). First time ever. I was rerouted (by the construction or police vehicles), at 3:30AM to another highway that goes the complete other direction. It dumped me in the middle of nowhere.

With a map, I'd have to pull over, get the map, figure out where I was, figure the next best route, then remember or write it down, read it in the dark while driving, and hope that it worked. I didn't have to do any of that. I just kept on driving and only lost about 3 minutes because the re-routing I guess took me to just as fast a route.

Why would ANYONE, who isn't afraid of technology, choose a map over this? I know, a map doesn't have to be charged, it won't crap out, blah, blah, blah...

You can spill coffee on it though, the dog could eat it, pages could get teared out or sun fried - and guess what, it DOES have to be updated, just as regularly as a GPS - but you'll never know until you can't go where it tells you. And then whatcha gonna do ??????????

AND FOR THE LAST TIME ----

1. I HAVE EXTRA CHARGERS AND ALL THAT STUFF!!!!

2. THE TITLE OF THE THREAD WAS VERY WELL THOUGH OUT, AND IT SERVED ITS PURPOSE EXACTLY AS I HOPED IT WOULD.

Thanks for all the responses. I got the answers I needed, and I'm not buying any maps.

 

[2112]

For driving directions?

Maps and asking directions. please tell me we
still at least have these basic skills...

 

[glocke1]

For driving directions?

What would you do if you were 2 hours from home at 2AM, in the middle of nowhere, and your phone crapped out?

I drive all over the place for my gigs, and rarely know anymore where I am or how I got there. After my phone dying on me more than once (at good times, thankfully), I've become a bit concerned about the above happening.

My car doesn't have a GPS, and I was considering picking up one of those old fashioned Garmins or something. Just as a backup. I'm not sure if any of them even work anymore though . On Amazon, they all seem like the last ones bought were a decade ago.

Has anyone done this? If not, what's your B plan?

Getting home? I have a good sense of direction most of the time. If I know my house is west of me, I'll just look for major roadways heading west and hop on one. Eventually you'll end up seeing signs for places you recognize.

Getting to a gig? I'd be more or less screwed.

Fortunately I do have a dated in dash GPS system.

Just a thought...while I generally believe in the "one is none, two is one philosophy" back up basses, backup amps, backup strings, backup girlfriend and now backup GPS...honestly you can't go through life thinking everything is going to fail.

 

[Manticore]

I'm sorry, but i don't really get the problem. I'm familiar with the NYC area. GPS in both cars and phones works really well just about everywhere within two hours of the city. If you rely on your phone, make sure you have a reliable carrier and carry a power bank or charger. Make sure you know where you are going before you leave. (Google Earth the venue on your computer?) And yes, if you still find yourself in a bind, either ask directions or bring a map; both are very basic. Finding your way about populated areas is really a no brainer, even when encountering roadblocks and/or detours. It's when you find yourself in rural areas with spotty coverage or inaccurate GPS mapping that mobile devices might cause issues, and then, yes, a map is your friend. Like you, I was gigging well before mobile devices were generally available. I never thought of using a map as a hassle or a serious impediment to my schedule. Mobile devices merely make getting around easier and slightly faster.

 

[two fingers]

For driving directions?

What would you do if you were 2 hours from home at 2AM, in the middle of nowhere, and your phone crapped out?

I drive all over the place for my gigs, and rarely know anymore where I am or how I got there. After my phone dying on me more than once (at good times, thankfully), I've become a bit concerned about the above happening.

My car doesn't have a GPS, and I was considering picking up one of those old fashioned Garmins or something. Just as a backup. I'm not sure if any of them even work anymore though . On Amazon, they all seem like the last ones bought were a decade ago.

Has anyone done this? If not, what's your B plan?

My backup plans include.....

1) I keep backup ways to charge my phone. Extra car charger and one of those emergency battery things.

2) In the US, you are rarely more than a few miles from a 24 hour gas station, McDonalds, Walmart, Walgreens, etc. I would find the nearest one and buy a map and/or ask directions. Or buy another method of charging my phone.

 

[J_Bass]

For driving directions?

What would you do if you were 2 hours from home at 2AM, in the middle of nowhere, and your phone crapped out?

I drive all over the place for my gigs, and rarely know anymore where I am or how I got there. After my phone dying on me more than once (at good times, thankfully), I've become a bit concerned about the above happening.

My car doesn't have a GPS, and I was considering picking up one of those old fashioned Garmins or something. Just as a backup. I'm not sure if any of them even work anymore though . On Amazon, they all seem like the last ones bought were a decade ago.

Has anyone done this? If not, what's your B plan?

Yes, I have a GPS with charger in my trunk.

I also have a pair of shoes, bottle of water (for the engine), oil (for the motor), pants and rain coat.

Tools for the car, rope, gloves, blanket.

And I have 2 phone chargers (one ac/dc, my car has the socket and another for the lighter entry).

 

[Kmonk]

Garmin products are still available. Plenty of them on Amazon and at other retailers.

 

[IamGroot]

Signal flares
2 liters drinking water
Energy bars
Toilet paper
Condoms