This is an overdue update on my relationship with Henrietta, which is what I've named the voice that emanates from my Magellan Roadmate 2000 Global Positioning System. Since I wrote this report, I've had her officially installed on a bracket on my dashboard, and I've experimented further. Here is what I've learned…
Basically, it's that she works great if you don't use her as a substitute for knowing roughly where you're going. You can't follow her instructions mindlessly but she sure helps me get around, even on semi-familiar turf. I'm learning the names of local streets I only vaguely knew and every so often, even when I know how to get where I'm going, I ask her to plot a route and it's sometimes a clever suggestion.
The following experience pretty well defines for me how one should treat these devices. Carolyn and I were recently in Virginia, whizzing around in a Hertz rental equipped with their Neverlost® System, which is pretty much the same as my Henrietta, voice and all. In Arlington, we were in a section where there is major road construction that includes reversing a great number of one-way streets. There, Henrietta was of no help, as she was constantly telling me to turn left onto a street where I could only go right and vissie-versie. Still, seeing where she was trying to send us helped me a lot to figure out my own path.
Then we drove from Arlington to Warrenton. I printed out Mapquest directions and had them along but allowed Henrietta to chart our course. For about the first 30 miles, the two routes were identical…but then we came to a point where Mapquest said to go straight and our destination would be 15 miles ahead, whereas Henrietta wanted us to turn off that surface street, hop on a freeway and then drive another 25 miles on it to get to Warrenton.
I decided — and I hope you'll someday forgive me for this, Henrietta — not to listen to her. I ignored the turn-off, stayed on the same street…and the minute we crossed the boulevard where she wanted me to turn off and I didn't turn off, Henrietta recalculated the route and agreed with Mapquest. Her estimate of mileage and time remaining instantly dropped from 25 miles and 30 minutes to 15 miles and 20 minutes. So even she didn't really think that freeway was a good idea.
But the point is that would have worked. It would have gotten us there. And if I'd strayed from the Mapquest route or it was unduly congested, I might have been happy to try it her way. That's one of the great things about a Global Positioning System. No matter how you wander or change course, it changes right along with you and shows you the way to go. On several occasions, she's saved me from some time-consuming misdirection…and in strange territory, she's invaluable for letting me know when the turnoff is coming up and reassuring me I'm on the street I think I'm on.
Another handy service: The night we got in to Arlington, it was late, all the restaurants seemed to be closed…and we needed a meal. We stopped in a 24-hour CVS Pharmacy for some items we needed and Carolyn asked the clerk if she knew of anyplace nearby that was open and serving edible food, which is not always what you get at that hour. The lady said, "There's a place called the something-or-other diner that I hear is good." But she couldn't tell us exactly what it was called or how to get to it…which was a job for Henrietta. Henrietta displays Points of Interest and I asked her for the names of restaurants in the vicinity. One had the word "diner" in its name and she showed us how to get there. It was open and pretty decent and we'd never have found it without her.
So I'm glad to have her. She's not perfect and I suspect that the few folks who wrote me that they junked their personal Henriettas made the mistake of expecting them to know everything. She doesn't…but for $219.99 at Costco, she knows enough. I just need to know when not to listen to her.