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Friday May 16th 2008

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Garmin StreetPilot c580, 10 months later

Friday May 16th 2008

In July 2007 I bought a Garmin StreetPilot c580 GPS unit. The price I paid was $475. It is now available for around $280. This is the third Garmin GPS I’ve owned. Before that was the c340 (which I still have) and before that the i3.

It’s now 10 months later; here’s what’s happened.

The only bad thing that’s happened is that the audio “fuzzes” ever-so-slightly when the unit is speaking. And that’s it. Absolutely nothing else has gone wrong.

The good stuff is that the unit still operates exactly the same as when I first took it out of the box. As for the performance, it’s now better because of the firmware upgrades and MSN updates via the Garmin WebUpdater.

The c580 does exactly what it’s supposed to do and does it well.

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I think what amazes me most about Garmin products is how rugged they are.

I’ll put it to you this way: Mobile electronic devices will usually have something wear out or break on them in less than a year. A classic example of this is cell phones. All of them (repeat, all of them - including the expensive ones) are built cheap and it shows. Something on that phone will have partial or full failure before the 1-year mark is reached. The screen may “dim out” a bit, a button starts to become wobbly, the port for the charger doesn’t work right anymore, etc. etc. etc. It’s always something.

Garmin GPS devices don’t have this problem. The build quality is superior to just about anything else its size.

The c340 that I still have in my possession only now has started to exhibit very minor touchscreen issues (it’s not as responsive as it used to be.) Bear in mind that I’ve beat the crap out of the unit. It’s gone thru subfreezing cold and blistering heat on many occasions. Before I discovered friction mounts it took a dive off the plate mount more times than I can count. The unit has definitely “earned her stripes,” so to speak. And it still works.

The c580 I have is still chuggin’ along just like it’s supposed to, and if the c340 is any testament to Garmin’s build quality, my c580 should keep on working for good long time.

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macs are gay (with proof!)

Wednesday May 14th 2008

I’m sorry, but this is just too good not to post.

It JUST so happens that Apple is one of the most gay-friendly brands there is. And y’know what else? It’s been proven as such.

And EVEN BETTER - Dunkin’ Donuts (in that same article) is one of the least gay-friendly brands. WHO’DA THUNK IT?!

Yeah, I knew I was as hetero as they get, but now I know I’m super-hetero. I don’t own a Mac and I drink D.D. coffee.

Rock on. :-)

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another stomping grounds tale

Wednesday May 14th 2008

I got an e-mail from long-time friend Ben who still lives in the same town I used to. Part of his e-mail said this:

Not much new here, just workin 2 jobs now tryin to keep ahead of the rat race! You got out of here at a good time, things are getting ugly up here. People are trying to sell anything they got of value.

The rest of the e-mail was upbeat but it was the part mentioned above that really got me because he said this without me having to ask.

I plan on visiting the stomping grounds in September or October of this year, finances permitting. I expect that not much will have changed. Granted, some new businesses have popped up but the real core of the region is in the residential areas. In some places you’d swear that time stopped decades ago.

From the outside the stomping grounds appears to be a nice quaint little set of towns, but it’s only living there do you truly experience how much the place can suck.

I’ll put it to you this way: Ben is a homeowner and makes good money. He absolutely should not have to work 2 jobs just to stay ahead but is forced to because of the area he lives in.

And that’s just plain wrong.

On a final note, I’ve heard from more than a few Florida locals that the living here is expensive. There are times I have to hold back a chuckle when I hear this, thinking to myself If you only knew how good you have it here. Why don’t you try living in Connecticut? You’ll come running back to Florida.

I’m not kidding. I seriously doubt any Florida native could survive 90 days not just in Connecticut but anywhere in New England. Take it from me, you’re fine right where you are.

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contact update

Sunday May 11th 2008

Just a quick update: I changed a few of my screen names for my instant messenger accounts. The reason is because most people know me by name so I changed over a few names to reflect that. See the contact page for the updated info.

Remember: I always prefer e-mail first. Never forget that. :-)

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