WAZE app - if you are driving a Ferrari, you better be using this app!

Hey guys I know a lot of fchat memebrs are already using WAZE, but in case there is anyone out there that is still not using it, I would highly recommend it.

It is a free app, that is like a community where other members post useful info, like locations of police and the app will tell you BEFORE you get there, that police are there.

Beacuse most users allow WAZE to track their location (I do), the app has live traffic info. In the New York area for example there are tens of thousands of users and the info is really accurate.

The app is owned by google now so is great for turn by trun directions which update live with the traffic.

I have been saved by WAZE many times, especially for those hidden police officers!

 

I do use it however it does come up with its own routings when using the navi - I drove to London 2 weeks ago and it gave me a different route than google maps. Secondly, in Europe it can't give you more than 1000km of navi in one input - you have to split your trip into 2

 

I've used it for a couple of years. It does best during high-traffic times or in more densely populated areas in order to maintain accurate hazard/speed trap reporting. I have found it quite valuable with its routing options as well as mid-trip re-routes if significant traffic events occur, and discovering new or more efficient ways to get to a destination.

 

Isn't it built into Google Maps now? That's all I use.

 

I don't believe you can set alerts for police etc in google maps.
I recommend you try WAZE and I find it more user friendly that google maps.

 

The traffic works well and when there are icons for an accident or construction it says "from the Waze app".... but yea I've never see police alerts in Google.

I will give it a try!

 

I don't think Waze and Google Maps are sharing map data even though Google bought them a few years ago. I agree that Waze is a lifesaver whether there is heavy traffic.

When we used to do regular trips to Brooklyn through NYC, the Garmin would tell us would take 35 minutes when we left, and it would take us an hour and half, sometimes longer to get there. The reason Garmin was so far off is that it doesn't take traffic lights or traffic into its arrival time estimates or routing, so the initial estimate time is always highly optimistic and the routing is terrible. Garmin is supposed to get traffic updates, but I very rarely see it actually route around traffic.

With Waze, the Brooklyn arrival time is usually under hour and we usually arrive within minutes of when it said we would when we left. It's really been a huge advantage.

The only negative is that Waze becomes useless if you don't have access to data. Also, every once in a while I see it get a little too creative on it's routing -- taking a side street that didn't turn out to be faster IMO, for example. Still, for the most part, it is much better than Garmin.

 

Waze is great for police alerts and re routing. And you do get random, goofy actors narrating.
It works great here in CA.

 

From three years ago, today actually.

$1 billion Waze acquisition is yet more proof Facebook is no longer a social network ? Quartz

 

WAZE: when you absolutely, positively want Facebook to track your every move. Right?

 

uh guys... facebook didn't buy waze.

Google did

 

I like a lot of things about Waze, but on more than a few occasions it has redirected me into far bigger traffic messes than the ones it was trying to route me around.

Case in point, heading eastbound from Orlando towards Daytona Beach on I-4, Waze started to alert me to massive congestion and routed me onto the highway 46 exit in Sanford. I doubted a bit, but tried it, as the app showed Hwy 46 green and flowing. Yes, three lanes of Hwy 46 were just sailing along. The left turn lane I needed to get into, not so much. I'm guessing a ton of people rerouted onto 46. This suggestion added over an hour to what should have been an hour and a half drive.

Another similar issue in Minneapolis. I didn't know the city well so took the suggestions. Nearly missed dinner with a client due to driving around in circles following waze's suggestions. My colleagues in the other rental car that didn't use Waze just stayed on 35 and got there a good half hour before me.

I think if you know where you're going, the alerts etc. that Waze gives are useful. I just won't ever trust their directions again.

 

Not really the point.

Joe Payne - It?s all about the Data

 

I think Waze changed the software a few months ago to be more "clever" (quoted for sarcasm) in its routing and it does take some weird routes occasionally as I hinted at in my prior post. I didn't have those issues up until maybe 6 months ago, but now I do see weird routes every now and then. To me, though, it's still a million times better than Garmin. I always have the Garmin in the glove compartment, but I only pull it out about once a year. When there is no access to data, though, the Garmin is an oasis in the desert.

 

While that is a great article, and I know that model must work for many, it just doesn't apply to me or most people I know. I have almost never been motivated to buy a product from advertising. Instead of a push model my buying is more of a pull model. I identify a need, then look for products on the market, and after evaluating what is available I pick something based on how it fits the need and to some extent what it delivers for the cost.


Some products are simply priced at more than they are worth and I will never buy them regardless of need or want. For example the plastic bottle soda's (18 or 20oz or so) that were less than a dollar around 2000 and are now almost $2. Do I have the $2, sure, but that product is not worth that amount of money so I just won't pay for it. All that advertising of Coke Vs Pepsi is totally alien to me.

 

I don't like looking down at my phone when driving and I also hate having the voice yelping at me all the time. So far I've avoided using Waze except when I travel. I find its very useful when I have someone riding shotgun who can tell me what Waze is saying- otherwise I just find it really annoying! But that's just me.

Maybe I'll give it another try. But then I'll have to put my phone up on my dash or windshield? And then the power plug too?

FWIW I've been using an Escort 360 Max and it works great. They also have a social app but I haven't used it because I don't want to be clicking on my phone when driving. I put my phone away when I drive.

Cynically thinking ahead, what will happen when the localities turn their networks over to Google and one of their conditions is that they hide all the police locations! !

 

You are all wrong about why you should be using WAZE. You should use WAZE because they give you the option to be a Ferrari on your screen!!!!!!!!
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This. Been using the Ferrari car for a year.

 

Waze is the best out there but it's far from perfect.

common sense and local knowledge make it more effective

 

Don't rely on that whole "spotting cops" feature.....

 

Especially lately it seems. I know cops were pressuring Waze because they said it put them in danger if people knew where they were. Sadly in one sense with all the wackos out there I can almost see where they are coming from. But I think mainly they realized it was cutting into revenue generation activities, i.e. speed traps.

With the last update mine doesn't seem to be near as useful. I need to play with it some more but after the last update mine doesn't seem to show the other "Wazers" like it used to. That or people are using it WAY less over the last few months. And just the other day I noticed it showed a cop that had been reported but it didn't verbally announce it like it does hazards or whatever reported by others. It may be something that I can change in settings but I haven't played with it since the update.

 

I run a Waze and Google Maps simultaneously. I find Google rerouting suggestions to be much better than what Waze offers. I really just use Waze to warn me about hazards, especially ones in black cars with low profile light racks.

 

The one thing that is lacking in Waze versus Garmin is that it usually doesn't show the posted speed limit. I had never seen it show speed limit in the couple of years I've used Waze, but when I drove to South Carolina, it did show posted limits on many of those roads (and it gave you a visual cue when you were above the limit). So it does apparently have the speed limit functionality, but just doesn't have the data in most areas. I don't know why they don't have users fill out the speed limit data in the same way they report road hazards, cops, etc. It seems like they could construct the entire US speed limit in pretty short order if Waze just allowed users to enter the speed limits, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that.

 

just don't register your number when u 1st use it

 

Waze and Google maps serve different purposes to me.

In shorter, congested in city routes I have found Waze useful. Draw back is the constant up/downloading of data that drains the cell battery.

For longer or city to city routes, Google maps works much better. The route is downloaded and you are good to go from start to finish. On Waze the route is partially downloaded and if you loose cell coverage eventually the app stops working.