My girls' HS is about 12 miles from our home. I thought I'd figured out about all the alternate/quickest routes over the last couple of years for those times when the line at Starbucks took longer than normal or the traffic has come to a standstill on one of the freeways.

I recently installed Waze and I'm very impressed. The last two days traffic has, for whatever reason, been insane. But, Waze really came through. Took me on some streets I didn't know existed or didn't know they connected to other streets. Very cool little app.

I know, I know, some of you have been using it forever. But, for those who aren't familiar with it and you find yourself stuck looking for alternate routes from time to time. It's worth a download.

Could not agree more. Easily the best, most dynamic, comprehensive (and more importantly, free) GPS app out there.

An excellent app. However, a real battery killer. We use it only for very short times at a stretch or plug in the phone. (Plugging it in is not our default mode, because the car audio system picks up something in the power supply that makes it annoying to listen to music or to an audiobook.)

would be nice if they cleaned up the looks though

very cartoony and less legible than google maps

I keep Waze running even when I need no directions. I report, and receive reports, of road hazards and speed traps.

On google maps it sometimes shows accident markers "reported by waze"

And google maps occasionally offers alternatives mid route, or reroutes due to traffic

Is waze even better? And how so?

[QUOTE=Efrem;25499253]An excellent app. However, a real battery killer.[QUOTE]

...and data hog.

I was a beta tester, many years ago (long before Google acquisition). A user ever since.

This is really a Travel Technology topic.... rather than OMNI.

this is why I downloaded it

I think Google maps is better, but only because it is easier to see everything on it. Waze is too "busy" for my eyes when I need to concentrate on the road. Two things I prefer about Waze is knowing where cops were, and the map goes dark at night. Routing on either is usually the same. Both are annoying for how they handle toll roads. There are two toll roads here. I use one but not the other. The only choice is both or none.

Google maps updated app now goes dark mode at night.

Speed traps is a plus to waze. Though I always wonder how people are posting while driving.

Hitting "Report" will save your time and location so you can fiddle with the details (what type of hazard, which side of road) later at a red light or such. No different from adjusting the radio I suppose.

Speed trap utility seems doomed, either as a result of local laws/rules/ordinances in the works, or the fact that police now use Waze to erase their own presence more and more.

Huh? It's gone dark on every phone I've had for the last ~4 years. It seems to be set to within ~30 minutes of official sunset. What is currently confusing me (mildly) is that on my phone it has started switching between British & US accents randomly.

Try a different car to USB adapter. I had one from Walgreens and had the same problem.

I bought a dual socket USB adapter from Walgreens and the interference went away.