Garmin car GPS in 2019 and beyond
I'm a bit of a road nerd so I like this stuff. I'll be getting back to guitar/music stuff shortly, but for now, let's talk about this "obsolete" technology.
It's New Year's Eve 2018, meaning 2019 is right around the corner. I'm still using standalone GPS instead of smartphone navigation. The model I'm using currently is the Garmin DriveAssist 51 LMT-S.
I've been using GPS since 2005, and I've logged thousands of miles using nothing but Garmin GPSes. It started with StreetPilot models, then nuvi models, then the DriveAssist.
Briefly, just this year, I tried to make do with smartphone navigation. That didn't work out. Smartphones are simply not meant for cars. If the phone is mounted on the glass, it overheats from sunlight and that same sunlight makes the screen unreadable. If the phone is mounted on a vent, the glare is reduced, but then the screen shakes like crazy while driving, making the screen once again unreadable. And I'm not about to put the phone in the cup holder and listen to voice prompts, because I need to see that map.
Why do some say standalone GPS is obsolete?
Some believe smartphones are the answer to everything. They're not. See what I said above. In automotive applications, smartphones are absolutely terrible. The screen can't be read in daylight, it overheats, and/or it shakes like a leaf on a tree while driving. Useless.
Regardless of how many features smartphone navigation adds in, if the screen can't be read and the handset can't be used reliably under normal driving conditions, again, it's useless for electronic navigation while driving.
Older GPSes I keep around
I have a bunch of older Garmin GPSes I've bought over the years, but the ones I still keep updated every time there's a new map release are my nuvi 40LM and nuvi 50LM. The 40 is the 4.3" screen and the 50LM a 5".
These two models in particular, while really basic, have the best screens Garmin ever made. Even better than the DA51 mentioned above. Matte screen, very bright backlight, and polarized sunglasses friendly. For slim models, this was as good as it got, and there has been nothing Garmin has made since that's anywhere near as good.
There are times I do miss using the 50LM because the screen is so darned good on it, but I'm not giving up the dashcam I have on the DA51, so I continue using that for now.
Why do I bother keeping those older models updated? For backup purposes. The DA51 is my primary and the 50LM is the backup should the DA51 fail. If both those failed, I have the 40LM. And if for some ridiculous reason all of those failed, then I'd fall back to using my phone, but only as a last resort.
Updating maps for free if I couldn't use Garmin maps
The go-to solution for this is OpenStreetMap. I tried OSM maps a while back. They work, but are not as good as Garmin-issued maps are.
I would however still use a Garmin with OSM map data over a smartphone just so I have a screen I can read that doesn't shake while driving.
Will smartphones ever be good for use in the car for navigation?
No.
As far as usable electronic navigation is concerned, there are three choices.
The first choice is using a Garmin GPS.
Second is an Android-based car stereo that has a GPS antenna in it. While basically the same as a smartphone, it's the best application of it in the car because it DOES NOT MOVE (meaning it doesn't shake while driving), doesn't overheat and sun glare is significantly reduced. You install an "offline GPS" app to the system, load it up with map data and that's pretty much it. Not an elegant nor an easy solution, but it's an option.
Third is buying a car that has GPS navigation in it already.
Choices 2 and 3 aren't inexpensive nor easy. Choice 1, using the Garmin GPS, is still the best option to go with for electronic navigation that's actually usable.
What should Garmin do for future automotive models?
If I had any influence over what Garmin should do concerning future automotive models, this is what I would say to them:
The big sell of standalone automotive GPS these days is dashcam. Go with that. Take something like the Dash Cam 45 and add in navigation with emphases on legibility. You already have the technology. Just look back at the old StreetPilot i2, i3 and i5 models.
All anyone wants is a little box that points them in the right direction. Use a 2D-only map view with big, bright colors (adjustable, of course), big arrows for indicating direction, easy-read text and numbers and stupidly easy menu options with buttons (no touchscreen) and that's the winner right there.
Basically, it's a flip-flop from the current lineup. Instead of "GPS + Dashcam", it's now "Dashcam + GPS". It's The Little Box That Could. It captures all the dashcam footage, and also gives basic navigation similar to what the i-series StreetPilot did.
Garmin, if you make one of these, I'd probably buy one.
Ernie Ball Polypro is the only guitar strap worth owning
No matter what, you always come back to this strap.
When you play guitar and you want to use the thing standing up, you need a guitar strap.
The Ernie Ball Polypro has basically been around forever, and it's the only strap worth having for the following reasons.
1. It's cheap
2. It doesn't stretch
The polypropylene material it's made out of does not stretch. Ever. That's important.
3. Almost impossible to get dirty
Dirt does not stick to this strap. All it takes to clean one is a brush used dry. I say "almost impossible" to get dirty because if you tried hard enough, sure you could do it. But the point is you'd have to actually put in effort just to dirty one of these up.
4. The buckle moves easily to adjust, then stays put
It's sometimes difficult to adjust the buckle on straps. Not on the Polypro. The buckle moves easily. And then once adjusted, it stays there. Brilliant design.
5. Fits lengths from 36" to 68"
This is what makes this better than that cheap-ass strap at Guitar Center. If you buy one of those cheap straps from the guitar store, more often than not it will be too short. The Polypro goes from 3 feet all the way to a little over 5.5 feet.
6. The strap ends are actual real leather
USA made strap with real leather ends that stand the test of time. And again, yes, it is USA made.
7. Correctly sized strap ends
For whatever ridiculous reason, most guitar straps have wide ends. There is no good reason for them to be wide, yet they are. The ends on the Polypro are the same width (2") as the strap itself. This makes total sense because it stays out of your way and does its job.
8. Solid colors
You've seen tons of guitar straps in all sorts of dopey patterns. All anyone really wants is a solid color. Polypro has it. Black, Brown, Forest Green, Gray, Navy, Olive, Purple, Red, White and Burgundy.
Not sure which to get? Go black first
If you're debating which color to get, I suggest black first because that goes with any guitar you own. If you find you really like it, then go nuts and get some other colors.
Colors that I wish Ernie Ball would offer with their straps
- Bright Yellow - They used to make this but stopped and hope they make it again.
- Canary Yellow - This is a pale yellow that would work well with gold top guitars.
- Baby Blue - This would work well with vintage Fender colors such as Sonic Blue and Daphne Blue.
- Mint Green - A pale green that would go well with vintage Fender and Gretsch guitars.
- Orange - This works great with rock/metal guitars. Loud color. Looks cool.
If you want any of these colors to exist for Polypro straps, tell Ernie Ball you want it. And tell them I sent you.
That really annoying varying lag in Audacity
This is why I have not posted any articles or videos on Audacity yet, and may give up entirely on it.
I said earlier this year that I was planning on publishing articles and videos on Audacity. I haven't. And the reason I haven't is because of an absolutely incurable problem with Audacity. Varying latency or "lag" as most people call it.
When recording audio over USB, there is lag. There is always lag. I have gone into great detail over this before, but what happens is that when recording 100% digitally, there is processing time and that's where the lag originates. Ordinarily, this data processing time isn't bothersome in most applications. But when recording audio, it absolutely is and will drive you insane. It does not matter whether using USB 1.1, 2.0 or 3.0. The lag will always be there.
When recording music, everything must be in perfect time. Even if a recording is off by as little as 5 milliseconds between takes, your ear will hear it.
So what do you do? You compensate for it with a latency test and then adjust to suit. Audacity has a whole page dedicated to this to show how it's done. What you do is have Audacity create a rhythm track, then take a USB microphone and put it up to your output speakers, play and record at the same time, measure the millisecond difference, and then adjust the number accordingly...
...but this doesn't always work.
Using a USB stick, memory card, SSD or a laptop? You might be screwed.
Audacity software's original release goes all the way back to May 2000. I mention this because even though the Audacity software has been updated over the years, it was originally developed for use on PCs with platter-based hard drives, as in HDDs. In 2000, nobody used SSD. And since the USB 2.0 specification was literally released the same year Audacity was released, nobody was using USB 2.0 then since it was so new at the time.
In other words, anyone using Audacity for the first few years of its existence was doing so using PCs with HDD storage media and recording audio via analog audio inputs. That was what people were using at the time, and nobody had any real latency issues to speak of unless their PC was ridiculously slow.
As the years went on, people switched from using analog audio inputs to digital USB, switched over from platter-based HDDs to platter-less SSDs, and switched over from PCs to laptops.
Why does it matter even knowing this? Because computers have changed a lot since Audacity started. Originally, Audacity users had a 100% lag-free recording experience. Now they don't. And it's not the fault of the software.
There is no fix for varying lag in Audacity
A problem that happens with laptops with an SSD as the primary storage media when recording over USB into Audacity is varying lag.
No matter what audio device you have connected, be it a USB microphone, USB guitar amplifier, USB audio interface or whatever it is, the lag "jumps around" and you absolutely cannot get precisely timed audio recordings every time in a multitrack session - even when latency compensation is correctly set. Sometimes the recording will be a few milliseconds ahead or behind and that's just the way it is.
The fix? There's only one. Use a PC (not a laptop) that has an audio card with analog audio inputs (specifically a card that has a "line in" input), and an HDD to store data to instead of SSD, and guess what? All the lag is gone.
Will there ever be a fix for varying latency in Audacity?
No.
Recording over USB and storing to memory card/stick or SSD on a laptop with is a combination Audacity doesn't like very much.
This is not to say all laptops with that configuration disagree with Audacity and result in varying lag. But several do.
USB introduced audio lag. Never forget that.
I said above it's not the fault of Audacity for its lag. What is at fault then? USB itself.
It is absolutely impossible to have a lag-free recording experience over USB. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. There is always processing time. You could have the fastest PC on the planet and latency will still happen when recording audio over USB.
I'm saying this just for the benefit of anyone who is thinking, "Maybe I just need a better computer." No, you don't. On the presumption your computer isn't riddled with junk or have some antivirus software choking the throughput, Audacity needs very little to run correctly. It can easily run on a computer made 10 years ago.
It's the USB that's the problem and always has been. That's the source of the lag. On laptops with SSD, the problem becomes worse because that particular setup can introduce varying lag. And again, it can't be fixed.
Fun fact: An old clunker PC with a clean new installation of Windows 7 or Linux on to a new platter-based 7200 RPM HDD and an sound card with a "line in" input will allow Audacity to record absolutely 100% lag-free multitrack sessions.
Yes, this means the use of a slower HDD and analog audio inputs is what Audacity agrees with most. It totally works. Everything will be 100% perfectly synchronized with your multitrack recordings. You won't even need to set latency compensation. It's that good.
Is it worth it to get that old clunker PC to do this?
For me it wasn't.
I stopped using Audacity and went with a ZOOM R8 (a ZOOM R24 also works). It has analog inputs and never, ever lags.
List of 24.75" scale length guitars and other shorter models
This is a list of electric guitars that have a scale length of 24.75 inches, and I'm also including other brands and models all the way down to the 24 inch scale.
This list does not include every single guitar ever made with 24.75" to 24" but lists enough to give a good idea of what's out there.
Guitar brands that use 24.75" scale
This is the most common shorter scale guitar length. Most people consider this a "Gibson Standard", but as you'll see, several companies do use it on certain models.
- Epiphone (most models)
- ESP (Eclipse, Viper, some other models)
- Fender (Powercaster, one of the few Fenders that has a 24.75" scale length)
- Gibson (most models)
- Gretsch (Streamliner)
- Guild (S-100 Polara, S-200 T-Bird, Starfire IV, Starfire V, Starfire VI, Bluesbird)
- Ibanez (Iceman, AR420, some special edition models)
- Jackson (Monarkh, Dominion)
- Rickenbacker (381, 330, 360)
- Schecter (Solo II, E-1, some special edition models)
- Yamaha (Revstar)
Guitar brands that use 24.7" scale
Guitar brands that use 24.6" scale
- Gretsch (Broadkaster Jr., Double Jet, Duo-Jet, Electromatic, Electromatic Jet and other models)
Guitar brands that use 24.594" scale
- PRS (used only on McCarty 594 models whether double or single cut body, solidbody or semi-hollow)
Guitar brands that use 24.5" scale
- PRS (SE 245 and some special models)
Guitar brands that use 24.0" scale
The most affordable guitars per scale length
24.75"
- Epiphone Les Paul
- Epiphone Dot (semi-hollow)
24.7"
- Ibanez GAX30
- Ibanez AM53 (semi-hollow)
24.6"
24.594"
- All expensive, no affordable models here
24.5"
24"
[Update]
Check out shorter scale guitars with the most bang for the buck.
Ibanez GAX30 is the most ritzy cheap guitar you can buy
And I should know. I own one.
So I bought an Ibanez GAX30, which is not an easy guitar to come by. Availability for this particular model is little, and in all honesty I was not intending on buying this - until I saw it in person and played it.
The only GAX30 available at Guitar Center is in white. For any other color, you have to buy it online because at the time I write this there is no choice otherwise. This may change in the future, but as of December 2018, that's the way it is. Better availability will probably become normal in 2019 and beyond.
White
I have said that white is the worst guitar color of all time, so you can imagine how surprised I was when I saw a white GAX30 in person. It actually looked good. Before seeing it for myself I was absolutely and totally 100% convinced that yes, I will hate this guitar color and no matter what I will not buy it. My mind was changed...
...but not totally. Now it was time to play it.
Playing it in the store
I mentioned this briefly in the video above, but this is the entire story.
I go to a Guitar Center because they had the special edition Squier Mustang HH in Surf Green and an Ibanez GAX30, which as I just said was white. Both guitars are the same price. $149.99 before tax.
I played the Mustang first. It felt like the typical Squier in Guitar Center. It wasn't set up and the action was high. However, it looked good and played nicely for what it was even with the high action. But I have to admit the guitar was a little on the boring side and doesn't have the same cool factor my Bullet Telecaster does.
The GAX30 was not on the showroom floor just yet, so an employee had to run back to go get it and unbox the thing so I could actually try it.
When I did play it, I knew within less than 10 seconds that the GAX30 was the superior guitar over the Mustang by leaps and bounds. This guitar, having never been touched since it left the factory, actually played nicely. The action was only a little high but not too bad.
As I sat there playing it and saw how the white worked with the neck with block inlays, it reminded me of a white Gibson SG, but couldn't remember which one. After getting home, I found out which. It's the Gibson SG offered in a color called Alpine White.
I knew right then and there that I would be getting way more guitar for the money with the Ibanez over the Squier, no doubt whatsoever. It was an easy decision to go with the Ibanez.
A need for a scale length not 25.5 inches
My entire reason for looking at the Mustang and the GAX30 in the first place was because I wanted a guitar shorter than the Fender standard length of 25.5".
I did make a mistake in the video and said there are 3 brands with cheap shorter scale models. There are actually 4.
When it comes to cheap guitars that are readily available in the shorter scales, the choices are Squier, Epiphone, Jackson and Ibanez.
- Squier - Mustang HH at 24.0".
- Epiphone - several models under $200 in SG and Les Paul flavors, all at 24.75".
- Jackson - Monarkh JS22.
- Ibanez - GAX30 and the AX120.
Ibanez, said very honestly, blows away everybody else when it comes to a good cheap shorter scale guitar. There is nothing else that can touch what Ibanez is offering at the price point the GAX30 or AX120 sell for. They offer the most for the least, period.
What makes a shorter scale worth owning?
In the end it all comes down to comfort.
A shorter scale means the frets are spaced closer together and the strings at standard pitch are more loose and bendable.
When frets are spaced closer together, it's easier to fret chords at the first 5 frets, which is where most guitarists play to begin with. When strings have less tension, it's easier to bend notes.
It is totally true your fret hand does not have to work as hard when playing a shorter scale guitar.
The only choice to make is whether to go 24.75" (or 24.7" in Ibanez's case) or 24.0". Your fret hand will let you know which feels for the best.
For me, it was the Ibanez GAX30 over the Squier Mustang HH. Same price, but the GAX30 is better. It might not have a cool Surf Green color option, but it looks quite ritzy in white and nothing can touch it for what it sells for.