How good is Waze?

r/

I heard you guys use it all the time to avoid cops and other obstacles. Is it that good compared to google and Apple Maps?

Comments

  1. Figgler Avatar

    I use it primarily over the other options. I like that it shows my current speed and if cops are hiding up ahead. The navigation to avoid traffic isn’t as good as it used to be though.

  2. notthegoatseguy Avatar

    Google owns Waze and has integrated most of Waze’s features into Google Maps at this point.

  3. sics2014 Avatar

    I just use Google Maps and always have. Never even heard of Waze until a few months ago.

  4. TheBimpo Avatar

    It has a different aesthetic and interface than those and uses different algorithms, it’s just a user preference choice. They don’t have some trade secret that saves you tons of time.

  5. Sheetz_Wawa_Market32 Avatar

    Waze uses the same data as Google Maps.

  6. Help1Ted Avatar

    I’ve noticed that within the past year or so that Apple Maps will also let you know if there is a speed trap ahead. It also lets you know if there is a red light camera.

  7. who_peed_in_my_soup Avatar

    Waze was great until Google bought it, now they are essentially the same thing.

  8. WashuOtaku Avatar

    What do you got to hide OP?

  9. DOMSdeluise Avatar

    I never use it. I barely use any navigation system – if I don’t know how to get somewhere I’ll look it up on Google maps and read/memorize the directions but overall I find it important to have a sense of direction and knowledge of how to get around, and I find relying on gps to hinder that.

    I also don’t speed and consequently do not have a need to avoid speed traps.

  10. Thing_On_Your_Shelf Avatar

    I find it good for notifications about how traffic actually is, obstacles and such, and cops, but for actual navigation I think it’s worse than Google or Apple Maps

    I feel it’s gotten worse over time. It used to be really good at quickly routing you around traffic and stuff, but it doesn’t tend to do that well for me anymore, and the time estimates seem to be pretty inaccurate

  11. ORR35 Avatar

    I use Waze on looooong drives and when I have kids in the car. You can drive with a custom voice (example: Paw Patrol, Bad Dad Jokes, Santa, etc) so it breaks up the drive with humor.

    Otherwise, just me – I use Google maps or Apple maps, I see little difference.

  12. ZaphodG Avatar

    I use Waze but I also use Google Maps because it has a better graphical view of traffic jams. I normally have Waze on to warn me of speed traps and traffic rerouting.

  13. nemc222 Avatar

    I go in between apps, but the one thing I like about Waze is when there is a traffic jam you can read people’s comments to find out if it’s a wreck, how slow traffic is going, etc

  14. Chickadee12345 Avatar

    I use it all the time and it works really well for me. I would have trouble navigating my way out of a paper bag so any GPS system is a life safer for me. LOL.

  15. Mysteryman64 Avatar

    I prefer it over Google Maps because I find the crowd-sourced information tends to be more current and more useful than Maps automated system.

    And since Google owns Waze anyways, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Maps wasn’t just utilizing the freshest data from Waze already to begin with.

  16. MartialBob Avatar

    Waze is as good as Google maps when you need directions to wherever you’re going. Waze allows you to put in traffic problems from hidden police, vehicle accidents, and pot holes while Google Maps just shows them to you. The advantage of Google Maps is that you can just open the app and look at an area as a simple map whole Waze is more of a pure turn by turn gps app.

  17. dr_trousers Avatar

    Waze direction sucks, but it’s great for cop detection. When we travel, I use waze on my phone, wife uses apple maps for actual directions.

  18. robertwadehall Avatar

    I mostly use it on freeway road trips

  19. boodyclap Avatar

    Not good enough to support a genocide

  20. SapienSRC Avatar

    I just don’t speed. Been a life hack of mine to avoid speed traps. If I need a map I’ll use Google Maps. Seems to do the job just fine.

  21. majortomandjerry Avatar

    I tried it for finding the fastest routes around San Francisco during rush hour. I stopped using it because some days it was changing the route mid way as conditions evolved and I got tired of what felt like constant rerouting. I’d rather just spend a few extra minutes in the lane I’m in than deal with extra turning and merging.

  22. Firree Avatar

    10 years ago I used to use it all the time. But its an unstable mess right now.

    The algorithm that decides your route is horribly buggy, sending you on random nonsensical detours. The search function is awful – displaying results hundreds of miles away or flat out not loading at all for 2 minutes. There are constant hang ups and crashes. The integration with Spotify works great the first few seconds then freezes up and does nothing. The map itself has horrible LOD because it displays tiny little random town names from far away and ignores more populated, important ones near those. Finally, the “planned drives” feature has been broken since literally day 1 when it debuted 10 years ago. I’ll enter a destination and time and it will get stuck on a spinny loading icon despite me having a perfectly good internet connection, until it either times out or crashes the program.

  23. Curmudgy Avatar

    I find Waze vastly overrated. The map is too cluttered and just the wrong scale for me. Maybe it’s gotten cleaner, as I haven’t used it in well over a year.

    I use CarPlay, and hence use Apple Maps.

  24. funsk8mom Avatar

    I don’t use Waze. I live on a dead end road and to leave my road it wants me to go to the end of the road, make a u turn and then go to the top of the road to leave. Why wouldn’t it just have me turn out of my driveway towards the open end of the road? It’s a 2 way traffic road