Which road tracking and map tech to use was always a toss up in our car.

We’d traveled for years with traditional GPS devices, that British lass barking out orders and seemingly venting frustration whenever we’d Voyager Nav 4ignore her suggested turns. She was good and reliable. As the kids always warned, “Trust the technology.”

Then along came the Verizon Wireless and its VZ Navigator Version 4 application.

Our “traditional” retail GPS would just tell us, “Make left in 2 miles.” No street name audibly announced (thought it’s there in print on the screen). I have to admit, though, the British voice was something last summer when we took an impromptu detour onto the Blue Ridge Parkway — and she couldn’t convince us to “Make the next available turn…” Frustrated, she was.

Nav 4 spoke turn-by-turn directions with actual street names. In Jacksonville, we were to turn left in 2 miles on Lem Turner Road. It gave maps in a 3-D perspective view of maps.

We also found news of traffic incidents, updates for detours, and the Gas Finder was a real find as we hunted for cheap fuel along the way (invariably, gas at the exit you just passed is cheaper than that at the next). Low pricing in real time is a real plus. Weather News is helpful as we plan our days (especially as it’s been soaked in rain from the start). That’s where the Movie & Events Finder steps up and fills the void.

We still have our TripTik, Mapquest and a library full of guide books. Now, if we could get one of these voices to read them aloud, that would be clutch.

I can hear it now. “Turn page in 2 paragraphs…”