Gps

[crokett]

My wife wants one for Christmas for the van. I know very little about them. This would go in her van. She already has a satellite radio mounted on the windshield so I am concerned about clutter. Anybody know of any units that include the tuner and GPS?

[LCHIEN]

i don't know of any gpS with satellite radio - different antennas likely so it will be a real rats nest to wire it up.

i DON;T KEEP MY gps INT EH CAR AT ALL TIMES, JUST USE IT ON TRIPS WHERE I NEED TO GO SOMEWHERE NEW. The thieves love to see them on the dash. Then they take it and you're out $200 and another $500 for the window.

A basic Garmin or Tom TOm under $200 will do quite well, all the more expensive ones just have rampant featuritis and won't help you get somewhere any better.

Good luck.

P.s. just to clarify, I'm talking about the GPS street navigators that give turn by turn directions for autos. They can be found starting under $150 and up to $1000 when preinstalled as auto factory options. I have a TOMTOM One. the current model is a TomTom One 130 - currently $150 at Best Buy. Refurb entry-level models from all makers are pushing $100. All give voice directions and 3-D views. Over $200 will get you voice to text for street names, like "Turn left at Smith Street" instead of "In 40 Yards, Turn Left". although the latter does show the name on the screen.

My only complaint is that there has been a lot of construction in my area and the freeway exits and freeways themselves are now in different places. A new Map from TomTom will cost me $100, a new GPS - $150. It hasn't been a problem elsewhere and always works in other cities and highways, so I guess I'll just wait.

I also have handheld GPS units for boating and hiking and general travel, they support external antennas and connections to PCs like CwithBoat was talking about, but I don't think that's what your wife is looking for.

[cwithboat]

I am not sure I agree with Loring. True, I use a basic GPS when boating and then its hooked up to my laptop running a charting program. A friend of mine has a GPS that talks to her telling her when to turn and which direction to take. Its annoying for passengers but I appreciate the fact that she keeps her eyes on the road rather than looking at a chart or worst the tiny little screen that my Garmin has.

[Hellrazor]

http://gps.engadget.com/2005/10/31/g...fic-xm-7-inch/


Search GPS & XM on google. I hope the price is no concern

[crokett]

I hope the price is no concern

For that price I'd just pay for the dealer package on the new van that includded both.

Oh well. Guess she will have 2 separate units. I will also advise her to take it out of the car and/or stow it when she is not in the car.

[Habe]

I have a Tom Tom with the 4.3 inch screen. It really helps to have the bigger screen, and make sure that you have the voice directions feature. It's great the have a big enough screen to see at a glance if the voice directions are not perfectly clear. I also have blue tooth through the GPS so when driving I can be hands free. Then get her a "bean bag" type mount and when she leaves the van the cord and mount can hide on the floor or under a seat. The GPS goes in the purse and everything is out of sight and secure. And you can mark where you parked so it is easy to find the van in a hugh parking lot.

[Schleeper]

I was going to say, the only GPS/satellite combos I know of are the ones that come already installed in new cars.

I bought a Magellan Maestro 5310 on eBay (at 40% off, which got me under $200) for LOML. It's a 5" screen, with very clear voice to text (an absolute must have feature.) What clinched it for me, was reading a review in one of the PC magazines, where the reviewer described it as the perfect unit for "the bifocals set" (of which spouse and I are card-carrying members.) Seeing the upcoming intersections pictured in 3D on the larger screen is great, but the first time you hear, "turn left on Elm Street in 0.2 miles, then prepare to turn right," in a clear, easy to understand voice, you'll wonder why you waited so long to buy the unit. (I actually had to turn the volume down!)

Our previous experience was with Verizon Navigator on the cell phone, and there's no comparison.

LOML is a PT doing home care for the VNA. The GPS unit replaces the book of street maps she has always had to rely on. (It should probably be standard issue for all the agency's nurses and therapists, but they haven't come to that realization yet.) She has to juggle AC adapters for the GPS, her cell phone, and the laptop she has to use. (Fortunately, the car has two outlets.) That's exactly what she does, too. Being in and out of the car so many times each day, she doesn't want to worry about theft, so nothing is "installed." Resting the items in the passenger seat is just as easy.

[jziegler]

Loring got it pretty much right. The Garmin Nuvi 200 series is a very good basic GPS series. I have the 270 (needed European maps) and know several people with others in the series, all are good. They tell you where to turn, but most in this low cost series don't have text to speech to tell you street names. The screen is relatively small, but of good quality. The Tom Tom units looked good too, but for my needs, they were much more money (once again, that little European map thing).

Jim

[Bigbit]

If you don't need a GPS unit right away, you can find some really nice deals by being patient. I got a Magellan Maestro 4040 with a 4.3" screen, a really strong speaker, and all of the mounting hardware and adapters (refurbished) for $79, shipping included, from buy.com. The 4040 audibly announces upcoming turns with text-to-speech street names, and has a bluetooth capability as well (although I have not tried the bluetooth).

Very pleased with the unit.

[JR]

When I got one for LOML, a Garmin, I went for one with a few of the extras. Here's why.

For cell phone usage in the car in CA nowadays, the driver must use hands-free capability. The Garmin I got helps with that. It has an FM transmitter to send it's announcements to the car radio. It also has bluetooth speakerphone capability. So the cell phone is paired with the Garmin which is paired with the radio.

It also has a mini-phone jack for connection of MP3 player. Same deal as with the cell phone, attach MP3 to Garmin and pair the Garmin with the car radion and now you have your MP3 tunes in the car.

JR

[JimD]

I bought one this summer for insurance driving to a cruise ship through Washington DC. We didn't really need it but the boat doesn't wait....

After a bit of on-line research I bought a Garmin Nuvi 350 from Amazon for $200 including shipping. This was about the least expensive that annouced street names which LOML and I decided was something we wanted. It also will store songs and act as a MP3 player. I just ordered a cable for my 2006 truck so I can tie it into the radio and use the speakers. If you play music using the MP3 feature it is supposed to dim the music when it wants to announce something and then turn it up again when it is done.

The only annoying thing I've discovered about it is that if you click on the "avoid traffic" button, it assumes that certain roads are congested at certain times of day and avoid them but it doesn't know the day of the week. For instance, it tried to take us through downtown DC on a Saturday morning. During the week that might have been good but on a weekend I doubt it was. Another time it avoided freeways in Atlanta when we left at 3pm but it was, again, a Saturday when they were probably the better way to go. I turned this feature off.

Otherwise it has worked well for us and seems worth the money. The 350 is also the least expensive of the Garmin models where the power tie is to the mount and the GPS snaps into the mount. Doesn't mean a lot unless you want to take it with you (and leave the mount).

I agree with the comment about not leaving it in the car. We take ours on trips but around town we usually do not.

Jim

[scmhogg]

David,

Heartland has a Cobra for $129.99.

http://www.heartlandamerica.com/brow...D&SC=W80D1000&

Steve

[HarmsWay]

There are plenty of after market combination GPS satellite radios. As mentioned - not cheap - but probably half the price of a factory unit. I installed a double DIN Pioneer in-dash GPS in my car last year. I didn't bother with the satellite radio option though because I was too cheap to pay the monthly fees (more $ in Canada). I could add it any time though. It's got a Bluetooth phone interface that works very well with my phone (even if it's in my backpack in the trunk). Also has an Ipod interface. This is more than a mini jack. The Ipod screen is duplicated on the Pioneer screen and shows full information like playlists etc. and can be operated through the touch screen or your cars steering wheel controls. My Ipod is safely hidden in the car and only comes out when I want to load new songs. And it plays DVDs, CDs, etc. but not BlueRay disks.

Other than reducing clutter and being more difficult to steal, an advantage the in-dash units should be greater GPS accuracy. It has feedback from the car and knows speed and whether it is in forward or reverse. Because the in-dash units also are in a fixed position relative to the car, they can use internal pitch/roll/yaw detectors to estimate how the car is turning. All this extra information can assist the GPS when the satellites are not visible (i.e. blocked by buildings).

Bob